Riverboat Gambler: The Dent in the Shield

Stomp your foot
Flick your sword

Across the body

Of the fat

Thing from the

Jar and toss

With the same 

Motion your shining

Sword to the 

Man waiting to

Catch it so

The blade is

Not lost as

The pincers close

Around your head

You are not

The dancer you

Are the dance 

So if you

Miss one step

The part that

Matters will survive

 

LABYRINTH OF THE STAR SPAWN

The Labyrinth is buried beneath the broad, flat dome of a shield volcano. The entrance is on the windward side where a shallow divot has been scooped out of the slope. A squat adobe watchtower (manned by a Threethrax) looks out over the plain. Below that is a circular pit with a spiral ramp leading down (to 4).

  

The Labyrinth is dug out of hard, dark green stone. Layers of strange limescale spiral across the rock like fractal slime mold. Surfaces are covered with slimy plants that squelch and flutter like sea anemones, connected by a network of tubules that pulse with fluid. 

 

Conditions in the Labyrinth:

• The hexes on the map are large, thirty feet from edge to edge. Ceilings are thirty feet high, except in the center which is sixty feet high and domed.  
• The water level fluctuates on a two day cycle. The Labyrinth fills with water to a depth of twenty four feet over the course of a day, then the water level declines over the course of the next day.  
• Intelligent creatures who sleep in the Labyrinth do not regain HP from resting, afflicted by nightmares. This does not apply to beings that do not dream.
• For every sentient creature that dies in the Labyrinth, there is a 5% cumulative chance that the STAR SPAWN awakes and lumbers out to slurp up everything in the room. It will not leave the tomb if it wakes up under these conditions.

1: A huge growth shaped like a starfish covers the exterior wall. Thrumming tubes branch out from its limbs, penetrating the plant network on the walls. 

 

This entity regulates water distribution in the vault. On the other side of the wall is a vast reservoir of groundwater. If the creature is destroyed (HD 12, regenerates D8 HP per round) water jets through the opening. The Tomb is flooded and stays flooded at the maximum depth.

 

If the starfish is killed and the gap is blocked, the tomb slowly dries out. The STAR SPAWN at 2 wakes up.

  

An attack on this subsystem provokes an attack by a Malfyr, D4 Black Puddings and D6 Cherenkov Oozes 

 

2: At the end of the corridor is a large amphora, tilted on its side, in a bed of slimy plants and animals. A microbial mat of Cherenkov Oozes (Monster Overhaul) leech the energy seeping out of the jar. Intelligent creatures that fail a Save vs Spells are unable to approach the vat, as though affected by Fear. 

 

If a sentient being dies in this chamber the STAR SPAWN inside automatically wakes up.

 

3: At the end of the chamber is an enormous entity like a Sea Cucumber with a hard shell. Otlo’gyubh (CC2) return here and slither into the orifice at the end, which extrudes Black Puddings (OSE Advanced) and Cherenkov Oozes. The slimes slither around the dungeon devouring things and are then eaten by the Otlo’gyubh.

 

An attack on this subsystem provokes it to extrude an Otlo’gyubh, D6 Black Puddings and 2D6 Cherenkov Oozes.

 

4: A large spiral ramp corkscrews down sixty feet from a hole in the ceiling. Around the thirty foot mark is a camp with racks and shelves made of bone and molted insect shells, 4,600 SP in jewelry and coins along with weapons and armor of the type used in the Eastern Sanctuaries. The MANTIDS camp here. If alerted by the Threethrax atop the spire they hide by hanging over the side of the ramp and climbing to ambush intruders. 

The chamber below the spiral ramp is a plain of ooze, studded with pitted bits of metal and other things which fell in over the aeons and were not consumed by the creatures of the Labyrinth. There are four statues depicting multi-headed monsters. The features have been worn away by water and acid but they clearly aren't original to the room, placed by a later generation of visitors.

