The Screeching Caves

[Gaslampgenie]

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.

Spoiler: The Screeching Caves

Show

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.

Spoiler: The Tribe

Show

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.

Spoiler: The Dark Dobs

Show

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.

Spoiler: Tribe Language

Show

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.

Spoiler: The Warm Stone

Show

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.

Spoiler: Breezy Caverns

Show

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.

Spoiler: The Hollows

Show

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.

Spoiler: Deep Dark

Show

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

Spoiler: Nemmel

Show

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%

Spoiler: Unnamed Village

Show

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.

[brian 333]

I would begin by suggesting radiation and uranium are unknown. Pitchblende might be known to miners, but it is a fairly useless mineral. Magic, however, would explain the situation adequately, and the curse of the stone might be that to benefit the tribe its true ruler must give his life to the stone.

This is only a suggestion.

Food for cave dwellers tends to come in from outside. Bats are a common delivery mechanism, dumping tons of guano after a night out. The guano hosts a whole biome in the dark.

Roaches and crickets directly eat the droppings, and the bats who fall from their roosts. Spiders eat the insects. Goblins eat the spiders.

Sinkholes are natural traps for animals. The goblins roof over sinkholes to hide the entrances, and turf over and bait the cover to attract animals onto the trap. One easy, cheap bait is mineral salt, which might be available in the caves. Place a block of salt in the center of the trapdoor, and herbivores will come from miles around.

Fungi are not really common in caves, but mushroom farms make extensive use of caves. Oak logs typically serve as hosts for such fungi.


So, with this in mind, let's propose the following:

Goblin children scrape through the guano seeking nice juicy insects and other tidbits that try to scurry away, and many goblin soups begin with a high protein bug base.

Older youths try to net bats, or throw stones at their roosts to get a few bites of red meat, and bat recipes are common in the caves.

Fungi farms are the staple, taking the place of bread in agrarian cultures. The females of the tribes tend them.

Older goblins tend the sinkhole traps, the proceeds of which are apportioned by the goblin elders. They also lead foraging parties out to gather logs for the farms, game they can catch, and other useful items.



The dark dobs live deeper in the cave system, blocked from the surface by the goblins. They have to scavenge the refuse of the goblins and steal what they can.

Their primary foods are the cave fish and crayfish of the deep lakes under the mountains. Because of this they are skilled swimmers.

Capturing live goblins provides food and entertainment, as live bound goblins are tossed into the nursery pit. Corpses of any kind are food as well.

The dark dobs may be involved with other monsters who are controlled by them such as through feeding the scraps of their feasts, through protecting their nests, or through simple proximity. Shriekers, for example, act as an alarm system and anyone near a shrieker is protected by it even if only because it shrieks when disturbed.

They may also be under the control of other monsters, such as an otyugh which demands they provide it with garbage and offal in exchange for use of a passage near its lair.

[Gaslampgenie]

Really love the food chain and societal structure you laid out. Will definitely be incorporating all of that. The bats will likely develop into a significant symbol for the tribe as I get the feel for incorporating them into the food and daily life.
For the dobs, absolutely love the idea of having a bunch of pivotal relationships with the other deep dwelling creatures and The aquatic diet makes a lot of sense. The otyugh (and I had to look up what that was) is A really good addition especially because it can send telepathic instruction to a race that can barely be considered to have a language. That fits how it would be able to communicate more complex desires and forge a symbiosis with the dobs.

I need you to sell me on not using uranium as the stone. In my mind it seems to be a good fit. No one will know what it is or why it's making those near it sick. And the radiation will be an interesting twist as most attempts to dispel the "curse" won't work.

[brian 333]

Please don't change anything on my sayso; I'm just offering food for thought.

The uranium idea is fine if you want to play it that way, my suggestion was based on a personal bias against mixing science and fantasy. Magic rocks that can't be dispelled, in my opinion, don't require scientific explanation. But that is your choice, and I have no desire to sell you on my ideas. You are free to choose the bits you like and discard the rest.


Some other ideas:

The list of troglobite species is very long, but tend to be limited in our world to a few species in any particular cave system or watershed. In New Zealand cave roofs appear to be starry skies from the glow worms that make slime webs on the ceiling to capture lost flying insects. In the US West blind salamanders roam the deep caves. Some very hot or caustic springs host cave shrimp, which also exist in many other forms in other caves. There are bacteria which consume limestone, deriving chemical energy from it. And I'd need an encyclopedia to list them all.

Google Troglobyte Ecosystems for more ideas on subterranean life on Earth.

