Blackwood23

A dungeon23 project, starting halfway through 2024 🤡, set in the Elder Scrolls setting.

[molombo]

Where's the African mythology?

The Kickstarter is live now!

[boycarofchilladelphia]

I know I have close to zero Tumblr fame, which I normally appreciate, but I would love it if this made it into the world and got fully backed. You can even pledge to get the digital content and send a real copy to a school in Africa or to a HBCU or community library of your choosing!

[ominous-signs]

Misusing my blog again so more people can see this then

[blackwood23]

Room 13: Flooded grotto. A shoddy wooden bridge connects the dry passages. Two dead Argonian men and one woman, all wearing sliced-open robes of a monk of Kynareth, float in the water.

Room 14: Four Split Hand tribe goblins are carving a large statue of Akatosh out of a tree trunk using Iron axes and shortswords. They have a pile of several spare axes at hand and will throw them at evasive foes. The weapons are bloodstained and covered in a gritty purple mineral residue. A "pot" made of five roughly flat stones in the southwest corner contains 300 septims and a pewter cup full of mashed tomatoes.

Room 15: The floor of the western passage into this room is coated in a thick layer of animal glue, except for a small bare patch which the Split Hand use to hopscotch between the chambers. Five goblins in this chamber test each others' mettle with a bed of hot coals. Two have Iron shortbows and one has a Hide shield. They move at half speed (burnt feet).

Room 16: Above the passage to 19 is a boulder with a skeleton embedded in it; it resembles a very large dog with a lizard-like head. A pile of bloodstained amulets of Akatosh sits next to the rock. The Split Hand shaman, Pohgo, performs rites in honor of Kadosh (the skeleton) most of the day. 6+2d6 goblins are 50% likely to attend a rite in progress, along with the tribe's warchief Guzbl. A battered, bloodstained wooden chest is tucked behind the rock, containing 540 septims, a silver talisman bearing the crest of Leyawiin (120 gp), and a large cut topaz (80 gp).

Pohgo: Devout, dogmatic, no concept of personal space. 3 HD, can cast Magic Missile 1/day, wields an Ironwood staff of Lesser Polymorph (1d6 turn duration); desiccated goblin head on staff shouts Goblin battlecries when used.

Guzbl: Controlling, bullheaded, laughs at the end of every sentence. Can speak Cyrodiilic but can't read or write. 4 HD, piecemeal Rattan armor with a Steel mace, Rattan shield, and two vials of Atrophy poison.

Room 17: Warchief's chambers. His mistreated but ambitious manservants, Dzerk and Yilgib, sleep here when not polishing the chief's weapons. Guzbl sleeps on a linen canopy bed (20 gp) in the northwest corner; under the bed is a bottle of Argonian Bloodwine (30 gp) and Guzbl's trained pet boa constrictor (3 HD). Its name is Crunch and it likes salted meats. There are two weapon racks and crude target dummies in the southeast corner.

Room 18: Goblin barracks. They sleep on 15' tall terraces along the northern and southern walls with a narrow path in between. 1d4 are present during the day and 27 at night. Dragons are drawn on the walls in chalk; one at the top of the southern terrace conceals a cache containing a pair of black silk gloves (15 gp), a pair of gold onyx earrings (80 gp), and a Potion of Diminution. The goblins don't know it's there.

Room 19: Two stick cages flank the path between the northeast passage and the stairs down; the northwest cage contains a gaunt, disheveled Bosmer woman wearing a robe made of thin, scaly hide. Her name is Quilawen, but she won't talk unless freed. The southeast cage appears to be empty but contains a starved Ahuimusu. A pressure plate concealed under some mud will open the latter cage if pressed, and the creature will attack with a 5-in-6 chance to surprise. Pohgo and Guzbl know about the pressure plate; other goblins are under orders not to approach the cages.

Ahuimusu: 3 HD, 7 AC, Move 12. Attacks: bite+claw, or tail (save or be paralyzed for 1d4 turns). Can blend into surroundings- 5-in-6 chance to surprise when aware of threats. XP 60.

Quilawen: Unruly, unworldly, unhealthy love of rat meat. Is able to speak with and exert influence on Ahuimusu and other reptiles. Level 4 Thief.

Room 20: Shaman's quarters. Giant goblin head made of rocks and mud against north wall. Cauldron of rat stew boils through the night in the center. Pohgo sleeps on the head's lolling tongue. A crude emblem of a partially split goblin hand is carved in the forehead. A limeware plater caked in congealed grease and dirt (30 gp, or 650 if cleaned) with a human skull on it sits on the ground next to the cauldron. The pattern of the grease stains on the face of the platter, if examined, strikingly resembles a snapshot of the warchief's chambers (17). Indeed, the platter is enchanted: three skullfulls of boiled rat grease poured onto it will take the shape of a specific place named aloud before pouring.

