BLACK MOORS WATERWAYS (PANTHER CAVE) ROOM 10

Room 3 - Guard Post

The cave widens in this chamber allowing for a bit of rocky shore next to the stream. Sitting here in the darkness are a pair of lizardfolk guards. If the explorers have not been quiet in rooms 1 and 2, they will warn their comrades in Room 4 and prepare an ambush. If the explorers have been stealthy, they may get the drop on these two without alerting Room 4.

The dry ground here makes for a good place to take a short rest if needed.

Black Moors Waterways (Panther Cave) Rooms 8 - 9

Panther Cave is a natural cave in the hill that Castle Black sits on. Local legend tells of ancient worship of a panther spirit that inhabits the cave. The dwarven architects of the waterways connected them to the cave to utilize it as an escape route in the event of a siege.

Room 1 - Entry Pool

The first room of the cave encountered after leaving the waterways is a large pool of water that collects ground water that has seeped through the limestone from the river. The pool gets deeper towards the eastern passage where it reaches 2 feet deep. This is difficult terrain for small characters or creatures.

Room 2 - Split Chamber

The water flow splits into two channels here. Each channel narrows to a point that requires creatures to squeeze through, the western channel is wider than the eastern path (Strength check DC 13 and 15 respectively). However a swarm of Stirges has nested here. Anyone who ends their turn in the speckled squares of the western passage loses 1d4+3 hit points due to blood loss. The stirges can be destroyed by dealing 6 points of fire damage to each square.

Black Moors Waterways, Room 5 -7

Room 5 - The Maintenance Chamber

This damp stone room contains discarded tools that have rusted due to the moisture from the water leaking down the northwestern corner. A medium-sized automaton of unknown purpose has been left in the southwestern corner, broken and rusted. Examination of the automaton leads to a surprise attack from the Grey Ooze that is inside of it feasting on its mechanisms! Once the ooze has been defeated, 2d6 gems (worth 10gp each) can be harvested from the corroded remains of the automaton.

The wet tunnel to the west leads through the bedrock underneath the river to Room 7.

Room 6 - The Water Reserve

This tall chamber is always filled with water and acts as a backflow chamber and water reserve, maintaining equilibrium between the castle water supply and the city’s supply to the west. Because the chamber is full, it requires an explorer to hold their breath the entire time they are in here.

Animal bones litter the bottom of this room along with a pair of Black Moors Eels that will avoid any creature of Small size or greater.

A Ring of Protection +1 is still around a finger bone at the bottom of the chamber.

Room 7 - The Water Collection Chamber, West

Similar to Room 2, this collection chamber sits on the other side of the River Black and collects water via the grate covered pipes on the eastern wall. These are identical to the pipes in Room 2. The water here empties into a large collection pool before flowing out the wide channel to the west. The channel to the north that leads to Room 6 prevents this room from flooding.

The westward channel leads to section 2 of the Black Moors Waterways.

Black Moors Waterways, Room 4

The Well

Taking the northern water channel from Room 2 leads to similar situation as with Room 3, The Boiler. The rushing water and slippery stone cause explorers to lose their footing (Dexterity Save DC 15) and tumble down the short waterslide. The channel ends at Room 4, where the water tumbles down 20 feet into a large stone cistern. Anyone sliding can make a Strength Save (DC 15) to stop themselves from going over the edge.

This cistern is the cool water storage for the castle. The room is 50 feet tall with an open well opening at the top. The water level is currently 20 feet deep. Like The Boiler, grated pipes at the bottom supply water up to the castle. There is also a larger 5 foot channel under the water that leads westward. It is covered with an iron grate that can be pulled from its fitting with a DC 15 Strength check.

There is a Swarm of Black Moors Eels in the water that will attack anything that falls in it.

At the bottom of the well is 10d10 copper pieces, 5d10 silver pieces, and 2d4 gold pieces.

Black Moors Waterways, Room 3

The Boiler

Taking the opening to the south in Room 2, the water channel takes a steep descent. The rushing water and slippery stone cause explorers to lose their footing (Dexterity Save DC 15) and tumble down the short waterslide. The channel ends at Room 3, where the water tumbles down 20 feet into a large stone cistern. Anyone sliding can make a Strength Save (DC 15) to stop themselves from going over the edge.

