Chordille Keep - The Goblin Lair

The Goblin Lair (areas 13-16)
This series of rooms now hosts a goblin war band led by a goblin brute. All the goblins in the area fear the brute, as his reputation is much greater than his actual fighting prowess. Most of the other races that make up the bestial host leave him alone, as he is particularly difficult to work with. As the characters wander into this area, it is likely to become one large melee as the goblins will join in any fight, as they do not want to face the wrath of the brute. In any combat, after 2 rounds, all the goblins in these rooms will come out to investigate. Once the goblins in the barracks join in any fight, roll once on the random re-enforcement chart to see what additional re-enforcements are available.

13. The Goblin Brute.
This is where the goblin brute can be found with his two body guards. As soon as an intruder enters, the goblin body guards will attack immediately. The goblin brute will attempt to attack the weakest party member, in order to preserve his combat legacy. The goblins in the neighboring rooms will come and investigate in 2 rounds.

1 goblin brute. AC 17, HD3, HP18, Dam 1d6+1 (short sword)
2 goblins. AC 15, HD1, HP5, Dam 1d6 (short sword)
Treasure: 4d6 gold, potion of bull’s strength

Goblin barracks (Area 14 & 15).
Areas 14 and 15 are the goblin barracks. At any given time, there will be 2 goblins in each room, with a 20% chance of additional goblins being in the rooms or close by. Each goblin has 1d4 gold. Once combat is joined, there is a chance that additional goblins join in. Roll once on the chart below to see what re-enforcements are available. The concept is to provide a larger scale battle with random re-enforcements joining in.

Re-enforcement chart (roll once)

Die Roll (1d8) Re-enforcements

1. No further re-enforcements
2. 1 additional goblin joins in 1 round
3. 2 additional goblins join 2 rounds after combat starts
4. 3 additional goblins join 3 rounds after combat starts
5. 1 goblin riding a goblin dog joins in 3 rounds.
6. 1 goblin joins after 1 round, and another goblin joins after 3 rounds.
7. 1 additional goblin joins in 2 rounds
8. No further re-enforcements

14. Goblin barracks
2 goblins. AC 15, HD1, HP3, Dam 1d6 (short sword)

15. Goblin barracks

2 goblins. AC 15, HD1, HP3, Dam 1d6 (short sword)


16. Goblin Kennels
This was once a small guard post, and is now a kennel for goblin dogs. A particularly nasty smell comes from this door, with characters having a 25% chance of noticing it prior going into the room. There is nothing of value in this room, as the goblin dog has made a complete mess of the place.

1 goblin dog. AC 13, HD1, HP8, Dam (bite) +2 1d6+3 plus allergic reaction. (See Pathfinder #1)

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Revisit.
As long as the goblin brute is still alive, the areas 13-16 will re-populate with additional goblins. Once the goblin brute has been defeated, the remaining goblins will leave the area, and rats will move in.

Chordille Keep - The Grand Entrance

12. Grand entrance to the keep.
Once the grand entrance to the keep, now it lies as a burnt out hulk of what it once was. The main double doors are mostly destroyed and only parts of the doors remain hanging on their hinges. The charred remnants of a red carpet are lie on the ground, as a bitter reminder of what was. The Bestial Host has posted a pair of goblin guards and a goblin dog. If confronted by an opponent stronger than themselves, they will run to the goblin lair that is located in areas 13-16.

2 goblins. AC 15, HD1, HP3, Dam 1d6 (short sword)
1 goblin dog. AC 13, HD1, HP8, Dam (bite) +2 1d6+3 plus allergic reaction. (See Pathfinder #1)
Treasure 1d6 gold

Revisit

On subsequent revisits, if the goblins in areas 13-16 have been defeated, a band of orcs will have moved in, otherwise the goblins post another 2 guards and a goblin dog.

