Mudwarren Alley
Mudwarren Alley
Edition
Jennifer “Moonpoison”, Evlyn Moreau
Artwork
Karl Stjernberg, Evlyn M, Chad Robb
Jennifer "Moonpoison"
Descriptions
Alban Winton, Brian Ashford, Chad Robb, Chris Stieha,
Eric Nieudan, Evlyn Moreau, Jennifer “Moonpoison”,
John Condon, Karl Stjernberg, Łukasz Krupiński,
Matthew Schmeer, Ray Otus, Steve C, Terje Nordin
September 2018
The sewers under Mudwarren Alley
Room 1 - Madame Val’s Vapours and Vittles
Room 2 - Smugglers Canal
Room 3 - The Well
Room 4 - Insane Dwelling
Room 5 - Musky Chamber
Room 6 - The Pit
Room 7 - Echo Chamber
Room 8 - Altar of Dyzia, lodge of the Void Beaver
Room 9 - Sewer Junction
Room 10- Drainage Room
Room 11 - Hieroglyphs
Room 12 - The Void
Random entry points (d6 or d4)
Roll a d6 on this table as a optional starting point or to spawns NPCs.
Roll a d4 if you need a spawn location for a random monster.
1. South Canal
2. East Canal
3. West Canal
4. Waking up or resting near a random location (roll d12)
5. Room 1 - Madame Val’s Vapours and Vittles
6. Room 2 - Smugglers Canal (using a small boat)
Room 1 - Madame Val’s Vapours and Vittles
“A thick smell ofsweet opium lingers in the air”
This bar room is surprisingly well lit and fairly clean. Expensive rugs line the
floor and thick opium smoke fills the air and you can smell grilled meats
coming from the kitchen. Several drunks sit at the tables, some gambling and
some mumbling secrets to each other. There are several rows of gnomish
liquor on a shelf behind the bar and in the corner of the room there is a small
stage with an upright bass.
For a decent price an adventurer can get a shot of pretty much anything in the
bar, as long as it’s got alcohol in it. If asked for any specialities, the barkeep will
recommend a shot of Beaverschnapps with a smirk. Beaverschnapps is
flavored with castoreum of the Voidbeaver (room 8) and tastes horrendously,
but grants the drinker a +1 save against magic for the next 12 hours, followed
by a tremendous hangover.
A noble that has gone missing from a nearby city stews in one corner, high on
opium. He is hiding out from his sister who took his lands and has a reward
for his "safe" return. Her betrayal has led him into addiction. He will not leave
the bar willingly, unless offered a hefty amount of opium.
One of the regulars, Vlarkkl Smelkirnbeard, was cursed by the underduchess’s
court philosopher and master brewer, Dr. Gruit Fwarmbausk, Esq., to remain
ever inebriated for gate-crashing her twelfth wedding. Vlarkkl complains
about his predicament quite loudly and would do most anything to get the
curse lifted. Hell, he’d even go so far as to pay some adventurers to do it for
him.
Behind the back shelf of the bar is a secret entrance to a tunnel that leads to a
smugglers canal (room 2).
Rumors in the bar:
“You pay the bartender to hear a yummy rumor. He/she leans forward and
whispers...”
1. “Beware the Voidbeast. A terrible creature called from the depths of hell!”
2. “If you put an offering in the altar of Dyzia and spend a night there, you’ll be
rewarded”
3. “Governor Sima Tulare is willing to pay handsomely for an intact
automaton”
4. “An ancient necromancer sleeps in the darkness behind a friendly door”
5. “The body of a former thief guildmaster lies somewhere in the sewers. He
might still have that royal tiara he stole before disappearing.”
6. “I’ve heard that prolonged exposure to the Psilocybe semicastora
mushrooms leads to void-poisoning.”
7. “The Automatons are the original sewer crew which have degenerated and
fallen into disrepair”
8. “This sewer entrance was installed during a civil war for smuggling across
enemy lines.”
9. “The void room was created as a means of disposal more efficient than a
sewer. It failed.”
10. “At least one fish has been said to grant minor wishes if tickled. Better
tickle them all. (Usually they just laugh and glare at you. Most fish hate being
tickled.)”