Here is a description of a cave in my campaign:
The floor of the passageway is covered with tiny white bat bones, and red-eyed, white furred bats roost in the flowstone folds that hang like pleated curtains from the ceiling. Here and there what appears to be a patch of green algae dribbles down the walls like splats of mud. Ahead and behind the glow of torches these patches glow with a pale sickly green glow that illuminates nothing. The water-carved passage twists again and opens to reveal a massive open space beyond: a garden of giant mushrooms illuminated by the green glow of a ceiling covered with a thick mat of the glowing green algae which hangs in sheets and ropes, dangling down on stalagtites and other ceiling features. From the vantage at the end of the passage is a crude stair, possibly formed by falling water, which leads down to the cavern floor.

[Gaslampgenie]

Awesome imagery man! The line about the glow illuminating nothing brought me there.
I am familiar with the western US cave ecosystems and was planning to have a few oddly adapted critters deep down much like the Olm.
At the very deepest levels of the cave I want to have something splashy and striking. Was thinking about a subterrainian volcanic feel full of sulfur and minerals/rock formations (possibly bismuth outcroppings) that feel alien and a little unsettling.
The specifics for the deepest level and a big bad are where I'm struggling the most. I need an endgame that makes it feel epic!
Have any good ideas I can steal for spitballing?
And thank you! You've already given some awesome feedback!

[brian 333]

Gypsum formations are awesome too. Some are quite striking.

Down in the lower levels approaching the bottom are hot springs, occasional steam geysers, and mud pots. The hot springs range from warm to boiling, and often contain highly caustic mineral-laden water. The mud pots have a variety of viscuous muds from pinkish to stark white to the normal tans and browns of mud, and these pots range from mud-bath warm to boiling. They can also be caustic enough to take off a layer of skin

This is the realm of Steam Mephits and Mudmen who relish the oppressive heat and humidity.

Farther down the heat becomes oppressive and sulphurous fumes reach lethal levels. The humidity which was so prevalent throughout the cave vanishes, and steam is replaced with geysers of searing hot air. The floor and walls are covered in crystalline formations, many of which appear as flowers or geometrical plants. Some crystalline formations reach from wall to wall and floor to ceiling like beams intentionally placed to brace the walls. Here everything bends sharply at 60° angles, from the frail crystal flowers to the massive buttresses, and every edge is a knife edge. Attempting to venture into this region unprotected is suicidal.

Salamanders and fire mephits wage constant war here, but they will delay their battle long enough to deal with intruders.

Deeper still occasional vents lead to live lava tubes which lead to a central lava lake which swirls and churns, shoving lava-bergs around until they are consumed by the lake again. On the shore of the lake is a village of Lava Children who live like fishermen harvesting the creatures which live in the lava.

Optional image:
Black cinders lead down like a beach to a lake of lava, swirling and churning slowly. On the far shore a honeycomb structure stands out as a bit of order in the chaos of the cavern which has no roof, it's black walls ascending seemingly forever up into blackness. Out on the lake, what at first appeared to bebut one of many broken boulders strewn across the lake begins to move toward the shore, four legs paddling...

No! Paddles! Oars, stroking methodically, propelling a boat of lava-blackened brass as if it were a dinghy on a pond. On board are two black shapes like dwarves, but man-high at least, pulling their oars with practiced ease, guiding it strait toward the party on the beach.

[jqavins]

For the Final Fight with the Big Bad (FFBB; should that be a standard term?) how about some awakened creature? Something that was slumbering, hibernating, stuck, or simply content until the mountain shifted; the shrieking goblins were exposed to the outside, and the BB was awakened (or set free, or whatever). Sticking with the volcanic theme, it could be a fire elemental, lava para-elemental, or efreeti. For a different sort of deep cave environment, it could be an earth elemental or some homebrewed non-corporeal creature of pure darkness, disturbed by the intrusion of light. Dragons are always an option. You could even have the shrieking goblins be, much to the party's surprise, grateful when the Big Bad is defeated.

[Gaslampgenie]

Added updates to the post! More to come

Black cinders lead down like a beach to a lake of lava, swirling and churning slowly. On the far shore a honeycomb structure stands out as a bit of order in the chaos of the cavern which has no roof, it's black walls ascending seemingly forever up into blackness. Out on the lake, what at first appeared to bebut one of many broken boulders strewn across the lake begins to move toward the shore, four legs paddling...

No! Paddles! Oars, stroking methodically, propelling a boat of lava-blackened brass as if it were a dinghy on a pond. On board are two black shapes like dwarves, but man-high at least, pulling their oars with practiced ease, guiding it strait toward the party on the beach

Brilliant man!
I absolutely love the idea of the lava children. I think I will use them as a passive background entity that won't have any direct role unless the party bothers them. Mephits and salamanders fit really well for the area.