4 Orcs. AC 16, HD1, HP5, Dam 1d8 (long sword)
Treasure: 1d10 gold

Chordille Keep - Inner Keep (area 11)

11. Ruined room
With the razing of the keep, and number of rooms were totally destroyed. In the case of this room, most of the ceiling has collapsed into the room, creating a mess. Most creatures avoid this room, although there is a 10% chance of a vermin crawling in through the hole in the ceiling to come searching for food or to just hide. Other than that, there is nothing of significance in the room.

Chordille Keep - Inner Keep (area 10)

10. Hobgoblin guards
The fire damage to this room makes it impossible to determine what this room was used for prior to the razing of the keep. A small band of hobgoblins have moved into this ruined room, and have staked a claim to it. The sergeant in room 9 is ok with this development as it allows him to keep a close eye on his small band from the bestial host. There is some wreckage that remains in the room, but the hobgoblins have made it a point to remove most of it to make room for their bedrolls and such.
5 hobgoblins. AC 15, HD1, HP6, Dam 1d8 (long sword)
Treasure: 2d10 gold

Revisit
On subsequent revisits, if the hobgoblins have been defeated, a band of orcs will have moved in.

5 Orcs. AC 16, HD1, HP5, Dam 1d8 (long sword)
Treasure: 1d10 gold

Chordille Keep - Sitting Room (area 9)

9. Sitting room.
This was once a formal sitting room, which included a grand piano and was used to entertain guests. Now the furniture is in terrible shape and the piano is a broken wreck in the corner of the room. A hobgoblin sergeant makes his home here, and holds his own sort of entertainment in this room. There is a bedroll in the corner that serves as a bed for the hobgoblin.
1 hobgoblin sergeant. AC 16 (buckler), HD2, HP16, Dam 1d8 (Masterwork long sword) or 1d6 (light crossbow)

There is a 25% chance that there will also be a female hobgoblin in the room.

1 hobgoblin (F). AC 13, HD1, HP4, Dam 1d6 (short sword) or1d4 (dagger)

Treasure: There is a small chest (Hardness 5, HP 10) in the room that is locked (pick locks: DC 14, CL2). The key is on the body of the sergeant hobgoblin and contains 1d12 gold.

Revist
Once all the goblins on the surface level have been defeated, an orc band will move in, and an orc sergeant will take up residence here.

Chordille Keep - Blacksmith and Stable Areas

Chordille Keep - Blacksmith and Stable Areas

On the western side of the ruins, there is a series of three building that once supported the keep’s stables.

6. Ruined blacksmith shop
The first building in this section is the ruined blacksmith shop. The door is torn of the hinges, and the shop itself shows signs of significant fire damage. The building is still recognizable as a blacksmith shop, but just barely. Other than damaged tools and wrecked forge, there is nothing else of value here.

7. Storage area.
The middle building was once a storage area which serviced both the stables and the blacksmith shop. Surprisingly enough, this section has survived and is in good shape. The crates and barrels are broken, but the area itself is in good shape. There are a number of dry goods here, which is clearly attracting vermin. A medium sized centipede is currently crawling through the barrels, and will attack if disturbed.
Medium Centipede. AC 14, HD1, HP4, #Att 1, Dam 1d4+ poison

Revisit
If the characters defeat the centipede, another vermin type will move in to feed upon the dry stores that are still present in this room.

8. Stables.
This was once the stables, and is now being used as kennels for the Bestial Host. As long as the Bestial Host is present in the surface level of the keep, there will be wardogs present here. Use normal wolf stats to represent the wardogs.
1d6 Wardogs (wolves). AC 13, HD 2, HP4, #Att 1, Bite - Dam 1d8, SA trip attack

Revisit
Once the Bestial Host is defeated, a giant spider will move in and make its lair here.

Chordille Keep - The Fountain

Chordille Keep - The Fountain (area 5)

This once very ornate fountain now lies in ruin. There is nothing else of interest here.

