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Severedcoils II: The Reckoning (DnD5e/40d) - Ch. 1: The Sunken Citadel
KenboCalrissian:
Severedcoils II:
The Reckoning
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"Severedcoils 'I' or 'II?' Which should I read first?"
'Severedcoils' and 'Severedcoils II: The Reckoning' are two separate stories being told concurrently to form a single narrative from two perspectives. This gives you, the reader, some options as to how to tackle this story:
Fortress Mode: 'Severedcoils' is the original Dwarf Fortress community challenge, still in progress. In 'Fortress Mode,' read 'Severedcoils' first, learning all the backstory behind the fortress and all the events leading up to the cast of Severedcoils II being sent on their adventure. 'Severedcoils' is currently paused at a point in time in which the adventuring party is scheduled to arrive back, and will resume when the stories converge. Read 'Severedcoils' first up to & including page 54, when the stories split, then read 'Severedcoils II' to see what's happening in another part of the world. Feel free to jump back and forth between the stories from this point on, using the dates at the top of each post to guide you chronologically. (Concurrent storytelling does not begin until Chapter II of SCII)
Adventure Mode: 'Severedcoils II: The Reckoning' is a DnD 5e adventure about an adventuring party sent to collect magical treasures by the caretakers of Severedcoils - but for what purpose? And will the party find more than they bargained for? In 'Adventure Mode,' skip 'Severedcoils,' and read 'Severedcoils II' first; This will simulate the perspective of the real-world DnD players, who don't know the history of 'Severedcoils' and are learning as it's revealed to them, bit by bit. In this path, 'Severedcoils' becomes a [F]orbidden source of mystery, which might be a more enjoyable experience for new readers. Read 'Severedcoils II' first, and avoid all links to 'Severedcoils' until such time that the adventuring party is welcomed to read it themselves by means of a big, plot-related reveal.
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Chapter 1: The Sunken Citadel
Spoiler: "The World of Buzong Xömlox (Year 212)" (click to show/hide)
Ages ago, a stronghold held sacred to dragonkind sunk into the earth. Now, it is overrun with warring factions of kobolds and goblins, not to mention a new breed of monster made of living shrubbery. Records of the site's history and inhabitants have all but vanished, save for the engravings left on immortal stone within, but now it is known as Akmammestthos - The Sunken Citadel.
This is a total conversion of DnD's 'The Sunless Citadel' into Dwarf Fortress 40d. The idea is to run a campaign from the map while using the game in a paused state to reference details and items in rooms.
Get the save here!
Fortress Level
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The Fortress Level is recreated as-is, with some slight deformation where room dimensions couldn't exactly fit as mapped. Construction was impeded by the presence of an underground pond, so the dungeon was built over top. A well has been added to one of the goblin's guard rooms, and in Area 39 ("Dragon Haze") an additional door has been added. This door is shut with a masterful lock that can only be opened with a key held by the troll in Area 12 ("Tomb of a Failed Dragonpriest") and leads to a new area, the Noble's Level
Noble's Level
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
This floor is a special suite dedicated to officials and the upper class. Only the elite of the dragon cult had access to this level, and the key has been lost for ages (the entombed dragonpriest holds the key). During the great calamity that consumed the Citadel, the upper caste sealed themselves off and prepared for the worst, but did not survive the collapse. Now, their bodies roam these halls as zombies, with a few ex-royal guards still geared to defend. A wraith waits for intruders to stumble into the crypt.
Grove Level
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Belak the Outcast awaits at the Gulthias Tree deep within the Citadel. It has been recreated as faithfully as possible.
If you want to use these maps for your own campaign, here are some sprites to populate it with, adapted from the Guybrush tileset.
If you're playing the Sunless Citadel from the 'Tales from the Yawning Portal' module, check out The Hearth of Wrath for when your party reaches the Forge of Fury.
*This story takes place in the same world as, and is chronologically linked to Severedcoils. The dates in this thread will line up with the dates in that one where they fall into place. To preserve the mystery of this story, it is recommended you do *not* read Severedcoils until the story is revealed to the players here
Spoiler: OOC: Attribution Statement (click to show/hide)This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of
the Coast LLC and available at https://dnd.wizards.com/resources/systems-reference-document. The
SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available at
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.
