Arcane research facility

[EliodeGM]

Maybe the curved corridors should be ramps that connect to the upper level. So if you come through the centre passage you are in the lower section. Or the other way around.

[wdmartin]

Here's a new draft. I've made a couple cisterns and a mystic green slab with restraints for hapless test subjects.



I also set up shadows and lighting for the interior. The mystic slab emits green light, and there are blue torches throughout. The two top and bottom circular rooms are supposed to be open to the sky and allowing natural light in. I'll worry about lighting in the curvy corridors later. The central corridor I think I'll leave dark and add a couple of burned-out torches that no longer supply light.

Things to do:

- Need large angled mirrors in the two circular light rooms
- Need tubes leading from the cisterns to the slab, to carry vile arcane fluids
- Need a banister on the balcony
- Need furniture in: labs, bedrooms, cells, vampire crypts

I'll probably have to make my own tube and mirror assets. That'll be interesting, I'm not great at making assets from scratch.

Speaking of which, any feedback on the restraints on the slab? Are the recognizable? Floating in mid-air? I took a stab at them but I'm not sure they're working.

[EliodeGM]

As a base layer for the fixtures this is amazing. Really like the floor slabs and lighting.

[DrRhubarb]

In your first post you have that circular room on the far left as your entry point, but it seems to be closed off. Will there be a ladder down in or some sort of doorway entrance in? The overall layout also looks vaguely spaceship-like. Was that intentional? The lighting is looking good BTW. Looking forward to seeing vile arcane fluids flowing through.

[wdmartin]

Nope, no ladder.

Since this research facility was designed for comparatively high-level wizards, it's assumed you're going to teleport in. I'm planning to give my PCs some clues that will allow them to deduce where exactly they need to teleport to.

The other option would be breaking in via the two mirror rooms (currently sans mirrors), which have to be open to the sky to allow sunlight in.

[DrRhubarb]

Maybe a simple warded circle on the ground would indicate a spot to teleport in for some visual interest.

[NathanC]

I love this layout! it's such a departure from the norm!

What pattern are you using for the walls, I like it a lot.

[Reilith]

I love the story behind this map! And the design is representing the theme very well. I just don't know how I feel about no outside entry point without magic... Most places people teleport to have to be visited previously, Nightcrawler style. Maybe add some sort of servant entrance, like a small dingy stairwell where people can go in and out when they're cleaning?

[wdmartin]

Sorry for the slow response, other tasks beckoned!

@DrRhubarb - an excellent suggestion, which I have implemented in the most recent revision below.

@NathanC For the walls, I'm using MadCowChef's techniques, detailed in his battlemap tutorial. The one change is that instead of drawing lines across the wall texturing manually for the joins where bricks meet up, I used the "Craquelure" texture filter in Photoshop to generate some pseudo-random ones. There were a few places that I touched up manually. Mainly the thin walls separating the cells in the prison. The craquelure lines didn't really make visual sense there.

@Reilith I can understand that hesitation, but by the time they actually gain access to this place, they should be able to cast Greater Teleport, which only requires that you have a reliable description of your destination. Also I don't want them to have access before then -- I need them to go some other places first. In theory they could visit just two mini-dungeons from Book 5, then proceed to Book 6. In practice, doing that would get the party killed in short order. They need the XP and loot from at least six mini-dungeons to tackle Book 6, and if they don't have it, they'll be in big trouble. This dungeon is one of the two that they really have to visit to proceed to Book 6, so I've arranged matters such that there are two other not-as-crucial dungeons they need to go to in order to figure out how to get to this one.

And with no further adieu, here is a new draft:



I've added furniture.

- Privies have seats
- Bed chambers have beds, sans mattresses
- Library is stocked
- Kitchen is furnished, though I wouldn't want to cook anything in there
- Coffins have been placed in the crypt
- Prison cells have doors, and slivers of light giving any occupants false hope
- Teleportation circle placed in the entry
- Exsanguination chambers have horrific metal tables
- The horrific metal tables connect to a radiant distiller
- The radiant distiller connects to the resurcant altar
- The resurcant altar connects to the cisterns
- A series of mirrors direct concentrated beams of sunlight into the radiant distiller

I haven't put anything into the small rooms north and south of the main chamber. I think those may get to be closets full of cleaning supplies. It's a messy place.

I lightened up the shadows in the bedrooms and privies a bit. I want them fully dark, no light sources, but the original dark was obscuring the details of the area a bit too much.

Here's a handout I plan to give my players, probably in a nice handwriting font.

O Most Dread Lady Sorshen --

We have perfected a procedure for ensuring your own eternal youth at the expense of a bunch of worthless peasants. It works as follows:

1) Find or recruit some vampires. Make sure you have them under control somehow.

2) Find or abduct some peasants.

3) Have your minions attach a vampire and a peasant to the tables in the north exsanguination chamber.

4) Ditto for the south one.

5) Direct the mirrors so that the radiant distiller has plenty of light. (Yes, it has to be mirrors -- direct sunlight just wouldn't work for some reason. We tried.)

6) Hook yourself into the resurcant altar. The restraints are to keep you from twisting off in the throes of agony.

7) Just at noon, have your minions bleed the victims, both vampire and peasant. Their blood will mingle in the radiant distiller, where the power of the sun shall burn out the undead bits from the vampire blood, and the mortal bits from the peasant blood.

8) The resulting hybrid concoction will be fed directly into your heart by the resurcant altar, slowly replacing your original blood over the course of about fifteen minutes of pure, unadulterated pain more intense than any you have ever felt. Your old blood will be squirted out into cisterns. We tend to use it as vampire food afterwards, if you don't mind. Saves on peasants.

And voila! Eternal youth and beauty, no unfortunate allergies to garlic or sunlight. You don't get the change-into-a-bat thing, but you don't have to feast on the blood of the innocent either. I mean, any more than you already have, obviously. Unless you want to, I guess? Anyway! It may be painful and horrifically evil, but it's hard to argue with the results.

We're still not sure why this works, but it quite definitely does. Our initial test subject hasn't aged in fifteen years and routinely sunbathes on the most evil beach we could find while sipping evil piña coladas. Should you have any doubts as to the efficacy of the procedure, I would be most happy to undergo it myself so that you can observe and conduct your own tests.

Your loyal lieutentant -- Vielle Tenris

Any feedback or suggestions? It's feeling pretty much done at this point.

[Reilith]

Wow, this looks amazing, I have to say. I lpve the lightning and the eerie glow. I don't think you need much more work, podsibly a bit more furniture.

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