New Limberlost

New Limberlost

The New Limberlost is a young dungeon a month's walk from Terrasquestone, so there is no overlap between the two. The dungeon itself is arboreal in nature, and the 'walls' are made from dense undergrowth and the peculiar Banyan tree. A branch can drop trunks to the ground and create a curtain wall of wood.

The Adventurer's Path

The Dungeon has a role in the DungeonVerse, and that is to act as a crucible and obstacle course for adventurers, allowing them to fulfill their role as heroes. To this end, it has created a path that if followed offers low to moderate difficulty, and has adequate rewards. If the heroes act in a disrespectful or destructive manner, the dungeon has countermeasures it can and will use to defend itself. A dungeon defending itself is nothing like managing it's Adventurer's Path.

Entrance and Guardian I

Kharagoshi Village and the Gulerode tribe of barbarians act as the superficial guardians of New Limberlost. The bunny-worshipping barbarian women tend to the outside of the actual entrance and have carried out extensive horticulture of the area. This is something that pleases the dungeon, and in exchange, the Gulerode have general access to the dungeon's first chamber without issue. As mentioned elsewhere, the village is not martial in its layout, but the barbarians are good at ambushes and are fairly well-equipped with low-level magic items. Rabbit-headed cudgel +1 are common. They also have tokens and talismans aplenty.

Entrance and Guardian II

The actual entrance is an ornate arbor almost as large as a castle portcullis. It has a trapezoidal shape, like a funnel. Should the dungeon wish to be undisturbed, it has trellis gates it can close. The top of the arbor is covered in green and growing things that the dungeon can make bloom, become aggressive, or otherwise empower.

The Garden

The first chamber of the dungeon is known as the Garden and the Gulerode barbarians have general free admission to this area. It is a wild space full of beneficial herbs, flowers, and importantly for the tribe, large amounts of food production plants. The time the clan has spent with the dungeon has seen some interesting and unnatural developments. The most obvious are the Daucus trees. These trees have thick trunks, willowy branches, and alternate in being covered in elaborate clusters of flower crowns and bunches of hanging ... carrots. The clan has made the carrot a large part of their diet, and the dungeon found it more expedient and a better use of its green mana to make carrot trees than managing carrot plots. Less destructive to the soil. This is an unnatural cultivar and daucus trees cannot survive outside of the dungeon. If protected in a magic container a sapling might be carried to a new dungeon or a magic sanctum and might be able to survive there. Or it might not.

There are also Pinot Verdis grapes growing in profusion along the wall boundaries of the Garden. These fat green grapes can be used to make pinot verdis, or green wine, which is also popular among the barbarians. The clan has discovered that if they harvest the ripe grapes and then make a gift of them to the dungeon, in a day or two they will find an abundance of filled wineskins waiting for them. If the harvest is especially good, there will be a few smaller skins that are filled with a peculiar green brandy they call Deavina. Its fairly potent and acts as a mild hallucinogen.

Flowers.

Flowers, flowers, flowers.

So many flowers.

It's almost like the dungeon wants the barbarian women to weave flowers in their hair, get drunk, and frolic in the garden.

Damaging the garden has consequences. Destructive practices, disrespecting the plants, or otherwise coming in as a torch-waving, flagrant spell-throwing, iron-boot wearing conquerer garners a different response.

A feminine living tree is a dryad, and a masculine living tree is a drus. All of the Daucus trees are also dormant drus and when awakened by desecration of the Garden awaken and become barbarian class fighters with excellent reach. The more damage done awakens more drus. An incompetent forager or group of children might wake one of these wooden warriors but the dungeon isn't a monster. The drus might shoo wayward children out of the garden, or bodily escort a rowdy individual to the gate. A full party of murder hobos is going to get the full defensive spread and a minimum of drus equal to their own number.