Room 2 - Smugglers Canal
“It smells ofold books and sewage water and a
watery clucking sound echoes throughout the tunnel”
A room from the library above fell into this
section of the Undercity. The hole has since
been covered up and forgotten by the library.
Books are strewn about among the other debris
on the floor. Most books are moldy and ruined
but one or two are in perfect shape, made of
material that is preserved by the dampness of the area.
A dingy spellbook made out of displacer beast hide lies hidden in the detritus.
One random spell can be learned from the otherwise useless book. The book is
intelligent however sassy and crude it may seem. The spellbook once belonged
to Dr. Fwarmbausk. It is not on speaking terms with Fwarmbausk at the
moment, as he has a new brewmasters tome to contain his growing collection
of brew-spells.
Madame Valeria Verbena, gnomish
proprietor of the bar in room 1, is
having a hushed discussion with
Smangl D’aire, a dapper frogman
smoking a pipe. he has 1d6 frogling
bruisers with cudgels and flintlocks;
they are unloading crates unto a
makeshift pier from a boat in the sewer
tunnel running through the room.
Madame Valeria Verbena
8HP, 1d6+2 cane sword, mastery over rodents
Monsieur Smangl D’aire
12HP, 1d8 rapier, sleepsmoke pipe
Frogling Bruisers
5HP, 1d6 cudgel & flintlock, leather armor
Literally frogmen from another continent.
Like drugs and murder. Funny accents.
Room 3 - The Well
“Unintelligible whispers can be heard coming from this room”
In the middle of this room is an old wishing well filled with dead rats and
copper pieces. Rat people have traced their paws on the ground with chalks.
The echo of wishes released from the copper coins can be faintly heard if
someone leans down the well.
A broken down, but still twitching, automaton can be seen at the bottom of
the well. If inspected an undead beating heart can be found in its chest cavity
and behind the mask of the automaton is a half eaten brain and an undead rat's
nest.
Room 4 - Insane Dwelling
“Muttering and muffled laughing seems to come from this room”
This room is long and fairly narrow, with alcoves on both sides. There are old,
broken shelves inside of the alcoves covered in dust. The floor is covered in
detritus, broken crates, moldy knitwear, and cats. In the middle of the room is
the remains of a fireplace and several cats slumber beside a small skeleton that
has been dumped in one of the corners.
Kanimir the Quick lives out the last of his thieving days in this room. He was
head of a local thieves guild before going completely insane, after having read a
specific combination of runes in room 11.
Kanimir doesn’t own much else apart from a broken lock-pick, a jeweled
scimitar, a ten foot pole, a piece of chalk, mystical knitting needles, and an
endless ball of yarn. He also has an old “royal safe conduct”-pass and 3d30
copper coins locked inside of a small box in room 5.
Kanimir the Quick
10HP, 1d8 scimitar, 1d4 mystical knitting needles
Kanimir spends most of his days knitting for himself and the large population
of cats living in the sewers. Some even say that he knits new cats. He will offer
PC’s scarves, sweaters, and hats. They are scratchy and warm. He will also
insist that they spend some time with his kittens. If you spend the night with
Kanimir and his kittens you will be immune from void poisoning, but twice as
likely to go mad from the hieroglyphs in room 11.
Knitted Kittens
1HP, 1d4 claws & bite, disease on full damage
Feral cats covered in ragged knitwear, may in fact be made entirely of yarn.
Room 5 - Musky Chamber
“The sweet and almost overpowering smell ofsomething musky fills this room”
Behind a locked door there is a small chamber that smells musky. There is a
pile of several blankets, three candles, a flask of water, some spoiled rations
and a small wooden box (locked). The walls are covered with writing. This
writing is Kanimir the Quick's attempt to lock-pick reality and steal whatever
was on the other side.
What he actually found was (roll 1d4):
1. An entrance into a bag of holding. Rotting supplies gradually seep through
the writing on the wall, which explains the musky smell.
2. A portal to the treasure dimension. Unfortunately all precious metals in this
dimension exists as part of an insanely hot molten sea. Liquid gold, silver and
copper drip from the writing and will scald anyone who grabs it with their
bare hands.
