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The Halls of the Awakened - Patrons' Edition
🕑 Added 2021-08-27 09:02:58 +0000 UTCThe Halls of the Awakened is a cultists' lair hidden deep in the Black Loch. If you're interested in my version of the lore, I've written a giant wall of text about it in the DM notes here. I'll have an unfurnished version of the map for you tomorrow.
A bad guy lair with an entrance inside a cavern isn't anything new, but I intentionally made the caverns here pretty big. As the party makes their way through, it gives them time to get a little paranoid. And to start asking questions, like, "Is this the right place?" And, "What if that person lied to us?" And, "What if this is a trap?" It creates some tension and makes them feel like they're someplace dangerous, which is the mood I like to create in a dungeon.
If you read the lore I wrote about this place in the last post, it has a lot to do with psionics. I expect most people will probably use this map for something else, but, in case you're interested in inserting the Architects of the Awakened into your game, I wrote some ideas for psionic powers into the DM notes.
Of course, you can use the rules for the unofficial Mystic class if you want, but that's not what I'm looking for in a psionic NPC. What am I looking for? Darth Vader. No, seriously. If I'm introducing a powerful force the players are unfamiliar with, I want it to scare the hell out of them. I want them to get telekinetically flung across the room like a rag doll. I want to have stone walls flying at them and ceilings coming down on their heads. I want stuff to happen that isn't in the Players' Handbook.
If you throw a fireball at the party, they know what that does. "It's fine, no big deal, we've got the HP to handle it." But when you tell someone they can no longer breathe? They don't know what that does. There are rules, of course, but they don't know what they are because I made them up. The unknown can be pretty scary, especially for experienced players who aren't used to surprises.
Anyway, I'll get the unfurnished version of this up tomorrow, along with the updated Black Loch map that has the location marked on it. I'll also talk about what's next. Until then!
Download from Google Drive here (under NEWEST PATRON CONTENT).
Comments
Milby's Maps
I'd say the laborers mostly spend their time assisting with experiments, receiving shipments of various supplies, cooking meals, teaching the awakened, cleaning and maintaining the lair, feeding the hybrids, and making and fixing assorted things in the workshop. There's not really a specific thing I had in mind for them to be doing, just the general kinds of things that servants in a castle might do. As to your other questions, the guards sleep by the stairs to protect the awakened, in case anything wanders in. The awakened are much more dangerous than the guards, but much less expendable. As for the awakened, they study in the classroom. I'm not sure they'd need to practice using their powers, since, as far as I know, mind flayers don't need to. And since their powers come from the same source, they'd presumably work the same way. You're right, they may need someplace to dissect the aboleth (or keep it prisoner, depending on how you're handling it). I hadn't thought much about that, probably because, in my game, the plan was to have the party run into the cultists at the aboleth's lair and stop them from getting that far. Then they'd follow the cultists back to their hideout.
Kenneth Schleich
Super interesting lore, and a cool map. The large number of laborers on the bottom floor confuses me, because there doesn't seem to be an ongoing project that would require that number... are these dedicated cultists that just aren't awakened and therefore sleep on the ground floor? If so, why do the guards sleep between them and the staircase upwards? Where do the awakened do their work/practice? If I use this cult in any of my games, I think I will add an ongoing project... either an expansion to the base on the ground floor, or maybe a large cavern being excavated in area 1 intended as an aboleth containment structure.
Milby's Maps
Yep, looks like I screwed that up. I'll fix it and repost everything with the unfurnished version tomorrow. Thanks for letting me know!
Alfred Salmon
it seems like on the top two floors, the background view of the lower floor around the central tower is rotated 180° - the pillars to the shrine are in the opposite corner than they appear on their level