Puzzle/RP Challenge

Leaving the Garden takes the PCs to a second arbor, this one darker and in the very rear of the chamber. Entering requires walking down a spiral stair of Banyan roots while brushing moss from their hair. The second area of the dungeon is a Forest Maze. Laying out the actual maze I will leave to the reader/DM, because ultimately a maze is a maze, and the PCs will have to use their wits to get through to the next level while avoiding the hazards, dead ends, and respites.

The Maze Fountain is in the very center of the maze, and many first-time visitors think they have reached the entrance to the next level and all they have really reached is the physical center of the maze. There is a bubbling fountain made of natural stone. The water is clean and fresh, and there are no monster encounters there. The plants that border the fountain are lush with berries, giving a chance for heroes to take a short rest. The actual entrance to the next section is generally 'north' of the fountain, and is not too difficult to reach.

The Four Guardians of the Maze are mini-bosses who guard the corners of the maze. They can be bested in martial combat or can be engaged in banter. A song, a good joke, or a game of riddles may be used instead of fighting the guardians. Should a guardian be bested by riddles, they will escort the party to the fountain, and then to the entrance to the next level.

NE Guardian, the Timberwolf

The Timberwolf is a pony-sized wolf made of forest debris and has a deep and rough voice that is scary. It is not very good at riddles, but it loves music and songs. If played a song it will dance and yip along with the music. If the song is bad, it might try to eat the musician for their affrontery to melody.

SE Guardian, the Tea Shrine Maiden

A young Loru Valsharris, the Tea Shrine Maiden literally has a small tea shrine. She makes and pours a variety of teas, and if the would-be adventurers decide on civility instead of barbarism, they can have a dainty tea party complete with mini-cakes, scones, and herbal tea. If they do an okay job, the Tea Shrine Maiden will tell them which way to go. If they fully embrace the airy repartee of the tea party, they will find themselves refreshed, and the Tea Shrine maiden will lead them to the fountain and then the next level entrance. If the players decide that combat is the way to go, as she seems a weak and helpless impediment, she reveals herself to be a fairly potent dungeon mage and can summon monsters and activate traps. She also likes the cast Entanglement and Poison.

SW Guardian, the Timbermare

The Timbermare is a large horse made of forest undergrowth and debris and glows with an internal green iridescence. Its bread and butter is riddles, something it enjoys on par with a sphinx. It is potentially the most dangerous of the guardians as the Timbermare can ignore the boundaries of the maze and pass through the walls with ease. It can also pass through the different levels of the dungeon without resistance, and many consider it to be the harbinger of woe. Fighting it? Good luck. On a fair fight, it will push the players to the entrance of the Garden. In a desecration fight, it will use confusion, fear effects, and carry out rogue type flanking and backside attacks, crushing bones under its oaken hooves.

NW Guardian, the Wooden Bear

The Wooden Bear initially looks like a massive stylized statue of a bear. If it is immediately retreated from nothing happens. If the players approach the bear statue will animate in dramatic fashion and drop down onto all fours and become vocally hostile. Like the timberwolf, the bear likes music, but what it likes better is an offering. Fresh meat is acceptable, but honey is best. A bottle of mead, and the Bear will drink it in a single gulp, laugh, and then push the barrier open, letting the players reach the next level entrance (completely missing the fountain and an easy short rest). If the players are aggressive, the bear can show them the meaning of aggro.

Trick/Setback

The maze exits to a forest clearing and there is the sound of rushing water. A massive tree has fallen and now makes an improvised bridge across a chasm. Maybe a hundred feet below and river churns over rocks and heaps of deadfall. It is narrow, not deep, and turbulent. A fall is going to be really bad for anyone who fails their DEX checks in the next few minutes.

Crossing the tree bridge should be harrowing, with the trunk shuddering and crunching as the player's weight encounters its long decay. Should a player fall they will find themselves crashing through branches sticking out of the side of the cliff enough that it slows their fall. They will take significant damage from this, and the weak, injured, or frail are probably going to be splattered. Barbarians and martials will be bloodied and bruised. Climbing the cliff is a challenging exercise in rock climbing, and the easier course is to walk upstream. There are general monster encounters and traps along the river, until the player exits the river and finds themselves about a half-day's walk back to Kharagoshi Village. Walking downstream exits them from the dungeon into the depths of Standard Dark Spider-Forest.

