Castle Town
Flooded in the war against Tharn Zel, the castle town is home to water-logged goblins, ghouls, and bandits.
RANDOM ENCOUNTERS
| d% | Monster Found | # | d% | Monster Found | # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01-02 | Tentacle of the Bane | 1 | 51-60 | Goblins plus wolf allies (d4) | 3d10 |
| 03-04 | Goblin worg riders | 1d3 | 61-70 | Kobolds | 6d10 |
| 05-07 | NPC party | variable (9) | 71-75 | Kobolds plus shaman magic-user or cleric 1/2 | 4d10-4 |
| 08-11 | Elf patrol (Ft2/Mu1 & Ft2/Tf2 mix) | 2d4 | 76-80 | Wild dogs | 1d4+1 |
| 12-15 | Giant rats | 1d10x2 | 81-85 | Troll | 1d3-1 (min. 1) |
| 16-20 | Gnolls | 2d6 | 86-89 | Ghouls | 1d4 |
| 21-25 | Giant frogs (2 ft.) | 1d6+2 | 90-93 | Huge bird | 1 |
| 26-30 | Crocodile | 1d4-1 (min. 1) | 94-96 | Shark | 1 or 2 |
| 31-40 | Goblins | 2d10+5 | 97-98 | Dragon (on the wing) | 1 |
| 41-50 | Goblins plus seargant who fights as orc (1 HD, 7hp) | 2d6+1 | 99-00 | Dragon (local) | 1 |
Note: When rolling a kobold encounter near goblin-occupied territory, and vice versa, the rolled encounter is a raiding party which will engage the denizens of the site.
NPC PARTIES
NPC parties consist of 1d4+1 characters, with enough henchmen and/or hirelings to bring the total to 9. All characters are either level 1 or 2, though the GM may begin mixing characters of 3rd level or above in once the PCs are a few levels above that. The GM can use the table below for ideas for random NPC party makeup:
| d% | NPC Class | Max. # | d% | NPC Class | Max. # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01-16 | Cleric | 3 | 58-75 | Magic-User | 3 |
| 17-20 | Druid | 2 | 76-80 | Illusionist* | 1 |
| 21-50 | Fighter | 5 | 81-98 | Thief | 4 |
| 51-53 | Paladin | 2 | 99-00 | Assassin* | 2 |
| 54-57 | Ranger | 2 |
Generally, roughly 20% of characters in an NPC party (hirelings do not count) will be of non-human species. The GM can use the table below to randomly generate nonhuman members of an NPC party. Please note that some species have access to multi-class options - for example, a dwarf NPC might be fighter 1/cleric 1 where a human NPC would be just fighter or cleric 1. The class with the lower limit per party counts towards the cap.
| d% | Species | % Multi-class | d% | Species | % Multi-class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01-25 | Dwarf | 15% | 66-75 | Half-elf | 80% |
| 26-50 | Elf | 80% | 76-85 | Halfling | 15% |
| 51-65 | Dragonborn | 25% | 86-00 | Half-orc | 50% |
DRAGON ENCOUNTERS
If the dragon is "on the wing," that means it's not native to the area, i.e. it has no lair nearby. When the game starts, dragons "on the wing" will be young or juveniles, rarely very young (signifying a dragon kicked out of its nest by a neglectful parent). As time goes on, the dungeon is explored and characters level up, dragons "on the wing" will increase to eventually be entirely juveniles and young adults. Older dragons will almost never appear "on the wing," as they know the area is disputed territory between several old dragons and won't want to mix themselves up in things.
If the dragon is a "local," that means the dragon has a lair nearby. There are four dragons living near Castle Robar, each of which is a full adult and who considers the castle part of its territory. These dragons will be detailed later; for now, all the GM has to worry about is what the dragons will do to the PCs should they encounter them outside their lair.
