The Tower in Thunder Rift

  And here we are, the first chamber on the western side. This room is filled with statues of serpentfolk writhing in pain (something about serpentfolk culture, I guess). Two of the statues are wearing cheaply made silver crowns, each worth 20 gp. There are several doors, besides the one in the east wall the party likely enters from. The western and SE doors are heavily built but unsecured; the door to the north is a heavily barred gate (a pile of snow just inside the door is difficult terrain), which isn't locked but frozen shut (DC 21 athletics to budge it). The door to the south is a steel-reinforced stone door, barred from the far side. Encounter (Moderate 2) A pair of giant ants have been digging in the room through the SE door, but if they smell anyone (within 30 ft of the door), they rush out aggressively, attacking. Also now I'll be adding a nest of giant ants somewhere in the level(s) below here, so we've got that to look forward to. Ok, I need to build a habit of...

  Today I'm kind of 'cheating' by filling in some negative space, rather than drawing a whole new room. This is the courtyard the party has been skirting around; it's important because it allows access to the west side of level 1, and eventually to the heart of the tower and the areas underneath. The door in the Northeast is opened by Key 1A. The door in the Southeast, from 1-06, is opened by a key which hasn't been discovered yet (would I surprise you if I said it was opened by Key 1B? Maybe not, though). The wall between this courtyard and Room 1-06 can be climbed over, as described in that entry. The western door, to 1-04, isn't locked. Incidentally, if a party rushes through the wall of fire in 1-02, they may find themselves locked into the second-level content I'm putting on the west side of this floor, since they can't easily get out of this courtyard or back through the Cobra trap. Reminder to myself to make the west side via 1-04 survivable (or a...

This room, through the (locked) door from 1-12 is accessible before the party finds the force key via the stairs which reach up to L2 and down to L3, thanks to the ladder in the west side of 1-12. The room is the support to another of the fortress's minor towers, built out of the shoulder of the mountain (at some point I should give the mountain a name, right?) A door in the west side gives access to the eastern courtyard. The door is locked, but with Key 1A the party is likely able to get past it. The other exit was once in the NW corner of the room, but it has now been blocked by a landslide which filled up the tunnel leading out, spilling into this room and wrecking that wall and door. Encounter (Severe 1) A trio of earth mephits inhabit this room, continually rearranging the rockfall to their incomprehensible whims. They burrow through the rockfall and mirthlessly attack any of the party nearby; the party can retreat, but they'll find that the mephits are also active in the...

 Well, it finally happened - last few days have been relatively busy and I've been distractible, and I wasn't able to get daily posts up. I did actually design each room on the correct day for what it's worth (ok, I didn't get to 1-11 until after midnight last night, which is why I stuck to a small, simple room). Not that anyone is policing me except myself, anyway. 1-10: Gatehouse Overlook This space is on the west side of 1-08; the locked door can be opened with Key 1A. This space has small arrow-slits and barred windows on the west wall which overlook the gatehouse (to be designed). The only other exit from the room are stairs leading up to level 2 in the northeast corner. The western wall is coated with runes which glow with lights swirling through the magical writings, changing color from green to red, blue, orange, indigo, yellow, violet, and octarine as they move. An Identify Magic Check (Arcana DC 18; other skills DC 20) determines the runes' purpose. Any ch...

A small room behind a locked door, this room's door is tightly fit so that no light enters. Additionally, despite the exterior-facing wall there are no arrow slits or grates; this room is entirely dark. Except the walls have been set with clear glass beads which appear to emit a faint light themselves. A Religion, Nature, or Survival check (DC 18, trained) by any character who enters and shuts the door will recognize the beads are placed on the walls and ceilings to form constellations which are visible on the night sky; a critical success will note that they are in the position they would be on a precise night (once I dig out my book about Golarion's calendar, I'll fix this), exactly at midnight. Further study from this may reveal that the constellations are slightly out of position, and there is a large star which is not visible in the night sky. Note for DMs only, I guess: the beads used to move through the room, providing a precise orrery. There were massive gems which ...

 This room is a bit unclear from just the map snippet, so I'll add a bit of explanation. Leaving the SW door of the tower base at 1-07 takes the party into one of the exterior walls. This area is riddled with arrow-slits (the exterior ground slopes down a little bit, so the arrow slits are above ground level). There are some lime-green large mushrooms growing in the middle of the room, coming in at one of the arrow-slits and spreading across the floor, across the width of the corridor. The whole area reeks like a gas leak. A perception check (DC 21, trained) indicates the largest mushrooms are imperceptibly moving, standing a little straighter and slumping over in a regular rhythm. There is also reside of mushroom flesh plastered across a nearby wall, as if a mushroom exploded and left marks. On the far western wall, another heavy banded steel door is locked; Key 1a will open it. Encounter (Severe 1) The mushrooms are actually the 'eggs' for demons, the reside of an attack ...

