Well, now it looks crudely hand-painted as well as hand-drawn. I'm not ecstatic about the exterior, but I don't hate it, so it probably stands. I still need to label the map for use, and I want to provide a system-agnostic key (to explain the permanent features and give a GM guidance to finish it up for actual use).
I might try a few frills like a border or a faint parchment texture, but I think for the most part that given time constraints, I've hit the point where efforts to improve the look are otherwise more likely to make things worse. I am, however, confident of finishing.
Oh, and some more lore to explain the exterior map a little:
“The road to the Living Dungeon goes straight through the woods, a low wall to either side, but the whole gradually lowering compared to the surrounding landscape, for the entrance to the Living Dungeon is not raised above the land, but allows one to walk straight into the underground interior. Because of this design, you must beware ambushes on the road. The wood folk are not above ambushing and looting those they regard as suicidal in the first place.”
“Ambushes in the woods,” the stout, hairy one said with a roll of his eyes. “That’s a revelation.”
The look that the little sage gave in response was probably meant to be withering, but he was a little scholar and possibly the only one in the room who hadn’t met something that made “if looks could kill” a non-hypothetical, so it was ineffective.
“I am aware that being attacked while traveling through a mysterious forest is not uncommon, especially for individuals in your profession. However, this particular journey moves it from the realm of likelihood to near-certainty. Terrain provides an advantage to the attackers and the regularity of would-be dungeon-looters along the route ensures that lookouts are keep steadily on watch.”
“In that case,” the “scout” asked, “would it not be prudent to walk along the edge of the embankment rather than down on the road, only descending once we reached the dungeon entrance?”
“That would make ambush somewhat more difficult, but if you are unfamiliar with the risks of the local flora, it might make a more hazardous approach. There are sinister plants and fungi that threaten the unaware. Old magic protects the roadway, but once you depart from it, you are at risk. There may also be snares and traps set by the wood folk. These also are rapidly undone by the protective spells on the road itself, but without that protection, you must judge whether your skills would make the risks less than those of accepting attack from above.”
The sage scratched his head and creased his brow for a moment, then brightened.
“Ah! Even if you travel the forest itself, you are likely to be ambushed from above. The tree folk are quite adept at perching in trees and moving from one to another without descending. It is probably best to stay on the road.”
The feline looked up from where she had seemed to be napping, eyes shining.
“If we stay on the road, it is just forest all the way to the dungeon?”
“Yes, although above the entrance itself, you will find a flowering meadow. It is possible that the dungeon has some control over this meadow. It was Aklov’s conceit that this meadow, with its long, flowering grasses, would exist as the dungeon’s hair.”
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The Living Dungeon.png