| d20 | Dragon Type | d20 | Age Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-2 | Red | 1-3 | -1 (start: very young) |
| 3-5 | Bronze | 4-12 | Standard (start: young) |
| 6-9 | Green | 13-18 | +1 (start: juvenile) |
| 10-14 | Black | 19-20 | +2 (start: young adult) |
| 15-17 | Silver | ||
| 18-19 | Gold | ||
| 20 | Other (gem, ferrous, etc.) |
| d% | Dragon Name | Probable Response |
|---|---|---|
| 01-30 | Usgrosviv (Old Red Dragon) | Will try to eat any elves in the party. If the PCs are transporting treasure, she will claim it as spoils and haughtily warn off the elves rather than eat them. Needless to say she will kill everyone in the party if either of these attempts are stymied. |
| 31-55 | Qumadosfan (Adult Bronze Dragon) | Approaches in polymorphed form, as an elf or a human depending on party makeup. Will try to recruit the PCs to her eventual fight against Martin's Bane; failing that, she will take one-third of any treasure carried as tribute and expenses for her crusade against darkness. She will also use her ESP ability to check the party's intentions; if any of them is a "servant of evil," she will attack. If attacked outright, she will use her repulsion breath weapon and fly away. |
| 56-80 | Tibesokraz (Mature Adult Green Dragon) | Will shake the party down for information: their origins, their goals, locations of treasure, etc. Following this she will try to cajole the party into giving her their treasure, moving on to threatening the party's lives if they refuse. She likes to carry the oldest or youngest person in adventuring parties up into the sky and then drop them down. If the party agrees to her demands but doesn't have any treasure on them, she sends a squad of 2d10 kobolds to escort them to the dungeon entrance, and then to collect the treasure once they emerge. |
| 81-00 | Hrekimjeskhor (Adult Black Dragon) | Will spray his acid breath on the party and fly away laughing, unless they are transporting treasure, which he will take after killing them. Promises of more treasure will sate his lust temporarily, but on further encounters he will expect more. |
The dragons living around Castle Robar have all raised kobolds, whose scales (though mottled) will match the colors of their parents. To spice up an encounter with one of the local dragons, the GM might want to include a small pack on the sidelines. This is especially true with Tibesokraz, who acts the most like a mob boss out of any of her peers.
Layout
The castle town is south of the hill which Castle Robar sits upon. A rocky cliff separates the castle from the ocean, and slopes gracefully down to sea level, giving the town a general downward grade that neatly separates it into two sections: Old Town, and Low Town.
OLD TOWN
Old town was home to the original laborers and craftspeople who built Castle Robar. As time passed, the original wattle and daub construction was replaced, with most buildings having stone first floors and wooden upper floors. Old Town became home to both those artisans who remained (and became wealthy), and the new class of traders and merchants who took up residence.
Tharn Zel's army failed to flood Old Town, but fire and magic spread through it nevertheless. Basically none of the wooden construction survived; only the stone first floors remain. The area is now home to goblins.A. Ruined Houses. The stone ground floors are all that remains of these buildings. They have all been pretty well picked clean by scavengers, leaving little to be discovered by explorers; however, 1 in 10 still hold something. Searching these buildings has a 50% chance of yielding 2d10x5 gp value in copper and silver pieces, a 25% chance of 3d10x6 gp value in silver and gold, a 15% chance of yielding 4d10x8 gp value in gold coins and 1d3 jewelry pieces, and a 10% chance of a hidden safe or false wall containing a Type O treasure.
B. Slumbering Undead. Not all the homes in Old Town are unoccupied. The yellowed, crumbling bones of long-dead townsfolk lie among the stones in these buildings, and 1d4+2 skeletons (1HD) rise from the ruins when they are disturbed. They strike with masonry for 1-4 damage. Disturbing the skeletons in one building has a 25% chance of disturbing a nearby building's skeletons, which can then continue even until the whole town's skeletons are awakened. Homes that contain skeletons have the same treasure chance as unoccupied ruins; however, their gp value is increased by 50%, the skeletons acting as a preserving force.
C. Sun Temple. A massive boulder thrown by Tharn Zel's catapults smashed in the roof of the temple nave, and the pews are almost all destroyed. Plants grow between the flagstones, forming rough sunbeam patterns emanating from the altar. Standing behind the altar is the Gold Man of Tharn Zel, its arms wrapped around the temple icon. It is frozen in place, like its lesser kin, or perhaps slumbering. The Gold Man has drawn the sanctity out of the temple, meaning those inside are no longer protected from the undead. The temple icon takes the form of a golden sun disk on a shaft of brass, all told weighing 8 lbs; to a collector or a priest, it is worth perhaps 500gp. Its sanctity can be restored by a priest of the Sun.
