Crypt of the Witch King - Redux
jmabbott
🖼️ 39 images Mapmaker
Hi Folks,
Thought I'd have some fun and re-do an old map for practice. This map started as challenge over on the cartographers guild and went through several iterations before being revised again for my first published adventure, an entry in the 2017 One Page Dungeon contest.
@Loopysue provided some great feedback through the whole process as did one or two others (not members here as far as I know).
I may or may not do more on this as I have several other projects on the go at the moment and I really should focus on sorting those out... anyhow, here it is.
The original, players version:
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Comments
I decided to tidy this up and 'finish it'. Below is the text from the OPD.
Located in the Dragonspine Mountains lie the ruins of Dorag Skel; a place of many secrets and ancient tragedy. Something within attracts fell beasts to the ruins, perhaps the abundance of would-be-heroes travelling to the region to plunder its riches and secrets? One secret, however, remained undiscovered - The Crypt of the Witch King, until now… Whilst exploring the Dorag Skel ruins, perhaps at the behest of a patron or perhaps in pursuit of an enemy, a fortuitous earth tremor causes a section of wall to fall away, revealing the entrance to a long forgotten crypt…
1. Entry: A number of steps leads to a set of locked, ornate double doors. A warning is inscribed in an ancient language “Treasure ye seek, yet it’s death ye’ll find, leave me in peace or doom mankind!”
2. Main Foyer: An anti-magic circle is inscribed on the floor, it has been cast so that its effect extends to the internal walls of this room. All the doors leading off this area are locked.
3. Trapped Room: Opening this door by any means other than with the Witch King’s key, which has a very irregular shape, activates the trap. When players open this door they see a treasure vault; precious metal objects, coins, gems, and objects d’art are strewn through the room, this is an illusory wall. PC’s stepping into the room beyond the wall are teleported to a 30 foot (10 metre) diameter, spherical room inside a mountain 1D10 miles/kilometres away with no visible means of escape. To their companions they appear to be examining treasure, picking items up and so on. Opening the door with the Witch King’s key reveals the actual treasure; a magic weapon, magic ring and 1D20 x 200 value of coins, gem and art.
4. Animated Statues: This room contains 2 x human sized iron statues of fierce, armour plated warriors. They each hold greatswords of prodigious size, with gleaming, serrated edges. As for area 3, opening the door without the Witch King’s key activates the 2 statues which attack until they are destroyed. Treasure: 2 x Serrated Greatswords (Wounding).
5. Cages: These 4 cages contain nothing but bones and mainly rusted equipment. Opening the doors to the cages or stepping on the trigger plate as shown on the map cause all the cage doors to open and 1D3+1 skeletons to form in each cage and attack the PC’s. Mess with your players, you know you want to, and make them tougher, go nuts. Treasure: 1 of the skeletons (make him a boss skeleton) is wearing chain-mail and wielding a shortsword and buckler that look as though they’ve just been forged (+1). A secret trap door as shown on the map opens to a rough-hewn tunnel.
6. Trapped Corridor: Poisoned, Spiked Pit Trap: 20 feet (6 metres) deep; 1D4+1 spikes. Treasure: Scrunched up in the bottom of the pit is a Cloak of Invisibility to Undead.
7. Torture Chamber/Altar: Theses six cells contain manacles from which hang skeletal remains. The chambers were used to torture victims prior to being sacrificed on the altar for vile ceremonies. A secret door behind the eastern statue (discoverable with a difficult check) opens to a rough-hewn tunnel. 1 Shadow resides in each of the statues and a Greater Shadow resides in the altar, they attack immediately when a living creature touches either statue or the altar.
8. Crypt of the Witch King: The final resting place of the Witch King… if the PC’s can get to it! Disturbing the water in any way awakens the large Water Elemental that the Witch King imprisoned here aeons ago and to say it’s cranky is an understatement! If the PC’s manage to defeat or by-pass the water elemental, opening the sarcophagus reveals the Witch King’s mummified remains. Interfering in anyway with the mummy awakens it. The Witch King is actually a Vampire/Sorcerer, not a mummy. It attacks immediately, attempting to dominate whoever touched it, then transforms into gaseous form, reforming on the other side of the lake. It then uses area effect spells to try and incapacitate the PCs so it can feed...Treasure: 1 Golden Key, 1 Ring of Protection +5, 1 Ring of Fire Resistance.
Love it, jm
Brings back memories of my early days doing tabletop. Soothing, yet somehow ominous at once heh.
😁
Cal
Thanks Cal,
Yeah, the earlier versions of this were really crap in comparison. Glad you like it. I think if I were to go back and change anything I would only change the dividing wall in the cavern so it's clear the path runs underneath...
If anyone actually runs this for their players, I'd be very interested in their feedback. Bare in mind, for the OPD contest, the idea was to keep your entries as system agnostic as possible, so you'll need to stat up the monsters and adjust the treasure accordingly.