Gaslampgenie
2018-02-13, 04:42 PM
Had an idea for a dungeon. Thought I'd share to help inspire others and get some ideas to help me finish it from the community. Looking for some feedback and suggestions.
Rumors have reached the civilized world of a mountain deep within Karak's Spine that shrieks and screams as if it were alive! The populace of the surrounding villages and towns can sleep and are on the brink of insanity. They speak of demons and monsters and some, speak of hidden treasure.
In reality, after a landslide, a manic tribe of goblins that inhabits the middle levels of an extensive cave system laid into the great mountain have been exposed to the outside world for the first time in centuries. The goblins...well, they like to screech, and they are clearly insane but are not openly hostile nor aggressive and can be reasoned with...to a point. The small society of about 150 goblins is obsessed with the worship of a heavy chunk of metal that is curiously warm to the touch.
The caves are filled with the remains of a great many adventurer lured by the recent rumors of treasure or glory and laid low after upsetting the goblin tribe, wandering into the jaws of a lurking predator, or never finding their way out of the labyrinthian corridors of the cave.
Deep within the caves, hordes of monstrous creatures, sheltered for millennia from the outside world hold an unintentional vigil over raw gold and silver worth many a kingdom's fortune.
This tribe of goblins has likely spent hundreds of years isolated from outside influence. They are a raggedy, gaunt looking bunch with an ashey green complexion.**
The tribe practices obsessive worship over what they call the "warm stone" in uncharacteristicly well pronounced common (compared to their normal bumbling screeches). The warm stone is their deity and prized possession.
The tribe is locked in constant conflict with the "dark dobs", a rivaling tribe of sub-goblin creatures, likely twisted in form centuries ago by magic. The warm stone is the center of this conflict and often changes hands between the goblins and the dark dobs.*
Madness is almost celebrated amongst the tribe. Given that hearing voices is not an abnormal occurance, the general consensus in the tribe is that the warm stone speaking to them. The appropriate response to hearing voices is to sit down and screech at the top of ones lungs until the voices stop. This is to make sure the warm stone doesn't become sad because you didn't acknowledge it.
When a goblin starts to screech, nearby goblins will gather around it and wait silently for the screeching to stop, then clamor in toward the newly silent goblin and slap it to take some of the warm stone's love left within their compatriot. Thankfully, the practice of "slap slap" generally discourages faking hearing voices, but a particularly bored or attention starved goblin might just try it to liven up their day.
The dark dobs are twisted looking, grey skinned goblins with red eyes and fangs that protrude upward from their bottom lip. They live in the deeper parts of the caves beneath the tribe. Despite their appearance, they are not any more aggressive than the tribe. They are however, much stupider. The Dark Dobs were named by the tribe but no one really knows what dobs means.
Dark Dobs barely meet the requirements for sentience and have an extremely simplistic societal structure. There are many more dark dobs than members of the tribe and they typically live in clusters of small families of 5-10 dobs. A settled area of dobs likely consists of about 20 families all within ear shot of one another. It is not uncommon to find stray dobs settled in 1-3 family units.
Dobs are populous but not the told of their food chain. Larger, nasty creatures dwell deeper in the caves and will often feed on dobs. The dobs are intrinsically drawn to the warm stone, but no one knows why, and the dobs cant articulate the words to explain it.
Oddly enough, these goblins speak an extremely bastardized form of common with deteriorated grammar structure to the point where it causes confusion even amongst the goblins themselves.
The grammar centers around verbs or commands. A verb or command will always begin a sentence followed by the subject and any qualifications (If you can call them such).
A sentence is defined by the verb at the beginning and any statement involving multiple sentences is punctuated at the beginning of each new sentence after the first* by loudly screeching the verb beginning the new sentence. If a goblin were to tell you to "Turn back or I will stab you" they would say:
"Go you! POKE-POKE you. GOOOO not!"
In this example, the instruction comes first, then the statement of repercussion, then the if not statement. This is not the fixed order. In fact, those three sections could be arranged in any order, and this lack of standardized structure can lead to serious misunderstandings. As each goblin more or less defines their own grammar structure, fully understanding a goblin of this tribe requires a degree of familiarity with the speaker.
The warm stone is a large, polished, tear drop shaped chunk of uranium. The stone, when kept by the tribe is tied to the head of the chieftain. This eventually causes radiation poisoning and the chieftain begins to wither, losing teeth, becoming more pale, breaking out in sores and eventually dying. The tribe blames the death of each chief, each time it happens, on magic from the dark dobs and subsequently begin a furious, but always short lived (because the tribe forgets why) campaign against the dobs.
Breezy Caverns(home of the tribe): the first level of the cave is made up of large caverns connected by small passageways. Throughout the layer are small holes leading outside (typically 20+ feet long and too narrow for anyone larger than a goblin to fit through). Because the extensive network of caves and holes to the outside spread all around the mountain, there is a constant light breeze moving through all but the most secluded areas.
