The Misty Isle Level 2
Mega Dungeon 2023: Second Level -still a rough draft
1. Hilltop
You stand upon a small hill, a strange pattern of woven roots spiral on the ground beneath your feet. Jungle trees surround the hill, too tall for your to see over. But, to your north, there is a trail and the sounds of people going about their day. As you try to get your bearings, three fellows armed with spears aproach along the path. When twenty feet away, they stop.
"Greetings, newcomers." A lean human between two gheni greets you with a modest bow. "Welcome to Mystery."
The talkative fellow in the middle will answer two questions as best he can then invite them to come along into their village called Mystery. **Make up some interesting facts**
2. Mystery Square
The trail into the trees is short, ending in a small village square where a handful of folks sit on mats as they sell their wares from woven baskets. Trinkets carved from a variety or colorful wood, beaded jewelry, bone combs, and a variety of jungle fruits are all being offered. Surrounding the square are six huts each with three sturdy walls. These huts all have a single table stacked with goods just inside while sort sort of work is being done. There is a blacksmith, a potter, a bowyer, a candlemaker, a leathercrafter, and a carpenter. From somewhere behind the workshops drifts the scent of baking bread.
The fruits sell for 1 copper each, while the trinkets sell for 3 coppers. Each of these sellers are willing to answer questions from PAYING customers. (A player needs to buy something to get them to talk)
3. Blacksmith Workhut
A burly man is cracking open clay molds revealing gray ingots he then stacks in a neat pile in a corner. On his display table are an assortment of weapons. Under the table are three boxes, each with a helmet and suit of chain armor. Seeing you come over, he stops his work and steps behind the table.
"What'll is be, newcomers?"
He will answer questions about metals, weapons, and how he came to be here whether anyone buys from him or not. **Make a list of facts and whats he sells**
4. Potter Workhut
A furred woman stops working with clay and dips her hands in a bucket of water, Wiping them clean on a scrap of cloth, she walks over to stand behind her table filled with pottery. A bucket of oval shaped sling bullets rests under ther table.
"What do you need?"
She will happily talk with a paying customer. **make a list of facts and things she sells**
5. Bowyer's Workhut
An old elf sets down a shaft he has been carefully applying feathers to and turns to face you.
"Eager for the hunt already, newcomer?"
He will talk to anyone whether or not they buy anything. **make a list of facts and things he sells**
6. Candlemaker's Workhut
A handful of chirking work here, doing various things. Half the workhut is dedicated to making wicks and weaving various threads into fabric while the other half is dedicated to making the candles. two chirkin children play with toys under the table where a bolt of cloth waits to be cut while a simple skirt lays next to it. A crude dummey wears a shirt, pants, and a straw hat. A neat rack of candles sits in the shadowy corner out of the sunlight. An older female gets up from a spinning wheel and hurries to the table, looking very spry for her age.
"Oh, how nice to see newcomers! I do hope your arrival went well."
She is very talkative. ** Make up some facts and list of things for sale**
7. Leathercrafter Workhut
Skins stretched across frames are propped around the walls. In one far corner a young boy uses a heavy stick to stir a smelly barrel. at a table in the middle of the workhut, a man works and older boy work wiht leather.
"Pa, customers," the older boy says, "can I-"
"Keep working, Wollom." The man orders then steps over to a table splayed with various pieces of leather works and a dummy wearing a leather gambeson. "What'll it be?"
He will only answer questions regarding the skins of beasts he uses for his leather works. **Make a list of creatures he uses and what he sells.**
8. Carpenter Workhut
A man works at polishing a wooden bowl while sitting at a table with a tankard of something fermented. Layers of rough cut boards reach from floor to ceiling against the back wall. Barrels line the two side walls, each filled with various things like platters, tankards, and such. On his front tableare displayed several items from the barrels while beneath it is a box of wooden pulleys. Seeing you, he sets aside his work and strolls over to his table.
"What're you needing, newcomers?"
