The Iron Keep Part Two- Trouble at the Gatehouse
Last week on the Iron Keep
I'm not sure if I'm going to make a format for these posts, or if each week I'll just play things by ear. I kind of want to go through just my entire progress throughout last week as I recall it having happened, though maybe slightly jazzed up and altered to make myself look good. We'll see how it goes. Like a blind man in an orchestra: I'll have to play by ear.
As I mentioned in the seminal post of this one of my major inspirations for the general layout of the fortress was going to be Mycenae. I had a few reasons for that. The first was that I have been there and found it to be a great mix of different kinds of features. The Cyclopean wall, the cistern and that huge burial tomb about half a mile outside of it. Furthermore, the location also fits with what I had in mind. High up on the hills overlooking the valley it's there to protect. Lastly: namedropping stuff like Mycenae greatly increases my nerd cred.
While I thought I'd just be inspired by it I think I kind of more did something along the lines of "plagiarising". You guys tell me...
I literally traced over the outline of the walls. Even kept the scale more or less the same. Not proud of what I did here, but- Well actually I am. I think it's a great layout for the complex.
The keep at the center, however, is entirely my own invention. I went back in time, built Harlech Castle and then waited for a man by the name Shawn J. Brown to draw an excellent blueprint of it. I'd link to his site, but his site is sadly apparently dead.
I then wanted to start keying some stuff because darn it, 7-10 rooms per week. I can't just draw maps I completely made myself without any outside inspiration for the rest of this year. That's not the challenge I took up!
I was planning to roll up some monsters for an encounter table, but after the first one that project ground to a halt, because it was the perfect one-week project.
Hobgoblins. I went over to the ADnD Monster Manual, looked up percent in lair, rolled and whaddyaknow. The Hobgoblins laired up in here. Twenty-one in total of them; a king, 4 bodyguards and 16 mooks, according to the dice. They also have a chance of having carnivorous apes with them, which the dice told me they also did. While BX doesn't have carnivorous apes, they do have white ones, which will substitute nicely.
I wasn't sure yet what I was going to do with the Castle Proper. In Taylor's (of Clerics Wear Ringmail fame) discord I bemoaned that I'd chosen a keep; a building built to be impenetrable, as a place for people to go enter and loot, and that that might've been a mistake in hindsight. Stephen (Purple Druid) offered the suggestion that I could say that the Keep had been ruined over time. In that way I could introduce flaws in the defences. Like every time Stephen has given me advice, it's good. I already in the map introduced a flaw in the defences.
However, I just to work out in a bit more detail how badly and in what kind of state I'd leave the place. In the mean time though, it seems logical to me that Hobgoblins would pick the most secure spot they could find for their hideout that was still around. I left the gatehouse intact on my drawing, so the Gatehouse it is!
My process for stocking this lair was really simple. Hobs, in my mind, would brook no intrusion into their lair, so anything else that might've been there would've been displaced. That means that deciding what monsters are here is exceedingly trivial. I just needed to roll for each room on the BX stocking tables, if I got monsters I had a choice of the hobgoblins and the apes.
This is what I came up with.
Finally some actual keyed rooms
F0
1 (Special, no treasure)
The Keep's Gate
The massive doors of the keep were once beautifully etched, but time, air and water have gotten rid of that. It's rough with rust and surface pitting. They stand wide open, and it would require massive force to close them without reactivating the mechanisms at the dam. Characters looking up might see murder holes in the ceiling, and slots where portcullises could fall out from. These have also have slots in the cobblestones they can fall into.
If the characters spend any turn here it's all but impossible they would not hear the hooting of the apes in F0.2. Anyone paying close attention to the southern watch room (F0.5) might notice bees flitting in and out of the arrow slits.
As characters pass the last portcullis, there is a 1 in 6 chance per character that the goblins notice the characters and drop the portcullis. When this happens the door to F0.2 is opened as the Hobgoblin tries to look what's happening. Furthermore, if possible the goblins in F1.2 will attempt to hit the characters through the murder holes.
2(monster, no treasure)
Monkey Cage
A Hobgoblin (B36) is tending to two White Apes (B30) who've been wreaking havoc in the remnants of the furniture that once decorated this room. The room stinks of the excrement the apes flung at each other.
3 (empty, treasure)
Northern lower watch room
A small room with arrow slits for defence. Several ancient pieces of furniture have not passed the test of time. A silvered dagger with an eagle etched into the ivory hilt lies discarded on the floor. The metal is tarnished, but should clean up nicely (800SP).
