The Pit of Nefius Saturday, June 30, 2012 content , map , wwr 2 Comments

First foremost I use donjon.bin.sh for the maps. I may rotate w/ them in paint but nothing fancy. All that I add is the content and if you want donjon will do that for you too. Bottom line donjon is dope, check it out and use it!









TO RECREATE THIS MAP

· Due to an unfortunate copy/paste fail on our part, the specific seed information was lost for this week. Sorry about that!!!





BASIC INFO

· One square is 5'x5'

· Sq Size 5'

· Ceilings 10'

· Entrance hall is 6' ceiling, sloping downward its entire length

· All doors 6' x 4' unless otherwise noted





The place now known as "The Pit of Nefius" was once a beautiful dwarven country home hidden in a mountainside. It is now a place of black magic where Nefius Solinkas trains aspiring necromancers in the dark arts.





Once an acolyte is accepted into the fold, it is unlikely that they will ever see the light of day again. While Nefius appears to tutor his apprentices in necromancy, the spells and incantations they practice are actually preparing them for sacrifice to dark and unknown gods. After completing their training, the acolytes tell their peers they are leaving The Pit to spread their magic, but in actuality, Nefius spreads their blood upon an altar in secret.





An apprentice named Nidia Via has recently begun to suspect something is not right. She is well liked by her peers and as she nears the completion of her training, instead of saying telling them she will be leaving, she has publicly told them all that she will stay to help tutor them all. Nefius, worried his secret may be revealed, is frantically seeking a solution to his problem. His arrogance with his acolytes, compared to Nidia's charm has not left him in a good position....

1 - THE ONLY ENTRANCE A partially collapsed hole in the cliff side, often capped by a large, conspicuous rock, leads to a five foot wide stair descending 10 feet into the mountain. The stair leads to an unlit hallway that reeks of stale air and fresh death. The walls are coated in a thick layer of dust and blood, and appear filthy and uneven. Upon closer inspection the unevenness of the walls is the result of them being covered in elaborate engravings. Their craftsdwarfship is of the highest quality. 2 - A SECRET DOOR Five feet after the hallway turns west, part of the wall appears partially clean. Fine detail is buried under grime, but the shape of a dwarf with his hand outstretched is quite noticeable. Applying pressure on the dwarf's hand will cause a section of the opposite wall to pivot outward.

On close inspection a quarter circle scuff mark can be seen worn into the floor where the door opens. 3 - THE FIRE TRAP For 15 feet, masterful stone work gives way to uneven slabs of stone where the wall meets the ceiling, and the smooth stone floor changes to what appears to be pebbles stuck in concrete. The hallway smells faintly of oil, the floor is covered in stone chips and ash, and deep scratches mar the tops of the wall.

Should any weight over 100 lbs touch the pebbles, the will depress into the floor, and the ceiling will open dropping flaming rocks and refuse. A loud scratching will be heard as flints positioned every few inches drag against each other causing showers of sparks that ignite the oil soaked refuse. 4 - THE GREAT HALL Ceilings in this room are 15 feet high, and masterful engravings can be seen through the grime that coats the walls. A close inspection will reveal a mixture of dwarves celebrating and heated battles.

A sleeping five headed hydra lies in the center of the room. It is always asleep unless woken by a loud noise.

Corpses still clutching weapons and wearing armor lie among the ruins of what appears to have once been fantastic furniture. 5 - RITUAL ROOM A large amount of what appears to be fresh blood coats the walls of this room. A slab of cloudy glass (10'x3x'3') resembling a coffin sits in the center of the room. Numerous pairs of shackles are bolted to the floor, walls, and ceilings throughout this room. 6 - TROPHY ROOM This room is pristine and lit with magical candelabras. A trio of direwolf heads hang on the southern wall and a large spear hangs beneath them. A stuffed owlbear stands on the northern wall, glaring upon those entering the room. A number of chairs, a desk and a chest of drawers line other walls, and exquisite dwarven murals cover every visible stone surface. The door to the north is barred from the other side.

Any trophies that are touched will come to life, fully restored, and attack anything in the room. If the spear is touched a devilishly fast orc will appear and offer a small grin before attempting to slay everything in the room.

7 - BARRACKS Wooden torches lit with magical flame line the walls every few feet. Two rows of four bunk beds, each with two chests for personal effects, take up much of the room. The western and northern most walls are kept clean and used as a path around the bunks. A steel capped torch in the middle of the western wall stands out from the rest and opens a secret door if pulled.

The door is in the north western corner of the room is closed, and the doorknob is covered in dust. If opened a delayed blast fireball explodes, hitting anyone near the door on either side.

8 - NEFIUS' ROOM The master's room is filled with filth and clutter. Bookshelves, crates, chests and small tables litter the room. A dirty hammock hangs in the north eastern corner, and the stone floors are slick with grime and muck. An eerie yellow fire burns on a five foot pile of bones in the western corner. A wealth of necromantic knowledge is hidden in this clutter.

The door to the Summoning Room is usually open. The door on the eastern wall is magically sealed, and the door leading to the trophy room is blocked with a heavy bar.

9 - WELCOME MAT The southernmost 50'of this hallway feels less stable than anywhere else in this old home. Slightly loose trigger stones are scattered every few feet and pressing any one of them will open a 50' section of floor to a spike pit containing a couple dozen rotting corpses. A few of the bodies look to be moving around.

10 - DEADMAN'S CORNER Three fully armored skeletons appear to have been thrown up against the wall in this corner. Most of the bones in their upper body are cracked or lie shattered on the floor. Close inspection and adequate light will also show numerous scuffs upon the fine dwarven stone work on the same wall. Trigger stones make up the first four feet of stones heading west. If pressed, the ceiling will open and a stone battering ram will swing down at the wall. A screaming dwarven face is carved stylistically on the front of the ram and does not seem to have suffered any significant damage. Once the heavy ram bounces back toward the west a mechanism automatically raises it back into position. 11 - HALLWAY This hall continues west until it turns north, the halls remain in the same dirty state of the rest of the dungeon throughout. A door leads south into the Summoning room before the hall continues and turns south down towards the barracks. A keen eye will be able to see indications of use and trails into the Summoning room but none beyond. 12 - SUMMONING ROOM The western side of this room is filled with cages of assorted sizes containing extra-planar creatures of assorted sizes. Each creature is magically bound and unable to free itself. A small lab and shelves stand on the eastern wall. A large summoning circle in blood fills the center of the room.









NEFIUS SOLINKA

Nefius Solinka was born to a lesser nobleman's third favorite whore. Instead of killing the child, as was the local custom, Nefius' father allowed the whore to bear him, and then immediately sent it away to be raised at a boarding school. This was a rather remarkable mercy for what would become a rather unremarkable young man. Nefius never met, or cared to meet either of his parents as his most defining trait is an arrogant apathy. The only above average thing Nefius can do is immediately memorize almost anything. It's too bad he never acquired the wit to make this skill dangerous for others.





After being released from the school Nefius floated around the country before falling in with a wicked necromancer named Zelos Hurrel. Zelos had a dozen apprentices under his thumb and together they rained murder upon the countryside in order to get an army of zombies. The goal was to take down some king or another but a rather pesky gang of adventurers, constantly shouting "BBEG! BBEG!" foiled it all. Nefius was able to run for three years before they caught up with him. When they did he was camped near Stonefoot Manor, and as he scrambled up the mountainside desperately seeking somewhere to hide luck was with him and he found the entrance.