 

Blake

 

5: The floor in this chamber is potholed. The holes look like huge tide pools even when the water level in the dungeon is at its lowest. Otyughs (OSE Advanced) dwell in these pits, submerged in liquid filth and waiting for treats. The beasts were trapped in the pit some time in the ancient past and have been down here ever since. They whip their tentacles out to prey on passers by.

 

6: The plants in this room flutter like sea lilies. The walls are full of stacked amphora, some of which have fallen and become mired in the slime coating the room. A handful are still sealed. A suit of armor shimmers in the slime.

The jugs hold Malfyr (OSE Advanced) which emerge when a victim enters the room. The plants deal acid damage to victims caught in their fronds. The armor is an Adamantine Plate +3 and Shield +3 that survived the owner being eaten and dissolved. The Malfyr left it along with 5,220 SP in coin as bait for visitors to the chamber.

 

7: At the end of this corridor the monumental stones are stacked high enough to stay out of the water at its highest extent. The slime has been scraped and burned away to create a fortified place for the FIGHTERS OF ZEYZAN to camp.

  

8: A glowing kelp forest dangles from the ceiling, hundreds of tiny creatures grow in the floats like little embryos. These are Zibblers (CC2), tiny gardeners who keep the biota in the dungeon functioning. If any subsystem is destroyed they show up to repair it. They are good swimmers but when the water is high they use tiny boats to repair things high up and weigh themselves down to walk along the bottom.

 

An attack on this subsystem provokes an attack by a Malfyr, D4 Black Puddings and D6 Cherenkov Oozes 

 

9: A huge amphora lies on its side. A hole in the side evokes a shellfish devoured by the sharp boring tooth of a moon snail. Inside the container, nothing but a fossilized beak and a couple claws remain.

 

(This Star Spawn was cannibalized in its sleep by the one at 2).

 

 

INHABITANTS OF THE TOMB  

THE FIGHTERS OF ZEYZAN

The Fighters of Zeyzan come from the same milieu of tribes whose Clerics founded the Mercy religion and carved the Sanctuaries out of the old Djinn Potentates. Their clan refused to abandon the Gods of their ancestors and the spirits which give the world color and meaning. Though they lack the Monolatry of their better organized brethren, they share their love of war fought for a righteous cause. When the Disciple of Zeyzan (CC2) wielding the Rod of Slumber (as Sleep but affects beings of up to 8+1 HD) begged them for help they immediately consecrated themselves to her cause.

 

The Disciple worships the Lord of Sleep in his aspect as the Glorious Jewel. She received a prophetic dream warning her that the Star Spawn would send nightmares from its Labyrinth and that she must protect the dreams of the people. They lost 32 good men to the hazards of the Plain and monster attacks in the dungeon. Such is life. Offer it to God.

  

The 28 Fighters (OSE, as Dervish) carry 16,010 SP in coin and gems, plus scrolls of (floating disc, esp, light (darkness), protection from normal missiles, fly) and (detect evil, detect magic (mu), hold monster, telekinesis, mirror image). Between them they have six Flaming Swords +1 which keep the slimes at bay.

Though the Fighters are unafraid to die, the Zeyzan bade them make camp to wait for deliverance from evil. She can protect them from the Star Spawn's nightmares and madness but they still aren't strong enough to take the monster on in a straight fight.

 

THE MANTIDS

Six Mantids (OSE Advanced), three Threethrax (CC2) and a Giant Mantis (OSE Advanced) use the entrance to the Labyrinth as a sietch. In lean times they venture into the tomb to eat the plants and animals, but recently they haven't had to. They killed and ate a lot of the Fighters as they came in, and ran outside the tomb when the Star Spawn woke up. If the Star Spawn wakes up they do so again, using their superior mobility to skirt around visitors. They do not dream and therefore do not suffer nightmares.