For the Final Fight with the Big Bad (FFBB; should that be a standard term?) how about some awakened creature? Something that was slumbering, hibernating, stuck, or simply content until the mountain shifted; the shrieking goblins were exposed to the outside, and the BB was awakened (or set free, or whatever). Sticking with the volcanic theme, it could be a fire elemental, lava para-elemental, or efreeti. For a different sort of deep cave environment, it could be an earth elemental or some homebrewed non-corporeal creature of pure darkness, disturbed by the intrusion of light. Dragons are always an option. You could even have the shrieking goblins be, much to the party's surprise, grateful when the Big Bad is defeated.

First off, dig FFBB and I'm gonna use it. I really like the idea of the goblins being thrilled about the big bad dying. Now thinking that maybe it could be the cause of their madness in the first place and thereby relieve the shrieking when big bad is gone. I always wanted the goblins to be irritating but not bad and ideally the party will never actually fight them.
I will be putting some FFBB seed ideas in the next post update! Great suggestions!

[jqavins]

I just got to reading the newer material in the opening post. The fish-fungus cycle in The Hollows is an interesting idea, but incomplete. This can't work unless the fish and/or the fungus gets additional calories, simple mass, and trace nutrients from something else in addition to feeding on each other. All of these things are lost to the environment by all living things, and must be replaced, so a closed cycle can't persist.

[brian 333]

Additional nutrients come in with the water, allowing hydras, snails, and other filter feeders to dine on the currents, and fish eat them as well as each other. The way the fungus farm worked in my original campaign was by goblins importing mulch from the forest floor and adding in their garbage, but bat guano might prove such a rich fertilizer that giant fungi might adapt to serve as a bat roost.


***

The black stone of the walls and the occasional bit of black debris floating on the lava contrasted sharply with the dull red glow of the lake which cast red reflections on the folds of the walls. The ceiling, if there was one, was lost in the darkness high above.

A brass boat skimmed across the lava leaving a yellow-red wake behind it. Two rowers working in rythm stroked long oars while a third crewman operated a tiller in the stern. A fourth rider leaned forward on the high prow of the boat with a long brass pole in hand, pushing the floating black slabs and boulders out of the boat's path. The walls of the lava chamber rose vertically on either side, narrowing to a point ahead where they curved together, a wall of black glass toward which the boat rowed.

A growling could be heard ahead; a slow scrape of massive stone against stone. The narrowing of the chamber created a log-jam of lava slabs which the foremost crewman poked with his pole until one slab slid screeching forward. And then the rest of the mass broke loose and, together with the boat went running down a stream of lava which plunged into a huge black tube golwing in yellow-red lava-light.

The course of the stream was not steep, but the current was strong. The rowers shipped their oars, the blades of which glowed with white heat, and the crewman on the tiller guided the craft along the slight meanders of the stream as it flowed. Debris which came close to the walls got caught in the slag which had welded itself to the smooth walls of the tube, but the center was a highway marked in flowing, brightly glowing lava.

The huge tube opened up, its fierce current merging into a second lake of lava in a series of meanders and whirlpools, but the far side of this lake was shadowed, and the ceiling was visible only a few hundred feet overhead. Black stalagtites covered the ceiling glistening as if wet scattering reflections of the lava-glow. The shores of this lake were coated with black slabs, some of which were shoved up the slope or tilted among the black slabs cooling around the edges of the lake.

A headland jutted into the lake: a massive pillar of black lumpy stone from floor to ceiling, connected to the left side wall by a jagged ridge of black glass. A cloud rose from the cracked shards, pink against the background red. The cloud grew from below, swirling above the peaks, and avoiding the dangling stalgtites.

The rowers set their oars and began to stroke into the calm pool of lava. Ahead of the boat lava boiled and the rowers stopped to watch a creature of magma rise from the depths of the lake, its form distorted by cooling slag and slumping lava. In the stone-on-stone speech of its kind it screeched at the boat. The figure on the boat's prow spoke a phrase of magic and became engulfed in flame. It swung the flaming pole in an arc then screeched in the language of elementals. The lava creature subsided into its pool, bits of its partially cooled skin left floating on the lake. The rowers resumed their chore and the tillerman kept the boat in the center of the lake, away from the cooling slabs accumulated on the lakeshores.