D. Merchant Square. All the shops around the square have been picked clean by a century of looters. The local goblins have set up a wooden palisade in the center, 20 feet in diameter and lined with benches, with the ruined pedestal of King Robar's statue at its center, to use for pit fights. Typical matches include wild animals, humanoid prisoners, and goblin grudge fights. During the day, 2d6+1 goblin guards and 2d8 other goblins are loitering around the arena; at night, the stands are packed with 8d10+5 goblins, and 4d6 guards plus 1d4 worg allies patrol the outskirts. On a slow night the matches might be between wolves or rats - the really big crowds come out for strong prisoners and especially tough goblins. The goblin bookies carry 6d6 gp on them, about 60% of which is in copper and the remainder in silver (gold coins are reserved for the goblin king). Two of the wrecked shops have been converted into space for cages containing the contenders for the night's fights. Finally, the palisade is circled by six huge fire pits which are lit when fights are on.
E. Taverns. The furniture in the taverns is weatherbeaten and moldy, and the roofs have burned down. The broken remains of bottles and mugs are scattered across the ground. Searching the wreckage of a tavern has a 50% chance of revealing 1d6+3gp in small coins strewn over the ground. The cellar doors have all been knocked in, and the casks are long since destroyed or removed. Monster rolls are doubled when exploring tavern cellars, as they make perfect lairs for Old Town's denizens. However, if the cellar portal can be blocked up, they are not bad places to rest for the night.
F. Secured Tavern. For some reason, either prosperity or political importance, the cellar of this tavern has been secured with a solid steel door. Time has hardly weakened it; forcing rolls are made at -2, and rolls to pick the lock at -25%. The cellar itself is practically untouched, despite some dust. Ten large casks lined up against the back wall are filled with watery, rotten ale and wine. Against the opposite wall lies a human skeleton, surrounded by broken and empty bottles. Among the scraps of its clothing are the key to the cellar and its wedding ring (10gp, made of silver). Assuming the door hasn't been ripped off its hinges, the cellar provides a perfectly safe place to rest at night (no random encounters during the night).
G. Hall of Justice. This two-story stone edifice, easily mistakable for a castle keep by the inexperienced, is the home of the goblins that occupy Old Town. Information on the layout and inhabitants of the Hall can be found under the goblins' section in Factions. For now, it is enough to know the guard detail: eight goblins armed with bows on the roof, 2d6+2 goblins patrolling the perimeter, and two goblin guards (1HD, chain and shield, fight as orcs) flanking the doors. At night, the perimeter guard changes to 2d8+3 goblins and 1d4 worgs.
H. Old Town Graveyard. The Old Town graveyard contains several securely built mausoleums. Two of them have been smashed open and are home to 3d6 ghouls. The ghouls roam Old Town's outskirts at night, picking off goblins. The other mausoleums are sealed and sanctified. Up to 19 zombies and skeletons can be raised from the earthen graves around them.
I. Sir Karston's Manor. This impressive two-story, two-winged stone building is the closest to the castle's sub-gatehouse. It was hit by two boulders during the battle and abandoned. The upper floors have been picked clean by Usgrosviv's kobold servants, who keep a small forward base in the cellars. This base can be found under the red kobolds' section in Factions. For now, take note that there are 2d6+1 kobolds perusing the ruins during all hours, one of whom is a shaman magic-user 1/cleric 1. There is a 1% chance every hour that Usgrosviv flies over the manor to inspect for signs of intrusion or attack.
LOW TOWN
Low Town sprang up along the shoreline as Castle Robar established itself as the royal seat. It was almost completely destroyed in Tharn Zel's attack, both from fire and the rising waves he summoned at his uttermost need. The water has never receded, and the area is now a steaming and festering swamp. The few stone ruins still standing were important centers of cultural activity in the old town.
A persistent danger in this area is the sea leviathan Martin's Bane. Its tentacles are marked on the map with dashes. Creatures entering the water within 30 feet have a 5% chance every round of partially awakening the leviathan's animal instincts, causing the tentacle to flail around. All creatures within 30 feet of the tentacle, down the entire length of the tentacle, must save vs. breath weapon or take 6d8 damage and be flung 10-60 feet in a random direction. The commotion will also double the chance of a random encounter in the next hour - it's hard to hide from sharks and goblins when a giant underwater cable thrashes up and down to indicate your presence.
A. Saint Phylennia Memorial Bridge.