#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 4, Room 23

A secret door in room #22 leads to a hallway of cut stone and not a cave passage. It opens up to a perfectly square room. There are four statues in each corner of demonic women standing 7 ft tall. Each holds a sword. There is a fifth statue in the center of the room holding a staff.

The statues are really Caryatid Columns. 

They will only attack people if they attempt to go throw the door straight ahead. 

Whenever a character strikes a caryatid column with a weapon (magical or nonmagical), the weapon takes 3d6 points of damage. Apply the weapon’s hardness normally. Weapons that take any amount of damage in excess of their hardness gain the broken condition.

The caryatid columns do not have treasures, but their swords can be used.  Each Caryatid Column has two masterwork swords they wield. These swords require an 18 strength to use but are treated as a +2 weapon that does 1d10 hp damage.

Adapted from Pathfinder.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 4, Room 22

This rough-cut hall straight on from rooms 18 and 20 leads to a room that is half natural cave and the rest is cut and shaped walls.

This room is full of crystal balls. They show scenes from different parts of the dungeon and different worlds, but it is difficult to tell what is what.

Many are broken and dark. All are too massive to carry and will not fit into a bag of holding. The crystal balls can be destroyed, but each one requires 340 hp of blunt damage. Every hit with a weapon has a 50% chance of that weapon being broken.

There are no creatures here, but many gems are embedded in the various stands for the crystal balls. Each (20) grants Treause Type L.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 4, Room 21

Going to the right in Room 20 leads to a small tunnel that opens into a huge cave.  The cave is bright with eldritch light.  But that is not all that is strange about this room.

The walls are covered in thousands of eyes. All sorts of eyes. Human eyes, demon eyes, elf eyes, dragon eyes.

The eyes watch all movement in the room and follow the party as they walk through.  If any of the eyes are stabbed, then they bleed.  At some point, all the eyes will shut and the cave will go completely dark.

If the characters spend more than a turn in this room they need to make a save vs. Petrification. A failed save means the character will try to get out of the room as quickly as they can.

There is no monsters or treasure in this room.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 4, Room 20

 Moving on to Room #20 these tunnels seem to have a more "finished" or carved feel to them. 

In this cave are three very large Cave Bears. 

The eldritch glow of these caves is much stronger here and it is reflected in these bears' eyes.

They look like they could be sick, but in reality, it is just the necromantic energies feeding on them; they are every bit as strong, fierce, and angry as their normal counterparts.  Because of the necromantic energies, these bears are starving and only living blood will satisfy them.  For this reason, their morale is set to 12.

These bears have no treasure and have wandered into this cave from other parts of this level.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 4, Room 19

 The secret door, really just a hidden one, is to the right from the perspective of heading toward Room 20. There are a few stones to move (combined strength of 20 required, up to three characters) the biggest obstacle is the dark.

This appears to be the Grimlock's larder. In here are four Trolls. They are tied up and their limbs have been hacked off.  The grimlocks have captured them and are keeping them near death as a regenerating food source.  Their limbs are growing back at odd angles and lots of mutations.

Each troll only has 1d4 HP each. They can be easily killed but only give 10 XP each.

There are a few magic items here too. One is a sword +1/+3 vs. trolls. It glows in the present of trolls. When the trolls are dead the glow will stop.  The trolls were afraid of it, and the grimlocks hated the light.

There is a wand of magic missiles here as well. It has 2d6+4 charges remaining.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 4, Room 18

Going left in Cave #17 takes the party through a short narrow tunnel (only single file here) it opens to a large, and mostly dark cave. 

Photo by Christina Petsos

Inside the cave a small group (2d10+4) of Grimlocks have made their home.  

The grimlocks are blind, but they can sense the party.  Two of these creatures are larger with 3 HD and there one leader of 4 HD. The leader also has a +1 sword. The sword does not glow. All the grimlocks are combative, even the youths will kill, and eat, anything they do not recognize.

There is Treasure Types E and J found here, mostly from other creatures the grimlocks have killed in the past. 

There is an exit straight ahead from the entrance (to Room 20) and a hidden exit (secret door) to the right as the party came in (Room 19).

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 4, Room 17

 The hallway leads down to another cave.