3. An extra-planar prison. Kanimir's sanity wasn't helped by spotting multiple
alternate versions of himself imprisoned here. They call out for help and
occasionally poke their limbs through the writing.
4. Elemental Plane of Rats - a never-ending plague of rats squeals, scurries and
scratches from the other side of the writing. Occasionally something big and
furry manages to push through to the other side.
Room 6 - The Pit
“Thick, damp smelling spores float around in the air”
A big, damp and deep pit takes up most of this room. Weird fungi grow on the
walls and a rusty ladder goes both up and down into the pit.
Following the ladder upwards will lead to a platform supporting a spring
loaded box. It is coated with a sticky brown goo but it springs open when the
the lid is released by pressing the button. A valuable, magical glass scorpion is
inside.
The fungi that grow on the slimy walls are prized by froglings and rats alike.
The froglings use it to make the rats tastier.
“I eat the fungus!”
You’re fed for the day and regain 1d3 hp but must pass a save against poison to
avoid a powerful hallucination (roll 1d6)
1. You are floating outside your body
2. Everyone you meet has the face of a dead relative
3. You are a magician now and can cast the deadliest magic!
4. You have telepathic abilities
5. The dungeon is your childhood home
6. Roll twice on this table
At the bottom of the pit is a narrow passageway that leads to room 8.
Room 7 - Echo Chamber
“It smells ofrotting wood and old death”
This circular and domed chamber has three tunnels leading out of it. The
chamber is haphazardly piled with dozens of wooden caskets - some open,
others closed, many pristine, and a few shattered. A murmur echoes in the
chamber, possibly from one of the tunnels, and a spicy scent lingers in the air.
1d4 automatons are poking through some of the caskets looking for bodies
from which they can harvest suitable organs. They are armed with tridents and
nets and carry sacks of dead rats. They have yellow, ceramic faces behind
which can be seen organic humanoid eyes.
Any noisy confrontation in this room will echo through to the adjacent rooms,
possibly bringing investigating occupants or triggering a random encounter on
a 3-in-6, instead of 1-in-6.
Room 8 - Altar ofDyzia, lodge ofthe Void Beaver
“The air in here smells ofozone and electricity”
This chamber is large and impressive. A magic ward has been set into the
entrance of this room which prevents any person that has ever harmed a cat
from entering.
In the middle of the room stands an elaborately sculpted altar that looks like a
grand, sleeping cat. It is made in the likeness of Dyzia, an ancient cat spirit and
the Saint of a local Thieves guild.
If there's an offering placed at the altar overnight it transforms into:
• An offering below 5gp = a single lock-pick
• 5 gp - 50 gp: A Potion of Cat’s Grace which grants +4 to Dexterity for a
couple of minutes.
• 51 gp - 100 gp: A silver amulet resembling a roaring panther. Gives an
appropriate bonus to reaction/charisma/animal handling rolls towards felines.
• 101 gp - 1000 gp: A magic ball of yarn. If burnt in a campfire it will release a
protective spirit, which will shield the PC and his party from any wandering
monster table type threat as long as the fire is burning. One use item.
• 1001 gp and over: An obsidian cat sculpture. It comes to life once per night
and functions like a spy drone. PC can look through its eyes. After about an
hour of stalking it comes back to the PC and turns inanimate again.
The Void Lodge
At the far back inside this room is a pool entrance where the huge and
territorial Void-Beaver has made it’s lair. There is a 2-in-6 chance of the Void-
Beaver being in or near its lair.
The Void-Beaver lives beneath the dungeon, and mostly spends its time
hunting for hideous aquafauna.
The murky depths flowing through and beneath this dungeon have been void
tainted. If some luckless wanderer decides to take a plunge they are subjected
to the following (1d6):
1. Anglerfish
2. Goblinshark
3. Blobfish
4. Halibut
5. Rockfish
6. Grouper
Room 9 - Sewer Junction
“The flow ofwater picks up here
and a mixture ofdifferent smells
bombard your senses”
This is a junction of flows where
the tunnel intersects with a
confluence of major sewer tunnels.
Water flows quickly through here
and plunges down 30' into a deep
dark pool.