4 (special, treasure)
Ruined store room
Thick layers of dust cover the room and the remains of sacks of grain. A few rats flee as the party enters, skittering down some unseen passage. A 10 by 10foot area of floor is obviously a trap door, as it's metal, where the rest of the floor is stone. A lever nearby however does not seem to open it. This is because the mechanism is powered by the mechanisms at the dam. Opening the trap door without these mechanisms being reactivated would be hard, due to resistance of the mechanism, but if they set up a winching system and some strong men or draft horses they might be able to succeed.
5 (trap, treasure)
Southern lower watch room
A small room with arrow slits for defence. A skeleton can be seen slumped against the southwestern one. Most of its gear is badly decayed, but on the rusted armour of its chest a sheen of silver can be seen. Bees have made their nest against the door. If opened it will break open the hive and a Swarm of Bees (2 HD, B37) will fly out and attack all in sight. The silver item on the corpse is a Knight's Medalion; and item the Good King gave out to the best of his men. This one displays an ox, given out for saving a wounded fellow on the battlefield. It's worth 500 SP.
F1
1 (monster, no treasure)
Hobgoblin quarters
A large room. The stone floor has been covered with straw. Six Disorderly piles of straw line the north wall, in which 2 Hobgoblins (B36) are currently sleeping. A third is trying to start a fire in the hearth at the west end besides the door.
Several crates are placed between the two doors on the south wall, which contain jugs of water and goblinoid rations. In the middle of the room empty crates have been lined east to west for 15 feet creating a table. In it a rough map of the layout of the Keep has been scratched. The gatehouse has a big X on it. The Keep Proper has a circle around it, as does two other places. An area south of the keep denoted with one big dot and 6 smaller ones placed in two lines further south, and a place to the east of there, directly against the wall. A circle just east of the stairs leading to the keep has been crossed out.
Hidden among the pile of straw in the corner west corner are two small agates worth 50 GP each.
2 (monster, no treasure)
Inner portcullis room
A drawn portcullis divides the room into two parts, rusted but still functional. A hobgoblin sits on either side of it. Both are attempting to polish weapons they found on the racks in this room. There are five murderholes in a plus pattern on the floor to the east of the portcullis.
3 (monster, no treasure)
Northern Watch Room
Four Hobgoblins (B36) occupy this room. One's looking through the arrowslit at the ruins over the outer keep. Another has pulled his helm over his eyes and is softly snoring. The other two are playing some kind of game involving bone dice on an old barrel being used as a table.
4 (empty, no treasure)
Outer portcullis room
This room is apparently directly above the massive gates. To the west and eastern walls hang rusted remains of portcullises. However, whatever mechanism allow them to be dropped has over the centuries been utterly ruined. Two arrowslits overlook the entrance. 5 murder holes are placed in the floor in a plus shape.
At the western end of the room is a lever which does not seem to do much when pulled. It would've closed the gates below, but it is powered by the mechanisms at the dam.
5 (empty, no treasure)
Southern Watch Room
A bare stone room with two arrow slits. An old weapon rack stands against the southern wall, the javelins in it long since rusted beyond all use. Birds appeared to have nested in the stone arrow slits, but their nests have been spread open and plundered.
6 (PREDECIDED Monsters, treasure)
Goblin King's throne room
Cold stone floors, walls and ceilings. Several faded and moth-eaten tapestries hang on the north and south walls. A rotted canvas rug takes up most of the floor. In the fireplace in the western wall a fire is roaring. Next to it on a raised platform improvised out of crates stands a throne inlaid with gold and lion motifs. In front the podium a small pile of coins and gems has been dumped, which is being sifted through by a great ape. The Great General Sosage (Hobgoblin King; B36, Mace +1), a large, corpolent hobgoblin with promiment pustules dripping green pus all over his body, sits on his throne, awaiting the return of his scouts. In one hand he has his mace, which rests on his lap. In the other is the leash of his pet Ape Aldo (White Ape, B30). A bodyguard stands by either door (Hobgoblin bodyguard; B36).
The pile in front of the podium contains 1,200sp, 100gp, an amethyst worth 10GP, a red jasper worth 50 and two clear stones of amber worth 100GP each. Lastly there is a small diamond that would be worth 500GP. The throne on which Sosage sits is in remarkably good shape and seems to come from the days of the High King Atrius. If brought back it would probably worth 5000GP to a collector. However, getting it back would be no simple tasks. It weights 3000 Coin Weight. Would one take 6 turns to remove the gold leaf and the ruby eyes of the lions the material itself would be worth 500GP. He also carries a small iron key of goblin make. Sosage carries his +1 Mace (Shaped like a Ram's skull. The name Smasher is engraved on its forehead in Goblin), but in his pocket is also a detailed calligraphed page of vellum in the Goblin tongue. It says "And yea, when the Lord of Rot comes onto the king and mars him, he shall travel south to the Temple of the Iron Dead. And yea he shall overcome the flightless dragon and enter into the ancient temple of healing, and find a cure for his ails. So sayeth the blind soothsayer Poth". In a hidden chest under the makeshift podium there is a locked chest, the key to which Sosage carries. It contains 1400GP and a potion of levitation.