He will answer only three questions whether they buy something. **Make a list of answers and items for sale**
9. Bakery
Walking past the workhuts, you find many huts with woven branch doors. Some are closed but most are open. In front of these huts are small fire pits with cooking irons over them waiting to hold a pot of roast some meat on a spit. In the middle of these huts half a dozen women work at a stone slab kneading dough while two more women stand before a strange stone dome some five feet high.
This is a brick oven and as the smoke merrily rises from the oven, one of the women reaches in with a wooden paddle. With practiced ease, she pulls out the paddle now holding three loaves. The second woman at the oven, wearing thick padded mits, slides the loaves onto a wooden tray and delivers them to the stone slab. A third woman stops working her dough and sets four doughy sweet rolls on the tray. The second woman returns to the oven and loads the padle for the first woman to palce them in the oven. The third woman, seeing you, wipes her hands on her apron and strolls over to you.
"Welcome, newcomers! You have arrived on baking day. We have just baked the last of our bread loaves," she waves to a wooden table stacked high with cooled bread loaves, "and have started on the sweet rolls. In the meantime, I am sure you would like to have a place to rest. Let me show you to the guest house."
Without waiting for comment, she leads you past the huts to the one at the very edge of Mystery. "Here you go. The girls do sweep it out every week and cleaning day was yesterday so it's nice and fresh for you. If you need anything, there are the shops and market. Everyone gets a loaf and sweetroll on baking day. I will leave you to settle in." She hurries back to her work.
The woman ignores all comments or questions.
10. Guest Hut
The woven branch door is easily peered through and you see that the inside is is empty. There are rake marks in the dirt floor, a clear sign someone had tended to the place. The back half of the hut has a wooden ladder leading up into a loft. Stepping inside, you can see two side windows that are simply two cut holes in the wall overed with a leather flap. Propping them open lets in a little more light and the breeze that has been gently wafting throguh the village.
Climbing up the ladder reveals six woven mats neatly rolled up and stacked in a back corner of the loft. There is nothing else here.
11. Jungle Edge
Beyond your hut you can see a stream and a path that follows it into the jungle. Citrus trees and the occassional banana and coconut palm make this odd-looking compared to the normal tall jungle trees that surrounded the hill you arrived on. How very strange.
12. Jungle Trail
The trail wanders alnog the stream then swerves away from the water to meander through the trees. After a short while, it brings you back along the stream.
Roll for a Jungle Encounter listed in the sidebar.
13. It's A Cave
The trail leads you to a natural cave entrance in a small clearing. It's tall and wide enough for anyone to walk in comfortably but its small footprints all over the dirt before it that reminds you that here are Nisslings though you don't see any of them, thanks to the daylight. The way home, and the allure of grand treasures that brought you here, lies within.
There are no guards outside.
NIGHTTIME The trail leads you to a natural cave entrance in a small clearing. It's tall ans wide enoguh for anyone to walk in comfortably. As you step into the clearing you hear a strange sound. THWIP. It's a crossbow bolt!
Two nisslings are perched on top of the cave, safely behind half-cover. Roll to see which char was shot at then roll the attack with Unlucky. (The nissling was too eager) On a miss, the crossbow bolt strikes a trees. They will fight for two rounds or until someone gets within 15 feet of the cave where they will escape inside and warn the others.
14. Cave Entrance
Daylight shines in through the opening but reaches only 10 feet. The cave stretches another 20 feet beyond the light. One tunnel slopes down into darkness... and silence.
There is no one here.
NIGHTTIMEThe cave is darker than the night. It reaches 30 feet from wall to wall with a single 5 foot wide tunnel sloping down. Echoes of barking shouts echo up fromt he tunnel. The Nisslings know your coming.
There is no one here.
15. Going Down
The tunnel goes down in a slow-winding spiral that feel like an unending curve. The dirt beneath your feet eventually changes to hard stone. The barks and calls from earlier have all gone silent. As you come around, you can smell palm oil.
IF THE NISSLING DON'T KNOW THEY ARE COMING: the oil is in a clay pot stacked against a wall.