This room is trapped.
Clues on how to disarm the trap
are in the wall-writings in room 5.
A small group of silverfish-people cling to the wall of the drop, watching over
a net placed in the water on its descent to the pool. They collect the detritus,
keeping body parts (to sell to the automatons) and other "valuable" material.
Because they scurry along the walls, they avoid the trap. As they collect
"valuables," they won't mention the trap (if they are seen in this area or other
areas).
Room 10- Drainage Room
“It smells like low tide and pond scum in this room”
The walls are made of slippery, smooth and bright green, uniformly square
tiles. The floor has big grates set into it that permit drainage or overflow as
needed.
There are three loose tiles in here - one on the floor and one each on opposite
walls. Beneath one of the tiles is the abode of a sentient gas.
What is this gas like? Roll 1d4:
1. Joyful and full of laughter
2. Aloof and chiefly concerned with reality
3. Malevolent and promising doom
4. Helpful intent and full of information (roll to see how helpful)
Beneath one of the other tiles is a grouchy sentient slime mold, that just wants
to be alone.
Beneath the last one is a brass switch, which when flipped begins to reverse-
pump raw sewage into the room from the drains; once flipped it cannot be
reversed until the room is full to the ceiling.
Room 11 - Hieroglyphs
“It reeks ofancient, eldritch slabs ofstone, like wet concrete only much more menacing”
This is a colonnade hall with many precisely-spaced columns carved from the
living stone. Each column has six sides, all covered in hieroglyphs. The
hieroglyphs on their sides seem to relate to that of their neighbors, so that you
are given one of six different "texts" depending on where you stand in the
room.
There is a 1-in-12 risk of reading a segment of the hieroglyphs that cause the
reader to go mad (this is what happened to Kanimir the Quick.)
Some of the hieroglyphs describes how to open or close the door to Room 12,
the Void.
Upon entering the hall, if you haven’t run into Corporal Coolask, there is a
50% chance that the underduchy is holding a masquerade ball, elsewise you
will find Corporal Coolask fighting with an albino alligator. If you have
already encountered Corporal Coolask or are being escorted by underduchy
revelers, the masquerade ball is on.
Underduchess Feliza Organfloss
8HP, 1d6+1 cane sword, guards
Apparently well over the age of 174, she looks no older than 27, from what
you can tell despite the mask. She is throwing a masquerade and dance
competition so that she may choose a new partner to rule the Underduchy
with. Her former husbands and wives led decent, if stinky, lives. Only a
handful suffered untimely deaths at the order of the duchess, but can you
blame her? No. You can’t. It’s illegal.
Dr. Gruit Fwarmbausk, Esq.
8HP, 1d6+2 scattergun, brewmancy
Catering the great masquerade is the Organfloss’s court philosopher and
renowned brewer Dr. Gruit Fwarmbausk, Esq., or Groofwy to his friends. Dr.
Fwarmbausk has no friends. That is not to say he isn’t charismatic. He can be
the life of the party, but he trusts no one. He hoards his secret mystical
brewbook close to his chest and allows no-one to know his secrets. He is also
secretly fighting alongside Mme Verbena to stop the void from swallowing up
the undercity. He will pay you handsomely for voidbeaver castoreum.
Corporal Lufinia Coolask
10HP, 1d4 nailboard, 1d6 flintlock
A sober sailor who has lost her way. She left Val's to relieve herself and
couldn't find the way back because she dropped her torch in the loo. (Luckily
there wasn't a methane build-up.) She is starting to show the beginning stages
of void poisoning from a brush with a voidbeaver pup. Her breath is cold and
she is more sensitive to light, but elsewise she doesn’t seem o be suffering. Her
assumption is she’s caught a cold.
Room 12 - The Void
“It’s like the air is slowly dragged out ofyour nose. It’s harder to inhale than to exhale”
The door opens into an empty void. Anyone standing in the doorway for more
than 10 seconds must make an intelligence save or jump head first into the
void. The void deposits them in a random room in the dungeon (roll 1d10 to
see which one), completely naked and devoid of hair with all their belongings
sorted by size in neat piles beside them. Anyone who succeed their rolls will
instead be able to walk into the void unharmed. After 1d30 minutes, they find
a door that opens into a forest clearing in a far away land. In the clearing, a
dwarf is chewing a deer to death, and the deer is putting up a bit of a fight, but
not much of one. If the PCs intervene, the deer will be a upset and will try to
get back to the dwarf.