Chordille Keep - Main Defense Towers

Chordille Keep - Main Defense Towers (areas 3 & 4)

The Defense Turrets
Originally the keep had four main defense turrets, however now only the two northern ones still stand. The southern two towers are now a mountain of rubble, and serve as a grim reminder of the tragedy that has befallen the keep. The two towers that still stand are very similar in construction. Each has four levels including the roof and ground levels. The first level was a general storage area, the second was the main barracks, and the third level served as a common area, as well as the command post for the turret’s defense. The roof was a look out area, and the remains of several ballista still exist on there. The levels are connected by a series of ladder ways.

3. Western defense turret.

A. Ground level. This level is damp and has a moldy smell to it. There are a number of old empty barrels and crates scattered about. On one of the barrels there is a patch of green mold, but it is harmless.

B. Second level. This room is covered with webs and a number of husks of dead beetles and rats can be seen throughout the room. As soon as the webs are disturbed, the spider comes out to attack.
1 Medium spider. AC 15, HD3, HP15, Dam 1d6 (bite + poison)
Treasure: 1d12 gold

C. Third level. The undead guards of the tower still haunt this area, and they will attack any that enter this area.
4 skeletons. AC 13, HD1, HP6, Dam 1d6 (short swords)

Treasure: 1d6 gold

D. Roof. The roof provides a commanding view of the keep ruins, and there are the remains of three ballista along with several dead humaniod bodies. This area has attracted the attention of two gargoyles that have made their lair here. There is a 25% chance that the gargolyes are out on patrol.
2 gargoyles. AC 16, HD5, HP25, #Att 4, Dam: claw (x2) 1d3, bite 1d6, gore 1d4.

4. Eastern defense turret.
This tower serves as a base of operation for the Bestial Host, with a number of goblinoids taking up residence here. The Bestial Host avoids the Western Tower as the spider that lurks there is rather well known . This series of encounters will probably turn into a rolling combat as once the tower is alerted, the bugbear captain will give the order for a mass attack.

A. Ground level. Several goblins have made their home amongst the barrels and crates. They will hide until presented a good opportunity to attack. If their situation turns bleak, they will either run out the door or run up to the second level.
4 goblins. AC 15, HD1, HP3, Dam 1d6 (short sword)
Treasure: 1d4 silver pieces on each goblin

B. Second level. This is home to a “team” of five hobgoblins. They are currently engaged in a game of dice, unless they one of the goblins from below comes up to give warning.
5 hobgoblins. AC 15, HD1, HP6, Dam 1d8 (long sword)
Treasure: 2d10 gold

C. Third level. This is where the bugbear captain can usually be found. If he hears combat coming from the floor below, he will go investigate.
1 Bugbear. AC 17, HD3, HP15, Dam 1d10 (master worked bastard sword)
4 goblins. AC 15, HD1, HP3, Dam 1d6 (short sword)
Treasure: There is a small chest in the corner, which the bugbear keeps a potion of cure light wounds along with 1d8 gold. The chest is locked, and the key can be found on the bugbear.

D. Roof. On the roof are the tower lookouts. For the most part the two goblins try to remain out of sight, and do not engage in the combat below. If encountered on the roof, they will attempt to flee by climbing down the tower. As they have done this a number of times, they know exactly how to do this quickly, and it should be considered as normal movement.
2 goblins. AC 15, HD1, HP3, Dam 1d6 (short sword) or 1d6 (light crossbow)
Treasure: 1d4 silver pieces on each goblin

Chordille Keep - Main Keep Entrance

Continuing on with the description of the keep.

2. Main keep entrance.
Overview: The old path leads up to the main keep entrance. Once this was a grand entry way, but now it lies in ruins. The main entranceway shows considerable amounts of fire damage, and the main doors are just charred remnants, hanging loosely in what remains of the hinges. As one creeps closer, one can see murder holes in the ceiling above.

