In Deep Dungeon Doom, I follow #Gygax75 and #Dungeon23 to create a D&D dungeon campaign in a few minutes a day for a year’s worth of days. Working at my own rhythm, I am more than a year behind. To get details on each room as it is created, follow me on Mastodon.
From Cyclops Curve, we proceed southward along the ancient highway, perhaps more cautious now, as the dwarf may have warned us of the gentle decent into—we presume—the dungeon’s fifth level.
After a long walk, the din of hawking merchants and patron chatter echoes from ahead. Here, a square corner protrudes from the west wall (134, north). Carved on the two sides in dwarvish runes: “Svardin’s Folly.” Overhead, the ceiling opens up beyond torchlight. The dwarf notes more ancient construction.
The din ahead is the Troll Bazaar (135). A rank of hobgoblin spearmen stand guard, either side a granite monument. The monument’s inscription recounts the deeds of Njordr IX, King of Old Stonefast. Atop the monument perches a raven, an eye turned toward us. The merchants are gnolls, lizard men, a troglodyte, and a man with chubby jowls and an enormous girth. The patrons are rogues and treacherous-looking men, as well as orcs, and goblins. The spear men are as cautious of the patrons behind as they are of approaching travelers.
Beyond the bazaar is the Gate of Skulls (136), blocked by a row of iron bars. The walls and ceiling of the barrel vaulted antechamber are decorated in crude carvings of deformed skulls. More hobgoblins, behind the bars with spear and shortbow, guard the central door.
Should we either fight or negotiate our way through the gate, we may proceed west to a loggia (144) overlooking a tremendous geode of purple amethyst (147). We follow rough-cut steps, which descend in a natural cavern (148), to arrive at a bridge across a deep chasm. A dark stream flows beneath.
Crossing the bridge (149), we might catch glinting reflections in the darkness at the edge of torchlight—two eyes wide set, before our hair raises and a lightning bolt crackles along the bridge’s length. It leaves behind sudden darkness and the ozone odor of cooked air.
Welcome to the sixth level of Deep Dungeon Doom.
