The Dungeon, Levels 1 + 2

Level One

All levels of the dungeon are made of stone, with 10 foot wide corridors and 10 foot high, vaulted ceilings. There are torches evenly spaced along the walls, but these will have burnt out. 50 percent chance that they can be relit and burn for another hour or so. 

The first level comprises a simple corridor with ten cells that branch off on both sides. All of the cell doors have been opened, and the level is deserted. The cells are tiny, airless, and vile. Several are fouled from recent habitation.

There is a dead body at the far end of the corridor, in a state of decay. It is a woman, well armed and armoured, and wearing the colours of the Starlings. The body is covered in blood which is spattered across the walls and floor around the corpse. While walking past or investigating the corpse you will trip on something invisible lying next to her. This is the invisible corpse of a Dimensional Vermin that she killed as it killed her. Next to her are the stairs down to level 2.

Level Two

The second level is more complex than the first. It comprises two wings, each containing ten cells. All corridors and rooms on this level show signs of struggle and violence - blood stains and dried pools of the stuff are everywhere. There are many drag marks, always towards room 3. 

The cells are filthy. If you search them, each has a 1 in 6 chance of containing something interesting (you can only find each once, duplicates reroll):

• 1 - An unfinished game set, carved from splinters of wood. 
• 2 - A shiv. As dagger but breaks on a critical miss. 
• 3 - A bottle of crude, very flammable alcohol. 
• 4 - Graffiti scratched into the stonework; it describes where the entrance to the secret tunnel is. 
• 5 - A stone, skilfully worked into a religious pendant. If worn around the neck it will mitigate a religious character's first point of fear damage each day. 
• 6 - Graffiti scratched into the stonework; it describes one of Misery's weaknesses. 

There is a large central area that contains the remains of a crude kitchen, processing area, and a circular garbage pit that descends down into blackness (a torch dropped will eventually disappear). 

There are also the remains of the guards quarters. One of these rooms contains the three surviving members of the Starlings, who have barricaded the entrance. The others make up the hideout of the thieves, which leads to their secret tunnel out. 

On level two, you must roll on the random encounter table for each half hour you spend in the dungeon. Any loud noise that you make will also provoke a roll on the table. 

• 1-6 - Echoing silence. 
• 7-10 - Screaming audible in the blackness ahead. Further rolls on this table are at +2. 
• 11-13 - d6 Prisoners. 
• 14-19 - d6 Thieves.
• 20 - d3 Dimensional Vermin.

• 1: Corpse of a woman, wearing a buff coat in the Starling colours. Bloody and torn, slumped over the invisible corpse of the Dimensional Vermin - a mutual kill. 

• 2: Kitchen. Well lit with torches, smells of food and smoke. Four broad stone pillars, wooden tables and chairs, many of the them smashed. In the northeast corner, an open garbage pit that drops down into infinite depth. If you look down it you can see that it actually opens onto another floor before continuing down into the earth. Barrels of salt, casks of oil and wine, dry tack, flour. Much of the food is spoiled. There are 8 corpses (5 in Starling livery, 3 naked prisoners) laid side by side along the southern edge of the room. 6 thieves are here, laughing and eating at the tables, along with their leader Snashi. If they feel threatened they will call to their companions in 6 and 3. 

• 3: Barracks. Cleared of its bunks, and now used as a processing and storage area for the corpses that the thieves have been bringing up from the lower levels. Smells really bad, like rotting meat. There are 16 stripped human bodies in here, dumped in a pile, and neatly folded clothing, arranged weapons and armour, trinkets in buckets, etc. 1 thief is sorting through the effects of another Starling corpse. 

• 4: Storage. The door is locked and rigged with noise makers - Snashi has the key (which locks and unlocks all doors on this level). If the door is opened, with or without the key, the noise will be audible in 2, 3, and 5, and will provoke a roll on the random encounter table. There is a chest in (unlocked) here with all the money and any real valuables looted from the bodies: 265 silver, jewellery worth another 150. 