Wherever the void spits you out naked and hairless within the dungeon there
is a 1-in-4 chance that a group of automatons immediately attack. Elsewise
automatons notice, but ignore the party unless provoked.
The dwarf is a long thought dead member of the Smelkirnbeard clan.
The door leading to this “room” has a talking door knocker on it that only
speaks in an ancient tongue which can be learned from studying the
hieroglyphs in room 11 for 1d4 days, where a successful intelligence roll is
required each day.
Random encounters table
1: Mama Voidbeaver
16HP 1d10 claws and teeth, freezing touch
Starry black fur, grimy and glistening, a cold wind accompanies it, seems
partially out of phase, smells strongly of blood and ozone. Serves the void. Can
teleport twice per day. Will attempt to grab one PC and deposit them into the
void.
3-5: Voidbeaver Pups (1d3)
12HP, 1d6+1 claws and teeth, chilling touch
Grimy, furry, starry veiled in motes of shadows, glowing yellow eyes. Can
teleport once per day. Must eat, must serve the void.
3: Secreting sticky luminescent strands and building a web with it. Hostile.
4: Hiding in the sewage waiting to attack Corporal Coolask who had been
taking a bathroom break and got lost.
5: Eating a human corpse, will flee if approached.
6-7: Silverfishmen (1d8)
6HP 1d6+1 spear
Silvery chitin, sad faces, socially reserved. Often found scuttling along the walls
and ceilings of the sewers. Survival is their strongest drive, they set traps
throughout the sewers. PCs must save vs. DEX to avoid the net traps. Once
captured the PCs will be knocked out with sleeping gas and will awake derived
of possessions in the silverfish camp alongside Corporal Coolask, who will
help you escape.
8-10: Automaton Harvesters (1d6)
8HP, 1d6 trident, net, 1d8 saw hand, metal bodies
Skeletal, rusty, and twitchy. Yellow or turquoise ceramic masks, behind which
can be seen organic eyes. Harvest fresh organs to keep their dying bodies alive.
They ignore the living unless provoked. Will always arrive and observe
combat between organics.
8: Harvesting the organs from a recently dead naked and hairless person.
9: Killing and collecting dead rats.
10: Fighting with frogmen, winning.
11-12: Knitted Kittens (2d4)
1HP, 1d4 claws & bite, disease on full damage
Rabid cats covered in ragged knitwear, may in fact be made entirely of yarn.
11: Grooming each other, using claws as crochet needles, will beg for food on
sight.
12: Hostile, but only attack your clothing at first.
13-15: Frogling Bruisers (1d4+1)
5HP, 1d6 cudgel & flintlock, leather armor
Literally frogmen from another continent. Like drugs and murder. Funny
accents.
13: Picking mushrooms growing on the walls, twitchy, will attack if provoked.
14: Tweaked out on shrooms, hostile, will try and eat you.
15: Fighting with automatons, losing.
16-18: Underduchy Revelers (1d4+1)
3HP, 1d6 concealed blade
Masked revelers in threadbare finery. Smell like fish. Want to party with you.
Their wine may be drugged.
16: Drinking wine and playing music, ask PCs to dance
17: Gleefully tearing apart a knitted kitten, mewling in pain as its yarn
unravels to the floor, they have two more in a birdcage
18: Passing around (drugged) wine with a few patrons from Val’s, including
Corporal Coolask. Will offer wine to players, and then rob.
19-20: Voidfaced Wretch (2d4+1)
3 HP 1d4 unarmed
Wretched human husks, clothed in rags, covered in filth, antlers haphazardly
growing from their heads. Their are bodies slightly distorted, affecting their
gait. They huddle together in the darkness and will attempt to swallow any
light into their deep inky faces. If reduced exactly to 0HP they shudder and
explode into a voidburst. PCs must save vs. CON to avoid void poisoning.