Photo by Kevin Burnell: https://www.pexels.com/photo/grayscale-photo-of-a-cave-13049146/

This cave is vast with a diffuse eldritch glow. There are regular bats, blind moles and other normal inhabitants, but no other creatures.

There are two exits. One on the far side of the cave and another to the left.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 4, Room 16

Going back down the hallway from Room #15 the party will see a bit of light coming from the wall on the right.  There is a secret opening that is easier to find here. 

Inside this small room is a Grey Ooze.

There is no treasure here.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 4, Room 15

This tunnel in the back and to the right of Room 14 leads to long hallway. This goes some 50' and then splits to the left and to the right.  

Going right, the corridor straightens out and opens to a carved out room glowing with eldritch light.

Inside are Seven (7) Ghouls.  The ghouls appear to be orc-like in appearance.

These ghouls are worshiping around a giant idol of a demon. When the party enters, the ghouls will stop their chanting. At this point it will come down to initiative.

The Ghouls have 3* HD instead of the normal 2 HD. In fact, they are not even aware they are ghouls; they still think of themselves as living orcs.  The paralysis WILL affect elves.

These orc-ghouls have an extra Treasure Type C as a group. 

There is a secret door underneath the idol that leads to Level 5.

(I will detail that next month)

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 4, Room 14

The tunnel in the back of Room 13 leads down to another cave.  This one features the bones of a great beast embedded in the walls.

The bones are the fossilized remains of some ancient beast. They were part of the walls when the Necromancers got here.  Repeated unsuccessful necromantic magics have left this cave magically charged.

If the party remains more than 3 turns they must make a saving throw vs. Paralysis or take 1d4 hp of damage. The energies are draining the very life from the characters.

The bones are difficult to remove from the walls, the easy ones were removed a long time ago, but if they somehow manage (dealing 24 hp of damage to the bones will break off a chip), then they can be sold to a wizard or necromancer for 50gp each. But while the characters possess these bones, they will not heal any wounds, either by normal or magical means.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 4, Room 13

Going back to Room #9 and hitting the other tunnel, straight ahead, leads to another cave.  Though this cave is not the home to some creature, it is a tomb. 

Inside this room are 5 Wights. Their ancient tattered uniforms gives the characters the idea that these had been guards at some point. Their magically compelled orders said they could not leave this room and that compulsion remained after their deaths.

They will attack on sight.

There are the remains of other humans and humanoids here. So in addition to their treasure, (B x5) there is type C, D, and T.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 4, Room 12

Going all the way back to Room 9 there were two tunnels, left and right.  Choosing the left tunnel (previously the right) takes the party on a twisty path that almost doubles back to a small cave.

This cave is swarming with 6 Rhagodessa. These giant spider-like monsters feed on the victims the trolls didn't finish off. Due to the influence of the chaos stone, these creatures are now Chaotic.  

They have collected treasure (U x6) in a small pile. 

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 4, Room 11

A small passageway in the back of Room #10 leads down to a rough-cut cave.  

A small glowing stone is stuck into a small pedestal in the middle of the cave.  There is plenty of track around the stone, wearing out the stone ground. The area 5' radius around the stone is untouched. 

The stone is a Chaos Stone, one of the artifacts of the mages.  It is made of pure chaos and its effects are random.

Any character touching the stone rolls a 2d6 and consults the table below.

• 2: The character is transported to a random location within 100 feet of the stone.
• 3-4: The character is granted a temporary penalty to one of their ability scores by -1.
• 5-6: The character is cursed with a minor ailment, such as -3 on attack rolls or saving throws. 
• 7: The stone has no effect.
• 8-9: The character is blessed with a minor boon, such as +3 on all attack rolls or saving throws.
• 10-11: The character gains a powerful boon, such as a +2 bonus to one of their ability scores.
• 12: The character gains a permanent +1 to one ability score determined at random.

A character can only touch the stone once for effect.  Unless noted, the effects last 1d6+6 turns.

The stone is fixed to the pedestal. Any attempts to remove it will cause it to shatter. If the shards are collected they could be sold to a high level magic-user or alchemist for 20-50 gp (1d4+1 x10).

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 4, Room 10

Behind the secret door (in reality a "Troll Hole") is Room 10.

Inside are a group of other (4) Trolls.   