Fauna: Bats, Giant bats (rare), spiders, Giant spiders (rare), various grubs and beetles that feed on carrion, occasional rats and deer that fall in from the outside or have wandered in after a temporary food source.
Flora: sparse lichen growth in holes to the outside, molds and jelly fungi are commonly found on carrion and refuse near the passages out of the cave.
Tribe Ecosystem Interaction: The Goblin Tribe feeds primarily on farmed mushrooms, cockroaches, and preserved bat meat. The mushrooms are brought into the caves from outside and are farmed in logs scavenged from the surrounding area. Salt deposits are found throughout this level of the cave system and the tribe has become adept at using salt to preserve meats. The tribe will often cover the holes leading outside with brush to catch deer who unwittingly fall through the thin brush covers. Deer that fall into the caves by design or by happenstance are consumed and their bones and skin repurposed.
The Hollows: the second level of the caves is made up of a series of semi-spherical small chambers and thin tunnels giving it a "Swiss cheese" appearance. The Hollows are mostly devoid of life, but have small trickling streams running from the higher levels, down deeper into the caves. Most of the streams pass through winding passages into the lower levels unobstructed, but some of them hit dead ends and form small pools that support a meager assortment of life.
Fauna: Small fish (sparse), small aquatic insects, the hollows are often frequented by Dark Dobs, but they do not call it home, instead using it as transit to steal food and trinkets from the Tribe.
Flora: pooling water supports a minimal amount of algae that seems to subsist on the mineral content in the water. A species of fungi creates an interesting cycle with the fish native to the part of the caves. The fungi infects a fish and grows through its body, not affecting the fish until it's reproductive stage where the fish's body is torn apart by growth of the reproductive structures. These tumor like mounds break through the skin of the fish as they continue to grow and release spores into the water infecting other fish. The fish feed on the fungal growths as an important source of nutrients. It is unclear how this peculiar symbiosis developed in the first place but neither species would be able to survive in it's current environment without the other.
The Deep Dark: Home of the dark dobs and a host of other nasty creatures, this level of the cave system is rife with deep, wide, underground lakes and a surprisingly diverse ecosystem. Most of this level that isn't submerged is a huge open cavern, housing 3 great lakes.
Fauna: Dark Dobs, Otyughs (rare), olms, various fish,
Crawfish, carrion crawlers, troglodytes, beetles, myconids (rare)
Flora: Biolumenesent Fungi cover the ceiling of this section, creeping purple fungi (jelly like, unclear what it feeds from) tends to grow in isolated patches, algae, small carnivorous plants
A large town about three days travel from the Screeching Mountain in the Karak's Spine mountain range. This town supports a population of about 10,000. Primary industry is iron and stone mined from the surrounding hills. Hospitality industry is also disproportionately large compared to the population as it is the largest town near the mountain pass through Karak's Spine and often sees a great many travelers headed in either direction. Almost half of the miners and supply train workers in Nemmel come from other parts of the continent searching for employment. The largely transient work force combined with the volume of travelers results in a populace that is unwelcoming of all but the closest acquaintances, and justifiably so. Crime is common in Nemmel and people often go missing. The people of Nemmel are generally unconcerned with the commings and goings of the rest of the world, but a traveler could, if so inclined, find out a lot about the world from this uniquely disparate collection of townsfolk.
Despite its dealing in the iron trade, Nemmel has only mid-grade smiths who primarily craft tools and hardware for wagons, horses, and construction. However, as with its people, Nemmel seems to find an eclectic collection of goods from all over the world in its markets, even if those goods are sparse and usually sold at a premium.
Any common good can be regularly found in Nemmel's market district except high quality weapons and armor, which are not made or imported.
The foreign market in Nemmel is full of a wide variety of goods and virtually any non-legendary weapons, armor and trinkets can be found here. A roll, DC depending on the item, must be made to find that item in the foreign market and its price will be increased by 50%
A tiny, unnamed village set at the foot of the Screeching Mountain. Population of about 50. Exports a small quantity of furs. Population is superstitious and suspicious of outsiders, but the Screeching from the mountain has brought the populace to a panic. They believe they are cursed.
The people of the village, while normally not welcoming of outsiders are happy to help any adventurer willing to investigate the source of the screaming.
The village has simple food and drink available along with cold weather clothing and basic mountaineering equipment (ropes, simple mountain axes, lanterns, metal hooks, etc)
The villagers will provide the starting equipment for the mountain to adventurers at a steeply discounted rate
The village elder and shaman can provide adventurers with information about the mountain and surrounding area. They know nothing about the caves other than crazed rumors from depleted travelers that got lost on their path and ended up at the village.
