Goblinium

Edge of Natures Bounty

A small one-shot dungeon that I use to introduce my friends to playing TTRPGs using the fantastic Maze Rats system. Fits on one A4 page and takes around 3-5 hours to run.

Generally I have my party start as hired guards for a merchant caravan, assigned to a collector of rare artifacts who happens to know a rumor of a dagger of great power that was lost in the possession of a wizard many years ago. The wizard used to live in the woods near to the town you're traveling towards, so the collector sends you to ruins of their former home to investigate. A simple and sort of hand-wavy start, but enough to set the hook: get in, get the dagger, get out.

Edge of Natures Bounty

Click the above for a neatly formatted PDF of the below!

Rooms

1 - Decayed Shack

Rotten wood, mushrooms, overgrown brickwork, barely standing.

The remains of an old shack, most of the rough stone walls and wooden supports have crumbled away with time, overtaken by nature. A trapdoor to a cellar remains cleared of nature.
Exits: S:Rotten Cellar

2 - Rotten Cellar

Rotten food, damp, stagnant air.

A dilapidated pantry filled with rotten meat, rats, and dustbulbs. Various clay pots and small wooden boxes remain on collapsing shelves, opening any of which will release an overwhelmingly foul smell of rot (STR check or vomit). At the east end of the room is a faded hanging banner (purple with a golden claw emblem), lightly moving from a breeze. Investigation reveals a door behind the banner that is slightly ajar.
Exits: N:Decayed Shack | E:Statue Room

3 - Statue Room

Damp air, moist carved stone, sounds echo and distort, thick webbing.

Light webbing covers the 40’ descending dirt corridor between the Rotten Cellar and this room. At the western entrance to the room is a raised iron portcullis.
More dustbulbs grow from the damp floor, and lichen and bluegleam grows on the walls.
In the centre of the 40’ circular room stands a statue 8 feet tall of a robed man with hands in prayer, eroded by time.
The statue starts facing the Eating Hall, once the entire party are in the room it loudly turns towards them and the portcullis snaps shut behind them. Whenever the party or a monster approaches a door the statue turns to face that door, and if it’s not facing the corridor to the Rotten Cellar then the portcullis raises.
In each eye socket of the statue is a Ruby (200G each). Careful examination will reveal the rubies are connected to some kind of mechanism.

Around the statue is a small 5’ canal filled with murky water that continues on in to the Well Cistern.
Inside the murky water is 14G worth of coins, some rusted weapons, a silver locket (20G) and a Juvenile Bloodworm (2/6 chance to attack whenever the water is disturbed).
The domed ceiling is hidden behind a thick blanket of webbing, on which is one ettercap, who if attacked – or if the statue trap is activated – will try to flee to the Eating Hall to alert the ettercaps in there.
Exits: N:Mural Room | E:Well Cistern | S:Eating Hall | W:Rotten Cellar

4 - Mural Room

Still air, scent of damp, hum of magic.

On each side wall are worn murals depicting three mages – one clad in red, one in blue, and one in green – using their magic to part the clouds to reveal the sun, shape rivers, and sprout forests respectively. Down the centre of the room is a set of cylindrical stone plinths each holding a metal bowl. The plinths are coloured one red, one blue, and one green from the entrance to the rear.
At the far end of the room in a curved recess stands a mummified Ghoul overlooking a square stone plinth. If the Ghoul has not been awoken by the trap in the Statue Room then it will remain motionless, however if it has been awoken then it will begin to hunt down the party, even beyond the dungeon.
Placing the following in the bowls of the coloured plinths will cause a small wooden box containing the magical dagger Edge of Natures Bounty to appear on the stone plinth:

Exits: S:Statue Room

5 - Eating Hall

Thick webbing, eerie lack of echo, acrid smell of sweat.