The channel swept close to the base of the pillar, and around the turn the cavern opened up, vaulting high above a sea of lava. On the surface of the sea fire elementals danced, massive creatures rendered tiny by the scale of the chamber. Here and there flotsam built itself into jumbled islands and other places were kept clear by upwellings or eddies slowly churning the surface.

Above the swirling pink cloud dipped down. Bats, dark red on top and colorless from below, dropped down to screech at the boat in their millions, and though the edge of the cloud overlapped the boat, no individual bat flew within twenty feet of it. Then the bats appeared to lose interest in the boat and the cloud thinned as bats fell like rain into the shattered ridge of obsidian.

A creature like a rope looped up from a pool of lava to encircle a group of boulders, squeezing and dragging them down. A handfull of red mephits leapt from their broken sanctuary, two to run off across the surface of the lava pool, two to fly off in opposite directions, and one to be snatched by the five-sided maw of the rope-creature, which plunged back into lake with its prize.

The boat rowed out toward the center, toward an island that stood tall in the distance on a flat sea. The ceiling above mirrored the island below, reaching down but never touching the summit of the island. The scale of the tiny island became apparent when the boat came nearer. A terraced beach proved to be strewn with massive hexagonal cylinders. What had appeared to be a wharf was a thirty foot tall wall of five-foot hexagonal cylinders standing vertically.

A shelf of cooling lava eventually stopped the boat and the crew stepped off after stowing their gear. The first dragged a chain from the prow and hooked it onto a jagged rock to secure the boat, then followed the rest up the scattered debris to the terraced beach. Each paving stone of the shore was a perfect five foot hexagon, each an inch or two higher or lower than its neighbors, forming a gradual beach with outcroppings of hexagonal cylinders standing taller than the uneven floor. Here the great cylinders were absent, but behind them the beach was covered with fallen columns and shards of obsidian.

Up-slope the dock merged with the ground and the path continued along a twisting ridge paved in five foot black hexagons. The reflected glow from the ceiling gave shadowless illumination along its length until it penetrated the wall of columns that rose up beyond. Up the path the group appeared tiny on the massive road and miniscule as they entered the shadow.

The tunnel was only a few yards deep when it opened into an empty cylinder beyond which a massive brass door was hung. It was a double door five feet on each panel, and thirty feet high to an arched lintel. Around the courtyard were the ubiquitous five foot hexagonal paving stones. Alcoves in the walls were simply columns missing from the pattern, and strange, often striking flame-patterns and lava sculptures decoratex them. Beside the entrance hung a huge gong of brass, and one of the boatmen lifted the giant mallet from its rack to strike the rim.

They arrayed themselves in a row, one standing apart from the rest. And waited.

The slow tread of feet could be felt in the stone and the group knelt and bowed when the brass hinges squealed. The door swung slowly open to the protest of tortured hinges, and within the darkness orange flame illuminated blackness. It exited.

It was almost as tall as the door, and as wide as a single panel of the matched pair. Its naked skin was a light-drinking blackness so dark that no detail of the skin could be seen. But its hair, eyebrows and eyes were orange flames. Its finger and toenanils were as well, and a brass harness that held a sheathed sword glowed with heat.

The foreward member babbled in a hissing, sinuous tongue and gestured. The nearest boatman rose and removed what appeared to be a pack from beneath its cloak. It unrolled into an ornate carpet covered in gems, cut and polished. The leader sputtered and hissed as the crewman removed each item then rolled up the carpet and returned to his place.

The second crewman stepped forward and unrolled a similar carpet, this one covered in ceramic bowls and urns filled with gold and silver coins and ingots. Even as the crewman unloaded them the softer metals began to melt. The flame-headed giant lifted a bowl and sipped pure gold. His tongue of flame licked hiz black lips leaving a residue of gilding behind.

Then the third approached and unrolled his carpet, upon which a screaming human lay, his naked skin burning in the fierce volcanic heat. The boatman jabbed a ring onto a crisping finger and the nearly dead human resumed screaming when his body healed enough to allow it. Bound wrist and ankle by coils of brass wire, the human struggled in vain. The boatman rolled him off the carpet with a boot.

A rumbling hiss from the giant caused the leader to gesture the crew away from the courtyard. Ignoring the screaming human the boatmen entered the dark tunnel to the causeway beyond.

[Gaslampgenie]

I just got to reading the newer material in the opening post. The fish-fungus cycle in The Hollows is an interesting idea, but incomplete. This can't work unless the fish and/or the fungus gets additional calories, simple mass, and trace nutrients from something else in addition to feeding on each other. All of these things are lost to the environment by all living things, and must be replaced, so a closed cycle can't persist.

