When Ty of Mindstorm said he was going to do a blog guest tour this year, I raised my hand immediately. I had no idea that it'd go this hard. I am blown away.

A His Majesty the Worm drop-in-dungeon. Put the secret entrance in another dungeon corridor and let your adventurers discover the terrible secrets of the...

House of the Revelers

Theme: Decadence

Entrance: A crease in the dungeon wall indicates a secret door. The aroma of freshly baked bread and sizzling meat seeps out from the cracks. Pushing lightly on the wall causes the door (well-oiled) to the Dining Room to open.

Hallways: Opulent, full of small alcoves where marble heads (giant sized) look back at the adventurers. There are coins sprinkled here and there, everywhere.

Dining Room

The aroma of freshly-cooked meat. Scurrying feet of a feasting man. The crunching of teeth and the smacking of lips.

The moment anyone pockets treasure from the dungeon, the door leading to and from the dungeon swings closed. There is a flash as it magically welds itself shut. It opens freely for anyone wearing the pendant from the Dance Hall.

A man, dressed in a grease stained frilly shirt, feasting.

Action: Consuming as much food as he can, as fast as he can.
Appearance: Once fancy clothes, covered in grease. Unkempt hair. A big belly.
Attitude: Implore others to join him in the feast. Becomes hostile if they try to push past, and when struck explodes into a mass of Hungering Worms.
Ancillary:

“I can’t remember my damn name!”
“Damn, it’s just… so good, it’s all so good.”
“Oh, don’t worry. Someone always brings more! There’s more coming!”
If observed, signs of movement under the skin on his tummy.

An eight-armed glass chandelier lights the entire room.

Fresh wax candles. Expensive.

An ornate wooden table full of food and taking up most of the room’s space.

Savory meats, roasted vegetables, crumbly cheese, juicy fruit.

The feast is extra filling! Anyone who eats doesn’t need to consume rations during the next 1d3 camp phases. There is a 1-in-6 chance of contracting the Great Hunger affliction; see below.

Silver platters and plates, golden utensils, crystal wine glasses

Mechanics

Hungering Worms. Attributes: Swords 0 | Pentacles 2 | Cups 0 | Wands 0. HD: 3/0

Each worm is about three feet long and as thin as string. There are dozens.

Lesser Doom

Scatter! Play a lesser doom card to have the worms scurry apart, into the cracks and crevices of the dungeon. Unless the adventurers have a way to pull each worm free, the Challenge ends. The worms will be back. They’re hungry.

Greater Doom

Burrow! Play a greater doom card along with an attack. If it hits, the worms go down the throat of the adventurer. They immediately are Afflicted with The Great Hunger. The Hungering Worms immediately lose 2 Health, representing the majority of them finding a new host.

The Great Hunger. (Affliction)

Stage 1: You’re peckish. Test Wands during the camp phase. On a fail, you need to try sneaking a second ration or you starve. 1 charge to cure.
Stage 2: You’re just really, really hungry. You must consume 2 rations during the camp phase or starve. 1 charge to cure.
Stage 3: You’re ravenous. Test Wands whenever you’re in the room with something edible: if you fail, you’re going to try and eat it. 3 charge to cure.
Stage 4: You explode into a nest of Hungering Worms. There’s no cure at this stage, because you’ve exploded.

Baths

A misty steam filling the room, making you sweat. The splash of something moving in the water. A low, rumbling bass of unnatural laughing voices.

Steam obscures anything further than ten feet out.

Sconces on the wall burn brightly, filling the room with hazy light.

Pools of a liquid that looks like water, but thicker.

Stairs lead down into the pools. They’re 8 feet deep.
A mortal soaking in the water for a quarter-hour heals all physical wounds, but not perfectly—instead of scabs and scars, their skin is patched with gold, like a living kintsugi. Even missing appendages grow back, but made purely of gold.

12 Marble Revelers soak in the pools.

Action: Enjoying their endless soak, gossiping with each other.
Appearance: Twelve-foot tall living marble statues. Perfect bodies with (literal) chiseled muscles. They open their mouths (but don’t otherwise move them) to speak in deep baritone voices.
Attitude: Curious about the small ones. Completely unafraid and unfazed.
Ancillary:

“It’s not water, little one, but it won’t hurt you! Have a dip.”
“Ah, what a fool you would be to choose to dance instead of soak! This is the life.”
“The way out? Oh, little one, you can’t get out. The dance hall is too dangerous for you. Stay with us!”

An elevated section of the north eastern room is surrounded by wooden railing.

Climbing up the wall and over the railing leads to the Alcove.

Alcove

A hazy mist of pipeweed fills the nostrils and stings the eyes. Leather creaks. A distant splash of water from afar.

