The Hurricane Dungeon – The Chambers of Woe (Level 4)

The fourth level uses the sixth map I drew, this one on October 2, 2024. Maps 4 and 5 were both cave networks, but I wanted to keep all six "finished" dungeon levels together, with the three cavern levels being at the bottom so I moved the order around. This particular level had some interesting features: Large rooms, a chamber with a huge pool of some sort, and a massive central chamber with an altar and four columned wings projecting out from it. A few secret areas, lots of statues, and a second pool of water provided additional inspiration but, like the previous level map, this one included no access points, neither stairs nor passages leading off-map.

I knew from keying Level 3 that I had added three stair locations down to this level, and there was a fourth stair down from Level 2 as well. I also knew that the next map I was going to use for Level 5 had an access stair drawn on the original, so I would have to place that stairway down on this map. Finally, my stocking rolls came up with five (!) access points, more than twice the average statistical percentage for a level this size. I didn't end up using all of the stocking access points as rolled, which I'll get into further below. After adding all the access points, title, and location numbers, the map looks like this:

My content stocking rolls (for a 41-room dungeon level) came up with the following results:

–Empty: 11 (32% / 35%)
–Monster: 7 (14.5% / 20%)
–Monster + Treasure: 13 (29% / 25%)
–Stairs: 5 (12% / 5%)
–Trick/Trap: 2 (5% / 5%)
–Treasure: 3 (7% / 5%)

The first % number is the percentage of the actual content rolls; the second % number is the typical expected percentage spread (per OSRIC guidelines). Pretty close, statistically, with the "Stairs" result being the only real deviation.

To determine the monsters with no treasure, I rolled twice on DMG table II (giant centipedes, giant rats), once on DMG table IV (werewolves), once on Fiend Folio table I (zombies), once on FF table IV (rust monster), and twice on Monster manual 2 table IV (pseudo-ghasts, lava children). 

For monsters with treasure, I rolled three times on DMG table II (giant ants, lemure devils, troglodytes), once on DMG table III (large spiders), once on DMG table IV (5-headed pyrohydra), once on DMG table IV (young adult red dragon), twice on FF table II (ankhegs, poltergeists), twice on FF table IV (yellow musk creeper, 7-headed hydra), once on MM2 table II (giant centipedes*), once on MM table III (large scorpions), and once on MM2 level VI (carrion crawler). 

*The table says "huge," but "huge centipedes" in AD&D are smaller (1 hp), less potent versions of the standard "giant centipede" (1/4 HD). In OSRIC, "huge centipedes" are equivalent to AD&D "giant centipedes," whereas "giant centipedes" are 3 HD creatures. I changed this result to the AD&D/OSRIC "giant/huge centipede" (1/4 HD).

Ants, rats, and centipedes seem pretty weak down here, but they come in large numbers and provide a constant, low-intensity threat that can sap resources (plus soldier ants and centipedes can still kill with a lucky attack roll and a blown Poison save). Zombies are probably not going to last long against a party of 3rd- to 5th-level adventurers, but you never know what circumstances will lead to an encounter. 

The pseudo-undead are interesting, I guess. I've never cared much for this particular monster-type and I can't suss out the design need for creating them. I think they're meant to occupy that same niche of  fake-out monster like the gas spore. Unlike other pseudo-undead, however, which do not have their real version's special undead attacks, pseudo-ghasts at least retain their stench effect (though no paralysis). This might work out fine for a "gotcha" encounter in which turning doesn't work, but I'm meh on using them (particularly in the low numbers in which they appear).

Ankhegs, rust monsters, and carrion crawlers, though? Hell, yeah! A red dragon, a hydra, AND a pyrohydra?! All on the same level?!? What a lineup! I was also excited about the lava children and poltergeists, two more creatures I've never used before, and yellow musk creepers are fun though there's the typical problem of accounting for plants growing in an underground dungeon environment. (You can hand-wave the explanation away, but most players will ask how the plant exists down here so it helps to have an answer to the question.)

Turns out, lava children and poltergeists (both Fiend Folio entires) are just okay. I have trouble understanding the point of a lava child. The FF says it's a "humanoid," like an orc, but it's clearly intended to be some sort of supernatural creature. The description even calls them out as being "the unnatural offspring of a union between spirits of earth and fire." (So, elementals? mephits?)

They're nasty because they ignore metal, both for calculating an opponent's AC but also for ignoring attacks to their own bodies. They attack metal-armored opponents as though they were naked, and metal weapons simply pass through a lava child without inflicting damage. The wording of the description implies that maybe magical pluses apply to AC (certainly Dexterity does), though it sounds like magic metal weapons do nothing. The cool illustration by Russ Nicholson below has them emerging from a cave wall, which they can't do in the text (unless the wall was solid metal). That would also be a neat power, and well within the scope of a creature of earth and fire. Alas.