This is a dimensional effect of the dungeon, and after exiting the dungeon along the river, they cannot return the same way. Heading back along the river never intersects the dungeon, and they will come out at the same place on the respective opposite sides.

The Prince of the Wood, and the Memory of Limberlost

The heart of New Limberlost is a disorienting forest. The trees are arranged in a linear pattern, mathematical in its precision, creating a confusion effect. This effect is disconcerting and uncanny, much like the endless pattern nightmare sequences from Nightmare on Elm Street. Row and row, after row, of arboreal perfection. There is no path, no guidances, to show the way to the center. Adventurers have to follow their hearts and try to find the Heart of the Wood.

Hazards are many, as this is near the core of the dungeon and even the Gulerode are not granted special access here. THere are forest traps aplenty, and strange encounters with curious and frightening monsters, not all of which are dangerous.

The Wooden Men are humanoid constructs made of fallen branches, resembling wooden skeletons. They are mostly harmless, and music will usher them along on their strange shambling paths. A good song will make them dance and cavort as they leave.

Timberhind and Timbersatyrs are also a danger. The timberhind are horse-sized deer made of living wood and the stags can be aggressive, unless they are placated with honey, fresh fruit, or mead. The timbersatyrs are stump like creatures that cackle and cause mischief, unless they are entertained with jokes, pranks, and general tomfoolery. If flashed by a female adventurer they will giggle madly and run away almost joyously.

The Lost are people who made it this far into the dungeon and were not able to find the center, and they've gone quite mad. The dungeon won't let them die, as at the edge of their ability to survive it provides them with water, a scrap of food, and safe rest. Their suffering brings it pleasure. These Lost are bedraggled, their equipment slowly being replaced with bark, vines, and other plantlife. The longer they stay trapped, the more the dungeon absorbs them, and they become deranged arboreal mongrelmen. Some manage to end their own lives, and the dungeon considers this a performance art display, and will ensure that the self-terminating remain only slightly decayed, their spirits trapped in their corpses. If players cut one down, the corpse will shudder, suck in a chest cracked breath, cough violently, and then barf excessively and be returned to life. They might be redeemed, or they might be so insane the adventurers have to kill them for real.

The Great Treemanse

The Heart of Limberlost appears suddenly, a massive white birch tree with peeling bark. The tree itself is ten times larger than a normal birch, and the peeling sections of paper-like bark are the size of posters. A spiral staircase (no stair rail) wraps around the trunk, and ascends more than a hundred feet up into the crown of the tree. There is a rustic mansion sized cabin nestled in the branches. The treemanse is surrounded by a deck, also without rail. The manse appears almost like a regular mansion, with dryads acting as house servants, drus as guards, and all serve the Prince of the Wood.

Who is the Prince of the Wood?

The Prince of the Wood was once a mortal adventurer, a man of human and elfin blood, who traveled to ancient Limberlost to seek out the dormant Treeking. He found the wooden monarch, challenged him to a game of wits and riddles and lost. Rather than slay him, the Treeking struck the would-be hero and turned him into a lesser version of himself, and forced him out of Limberlost. When he awoke he fled until he found a place where he could rest, and he collapsed into a forest copse, exploded into a grove of birch trees, and then from that, New Limberlost grew. Eventually his body was reconstituted and he fashioned his new dungeon.

The Gulerode found him first and he took a liking to the barbarian bunny women and gave them a special place and access to part of the dungeon itself. He is interested in protecting New Limberlost and growing the power of the dungeon, protecting the Gulerode, and waiting for when the Treequeen appears. He is assuming that eventually there will become a Gulerode barbarian queen who will enter the dungeon and become his avatar, war bride, and when her tasks outside the dungeon are complete, will join him as the Treequeen and the dungeon will grow into an entirely new and greater ranking, likely assimilating the entire clan into it and making all of them its dungeonborn.

