Dungeon ‘23 - Week 22
The year is half over, and with it my first draft of The Castle of the Mad Sorcerer Ossifrage is half complete. It’s quite exciting having made it this far and still having a drive and desire to keep working on this project! The feedback I’ve gotten on this project over the last several months have played no small part in me continuing to work on the megadungeon, so thank you to everyone who has taken the time to look at it!
This week’s entry is a bit short since I worked ahead at the end of May to get Zone E finished up and added to a single post. I did draw a few extra rooms, but I didn’t write up the entries for them, so we’ll have to wait until next week for anything post F4 to be shared out. One thing I started doing this month is include a “Light” description at the beginning of each room’s entry. I really wish I would have thought of that, oh say… six months ago but at least I only have half a year to go back and update.
What are you going to do, huh?
F1- Spiral Staircase to First Floor
Light: Low, beams of sunlight filter in through narrow windows in the staircase.
A simple staircase that climbs up from the antechamber into the second level of the keep.
Door opens to the Guest’s Corridor.
F2 - Guest’s Corridor
Light: Medium, wall sconces give off warm light and arrow slits let in narrow beams of sunlight.
A corridor connecting the keep’s guest chambers. Four locked doors on the north wall and doors on the east and west ends connecting to the battlement and staircase respectively.
Lush red carpet runner stretches from one end to the other, muffling footsteps.
5 portraits, although only two have beastfolk attendants “residing” within them. The three empty portraits are labeled “Ossifrage,” “The Gardener,” and “The Great Demon Haborym.”
One of the “occupied” portraits depict Syr Roland Greatsnout, a dog-headed beastfolk who served as Ossifrage’s general during the war with Haborym and later his first castellan.
The other is of Samson the Builder, a bulldog-headed beastfolk who drafted the plans for the four towers that now contain the Heart of Haborym.
Both are serious and tad arrogant, but not unfriendly. Samson in particular enjoys telling tales of the castle’s history.
F3 - The Chamber of Lord Vember & the Lady Gadfly
Light: Medium, candelabra in the corner and iron chandelier hang from the ceiling.
A four-post bed with a canopy dominates the room. Armoire filled with fine clothes (worth 5,000 gp) and smaller dresser with a few personal effects (wallet with 1,000 gp).
Brass chamberpot half tucked beneath the bed.
Small (non-magical) portrait near bed hides a locked safe. Lord Vember holds on to the safe key at all times.
Safe contains a diamond tiara (5,000 gp), a lockbox with 10,000 gp in fey coinage, a signet ring of House Vember (500 gp), and a platinum torc (2,500 gp).
Stained-glass door leads to F4 - Guest Balcony.
F4 - Guest Balcony
Light: Bright during the day (sunlight), low during the night (moon and starlight).
Balcony overlooks the courtyard (Zone E). Boasts an overstuffed couch, a brazier always crackling with purple flames that keep the air just right in temperature and humidity, and a trio of string instruments that fill the air with light music.
4-in-6 chance of being occupied by the Lady Gadfly, who cannot possibly be bothered to sit in at another one of her husband’s meetings with Syr Waltheof FitzAllen. (If she is not here, she is in the war room with her husband, incredibly bored.)
The Lady Gadfly, Faerie Courtier - A sprightly woman with glittery, glowing skin (almost iridescent). A large emerald butterfly rests on her face, its wings obscuring her features from all angles. She wears a gossamer dress covered in a myriad of flower petals - most of them unrecognizable. The wife of Lord Vember.
The Lady Gadfly has grown increasingly impatient with her husband’s poor attempts at returning to the Realm of Faerie and has grown beyond irritation with her fellow courtiers. She will offer the PCs all of the treasure she and her husband have with them and the treasures of her fellow courtiers if the PCs end their lives and can find a way to bring the castle to the Realm of Faerie.