• 5: Storage. The broken up furniture from the barracks is piled haphazardly in here. The thieves have used it to hide the entrance to a natural tunnel in the rock, which leads to their second, secret entrance. 

• 6: Office. The door is barricaded shut, and the room is inhabited by the last three living Starlings. The thieves have locked the door from the outside, and have been threatening to burn them out. They are desperate and frightened, and will be suspicious of attempts to get them to open the barricade. 

• 7: Guard Post. The door is made of iron bars, the room is cold and smells of rust. Empty. 

• 8: Hidden Passage. Leads naturally through the rock, until it dips into an S bend that emerges in a nearby lake. Set up by the guards long ago, to smuggle things in and out of the prison without Mag's knowledge. The passage is underwater for longer than most people can swim (CON save with disadvantage or drown), but the thieves have installed a chain that runs along the bottom, which can be used to pull yourself along fast enough that this is relatively safe. 

Bestiary

Prisoners

Stats as commoners. Roll for their disposition - most of them will simply want to be taken to the surface, but they might be scared that you are demon-possessed or with the thieves, and trust will be hard to find in this horrible place. Hostile prisoners have been driven insane with fear, and will fight to the death with whatever they have found in the dungeon (scavenged swords and knives, table legs, rocks).

Thieves

Stats as bandits, roll for their disposition at -4. Non-hostile thieves will be oddly friendly while they size you up and wait for a better opportunity to strike. They might offer to let you in on their operation (a lie). They are armed with short swords, knives, and leather armour, and one in three will have a short bow or crossbow. They will be carrying lanterns, and will know the layout of the prison well. If encountering them randomly, there is a 1 in 4 chance that they are accompanied by Snashi, their leader. 

Snashi has an agreement with Misery. In a fight the thieves will attempt to take you alive (although they will kill to save themselves, they're not stupid), and if they do so will strip you of your clothes and valuables and force you down into level three, where the Mimic Hell waits. None of them will fight to the death except for Snashi, who has been driven mad by Misery (her gang don't know this, but some are beginning to suspect it) and thinks that the demon knows where her daughters live and will hurt them if she tries to leave.

Snashi is a tough, middle aged woman, with two long white braids. She is HD3, and fights with a spear that she's very good with (+1 to hit, +1 expanded crit range). She also has two flasks of petroleum, and is fond of using it to set impromptu traps and obstacles. 

Dimensional Vermin

Stats as commoners, but permanently invisible and with a natural attack (d4). These shouldn't be up this close to the surface (Misery's bargain with the thieves), but they are invisible and sometimes slip through. Horrible things from the future, under the command of demons. 

If you encounter them you probably won't notice. Prefer to stalk their prey until they are otherwise engaged, then attack whoever seems weakest. Observant characters may spot footprint in pools of blood etc. If you can see them, they look like weird rabid humanoids with bright, slickly shining red skin, and enlarged eyes and teeth. 

The Starling Survivors

Two men and one woman. Stats as Men-at-Arms, disposition: numb and frightened, armed with longswords and war hammers, shields, and chain armour. The Starlings are grim-faced combat veterans who have long since lost hope of survival. If you can convince them that you are friendly, they will be reasonable and worthwhile allies. They will refuse to go any further into the prison.

The Baronial Agents above will pay a bounty of 50 silver for each Starling delivered to the surface alive. If you speak with them they will tell you that it was demons, not thieves, who slaughtered their comrades in the darkness. The thieves came after it was all over. They will have good combat descriptions of the Dimensional Vermin and Chaos Eaters below, and will describe watching their comrades undergo possession by demons.

They will also say that the Sainted Captain, if they survived, will be further in. They charged off into the blackness with their holy sword, accompanied by their bodyguards and standard bearer. There is some confusion in the reports - one of the Starlings is sure that the captain is possessed by a demon, the others dismiss this as impossible. They will ask you, if you truly intend to go further down, to retrieve the saint's body, as well as their blessed banner and sword.