A. Lower guard Chamber. This chamber has pieces of debris lying all about, but is otherwise empty except for the trap. The trap is cleverly hidden in the wood and rubble that lies throughout the room. On subsequent revisits, the trap will be reset by the Bestial Host.

Trap. The Bestial Host has rigged a primitive trap here with a trip wire that dislodges a large stone that falls down on the characters, ), and also rings a bell that is located outside the entry way. Treat the trap as a 2 HD monster (BAB +2) with a damage of 1d6 (DC 18/CR5 to find, and DC12/CR0 to disarm). Once the trap has sprung, and the bell has rung, roll once on the wandering monster chart as the characters leave this area.

B. Upper Guard Chamber. The upper level was once a guard chamber, but now is filled with debris. Enterprising characters can climb up into the guard chamber from the lower level. There are no stairs in this area, as the normal way to access the upper area was through the wall walkways from the main defense turrets. The chamber is otherwise empty. On revisits the chamber will still be empty, as there is too much rubble to effectively station guards.

Chordille Keep - General Stuff

Over the next three weeks or so, I will be posting an encounter or two a day. I have about 24 encounters, so I am hoping to be finished within three weeks. For the crypt, I will be posting a mini dungeon that will consist of about 8-12 encounters with the goal that a party will easily be able to finish it in one session. The idea is that the crypt will be easily transfered into any adventure that needs a short 1-shot session. It will have a Ptolus/Golarion flavor.

As a final note, for the monsters, I will be using the C&C stat block with a couple of 3rd edition items thrown in to made it easy to convert to Pathfinder/3rd or an earlier version.

Chordille Keep - Guard Towers

1. Guard towers.

Overview: The path leads past two guard towers to the ruined keep. Both show signs of fire damage, but otherwise seem to be in fair shape. These towers are very similar to each other as they are two story towers with a common area on the first level a barracks on the second level, and a roof level. The second level has are arrow slits (4 per side), but the ground floor does not. There are hatches and ladders that lead between levels. The doors to the towers are re-enforced wooden doors with a hardness of 5, and 20 hps, and can be locked from the inside (pick locks CL +2, DC 15).

A. West tower. The west tower is empty when initially encountered.
B. East tower. The east tower is occupied by 6 goblins and one sergeant hobgoblin from the bestial host. There are two goblins on each level of the tower, with the sergeant on the second level. The two goblins on the roof are the lookouts to the tower, as the other inhabitants are either sleeping or playing some sort of goblin game with cards or abusing a small rat that they have captured. The lookouts on the roof are less than professional in their duties, and it is possible to sneak up on them, without being seen.

6 goblins. AC 15, HD1, HP3, Dam 1d6 (short sword) or 1d6 (light crossbow)
1 hobgoblin sergeant. AC 16 (buckler), HD2, HP16, Dam 1d8 (long sword) or 1d6 (light crossbow)

Treasure: The goblins have a total of 1d12 gold equivalent and the hobgoblin has 1d6 gold equivalent.

General tactics: The goblins are cowardly foes, and the two on the roof of the east tower will not engage foes unless it looks like they are headed to the keep, and which point they will fire from the protection of the roof ramparts. If they take fire back, they will sound the alarm. Once the alarm is sounded, the two goblins and the hobgoblin on the second floor will open fire through arrow slits. The goblins on the ground floor will guard the main door.

Revisits: Upon subsequent revisits to the keep, the bestial host will station goblin guards in one or both towers, led by a hobgoblin sergeant. Once the characters have revisited the keep and defeated the goblins three times, there will be no further guards stationed at the towers, and instead roll for a random monsters. . On subsequent visits, if the doors were destroyed, they will be replaced by a simple wooden door with a hardness of 2, and 10 hps and will not possess a lock. After the third visit, the doors will not be replaced.

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Note: For the write ups, I will be using the C&C monster stats to keep things simple, and to allow for easy conversion into other systems.