The Mantids and their tamed Mantis are not open to negotiation but the unpredictable Threethrax might be convinced to parlay or turn on their allies. Between the four total (three in the camp, one upstairs) they have three silver daggers, a Dagger +1, and a mated pair of Daggers +1/+2 vs Humans. 

 

THE STAR SPAWN

A slimy fat thing that sleeps in a barrel, like an immortal Diogenes. It has no thoughts in its empty head, no grand vision. Nevertheless the servitors in the Labyrinth would call it master if they could speak. It only understands consumption. Its psychic senses detect thoughts in the beings around it and it consumes those beings to bring the thoughts inside itself. Mental contact is debilitating, inflicting terrible visions of alien cities, whole worlds tumbling into its squirming maw.
AC 18, HD 20 (90hp), Att 1 × bite (4d12), 2 × claw (3d6, Special) OR 1 × stomp (Special), Attack Bonus +7, MV 90’ (30’) / 240’ (80’) flying or swimming, SV D4 W5 P6 B5 S8, ML 11, AL Chaotic, XP 6,450

▶ Creature From Beyond: Star Spawn are immune to suffocation, drowning, radiation, and mind-affecting or mind-reading spells (e.g. charm, hold, sleep)

▶ Grab and Eat: When a Star Spawn hits a target with its claws, it may choose to grapple them. The victim gets a Save vs Paralysis on their action to struggle free. If they fail, the Star Spawn devours them on its next action instead of using its bite attack normally, instantly killing them.   

▶ Psychic Link: Each round a Star Spawn may replace one claw or bite attack with a Psychic Link to a single target. On a failed Save vs Spells the target is affected as by the magic user spells Feeblemind and Confusion.

▶ Psychic Shout: While a Star Spawn is awake, any creature who comes within 60' must save vs. spells or be paralyzed for D6 turns as its "psychic shout" washes over them.  

▶ Regeneration: A Star Spawn regenerates 5 HP per round. If reduced to 0 HP it dissolves into foul slime that slithers back to its amphora to regenerate.

▶ Stomp: A Star Spawn's Stomp attack deals 3d10 damage to all targets in a 15' radius, Save vs Breath Weapon for half. 

▶ Telepathy: A Star Spawn's psychic powers let it detect living beings within 120'. It is never surprised by such beings.

 

ENCOUNTERS IN THE TOMB

Use a D10. All creatures native to the tomb can move freely in water.

1: An Otlo’gyubh (CC2) searches for slime to slurp up.

2: A Black Pudding (OSE Advanced) hoovers up organic matter.

3: A Cherenkov Ooze (Monster Overhaul) manages radiation levels by eating excess energy.

4: A cloud of Red Ether (CC1) drifts through the chamber, emitted by the growths on the walls.

5: A work crew of 10D10 Zibblers (CC2) maintain the strange biota. Attacking them draws a security response.

6: D6 Mantids (OSE Advanced), D4-1 Threethrax (CC2) and D2-1 Gaint Mantis (OSE Advanced) hunt for food.

7: Disciple of Zeyzan (CC2) and all 28 of her Fighters (Dervishes per OSE), looking for prophecied help. 

8 Star Spawn, sleepwalking.

9 Malfyr (OSE Advanced), alert to the possible presence of delicious intruders. 

10: Surface encounter using table from time of day.

 

LOCAL ENCOUNTER

Roll a D10 from the ENCOUNTERS IN THE TOMB table to see what made it to the surface. 

 

THE MAKING OF

Cthulhu is pretty played, especially around here. I wrote Random Encounter and Hold Person about the Migo because I painted a miniature of one. I wrote one about the Star Spawn for the same reason. Then I made a dungeon with the Migo in it for the C Series, so I had to do one for the Star Spawn as well. 

  

I used the Dyson Logos Hive Maze for the map. It reminded me of a Chtorran mandala. I like Chtorr because the aliens are incredibly dangerous despite not being superintelligent masterminds. Or possibly not intelligent at all, just like in Alien.