IF THE NISSLINGS KNOW THEY ARE COMING:Each PC must make a WISDOM ROLL: 15 to notice oil on the hard stone covering a 10 foot patch reaching from wall to wall. This roll should be done in the marching order the party is in going through the tunnel. Those who fail must make a DEXTERITY ROLL: 15 or slip and slid down the patch of oil into the curving wall, taking 1d4 blunt damage.
Jumping the 10 feet is possible for players medium size or larger. They make a STRENGTH ROLL: 15. A fail lands them on the oil where they must then make an UNLUCKY DEXTERITY ROLL: 15 or slip and slid down the patch of oil into the curving wall, taking 1d4 blunt damage.
16. More Tunnel
The tunnel drearily continues down but now you begin to smell the signs of habitation. Things like offal and stale straw accost your nose.
THIS IS HERE REGARDLESS IF THE NISSLINGS KNOW THEY ARE COMING OR NOT. Each PC must make a WISDOM ROLL: 25 to notice a trip wire ankle high. This roll should be done in the marching order the party is in going through the tunnel. Those who fail must make a DEXTERITY ROLL: 15 or fall prone and tumble down to lay sprawled where the tunnel finally levels out, taking 1d4 blunt damage. If anyone falls, the noise alerts the nisslings if they have not already been alerted.
17. The End of the Tunnel
The tunnel has finally stopped trudging downward but goes on around a bend where it opens into a cavern.
18. Cavern First Part
As far as you can see in the darkness, there is a stone floor and the wall holding the tunnel. How high the ceiling or how wide this cavern is you have no idea. The stench of offal is strong to your left and the place is utterly silent.
It is 90 to the wall to the left or right of the tunnel. The ceiling is 90 feet high. There are no stalagmites on the ground or stalactites on the ceiling. Along the left wall is the Nissling latrine.
19. Cavern Second Part
Moving through the cavern, every sound echoes. On your left the scent of dirt and dust grows stronger until you see a long pile of dirt, gravel and rock 6 feet high and 30 feet to your left. Suddenly, there is the twang of a crossbow, and a bolt strikes the cavern floor ahead of you before skittering away into the darkness.
"Halts!" a hissy voice barks from far down the dirt pile. "Pays tolls or goes back!"
This pile of dirt starts against the wall, comes out some 60 feet then runs parallele with the cavern for another 60 before curving back to end against the wall. There are no breaks in the wall, not even for a gate. Unseen in the wall behind the dirt pile is a short dug out cave sized for the 3 foot tall Nisslings. They have dug a lair and that is the source for all their dirt pile walls.
There are 4 Nisslings with crossbows standing on a second pile of dirt and rock 4 feet tall behind the bigger pile, giving them a protected perch from which to shoot their crossbows. 4 more Nisslings sit crouched with spears, ready to attack anyone who comes over their wall.
The Nisslings demand "all the jingles" as a toll but will be satisfied for any amount of coins tossed to the ground as long as its more than one per PC. If the whole party manages to charge the dirt wall and make it over into the yard between the wall and and the dirt piles, the 4 Nisslings will attack until the crossbow Nisslings get reach the wall and return to shooting at the party. When two Nisslings are killed, the rest flee into their little cave.
This cave is 4 feet tall and is at first a tunnel then opens into a bigger cave where the Nisslings will make a stand. There is a tunnel beyond this big cave that leads to the private cave of the Boss Boss Nissling. The tunnel is filled with traps and a tribe of 12 Nisslings who WILL all fight to the death in their big cave as there is no where left for them to run.
20. Nissling Cave Tunnel
This cave is 4 feet tall and 4 feet wide and dark as Nisslings do not need light sources.Anyone over 4 feet tall must make all d20 rolls as UNLUCKY due to the confines of the the tunnel. This tunnel has a 10 foot deep and 10 foot long pit trap hidden under a crude covering of thin branch lattice with banana leaves woven over to hold a thin layer of dirt. Anyone stepping on it will crash through Unless theyh make a Dexterity Roll: 15 to catch the starting edge. It takes a Strength Roll: of 15 to climb back to the solid floor. Falling into the pit deals 1d4 DIRECT DAMAGE.