Chordille Keep - Wandering Monters

This will be a ongoing series of blogs on my Chordille Keep map. First up, the wandering monster charts.

Wandering Monsters: Die roll/result (check 1/hour)

1 – No encounter
2 – Wolf pack (1-6 wolves) or Worg + wolf pack (higher level party)
3 – 1d6 Goblins or 1d6 ratlings (see Ptolus Bestiary)
4 – 1 Ogre or 1 owlbear
5 – 1 Red dragon wrymling, unique encounter. Once defeated, this turns into a “No encounter” result
6 – Evinarus (Male Elf/ Rogue 2) unique encounter, once encountered, this turns in to a “No encounter” result
7 – Ghoul pack (1d4 ghouls or ghast + 1d4 ghouls (higher level party) - night only otherwise no encounter
8 – Rodents (1d6 rats or rat swarm)
9 – 1d4 Stirges or 1d4 Nightmare bats (Pathfinder module D2)
10 – 1d4 Vermin (beetles, centipedes, scorpions or spiders)
11 – 1d4 Red Kobolds hunting party on dire weasels
12 - No encounter

Notes on Wandering Monster Chart

A. For more than 6 characters increase the monster groups by one die size (ie change 1d4 to 1d6, change 1d6 to 1d8, etc)
B. Red dragon wyrmling – A small red dragon has been seen in the area, and it is rumored that it is the spawn of Metterak
C. Evinarus – See bonus encounters at Dungeon-a-day.com
D. Nightmare bats – These were summoned by a wizard long ago, and still hunt in the area.
E. Red Kobolds – This is a band of kobolds that are descended from a red dragon. The scouts can been seen mounted on dire weasels and patrol the area around the keep. I really like the idea that kobolds are related to dragons and have dragon blood in them. When AD&D was released, they were pictured with dog like heads, and over time they have morphed to lizard like creatures that are related to dragons. By making kobolds related to dragons, then we can do fun things like give them wings and breathweapons, which really just makes my day. Obviously I am a big fan of this, and I will be linking the kobolds to Metterak.

The Creation of Chordille Keep

Several folks have been asking about how I created Chordille Keep, so I thought I would give a quick overview on the how I did this.

I initially created the keep using MS Excel. I adjusted the cells to about 21 pixels a side which gave a good square size in which to build on. For the most part, Excel has a number of options that allow for drawing a keep or dungeon. I tried to use the cell border function to the maximum extent that I could, and then used drawing shapes and lines to connect everything together.

Once I had this done, I copied it as a bitmap into PowerPoint. I wanted to keep the grid formatting from Excel, and the bitmap gave me this look. Once in PowerPoint, I added a bit of color and the numbers. The new MS Office suite allows one to save documents in PDF, which is a great function, so one I was done in PowerPoint, I saved it as a PDF.

Overall I was happy with how it turned out. Next time, I am going to play with the colors a bit more. As I mentioned in my previous blog, there is a dungeon contest, and I am looking forward to apply this technique and see what I can create. Once I have submitted it, I will post it on the site.

Chordille Keep (ruined keep maps)

In Monte’s Dungeon-a-Day, Monte references the ruins of Chordille Keep which sits on top of the dungeon. As of this point, Monte has not provided a map of Chordille Keep. The initial assumption is that it is a series of ruins with nothing significant remaining. However, given that I like castle ruins, and I could not resist drawing something up, which is what I spent a good part of this weekend doing.

Enclosed is the player’s map and along with the GM’s map, which has the room numbers on it. Even through this has been designed with Monte’s dungeon in mind, it is fairly generic and can be used for any dungeon that needs a ruined keep.

Over the next week or so, I will be providing my write ups on the encounter areas.

GM Map














Player's Map

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Permission statement

With this statement, I give permission for folks to use these maps for their own use. If this is going to see publish in another media (blog, electronic publication, fanzine/magazine), please reference this blog site and this particular blog entry.