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Thread: May/June '20 Lite Challenge: The Living Dungeon

  1. #11
    Guild Expert rdanhenry's Avatar
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    I'm glad you like it, Bogie. I console myself that in-universe, the only one who could have drawn this map was a very old wizard, so if his hand shook a little, it makes sense. Of course, he did have certain advantages as a wizard, such as access to white ink from the albino squid.

    Grid now shows in the rooms, which was always the intent.

    This pretty much finishes drawing the dungeon. There would be various furnishings and nests and bits of scattered treasure, but those vary over time. The fixed features are mapped. Numbers to key the dungeon with are pretty much what remains there (and I hope to do some more on the lore, as well), but I still want to use the upper right to show the environs of the entrance (especially since that sunken road to the entrance in the inspiration pick would be such a good spot for an ambush).

    Actually, I can add a bit of lore right now.

    Once they were down the stairs at the end of the entrance hallway, the walls changed. The entry looked like a little castle gate, the interior walls and floor had been smoothly worked and fitted stone, but once the real interior was reached, it was all a bit rough-hewn. The floors were basically smooth, but the walls and ceilings had only been roughly carved from the native stone. Even the occasional crack in the stone had not been plastered over.

    This was not entirely unexpected. The little sage in the pricey little village styled Wyvern Heights had told them as much, for a fee he justified by referring to the outlandish rents he 'had to pay' to be close to his research subjects (what exactly he was researching in a luxurious hilltop settlement for the elite, he was rather vague on). Aklov, it seemed had wanted to keep to the theme of his "living dungeon" by making the appearance more "organic" and less "engineered" by leaving it as rough as was compatible with assuring a functional delve. Moisture gleamed on many of the walls, the dampness contributing to the sense that they were in a creature of stone.

    So far, the fighting had been easy enough. They had encountered a couple of silvercats that probably wouldn't have fought if they hadn't been cornered and some Blood Horde goblins that probably would have fought if they'd been trolls with blatantly magical weapons. The Blood Horde was fierce and savage, but they were still just goblins, and there hadn't been that many. Now, they sought the source of the sound they'd been hearing almost since they first entered: a steady, rhythmic throbbing.

    Beyond a door, they found the source of the sound. A large mass of metal pulsed with steady movement and the noise of water being moved through pipe. It was a pump system of some kind, though more complicated than any the adventurers had ever seen. They had no immediate chance to study it, however, as from around the other side of the great machine slithered a thing that was not a wolf, was not a lizard, was not a bird, and yet was not a fire-spouting stag, but somehow suggested all of these at once...


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  2. #12
    Guild Expert rdanhenry's Avatar
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    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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  3. #13
    Guild Expert rdanhenry's Avatar
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    Rooms and corridors are numbered. This is now technically a completed map, though I might do a bit more on it.

    A few dozen wood folk lay dead behind them. Before them was the entrance to the Living Dungeon, like the gate of a little castle buried in the forest soil.

    "It does not look like anything special," said the mysterious man in black. "I mean, it looks a little like a face, but that's only because we are naturally inclined to see things as faces. A circle, two dots, and a line are all it takes."

    A low, rumbling laugh came from the yawning entrance.

    "Perhaps there is more to the things of this world than their superficial appearances. I like to think that I am at least a little bit special."

    The eyes of the androgynous humanoid widened. "So, it is true! You do speak!"

    "On the occasion that I have something that I wish to say. You are welcome to enter, but you do so at your own risk. A living dungeon is still a dungeon, full of peril and promise. If you are worthy of the rewards, that should be warning enough. I have spoken."

    "Any hints about what's inside you at the moment?"

    There was no reply.


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  4. #14
    Guild Expert rdanhenry's Avatar
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    Okay, I've tried adding a parchment texture (one of Mouse's: Thanks, Mouse!). Any opinions on whether or not this is an improvement?

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  5. #15
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    A parchment background always improves a map! and I think you could even make it more prominent in this case. I also think it would look nice if you lowered the opacity on the colour a bit, maybe make it a bit transparent so the texture shines through.

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