F2
1 (special, no treasure)
Gatehouse roof
The grey stone here is stained with orange-brown rust leaking from the plating that covers the defences of this keep. In the puddles that are up here it forms a mush that sticks to boots, like a thick mud, and where it's dry it lightly dusts everything up to the knees. The crenelated wall of the gatehouse's roof has a magnificent overview of not only the keep and the fortress, but also the surrounding area. You can see all the way to the dam on a sunny day. The gatehouse's roof was once covered slate tiles, and while they are still mostly there, in many places there's gaps or even holes that show the rooms below. Two open stairways lead down to the first and ground floors. From here you can walk over the wall to reach either of the two closest towers.
In between two crenelations in the north-west, looking out over the small lake that has formed against the outer walls, there is a skull. The back of it has a massive metal plate on it, and wire has been used to ensure the lower jaw stayed roughly in the right place. On its forehead is a complex rune.
The skull is sentient. It once belonged to first lieutenant Dares. Dares speaks in the ancient Low Atrian tongue. It's similar enough to the common tongue of the Border Baronies that with time and effort it's possible to understand, though there is a 2 in six chance of misunderstandings.
Over the centuries of solitude Dares has gone slightly insane. It appears he believes that the party are new recruits. He orders them to go down in the depths to the Forge to be Armoured, so they become full members of the Steel Legion. Though he is aware of what this process entails, he will not give more details. He tells them to go to the Ferric Priests and be clad as he himself was.
He also may ask them, in a moment of lucidity, to slaughter a goat, sanctify his skull with it and place him alongside his brothers in the crypts, so he might find rest.
Why I did what I did
Or: Bos tooting his own horn
My process when I do these things is generally to first roll for each room what's in each of them. This gives me a decent overview of what I'm going to be dealing with. This makes my life easy, because I can then create a story around clusters of stuff I see. This time the dice gods were with me though. They places stuff in ways that made perfect sense from my point of view, which helped a great deal. As did the treasure rolls. As I rolled that treasure map that told me a huge lot: these hobs just arrived, because they're looking for it. As I rolled for what it was (where I used the more expansive OSE magic item tables) I found that it was jars of restorative ointments. Cool. The goblin king must've needed that. He's diseased with something then. From Sosage's room I built outward and down.
One issue with my above-ground design that I'm starting with is that, in contrast with a below-ground dungeon, you can see stuff when there isn't soil in the way. This makes for interesting challenges. It's easier to go around and create your own path. It removes a bit of the explorative elements you get when you shine a torch around in a dark and dank room. However, it has a certain charm to it. I may have to see if there's any modules I can look at and see how they solved similar challenges.
Based on Prince of Nothing's feedback I got on the No Artpunk entry I slapped together I tried to add more information and more details, however, looking at the stuff above I can already see I've not done as well as I could've. I neglected illumination and I could've done more with senses other than sight. I might need to make something like a checklist to make it less easy to forget this sort of stuff.
I'm also not a 100% happy with the allocation of treasure. The amount is fine, looking at Lungfungus' guidelines. However, I'm not sold on how centralized it is in just the chamber where the Goblin King has set his throne. However, I made the decisions to stick to the rolls I got, so for now I'll wait and see. If I ever find time I might come back and give it another once-over.
One thing I did focus on a lot here was foreshadowing. Although it's slightly cheaty in a megadungeon, to me it made sense to put the location of the treasure map in the thing. The carved map on the table could indicate to players interesting locations. The trap door in F0.4 hints towards lower levels that cannot be accessed from here, corroborated by the skull, which also hints at some tomb where other members of the Steel Legion were buried.
Another thing I did off-screen was trying to be semi-sane in my organisation and create a TODO list. There's several aspects of a dungeon that are sorely lacking here. Wandering monsters being a major one, but we also have a map pointing towards another dungeon. I placed only about half of the Hobgoblins, so the others ones must be elsewhere. Where are they? I don't know yet. I'm gathering all stuff that I know I have yet to do, but which fall outside of the 'regular' dungeon stocking I first imagined to do each week. I expect that I can take one week out of every six to just focus on clearing stuff on my TODO list.
For next week however, I'll make a start on the two towers on either side of the Gatehouse, the walls and whatever will be contained in the inner ward.
So until then, count your torches and keep mapping!