What was once an eating mess is now thoroughly covered in thick webbing on the floor, walls, and ceiling that can trap the party if they are not careful (2/6 chance to trap in place; STR or DEX each turn or remain trapped in place).
Along the walls are 5 web sacs that each contain a skeleton (2/6 human, otherwise large animal, each human skeleton has a 2/6 chance at having a treasure).
Inside are 3 ettercaps. If these have been alerted due to either the ettercap or the trap in the Statue Room then 1 will be on the ceiling near the entrance to drop down on the party as they enter, and the rest will be on the ground near the rear of the room. If they have not been alerted then they will be either attending to the nest sacs, eating a raw rat, or asleep (1-3,4-5,6 on 1d respectively). One of the ettercaps has a faint blue glow to their skin. If they need to flee they will attempt to do so in to high up webbing in the Statue Room, as they fear the Red Ooze inside the Kitchen. Hidden behind the webbing on the eastern wall is a door to the Study.
Exits: N:Statue Room | E:Study(Hidden) | S:Kitchen

6 - Kitchen

Hot, acidic air, scorched floor and walls.

Leading to the Kitchen is a small corridor about 20ft long. As the party moves down the corridor the covering of webbing abates, and the hall heats up. Minor scorch marks around the door.
Inside the room is a kitchen with a large oven on the far wall. There is a Red Ooze approximately 5’ tall and wide. It is slow moving and won’t leave the Kitchen.
The floor is covered in charcoal, soot, burned bones, and scraps of melted metals. In one corner is a small pile of smashed clay, inside which are two small clay vessels still intact. One contains a sickly green potion (Stretchy) and one contains a dark blue potion (Regeneration).
Investigation of the oven reveals a chimney wide enough that an average person could fit through to climb out, though the charred smooth walls make grip difficult.
Exits: N:Eating Hall

7 - Study

Low hum of magic, still air, dust.

A small room with a bookcase along the east wall full of long decayed books, and a wooden desk in the centre. A film of shifting green slime partially covers the desk and floor. On the desk is smashed glass shards and fragments of an emerald (worth 40G).
Investigating the desk reveals a drawer with a rotten journal inside. A couple of page are still in tact and describes how the writer was attempting to create their own Green Ooze using magic. Investigating the bookcase reveals 3 in tact scrolls (Energising Time, Soul Nexus, Moss Spray).
Exits: N:Well Cistern | W:Eating Hall

8 - Well Cistern

Damp air, moist stone, humid and cold.

A circular room approximately 10’ wide that tunnels upwards 30’ to the surface. A small canal filled with murky water leads in to the Statue Room. Moss and lichen cover the walls, as well as bluegleam.
On the far wall is an iron ladder that leads upwards to an iron trapdoor bolted on the inside. Releasing the bolt will cause the trapdoor to swing open and dump 10’3 of water on the party (STR or be swept off the ladder; DEX to grab back on if swept off).
The well is visible from the Decayed Shack if the party look around before entering the Rotten Cellar.
Exits: S:Study(Hidden) | W:Statue Room

Dangers

Ettercap: 1d[3] | +0 | +1 | +1 | +0
Ettercaps are opportunistic, preferring to keep their distance until their pray is trapped or distracted. Can spray a sticky web to blind or trap pray.

Juvenile Bloodworm: 1d-1[2] | +1 | +0 | +0 | +0
When a Juvenile Bloodworm successfully makes an attack it latches on to it’s victim, granting a +1 attack bonus. STR to remove.

Red Ooze: 2d[6] | +1 | +0 | +0 | +0
Red Ooze can form tentacles at will to strike or attempt to grapple their pray. If grabbed by a tentacle STR to escape or be pulled in to the Oozes body and take automatic 1 damage from the heat each turn. Physical attacks only deal 1 damage. Weak to water or cold. Destroying or removing the Ruby (200G) at it’s core will cause it to disintegrate.

Ghoul: 2d[6] | +1 | +1 | +2 | +0

Dustbulb: A white spherical mushroom. Disturbing a dustbulb will cause it to pop in to an obscuring cloud of white spores. STR or become dizzy for 1d hours.
Bluegleam: A blue capped mushroom, emits a faint blue bioluminescent glow. Pleasurable high If eaten, however WIL to save or your skin turns blue and emits a faint glow for 2d days.

Treasures

Edge of Natures Bounty – A magical dagger inlaid with a ruby, a sapphire, and an emerald (200G each). Removing one of stones causes it to crumble to dust and a magic spell be cast from the dagger.

#Dungeon #Maze Rats #OSR