The water is hot and anyone approaching the room can feel the heat and steam. The water itself is 20 feet deep to the bottom where a dwarvish fire rune (Dispel Magic DC 15 suppresses the rune for 10 minutes, DC 25 dispels it permanently) is carved into the stone surface. Roll a d10 and set this as the number of rounds until the rune ignites again. When it does, the water becomes superheated and anyone in it takes 1d10 fire damage. Once the rune ignites, it resets the timer to 10 rounds and begins again.

At the bottom of the boiler, along the sides are 5-inch pipes behind iron grates that take the heated water up to the castle. There are also 5d6 copper pieces and a Gem of Brightness at the bottom of the boiler.

There are handholds that lead up next to the ledge where the water spills out and where a set of old, rusty iron stairs is bolted into the wall. These lead up to a 5 foot tall doorway at the top of the room. If more than 200 lbs is on it, the supports snap and the staircase gives way, dumping anyone on it into the water below. There are enough handholds left after this that someone could still make it to the top with either an Athletics or Acrobatics check (DC 17).

Black Moors Waterways Room 2

The Water Collection Chamber, EAST

The rough hewn stone steps from Room 1 lead into a long chamber with large, stone pipes on the opposite wall. The pipes have iron grates over them and are currently spilling a steady stream of water into the wide, foot deep, channel that runs down the center of the room. This water then flows out of low (3 feet high) openings in the north and south walls of the chamber.

Upon inspection, the pipes lead upwards at a steep angle 30 feet and light can be seen out of them during the day. A second grate with much smaller holes sits at the top of each pipe. To reach the upper opening, the lower grate must be pried loose from its fitting (Strength Check DC 15) and then the pipe must be climbed which is difficult, (Strength Save DC 17) due to the water and slippery stone. Anyone who looses their footing tumbles back down to the collection chamber and takes 1d6 points of bludgeoning damage.

Should someone make it to the top of the pipe, the upper grate opens on a hinge, revealing a concealed opening at the water level of the River Ghent which flows through the city of Black Moors and acts as a natural moat for the castle.

If the River Ghent is at flood level the water collection chamber is flooded with three feet of water.

The secret door (DC 17) leads to a natural cavern passageway that eventually leads to Panther Cave.

Black Moors Waterways Room one

Happy New Year!

This year I will be participating in the Dungeon23 Challenge! This challenge created by Sean McCoy of Tuesday Knight Games encourages DMs and GMs of fantasy RPGs to get back to the basics and build a Megadungeon over the course of a year. Megadungeons are massive underground complexes full of monsters, traps, and treasure. They have been part of the fantasy RPG genre since the very beginning with Dave Arneson’s Castle Blackmoor and Gary Gygax’s Castle Greyhawk. You may have also heard of legendary megadungeons like Undermountain or Dragon Mountain. They even appear in inspirational works like The Lord of the Rings’ Mines of Moria.

The rules of the challenge are straight forward. Draw and describe a dungeon room a day, every day, for 2023 - 365 rooms. Every week is a cluster of rooms, every month is a level of the dungeon. This results in 12 levels with roughly 30 rooms each.

For my dungeon, I will be detailing the Black Moors Waterways, a barely explored complex deep beneath the city of Black Moors in my campaign setting, Chronicle. Black Moors is obviously an homage to Dave Arneson’s Blackmoor and as such the first entrance is beneath Castle Black in the city.

The original challenge suggests hand drawing these in a journal, but I am choosing to draw these digitally so they are easier to share with you.

Black Moors Waterways - Level 1

1. The most common entrance into the waterways is through a secret door behind the sarcophagus of Lord James Black in the Crypt of Castle Black. Behind the door, a rough hewn staircase spirals down 30 feet to a large chamber. There is one exit from this chamber through an iron door to the west that is always locked (DC 17). The Lady Marissa of Black Moors and her advisor Rhys keep the only keys to this door. Behind it steps lead down to the next area.
   The large chest against the south wall contains four bedrolls, 10 sealed clay jars of water, 10 days worth of hard tack wrapped in oil paper, one lantern, and 10 sealed clay pots of lamp oil. These provisions were placed here to use as a safe room in the event of a raid on the castle.