(It's a fantastic image, though; an excellent combination of the two creatures featured on this page of the Fiend Folio. I love the regular lizard men hanging back while their king takes care of business. Nicholson's work is my favorite part of the FF and I put him up there with Trampier and Otus in terms of great D&D art. I don't know if it was his decision to make the lava children look like Alfred E. Neuman, or if this is some kind of in-joke among the TSR-UK folks. I hated it back then, but it makes me laugh now.)

Despite their supernatural origins and elemental powers, the lava children's design structures their populations consistent with other humanoid races. The common specimen is a standard (4 HD) "fighter" type, with more powerful versions appearing as the number encountered grows, including a (5 HD) "warrior" version, "magic-user" and "cleric" types (as 6th-level spellcasters), and a (6 HD) dual-class "warrior/magic-user" leader-type. A rumored "supreme leader" type is said to be a 7 HD specimen. They live in caves and volcanoes and have their own language.

AD&D predates a lot of the game's later push to classify monster types, but it is fairly explicit when it comes to referencing "humans," "demi-humans," and "humanoids." I'm not trying to be pedantic, either; that classification matters in the rules. Straight-up, this monster is built like a humanoid species. Yet, the ability to ignore metal and an immunity to fire are not things that "natural humanoids" would have. I can only assume "humanoid" in the context of the lava children is simply a reference to their shape, not their species classification.  

Regardless, I love the lava children's power. It will throw panic into the party tanks, for sure. They are "completely immune to fire and earth magic," but also "vulnerable to air and water magic," taking an extra point of damage per level of the caster. This represents one of the few monsters with an established weakness to certain attack forms, something I wish 1e had done a better job utilizing (and a feature I appreciated about 5e). As written, the lava child is a contradiction: A boring "humanoid" with a laughable appearance, coupled with an awesome and flavorful ability, and a gameable weakness. Making them elementals instead, and giving them some additional powers to move through earth and/or project fire and heat would have made them a nicely-thematic monster.

It's kind of the same thing with poltergeists (another Fiend Folio entry). The AD&D/OSRIC ghost is an undead nightmare, but other spirit presences are useful to fill the niche of "casual haunters"—still malevolent, but not as powerful or destructive as a ghost. On first glance, the poltergeist appears to fit the bill: Invisible, non-corporeal, able to use telekenesis to attack players with small objects, a fear effect. Perfect, except... their attack (despite being delivered as a 5 HD monster) does no damage, regardless of the object thrown. Instead, the thrown object triggers the fear effect, causing victims who fail to save vs. spells, or flee for 2–24 rounds and possibly (50%) drop whatever they're holding. 

Once a character makes their save, they are "...immune to further fear effects from the poltergeist while in that area." Does that mean all poltergeists, or just that one? Because they are encountered in groups of 1–8, and since I rolled them on the Dungeon Level II table for level 4, their numbers are tripled to 3–24 (I rolled 15 poltergeists for this particular room). If one saving throw counters all of them, what would be the point of having multiple poltergeists? Using individual saves will be a bitch to track at the table, though. Poor design, I have to say.

In both cases, I mitigated the inherent suckiness by using complementary environmental effects. I placed the lava children in an area with magical furnaces that blast out a constant heat effect, and if the party attacks the lava children, the furnaces spout cones of fire. For the poltergeists, I ignored the guidance about items doing 0 damage and instead have the spirits chucking weapons at the party, using the weapon's base damage dice with a reduction penalty. It's still possible that a poltergeist attack will do zero damage, but it might do some, which is a world of difference. Fifteen weapon attacks is bound to give anyone pause before entering an area, even if the weapons aren't doing full damage. This sort-of makes the poltergeists more of an environmental hazard than a monster, albeit one which can be possibly killed or turned (as ghouls). Unfortunately for these poltergeists, a cleric of high-enough level to survive down here is probably going to turn them automatically. So it goes...

With the monster results determined, I had fifteen total treasure results to roll out (12 of which get two rolls since they are found with monsters). I also needed to roll a number of bonus magic items as part of my recently-implemented change in methodology (to compensate for the low/no number of magic item results while stocking Levels 1–3). At 3 bonus items per level, this would mean 12 additional rolls for Level 4, a third of which should statistically be potions and scrolls. (Don't worry, I'm already second-guessing my "fix" by this point.)

Since I'm using OSRIC's stocking guidelines and not AD&D's, this means that for each "magic item" result on the table, I roll one item per level. After doing the stocking rolls for Levels 4–6, however, I came up with multiple magic item results in addition to the bonus item allowance. Suddenly, I had the opposite problem: Too many items. 

This is a common problem when tweaking a proven procedure like AD&D's stocking guidelines (and evidence of why one should only do so carefully). My magic item "fix" now needed tweaking of its own. I always intended to cap the bonus items anyway, so I decided that after Level 3, the number of bonus items drops to two per level (so, 8 items for Level 4, 2–4 of which should be potions or scrolls). I may tweak this down to one bonus item per level for Levels 7–9, or I may cease after a certain level (basically front-loading the dungeon with items until the statistical spread finds a good balance with the number of items I like to include on a level).