KenboCalrissian:
This is the start of a long series I plan on writing coinciding with the campaign I'm running. We'll start with 'The Sunken Citadel,' a variation of the popular DnD dungeon "The Sunless Citadel," and then move into homebrewed content.
This wouldn't be a 'community fort' without some players involved, right? Here's the cast of this campaign (Yes, these are real players):
Minis painted by Gray Fox, aka Sergei Bloodscale (@joshthomas45)
(Feel free to open 'Spoiler' tags from here on out - unless otherwise specified, they contain images pertaining to the story and are meant to be there)
Alefgard Tantagel
Spoiler (click to show/hide)A cowardly human wizard who dropped out of magic school. His spells often go haywire, and he doesn't know his own limits. Forced into adventuring by his roommate, Edward, Alefgard prefers to stay out of trouble and shrink away to the back of the group if possible.
Bubb
Spoiler (click to show/hide)A smelly warforged cleric. No one knows where it's from, or why it's constantly surrounded by flies (actually, that probably has to do with the stench of rotting meat emanating from its metal frame). Whenever something stinks, this strange machine prefers to rub whatever it is all over itself.
Edward
Spoiler (click to show/hide)A courageous human bard. Edward set out for adventure to find new stories to tell, but he wasn't about to let Alefgard bum around his home while he was gone so he made his roommate come with. Edward is at the ready to buff the party when trouble arises.
ratNAROk the Unstoppable
Spoiler (click to show/hide)A feisty meadowguard barbarian. This rat man carries a great axe too large for his size, but doesn't let that stop him as he flies headlong squeaking into battle.
Sergei Bloodscale
Spoiler (click to show/hide)A steadfast dragonborn fighter. Suited in heavy armor and wielding a sword and a shield with an eye emblazoned onto it, Sergei uses breath and board to ignite the enemy and tank for the party.
Space Pants
Spoiler (click to show/hide)A troublesome felis sorceror. This cat man has a serious hatred for elves, and looks for every opportunity to instigate and frustrate the enemy with illusions and gaslighting.
Zumies
Spoiler (click to show/hide)A stealthy half-elf rogue. Zumies serves his role as a scout and a trap disarmer, though he lives only to serve his wallet. He has already proven himself deadly efficient at assassinating targets in silence, but how far can the party trust him?
And special guest:
Meepo
Spoiler (click to show/hide)A pitiful kobold cleric. Meepo joins the party within the Sunken Citadel, hoping to recover his clan's pet dragon wyrmling. Whether he stays with the party beyond that adventure, or leaves to be replaced with another party member later, depends on the party's actions.
King Zultan:
PTW
KenboCalrissian:
12 Hematite, 212, Early Summer
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Our heroes set forth from Severedcoils, with one singular task: Retrieve the fabled magic apple from the Sunken Citadel, and deliver it to Severedcoils. The party was well-provisioned, with enough supplies sponsored by their employer to make the 22-day trek there and back.
4 Malachite, 212, Mid-Summer
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They arrived at the town of Oakhurst, just a few miles from the Sunken Citadel, and they heard from the tavernkeep about a party of adventurers who braved the Citadel a month ago but never returned. Otherwise, the party was overly eager to delve into the dungeon, and decided not to hang around town for long.
A few hours later, they were at the edge of a chasm, beneath which the Sunken Citadel slept. It was late in the day, so the party decided to make camp here.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
With the fire burning, the party settled in for a well-deserved rest. Edward, the human bard, plucked his lute as the rest of the party sharpened their weapons and dug into their rations.
"Ah, goblins," Sergei Bloodscale, the dragonborn warrior, said, "you can never kill too many, am I right?"
"Nothing like the thrill of a good fight!" ratNAROk, the mouseman barbarian replied. "Those goblins we met on the way here didn't stand a chance."
Alefgard, a human wizard, allowed himself a chuckle. "They really thought that overturned wagon was going to protect them. Surprising they already had the start of a burrow going underneath, but it obviously did them no good."