A woman in finery leaning back in an armchair smoking from a pipe.

Action: Smoking endless amounts of pipeweed.
Appearance: Wrinkly and thin. A beautiful dress. Glazed over eyes.
Attitude: Languid, dazed, and happy to chat with anyone who doesn’t harsh the vibe.
Ancillary:

“My name, darling, is Madame Olivia of House Dusklight.”
“Leave? And risk being crushed by the brutes of this place? No thank you. Besides, sweet thing, nobody leaves this place once the door seals.”
“Yes, yes, smoke with me. Let me light that for you, sweetie.”

Two armchairs, facing each other.

Olivia Dusklight is in one.

A small table between the chairs with a single candle, the only light.

A lounging couch.

The amount of coins between the cushions is astounding, really.

The alcove is open to the south and west, blocked by a waist high wooden railing.

Below, the splash of water can be heard and a rumbling of stone. Hazy steam obscures vision.
Leaping off the railing leads down to the Baths.

Kitchen

Racks of hanging cured meat, dried spices, and kitchen implements. A many-armed figure moving through the chaos as easy as pie. Bubbling cauldrons, sizzling frying pans, and warm ovens.

A humanoid figure with twelve arms scurries about the kitchen, flipping, cutting, spicing, and plating several different courses.

Action: Cook meals, bake bread, and prepare desserts.
Appearance: Twelve arms. A face longer than it should be with sharp teeth. An old apron. Fingernails as sharp as a chef’s knife. Also brandishing a chef’s knife.
Attitude: Busy, scatter-brained, and willing to put people to work. If threatened, Chefy turns hostile and unleashes his homunculi on the group. More meat for the pot.
Ancillary:

“Parts, parts, parts! Bring me things that were once alive, and old Chefy here can make you up some nice takeaway. Delicious!”
“Worms? In the food? No, no, no, not from me, what an accusation! Who did you dine with?”
You want out? Of here? Gotta get the pendant from the dance hall… And if you’re going that way… kill the guardian in there, bring me the body… Chefy’ll cook it up nice for you.”

Firelight from the ovens bathes the room in orange glow.

Racks of food, spices, and implements make up every square inch of the walls.

There’s enough here to fill every pack the adventurers have with rations.

(HIDDEN) 4 homunculi are hidden away in cupboards and drawers.

Chefy’s Takeaway

Chefy can whip up takeaway in no time at all. Use the Alchemy rules, but the Brew Alchemy doesn’t require tools, talents, or time. Chefy does demand the entire body, though. He’ll do the sorting of parts. In addition to an alchemical substance, Chefy also produces rations for the party with each meal.

Statblocks

Chefy

Special: Chefy, with his many limbs, always grants +1 draw in the Challenge Phase.

Attributes: Swords 5 | Pentacles 4 | Cups 2 | Wands 2. HD: 6/0

Lesser Dooms:

Knife-skills: Chefy can play a lesser doom card as a Riposte. This does not count as his action for the turn.
Taste test: If Chefy is in his kitchen, he can play a lesser doom card to take a quick snack break. He shovels down some of his own creations, Healing 2 Wounds.

Greater Dooms:

Chef’s knife: Play a greater doom card along with an Attack. If the Attack is successful, Chefy cuts free a random limb.
Need more sous-chefs: If Chefy is in his kitchen, he can play a greater doom card. His free hand slaps together 2 homunculi who join the fight in the next round.

Homunculus

Attributes: 0. HD: 2/0.

Lesser Doom:

Season: The homunculus throws salt and spices on the character. Chefy makes any attacks against them with favor.

Greater Doom:

Mise en place: Pick one adventurer and play a greater doom card. For every homunculus engaged with them beyond the first, deal 1 Wound.

Dance Hall

Polished floor stretching out into the dark. A massive hanging lamp in the center of the hall throwing the entire room into contrasting shadows and light. The thunderous crunch as a hundred twelve-foot tall marble folk dance the endless dance.

A golden lantern, the size of a giant’s head, rotating on a clockwork device, throwing out strobes of light. The ever-shifting nature from this creates impenetrable shadows that dance across the room.

100 Marble Revelers dance in a rhythm of chaos on the dance floor.

Action: Dance, baby! With each other, in a line, in a mosh pit, swinging with a partner, performing intricate ballroom maneuvers, and every other variation.
Appearance: Twelve-foot tall living marble statues. Perfect bodies with (literal) chiseled muscles.
Attitude: They ignore the small folk entirely and never speak. Ignoring the small folk means that if you’re on the dance floor, a twelve foot tall statue might crash into you at full dance-speed.