Reward

After encountering the Prince of the Wood, the players can fight him to win some awards from the dungeon. The Prince of the Wood is a manifestation of the dungeon, and actually killing the dungeon is a different fight altogether. They can also bargain with the Prince for his blessings and boons. He likes to give gifts, weapons made of antler and wood, magic tonics and potions, and he presents a magnificent table for honored guests. It is laden with rich game, luscious fruit, fragrant herbs and spices, and wine and brandy flow from fountains in the walls. The Prince is also wise in magic, lore, and ancient history.

Index of Hazards and Countermeasures

In the case of dungeon desecrators, the Prince of the Wood has a number of defensive and offensive options.

The Mist - this magic effect fills the dungeon with a magical mist that reduces visibility and is highly luminous to magic based vision enhancement, aka, blinding. It also reduces sound, and makes ambushes and sneak attacks easier.

Sleep Pollen - flowers bloom and spread a narcotic pollen that reduces DEX and makes those who inhale it sleepy.

Confusion Pollen - psychadelic flowers bloom and release a hallucinogenic pollen. Those who inhale it become disoriented and confused, as apt to attack their own comrades as a dungeon monster.

Super Pollen - causes strong hayfever/allergies. Hard to cast spells when breathing is difficult, nose wont stop running, and eyes are watery and raw.

Entanglement Traps - pressure sensitive, vines and plants wrap around a foe and they are immobilized. A lone foe, or a weak one might be held down until they are cocooned in vines and the dungeon will digest their corpse.

Deadfall Traps - with a loud pop or crack, a large branch or tree falls, dealing a large amount of crushing damage.

Pit Traps - the ground gives way and dumps the foe into a forest pit. This can be as simple as just falling in a hole to as dangerous as landing on a poison dripping set of spikes.

Poison Vines - vines with thorns that secret poison, various effects.

Green Poison - the most common and weakest poison in the dungeon, causes nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea

Purple Poison - a stronger poison that causes swelling, and general anaphylactic effects.

Black Poison - the strongest poison and is a hallucinogenic neurotoxin, can rapidly cause mental deterioration and death unless countered by spell or high quality antidote.

Dart Pod Vine - like the poison vine, but produces banana-like fruit that bulge and fire a poison dart at foes of the dungeon. Deals hand crossbow damage plus poison effect.

Vine Snake - animated vines that act like snakes, some have poison bite, some are covered in poison thorns.

Greater Vine Snake - as a Vine Snake but the size of a large constrictor.

Healthwart Mushroom - large basketball sized puffball mushrooms that produce clouds of spores when disturbed. These spores contaminate open wounds and prevent natural healing. If untended, damage increases as mycelium spreads through the foe's body. Can be removed with a cleansing spell, washing the wounds with a strong alcohol, or applying burning damage to the wound.

Hornetbush - a large flowering bush that produces large date shaped berries that pop open into swarms of wasps. Highly aggressive and dangerous, poisonous.

Timberwolves

Wooden Bears

The Timbermare

Shambling Mounds

Drus Guards equipped with wooden spears, javelins, and shields.

Dryad Guards equipped with poison bows and rogue feats

The Prince of the Wood, equipped with oaken plate armor, a glaive tipped staff, and a grimoire of green mana spells.

Giant forest animals including but not limited to rabbits, squirrels, possum, raccoons,and boars.

The Garden can become a poison menagerie

The Timbermare and other Maze Guardians can attack at will on any level

The Deadfall Bridge can be withdrawn, leaving a yawning 30 foot wide chasm as a barrier

The Lost can be commanded to attack intruders in their insanity, in a cohesive force organized by dryads, drus, and other monsters of the inner forest.