Guano and bits of carrion are carried down to these pools from the upper levels, which support a smattering of microorganisms and small Aquatics bugs. The bugs and microorganisms subsist on the minerals in the water and the remains of the fish killed by the fungi.

The black stone of the walls and the occasional bit of black debris floating on the lava contrasted sharply with the dull red glow of the lake which cast red reflections on the folds of the walls. The ceiling, if there was one, was lost in the darkness high above.

I want to use that as part of an exposition! Punched up a little preamble to what you made. I'm planning to use the below attached to yours as a hook to generate interest. Basically turning it into a story of a group hired by a cult to bring tribute to a demon trapped beneath the mountain, but little do they know, the gifts they bring will allow the demon to shed his fetters. At the last moment one of the group has a change of heart and sabotaged the tribute, stopping the demon from escaping in entirety.


They were deep underground. Deeper than any man ought to be, mused the party leader, as the 5 men and a dwarf navigated the winding tunnels far beneath Karak's Spine and the welcoming rays of the sun. Their grim purpose weighed heavier on them than the oppressive darkness or their burdensome cargo, but they needed that wretched metal boat to get where they were going, and more importantly the treasures of... various nature, that it held.
It had been 6 days since they set off and they had seen things that most would never believe. This was the party leaders first trip this far beneath the earth and he had seen Giant spider, screaming goblins, troglodytes, glowing mushrooms, and some rather horrid fish that still make him uncomfortable to remember, but he decided he would gladly take more of the giant spiders and screaming goblins than this darkness. They couldn't even see the ground with their lanterns! And the mage says that it isn't magical.
They had been reduced to putting their hands on each other's shoulders and letting the dwarf lead them as they stumbled deeper and deeper. Near as they could tell, the tunnel was about 7 ft tall and 5 ft wide, but no one could be sure as they only knew where the walls were when someone collided with one.
As the damp stone floor began to slope downward the party could just barely make out a faint glow, deeper down. The glow became brighter and brighter and it began to grow hot. So hot in fact that the group had to shed their thick winter coats that protected them from the dank chill of the caves they had passed through. Finally, they came upon the source of the light. A great hole in the ground, 30ft wide that dropped into a massive cavern filled with lava. They began to ready the ropes to lower the brass rowboat and it's precious cargo down into the lava lake. They were almost there.

[brian 333]

Awesome adaptation.

The giant was an efrit, a djin of Fire, which accessed the core of the dying volcano from the elemental plane of fire.

I had imagined that the adventurer who had been delivered as a distraction would keep the efrit busy while the rest of his party snuck out of the boat and infiltrated the island unseen. I didn't show that because the attack on the efriti stronghold is another story.

I'm glad the boat got some attention. I have played with several ships that sailed elemental seas of fire since the cover art of the 1st ed. DMG. This was my first lava boat.

The progressive dungeon idea is appealing. The story given so far would allow adventurers to delve, come up for air, dlve deeper, come up again, and work their way into the deepest realms level by level.

One might also put in ways to bypass mid-levels once they have been defeated. For example, a pool of water boils in the deepest levels erupting as a geyser higher up. A character buffed to survive a trip on a lava lake could jump in and be blasted hundreds of feet up to higher regions, if they can figure out how to land safely.

Friends and allies may be found in the cave for players interested in diplomacy, and building a support network to acquire thd manpower and supply train needed to maintain such an expedition would favor players whose interest is logistics. Therd is pldnty of campaign even if the PCs never leave home.

[Gaslampgenie]

Updated with descriptions of two relevant towns near the mountain.

Working on developing ways to allow quick transit in and out of the different levels. I think the geyser will be a good solution to transit from the deepest layers up to the deep dark or the hollows. For the upper levels/hollows I am considering a secret exit or a collapse that the party could cause that would open a new passage closer to the base of the mountain. The secret exit could be a positive result of diplomacy with the goblins instead of hostility.

One idea I was toying with since the beginning is an NPC that has been living with the goblins for several months as an involuntary "warm stone prophet". After falling into one of the holes in the upper layers this unlucky cartographer was able to ingratiate himself with the goblins and accidentally become a religious leader. He has been treated to all the fine foods and comfort the goblins have to offer (which is woefully inadequate), but has been unable to leave. The unmapped twisting passages of the caves would likely lead him to his death and the goblins have no desire to see him go. He knows a great deal about the goblin society and is happy to offer his map making services to any party willing to get him a decent meal and passage away from the goblins. The party can get hi out any way they wish but realistic repercussions will be enforced for force or failed subterfuge.