Would love suggestions on diet for the tribe and Dobs, local flora and fauna, societal practices, and potential points of interest.
Rumors have reached the civilized world of a mountain deep within Karak's Spine that shrieks and screams as if it were alive! The populace of the surrounding villages and towns can sleep and are on the brink of insanity. They speak of demons and monsters and some, speak of hidden treasure.
In reality, after a landslide, a manic tribe of goblins that inhabits the middle levels of an extensive cave system laid into the great mountain have been exposed to the outside world for the first time in centuries. The goblins...well, they like to screech, and they are clearly insane but are not openly hostile nor aggressive and can be reasoned with...to a point. The small society of about 150 goblins is obsessed with the worship of a heavy chunk of metal that is curiously warm to the touch.
The caves are filled with the remains of a great many adventurer lured by the recent rumors of treasure or glory and laid low after upsetting the goblin tribe, wandering into the jaws of a lurking predator, or never finding their way out of the labyrinthian corridors of the cave.
Deep within the caves, hordes of monstrous creatures, sheltered for millennia from the outside world hold an unintentional vigil over raw gold and silver worth many a kingdom's fortune.
This tribe of goblins has likely spent hundreds of years isolated from outside influence. They are a raggedy, gaunt looking bunch with an ashey green complexion.**
The tribe practices obsessive worship over what they call the "warm stone" in uncharacteristicly well pronounced common (compared to their normal bumbling screeches). The warm stone is their deity and prized possession.
The tribe is locked in constant conflict with the "dark dobs", a rivaling tribe of sub-goblin creatures, likely twisted in form centuries ago by magic. The warm stone is the center of this conflict and often changes hands between the goblins and the dark dobs.*
Madness is almost celebrated amongst the tribe. Given that hearing voices is not an abnormal occurance, the general consensus in the tribe is that the warm stone speaking to them. The appropriate response to hearing voices is to sit down and screech at the top of ones lungs until the voices stop. This is to make sure the warm stone doesn't become sad because you didn't acknowledge it.
When a goblin starts to screech, nearby goblins will gather around it and wait silently for the screeching to stop, then clamor in toward the newly silent goblin and slap it to take some of the warm stone's love left within their compatriot. Thankfully, the practice of "slap slap" generally discourages faking hearing voices, but a particularly bored or attention starved goblin might just try it to liven up their day.
The dark dobs are twisted looking, grey skinned goblins with red eyes and fangs that protrude upward from their bottom lip. They live in the deeper parts of the caves beneath the tribe. Despite their appearance, they are not any more aggressive than the tribe. They are however, much stupider. The Dark Dobs were named by the tribe but no one really knows what dobs means.
Dark Dobs barely meet the requirements for sentience and have an extremely simplistic societal structure. There are many more dark dobs than members of the tribe and they typically live in clusters of small families of 5-10 dobs. A settled area of dobs likely consists of about 20 families all within ear shot of one another. It is not uncommon to find stray dobs settled in 1-3 family units.
Dobs are populous but not the told of their food chain. Larger, nasty creatures dwell deeper in the caves and will often feed on dobs. The dobs are intrinsically drawn to the warm stone, but no one knows why, and the dobs cant articulate the words to explain it.
Oddly enough, these goblins speak an extremely bastardized form of common with deteriorated grammar structure to the point where it causes confusion even amongst the goblins themselves.
The grammar centers around verbs or commands. A verb or command will always begin a sentence followed by the subject and any qualifications (If you can call them such).
A sentence is defined by the verb at the beginning and any statement involving multiple sentences is punctuated at the beginning of each new sentence after the first* by loudly screeching the verb beginning the new sentence. If a goblin were to tell you to "Turn back or I will stab you" they would say:
"Go you! POKE-POKE you. GOOOO not!"
In this example, the instruction comes first, then the statement of repercussion, then the if not statement. This is not the fixed order. In fact, those three sections could be arranged in any order, and this lack of standardized structure can lead to serious misunderstandings. As each goblin more or less defines their own grammar structure, fully understanding a goblin of this tribe requires a degree of familiarity with the speaker.
The warm stone is a large, polished, tear drop shaped chunk of uranium. The stone, when kept by the tribe is tied to the head of the chieftain. This eventually causes radiation poisoning and the chieftain begins to wither, losing teeth, becoming more pale, breaking out in sores and eventually dying. The tribe blames the death of each chief, each time it happens, on magic from the dark dobs and subsequently begin a furious, but always short lived (because the tribe forgets why) campaign against the dobs.
Breezy Caverns(home of the tribe): the first level of the cave is made up of large caverns connected by small passageways. Throughout the layer are small holes leading outside (typically 20+ feet long and too narrow for anyone larger than a goblin to fit through). Because the extensive network of caves and holes to the outside spread all around the mountain, there is a constant light breeze moving through all but the most secluded areas.