  We've finished the week out! I mean, only 51 to go, but that's still something. Our next room, out the southeast door from 1-07, is the base of the first tower we're designing. This one was apparently used to store armor once upon a time. There is another door to the SW, and for our first time, stairs - one set leading up (the north) and one leading down (south). And there's a locked door in the north wall, which is opened by Key 1a at last. This room has more colorful mosaics which have stood the test of time on the west, NW, and north walls, depicting water flowing around mangrove tree roots. Encounter (Moderate 1) One of the decrepit suits of armor (the SW one) is actually an animated armor . It will leap into action and attack anyone who touches either door to leave the room again, ignoring anyone who didn't attempt to open the door until they attack it. Encounter (Moderate 1) The northern stairs have become worn with time, and are unlikely to manage the weigh...

 Ah, for a touch of sunlight! (actually, I'm expecting the weather at this site to either be dark and stormy, or cold and snowy/icy. TBD, I suppose, but getting outside may not actually be pleasant). In any case, continuing east from the Serpent Mural and passing through a heavy, steel door (unsecured; actually, let's say the door is secured with a metal bar on the west side, so the party sees that's a way doors are secured, but aren't held up by it). This large space lacks a roof. It's dominated by a 5' radius bowl made of sandstone which appears to be free-standing on the flagstones. Nature DC 18 check or appropriate lore to recognize that this sandstone isn't a local stone; the bowl must have been moved. The bowl rocks easily when touched. When a stone (from the rubble pile in the NE corner in particular) is placed in the bowl and everyone is clear, the bowl is launched upwards with explosive force, catapulting the stone. The bowl and be propped up at an ...

 Another day, another room. This room leading east from the winch room has been turned into a defensive chokepoint by the bandits laired in the tower. They've constructed chest-high walls behind the rubble, which provide cover and a good position to shoot from. The room rises up in a gentle ramp rising toward the east. But the most distinctive feature of this room is a massive mosaic across the whole south wall. The mosaic focuses on a blue dragon which has been encircled by a massive serpent, against a background of flames. Snakes writhe in anguish around the central figures, and many are being tortured by strange figures (a DC 18 religion or society check or appropriate lore recognizes these as ancient depictions of demons). Encounter (Moderate 1) 2x Ruffian Thugs , but armed with light crossbows and ten bolts instead of slings. One can cast Shield , the other casts Telekinetic Projectile . 1x Guard Dog , a fairly viscous and nasty one. The thugs take cover between the firing pos...

  Yet another room; we've figured out what's beyond the portcullis in the Spitting-cobra room. After all the party's efforts to get around the portcullis and the flame trap, this room might seem anti-climactic; after all, they can't continue past the landfall which has collapsed the tunnel (emphasize to a party interested in digging it out that it's likely a week's work; dangerous, as their efforts could dislodge rock from above; and unwise, as the other threats in the tower are not going to be idle). But the two doors, to the left and the right, lead out into courtyards (which let in some natural light), which will give the party access to several different areas. In fact, I think the party is going to get access to this room via the courtyard to the right, unless they want to risk the fire trap in 1-02; this area may be the first way the party has of accessing the left side (apart from one other long route); this means I'll probably put the level 1 content...

  Another room done. This room is very dusty, and mostly covered with the rubble from the collapsed rubble in the SW corner. This exposes a small room which apparently held the mechanism to open the portcullis between 1-01 and 1-02. The wall collapse damaged it badly, however, as shown by the length of chain decaying on the floor sticking out of the rubble. 'pipes' in the ceiling show where it once descended from, but nothing remains within reach by the party. The north end of the room (within 10 ft of the north wall) is filled floor-to-ceiling with spider webs (as the web spell, Reflex DC 18), although slashing damage only cuts away enough of the web to "suppress" the effect for a day (assuming the spiders survive to re-spin it). The corpse of a bandit is caught in the web; he carries a lesser drakeheart mutagen, 8 sp, a club and leather armor. If the players cut or burn away enough of the webs, they can access the winch mechanism. It needs force to get started (tot...

  A short, simple update for now. The Spitting Cobra chamber is a little more intact than the Collapsed Entrance. The recessed floor continues north to another closed portcullis. A door leads off both to the left and to the right. The door to the right will lead to tomorrow's room, 1-03; the door to the left and the portcullis will both lead further into the tower. To either side of the portcullis are two massive pillars, carved from the mountain stone to look like cobras, hoods flaring, fangs bared and tongs hissing. Between them lies a dead bandit, burned past point of recognition. Note that despite the map, there is no way between the pillars and the nearby walls; the pillars extent to the nearest point of the wall. Hazard (Low 1) Fire-spitting statues Hazard 3 Fire   Evocation   Magical   Trap   Complexity  Simple Stealth  DC 20 (trained) Description  Both status spit a stream of fire which creates a wall occupying the spaces between them. Dis...

 And we're off! Good luck to everyone, and I hope you get lots of value out of this exercise.  The First Room Here it is 1-01: Collapsed Entrance Not much, and it's not super clear what's going on, since I haven't figured out how to fill out all the nice details (I'm using dungeonscrawl , based on a recommendation from someone on r/dungeon23 . Hopefully it works for me, since after a certain point it will be really difficult to switch to something else. One mistake I've made, as a result of not knowing dungeonscrawl: to the south (along the curved wall), that's an exterior wall, leading to the central courtyard. The other three directions lead further into the tower. I wanted the constructed portions to look clearly ruined and ancient, so this room is full of rubble collapsed onto the floor (mostly cave-ins of the floor above and the walls). The main door would have been in the center of the south wall, but it's been collapsed; the door on the left of th...