21. Nissling Big Cave
The ceiling here is still 4 feet tall. A line of 4 spear weilding Nisslings stand 15 feet back from the tunnel entrance. Behind them are two more Nisslings, one with a spear and bone with feathers headdress and the other with a feathered staff. Behind them you can see a crude leather wall-hanging on the back wall. To your left lined against the wall 15 feet away are three Nisslings with readied crossbows. To your right are 3 more Nisslings with readied crossbows.Anyone over 4 feet tall must make all d20 rolls as UNLUCKY due to the confines of the the tunnel. Adjust these numbers if any Nisslings were killed earlier. The Nissling in the headdress is the Bossy Boss. The Nissling with a staff is a magic casting Nissling. All these Nisslings will fight to the death as they have no where left to run.
- Read this to whomever decides to move the curtain.
22. Behind The Curtain
The leather wall-hanging is very plain and seems odd to be hung as a decoration. Moving it aside, three crossbow bolts shoot out of a hidden cave! Tiny nissling voices start to wail and howl from the cave.Behind the curtain are 3 females guarding 6 babies. Anyone moving the curtain will be shot with three crowbow bolts. The females will then drop the crossbows and attack with spears while the babies start to cry and howl in terror. With them is a crude chest holding 42 copper coins, 21 silver coins, and 8 gold coins.
23. Cavern Third Part
Its another few minute of walking past the dirt piles before spotting another tunnel at the edge of you vision when you hear something. A rustling of.. leather? The soft sounds echo about and prove difficult to notice exactly where its coming from.
All PCs made a Wisdom Roll: 15 to notice there is a flock of pale bats circling above them. Suddenly, the bats dive for the party! These pale bats feed on blood and are called Vampire Bats though there is nothing supernatural to them. There is one bat for each PC.
24. Winding Tunnel
This tunnel makes its way with one lazy bend one way into another lazy bend the other way. It's a long bit of walking.
Nothing is in this lazy tunnel
25. A Cozy Cave
The tunnel continues past another tunnel.
If they decide to check it out:
This short tunnel turns one corner then opens into a cave some 30 feet across. Nothing is in this cave.
This is a good place to rest with an easy to defend entrance and a bend in its entrance tunnel to keep lights from being spotted by anything/ anyone while traveling the main tunnel. Those on watch can hear things pass by but nothing seems to notice their resting spot. It is an uneventful rest.
26. Water
A stream flows out of a wall and flows along one side of the tunnel, which has widened to make room. The clean water is cool and refreshing. As you walk along, the stream and tunnel widen together until the water flows like a steady river.
Roll on the random table in the sidebar.
27. Fishing Spot
The tunnel widens slighty and there is a 15 foot streatch of sandy beach 5 feet wide on the river shore. There is a soft splash as a fish jumps in the water.
Roll on the random encounter table: If there is an encounter, those creatures are fishing and distracted from noticing their arrive.
28.
The tunnel widens into a cave that opens to the outside while the river flows out into a banana forest. A fire pit is set into the cave floor with a pile of gathered wood against a wall. Against the wall opposite the pile many branches with their twigs still attached are leaned up side by side.
If they look behind the line of branches, they will see a dug-out canoe big enough to seat the whole party and a carved paddle for each of them.
This is where PCs get Milestone Leveling to Level 3 unless you choose to level by XP or another system. Stepping out of the cave begins Dungeon Level 3!!THE INTRO
This adventure is a continuation of Misty Isle and not a stand alone adventure. It is designed for four Level 2 characters though it can be adjusted for parties of differing sizes. Players can always travel back and forth between levels 2 -12 as they are all connected.LEVEL 2 BACKGROUND
SYNOPSIS
RANDOM ENCOUNTERS
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