Fauna: Bats, Giant bats (rare), spiders, Giant spiders (rare), various grubs and beetles that feed on carrion, occasional rats and deer that fall in from the outside or have wandered in after a temporary food source.
Flora: sparse lichen growth in holes to the outside, molds and jelly fungi are commonly found on carrion and refuse near the passages out of the cave.
Tribe Ecosystem Interaction: The Goblin Tribe feeds primarily on farmed mushrooms, cockroaches, and preserved bat meat. The mushrooms are brought into the caves from outside and are farmed in logs scavenged from the surrounding area. Salt deposits are found throughout this level of the cave system and the tribe has become adept at using salt to preserve meats. The tribe will often cover the holes leading outside with brush to catch deer who unwittingly fall through the thin brush covers. Deer that fall into the caves by design or by happenstance are consumed and their bones and skin repurposed.
The Hollows: the second level of the caves is made up of a series of semi-spherical small chambers and thin tunnels giving it a "Swiss cheese" appearance. The Hollows are mostly devoid of life, but have small trickling streams running from the higher levels, down deeper into the caves. Most of the streams pass through winding passages into the lower levels unobstructed, but some of them hit dead ends and form small pools that support a meager assortment of life.
Fauna: Small fish (sparse), small aquatic insects, the hollows are often frequented by Dark Dobs, but they do not call it home, instead using it as transit to steal food and trinkets from the Tribe.
Flora: pooling water supports a minimal amount of algae that seems to subsist on the mineral content in the water. A species of fungi creates an interesting cycle with the fish native to the part of the caves. The fungi infects a fish and grows through its body, not affecting the fish until it's reproductive stage where the fish's body is torn apart by growth of the reproductive structures. These tumor like mounds break through the skin of the fish as they continue to grow and release spores into the water infecting other fish. The fish feed on the fungal growths as an important source of nutrients. It is unclear how this peculiar symbiosis developed in the first place but neither species would be able to survive in it's current environment without the other.
The Deep Dark: Home of the dark dobs and a host of other nasty creatures, this level of the cave system is rife with deep, wide, underground lakes and a surprisingly diverse ecosystem. Most of this level that isn't submerged is a huge open cavern, housing 3 great lakes.
Fauna: Dark Dobs, Otyughs (rare), olms, various fish,
Crawfish, carrion crawlers, troglodytes, beetles, myconids (rare)
Flora: Biolumenesent Fungi cover the ceiling of this section, creeping purple fungi (jelly like, unclear what it feeds from) tends to grow in isolated patches, algae, small carnivorous plants
A large town about three days travel from the Screeching Mountain in the Karak's Spine mountain range. This town supports a population of about 10,000. Primary industry is iron and stone mined from the surrounding hills. Hospitality industry is also disproportionately large compared to the population as it is the largest town near the mountain pass through Karak's Spine and often sees a great many travelers headed in either direction. Almost half of the miners and supply train workers in Nemmel come from other parts of the continent searching for employment. The largely transient work force combined with the volume of travelers results in a populace that is unwelcoming of all but the closest acquaintances, and justifiably so. Crime is common in Nemmel and people often go missing. The people of Nemmel are generally unconcerned with the commings and goings of the rest of the world, but a traveler could, if so inclined, find out a lot about the world from this uniquely disparate collection of townsfolk.
Despite its dealing in the iron trade, Nemmel has only mid-grade smiths who primarily craft tools and hardware for wagons, horses, and construction. However, as with its people, Nemmel seems to find an eclectic collection of goods from all over the world in its markets, even if those goods are sparse and usually sold at a premium.
Any common good can be regularly found in Nemmel's market district except high quality weapons and armor, which are not made or imported.
The foreign market in Nemmel is full of a wide variety of goods and virtually any non-legendary weapons, armor and trinkets can be found here. A roll, DC depending on the item, must be made to find that item in the foreign market and its price will be increased by 50%
A tiny, unnamed village set at the foot of the Screeching Mountain. Population of about 50. Exports a small quantity of furs. Population is superstitious and suspicious of outsiders, but the Screeching from the mountain has brought the populace to a panic. They believe they are cursed.
The people of the village, while normally not welcoming of outsiders are happy to help any adventurer willing to investigate the source of the screaming.
The village has simple food and drink available along with cold weather clothing and basic mountaineering equipment (ropes, simple mountain axes, lanterns, metal hooks, etc)
The villagers will provide the starting equipment for the mountain to adventurers at a steeply discounted rate
The village elder and shaman can provide adventurers with information about the mountain and surrounding area. They know nothing about the caves other than crazed rumors from depleted travelers that got lost on their path and ended up at the village.
Would love suggestions on diet for the tribe and Dobs, local flora and fauna, societal practices, and potential points of interest.