"That 'Mold Earth' spell of yours worked great, Space Pants," said Zumies, the half-elf thief. "Pulling the ground out from under the wagon and spilling their moat into their hovel was a solid plan."
"Shut up, elf," the felis sorceror shot back as he snorted a handful of catnip.
Bubb, a metal being devoted to the clergy of Zokun, the god of fortresses, war, death, rebirth, and birth, sat perfectly still by the fire, motionless as a statue. A swarm of flies buzzed all around it, but it paid them no mind.
Edward paused his strumming as he looked around. "Sure are a lot of dead shrubs around here. That's kinda weird, right?"
Alefgard shrugged. "They're bushes, big deal. Maybe there's a blight on them or something."
Zumies looked around, his eyes growing wide with realization. "Uh... hey, wait a minute, aren't those bushes closer to us than they were a minute ago?"
As if on cue, all around them the bushes started to move and close in around them.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Twiggy appendages moved swiftly with a ferocity unmatched by typical flora. The party leapt to their feet to slay the arboreal assailants. Sergei turned them to kindling with his fire breath; ratNAROk squeaked as he entered a rage and laid into the enemy; Space Pants used the campfire to ignite his crossbow bolts and set fire to the woody monstrosities.
The battle won, the party looked around at the piles of dead twigs left by the enemy.
"What in blazes was that?!" said Edward.
"Some foul magic," said Sergei. "We should be on our way, lest more of those things find us."
KenboCalrissian:
5 Malachite, 212, Mid-Summer
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With their camp packed and put away, the party prepared to climb down into the chasm to reach the Sunken Citadel. A rope from a previous party was found tied to a post near the ledge, and, finding it sturdy, the party used it to climb down to a ledge below.
As soon as they set foot on the ledge, the party was accosted by a pack of starving, giant rats!
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
"More fodder!" Sergei exclaimed triumphantly as he waded in.
Space Pants cornered a rat and cast an illusion to frighten it. "Go on, jump off the cliff," he urged. The rat obliged, though it climbed down rather than leapt to its death.
"My brethren!" ratNAROk put away his sword. "You're embarrassing yourselves! I'll stop you."
ratNAROk charged in and tackled one of the rats, wrestling it and pinning it to the ground. A rodent himself, ratNAROk was able to communicate with the giant rats.
"You are beaten! Call your friends off."
"Hungry," the giant rat said. "We want food!"
"All you'll find from us is death, unless you comply."
The giant rat struggled a little, but gave in and fell limp. "Fine, no eat mouse and friends."
"What's his name?" Alefgard asks, bemused.
"Rat Benetar?" Edward offered.
"BoRat?" suggested Alefgard
Space Pants bats at their new rat friend. Space Pants rubs himself on the rat. Space Pants does catnip.
The battle ended, ratNAROk let the giant rat go. It lingered, for some reason reluctant to leave its new mousey acquaintance. ratNAROk gives it a small ration to satisfy its hunger.
The party made it the rest of the way down the cliff, to the bottom of the chasm. There, beneath the opposite cliff face, lay the entrance to the dungeon.
A raised platform covered in broken masonry stood before the party. ratNAROk turned to the giant rat and asked, "Are there more of your friends down here?"
"Yes!" the rat replied. "We are many! We are legion! Please watch step on rocks, we live under there."
Upon hearing this, Bubb walked up to the masonry and stuck its sword into the pile of rubble. Nothing happened.
"We just need to watch our step, then," Sergei said as he picked his way through the debris. "We just have to get to that door over-- oop!"
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
A pit trap opened beneath Sergei's feet! He fell ten feet into a hole, finding himself face to face with another giant rat and the corpse of the goblin it was eating.
Before the rat in the pit can attack, ratNAROk asked his rat friend to intervene. "No eat friend," the rat says to the other, "just go!" The rat in the pit obliged, leaving Sergei and the rest of the party alone.
"Thank you," ratNAROk said to his rat companion. "You can go now." The two giant rats leave together.
Sergei pulled himself out of the pit. A 2-foot wide catwalk spanned the middle of the pit to reach the door. "Well? What are we waiting for? Let's get in there."
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