This cave and Room 9 are actually just one cave. The trolls that live here have built a partition to hide room 10.

Inside this cave is all the Troll's treasure (D x4) is here.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 4, Room 9

Returning to Room 7 and taking the passage ahead takes the characters to another cave. 

Inside the cave is a large Troll. 

The troll is near the far side of the cave. He attacks as soon as the characters enter.

The troll has no visible treasure, it is all behind the secret door in the wall opposite of the tunnel the characters came in from.  

Additionally there are passages to the left and to the right.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 4, Room 8

 Taking the left tunnel, the air is cooler and more damp. Entering the cave the characters will see the same stream from Room 4 emptying into this room.  It forms a large dark pool which then continues on to drain at the far wall.

Inside the pool is a Giant Octopus. It pulls it's massive bulk out of the pool to attack the characters.  Due to the size of the room it can only bring out six of it's eight tentacles to attack.

It seems likely that this octopus swam into here ages ago and has grown too large, or too complacent, to swim back out.

While the Octopus has no treasure it keeps there are the remains of several past victims at the bottom of it's 20's deep pool. There are 1d6+3 former adventures at the bottom of this pool. They had Treasure Types of U and V each.

This room is a dead end.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 4, Room 7

The passageway beyond the cave leads to another cave. There is more diffused light here and more of the strange plants.  But that is not all.

Inside this cave are three (3) Carcass Crawlers. They are currently scuttling around and will attack when the party enters.

They have stashed here and there standard treasure type B and an additional 2d6 rubies of 1d6x10 gp value each.

There are two exits on the far side of the cave, one to the right and one to the left.

--

Note about the plants.  These plants were made by the necromancers to feed on the magical energies of these caves and to provide oxygen and food to the various creature here they needed for experiments. Casting a "sunlight" spell or other bright light (Continual Light, but not Light) will cause them to wither and die.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 4, Room 6

 Following the light, it enters another cave system. This one is a smaller cave with an exit to the right.

Entering the cave the smell is horrible.

Inside are 4 Troglodytes. 

They are gathered around an old corpse of one of their own sitting in a throne like seat. They appear to worship it. When the party enters they will scream in rage and attack.

The troglodytes all have their standard treasure here, at the foot of the corpse. Additionally, there is an extra 1,000 gp here in assorted gems and jewels. 

The dead troglodyte is exactly just that. 

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 4, Room 5

Once again, returning to Room #2 and taking the tunnel that was on the right.  

This opens into a large cave system similar to what was seen in Room #5. There is a diffuse glow ahead. 

This cave is inhabited by a group of 10 Cave Locusts. They are bit tougher than the typical ones encountered because they have been eating the strange plants in this room. They all have maximum hp. 

There is one larger than normal Cave Locusts as well that is their leader. This monster has 4 HD and AC 2 [17]. Saves are the same, and its bite does 1d4 and its jump does 1d6.

There is no treasure here. The cave exit is towards the glow. 

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 4, Room 4

 Going back to Room #2, and taking the tunnel on the left (now on the character's right) takes them down another tunnel.

This tunnel is long and makes a lot of turns.  It opens into a very large cave. There is a glowing portal near the far wall near the ceiling.  Out of the portal a bunch of flying figures.

These are tiny Dragonettes (2+2 HD, attacks #3, (claw, claw, bite) 1d3+!/1d3+1/1d6+1 + Breath Weapon.  Their breath weapon is a puff of hot smoke that is mildly irritating causing 1d4 hp of damage or half on a save. 

They fly in and eat a pile of Rot Grubs feasting on the corpse of a goblin.

If the characters ignore the Dragonettes they will eat the grubs and fly off.  If the characters approach the grubs they will be attacked and there is a chance the rot grubs will also attack.

There is a small stream that runs through this cave. It comes from a waterfall and flows into a hole in the ground. The water is dark, cold and has a sulfury taste, but it is otherwise fine.  There are blind fish in the stream the characters can try to catch. If they are using spears to get fish then the fish have AC 4.

It will take the PCs a couple of hours to fully investigate this cave, party due to its size and complexity of the terrain.  They cant reach the portal, there are no rocks near enough and the stream is not deep enough.

Note: Tonight's visual was created using Stable Diffusion XL from NightCafe.