I also decided that since I had rolled a dragon and two hydras on this level, all three of which were "monster with treasure" results, they should have treasure hoards appropriate to their epic status. I substituted their normal treasure rolls for rolls against their lair treasure type as listed in the Monster Manual. The dragon's hoard rolled up huge amounts of copper, silver, gold, and gems, along with some potions and scrolls. To this total I added two of the bonus magic items to flesh it out into a proper treasure pile. The hydra hoard rolled out copper, silver, and gems, to which I added two bonus items. The pyrohydra hoard was just coins (copper, silver, electrum, and gold) so I added two bonus items here as well.

The rest of the treasure stocking rolls resulted in lots of coinage (mostly silver and electrum with some gold, a bit of platinum, and only one copper result), along with a handful of gems. But I rolled three '19's on the treasure table, confirming magic items for each roll. This means four rolls each because it's Level 4; so, another 12 items. Counting the 4 potions and 1 scroll I rolled up for the dragon's hoard, Level 4 has a grand total of 25 magic item rolls!  Of the 20 "non-hoard" items, 6–8 should roll out to be potions and scrolls, leaving approximately 13 other items.

For the dragon's hoard, I rolled Potions of Heroism, Treasure Finding, (Delusionary) Sweet Water, Oil of Etherealness, and a Scroll of Protection from Lycanthropes (a fortuitous result, as werewolves lair on this level). For the 8 bonus items I rolled: a Potion of Healing, +2 Chain Mail, a +2 Longsword, a Manual of Flesh Golems, a Scroll of Cure Serious Wounds (4/Cl), a Scroll of Protection from Devils, an Afreet Bottle, and a Wyrmbane Sword. 

For the 12 stocking roll items I rolled Potions of Longevity, Clairvoyance, and Water Walking, (9) +2 Arrows , a +1 Ring of Protection, a Helm of Comprehending Languages/Read Magic, a Feather Token of a Tree, a Cursed Scroll (one nearby magic item is "de-magicked"), a jar of Restorative Ointment (or Keoghtom's Ointment in AD&D) , a Wand of Paralyzation, and (after a result of "Roll Twice on Table II" ...sigh) Boots of Striding and Springing and a Broom of Flying.

There were many more potions and scrolls than expected, and several of the other items are consumable, so not too bad despite the quantity. The other items are great, and a few of them even carry risk or extra expense in their use. I'm satisfied with this list given the danger on this level, but I have to concede it's more than I anticipated when establishing my change. I'll just need to get creative about concealing some of the items or inserting obstacles to attaining them so it's not just a Monty Haul giveaway. As I did with Level 3, I split the item results up and dispersed them variously around the level, rather than clump them all into the same treasure locations as rolled. This also helps mitigate the quantity of items somewhat.

I kept with my 30/30% rolls to determine if a treasure was concealed and/or trapped. Of the 12 "non-hoard" treasure results on the table, three are hidden and three are trapped. No treasures are both hidden and trapped. The trap rolls came up with a crushing block (deadfall), spring-loaded darts, and a poison needle. The concealing factors were pretty standard ("loose stone in floor," etc.) so I included additional obstacles or requirements for attaining a few of the other treasures, just to keep things interesting. These chambers are where I intend for the "weirdness" to start.

I rolled up five "Stairs" results on the stocking table: 1) A "chimney" shaft up one level; 2) A trapdoor down one level; 3) A stairway down one level; 4) A stairway up one level, and 5) A stairway down to a dead-end. Since I'd already established my routes down to this level from the one above it, I changed both "up" results to "down," connecting one of them to the existing stair on the original map I'm using for Level 5. The trapdoor fit into a nicely-logical location for an access way, and I found a place to put the shaft down, but the stairs down to a dead-end was a problem. Ultimately, I simply merged it with the shaft. It's still a single access down, but the way is now blocked. If the players can figure out a way to open it up, then it becomes a usable access.

The stocking rolls came up with two "Trick/Trap" results, which rolled out as a 10' deep pit trap and flammable gas. I merged the pit trap with the shaft down/dead-end shaft from the Stairs results, so its all one thing: trapdoors that dump victims into a shaft to Level 5 that is blocked at a depth of 10'. The flammable gas seemed perfect as an environmental hazard for either the pyrohydra lair or the dragon's lair (I ultimately went with pyrohydra).

All told, Level 4 contains ~310 HD of monsters (not counting wandering monsters), for an approximate total of 27,317 xp. Monetary treasure comes out to 98,560 xp (not counting individual loots). Magic item xp is 32,950 for items kept in AD&D, or 24,785 for items kept in OSRIC. Selling the items nets 194,600 xp in AD&D, or 247,850 xp in OSRIC. Total xp for this level should run around 158,827 (320,477) using AD&D rules, or 150,662 (373,727) using OSRIC.


>>Hurricane Dungeon – Level 4 Key
>>Hurricane Dungeon – Level 4 Map 

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