Room 21: Crusaders' wall. Fire breathing dragon statue. Five armored goblins. A crudely but sturdily built wooden palisade, 10' tall, from east to west blocks a passage down to the Rootbound Crypt. The wall is manned by five goblins with piecemeal Steel armor, shields, and weapons. Each has a shortbow, 15 arrows, and a melee weapon. A cob statue of a dragon stands at the edge of the wall; oil or liquid grease (the goblins keep two jars handy) poured down the statue's horn while the wick in its mouth is lit will cause the statue to "breathe fire" (save or 1d6 damage plus ignition) on anything in a 10' area in front of the wall. There is a 12' ladder to let through goblins returning from an excursion into the crypt, but the defenders are otherwise ordered to attack anyone and anything that emerges from it.

[blackwood23]

Ancestries of Tamriel for White Box

Imperial: roll 2d6+6 for charisma score, start with one additional language known

Nord: +1 to hit with two-handed melee weapons, halved damage from cold, -1 morale for intelligent foes besides Nords

Redguard: 10% less XP needed to level up as a Fighter; when wielding a sword, always use Fighter attack bonuses

Breton: +4 to save versus magic

Altmer: roll 2d6+6 for Intelligence score, can memorize one additional 1st level spell

Bosmer: +1 to reaction rolls for animals, 3-in-6 chance to hide in foliage

Dunmer: halved damage from fire, can cast Speak with Dead once per adventure as any class

Orsimer: movement speed is unaffected by armor, stay on your feet for one round after dropping to zero HP

Argonian: can breathe underwater, immune to poison, +4 to save versus disease

Khajiit: infravision 60', can jump distances up to encounter movement speed minus 10’, 1d3 unarmed damage

[blackwood23]

Room 10: 1' deep, 5' diameter pool of flammable tar.

Room 11: 8' tall statue of an Argonian woman wearing a feather cape and holding a staff. Lightning shoots from the staff at any undead creature that enters the room (save or take 3d6 damage). Before the statue, on a small altar made from a palmetto stump, are two small clay incense burners and a set of mercantile scales.

Room 12: Stairs down to the Rootbound Crypt. Each wall bears an inscription in Jel:

"Branch above"

"Root below"

"The waters flow"

Two sarcophagus lids block the stairs. The hulking, stoic Argonian brigand Whacks-the-Moles stands guard here to ensure none but Seldren's personal servants leave the crypt; he is 5 HD, has +1 Strength, wears crocodile leather armor and wields an Orcish warhammer of Flames (+1, ignites on command, +1d6 fire damage). Whacks keeps a substantial library of mostly historical tomes, also including a rare text on Dwemer hydraulic systems (800 gp) and a first edition copy of "Romancing the Sload" by Crassius Curio (25 gp).

[blackwood23]

Room 3: A 4' tall potted shrub sits against the south wall. Some of the leaves have been pinched off. Chewing or smoking a leaf imparts a magical effect:

1. Purple vision for d4 hours

2. +2 save versus Poison for d4 hours

3. Sleep for d4 hours

4. Save or head turns into frog head (actual size)

5. Ultrasensitive hearing for d4 hours

6. Weakness to fire damage for d4 hours

Room 4: A safe sits on the west end of the room. A potion deliberately left to decay inside has filled it with poison gas; save or take 1d6 damage and suffer blindness for the same number of turns. The safe also contains 73 septims, two quartz crystals (5 gp each), a copper wolf amulet (30 gp), a silver amethyst ring shaped like a cat's eye (150 gp), and a Nordic gold coronet with emeralds cut in the shape of Dragon language characters (1,800 gp); they read "I take breath."

Room 5: Bandits' barracks. Bedrolls, supplies for maintaining weapons and armor, empty wine bottles, etc.

Room 6: Chimes attached to south side of north door. Bandit chief Kzarr-kesh's chambers. He is a 3rd level Khajiit fighter with Leather armor, wielding a Steel longsword and a Steel dagger. He is notable for his unflappable joviality and love of contests, though he is no more compassionate than the next brigand. A locked footlocker under his bed contains a scroll of Protection from Undead, a Silver dagger (30 gp), and a stone slab carved with an unlabeled map showing a route from this hideout to Seldren Morobor's lair. He carries the key to the footlocker (and the locked doors in this hideout) on his person, except at night when he puts it on his nightstand.

Room 7: Barren pyramid chamber. Facing the stairs on the west wall is an inscription in Jel reading "One became many". Stairs go down to Room 8.

Room 8: Ring of cracked pillars. It's possible to break them and thus collapse room 8 and everything above it. There is a 1% chance per day of this happening without outside effort at sunrise. Shelves on the walls are full of empty clay jars smelling of sap. An inscription on the west wall in Jel reads "Many become one."

Room 9: Sarcophagus made of stone. It takes a combined Strength score of 22 to move the lid. Unliving things placed inside will have decay reversed but will not be restored to life.

[blackwood23]

First level: Funerary Grounds

Room 1: Small talking statuette of a mudcrab. Friendly. Spies on bandits and visitors on behalf of Seldren Morobor.

Room 2: Three Argonian bandits dressed as monks of Kynareth, manufacturing moon sugar-based study aids to sell to Mages Guild initiates in nearby Leyawiin. They have 75 gp in reagents and 450 gp in alchemical equipment, as well as 16 wrapped samples (50 gp each) and 800 septims in a locked Ayleid reliquary. Their morningstars are poisoned and they have a steel longbow handy with 7 arrows on a table nearby.