(Hidden) The Gold-Eater, an abomination of flesh and metal, stalks among the dancers, waiting for those made of meat to try and get the pendant.

Appearance: Rhino-sized. Bulbous globs of flesh. Five legs of varying, mismatched sizes. A hundred misshapen eyes. Coins, jewels, goblets, and all manner of treasure pressed into the flesh as if it were jelly.
Attitude: The Gold-Eater, in order of importance, will act in the following way: 1) protect the pendant. 2) eat anyone that enters the dancefloor. 3) stay hidden from intruders of the dance hall.
Ancillary: The Gold-Eater is bound by magic to the dance floor and cannot leave it under any circumstance.

A raised dais, in the center of the dance floor, with something shining on a pedestal when the lantern light hits it.

The center of the dance floor isn’t terribly far from the edge, but is a treacherous journey through the dancers.
The pendant is draped on a golden holder.

Rows and rows of tables, covered in appetizers and dusty bottles.

The appetizers are all freshly made and constantly replenished by Chefy’s Homunculi in the Kitchens.
Wine goblets, made of silver and inlaid with gems, are scattered haphazardly everywhere.
The dusty bottles are unopened wine. The vintage is from the past age.

The Pendant

The pendant is sized to be worn by a marble reveler, but once picked up it resizes itself to fit around the neck of the adventurer holding it. It is golden chain and glowing red ruby.

The pendant can be used to unseal the door out of the dungeon back in the Dining Room.

The pendant can also be used to reach this dungeon once again. Use chalk to etch the outline of a door and then fill a small brazier with three handfuls of gold coins. Light the brazier while holding the pendant in a fist. The coins are consumed, but the door opens into the Dining Room.

The pendant is heavy. It takes up 2 slots. If you take the pendant off your neck (even to hold in your fist to make the door) you cannot put it back on until you are inside the dungeon. If you aren’t wearing the pendant for a day, it begins to fade and crumble. On the third day it vanishes, returning to the pedestal in the Dance Hall.

The Challenge

Moving onto the dance floor begins a Challenge Phase. The ever-shifting and unpredictable dance of the marble revelers means that it’s no simple feat to reach the pedestal in the center.

Special Rules: Draw +1 card for the revelers. The marble revelers always play the GM’s lowest card for their Initiative, and it is played face up before the players choose their own initiative cards. Anyone who has an Initiative below the marble revelers immediately takes 1 Wound as they don’t take enough time to predict the upcoming dance maneuvers.

Gold-Eater

Sorcerous Elite

Attributes: Swords 4 | Pentacles 4 | Cups 4 | Wands 4

HD: 6/6

Restorative: You must seal, by burning, the attacks you make, lest they heal over! The Gold-Eater heals 1 Wound at the start of each Round unless damaged by fire or acid.

Lesser Doom

You’ve brought me gifts: The maw of the abomination opens and it lets out a sickening cry that worms its way into the hearts of the greedy. Play a lesser doom card. The adventurer in the same zone who is currently carrying the most amount of pilfered treasure reaches into their pack and throws their most valuable piece of loot at the feet of the Gold-Eater.

The predator hunting in the dance: The Gold-Eater instinctively understands the motions of the marble revelers. Play a lesser doom card face down and vanish amongst the forest of moving marble bodies.

Major Doom

Golden shake: The abomination shakes it all off, like a wet dog, freeing embedded coins and trinkets and sending them flying. Each character in the same zone takes 1 Wound from the coins and treasure pelting them at bullet-like speed.

Altar

A skeleton, the meat rotted away, lying on the floor. Charcoal etchings on every inch of the wall. A towering old altar, accompanied by benches surrounding it in a circle.

There is no light in the room.

A human skeleton is leaning against the altar in a seated position.

Their pack, beside them, is rotted away to scraps. They’ve been dead for centuries.

A marble altar, sized for the marble revelers, is in the center of the room, surrounded by benches.

A marble dagger is placed carefully on the altar. A regular-sized person would wield it as a greatsword.

The walls are covered in charcoal markings.

The etchings are the culmination of research about this place.
One section shows this small area being torn free from the world. It appears the dungeon is a shifting demi-plane.
Another section shows the Gold-Eater. Etchings show it magically confined to the dance floor. Another section shows it launching coins at unaware adventurers. The last part shows it about to pounce on an adventurer as they snatch the pendant in the center of the dance floor.
The last section is a drawing of the pendant and illustrations about it. It serves as a key to this place—to get out, but also to get back in. It resizes itself to the wearer. If not worn for some amount of time, it fades away from the world and returns here.

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Many, many thanks to Mindstorm for this incredible post.

Saturday, January 13, 2024