For Shadowdark RPG and other similar OSR games.

When last we left off, Jake and Eddy, two well-meaning farm kids had stumbled upon a large door covered in writing and runes. They went to town to find someone capable of deciphering all of those big fancy scribbles on the thing and caught the attention of our ragtag band of adventurers. We now join the scene of the door already in progress.

A small crowd of townsfolk has begun to assemble around the dig site. It all started simply enough when Jake and Eddy moved a boulder to clear some land on their father’s field. Now they’ve dug out what appears to be the top of a mine shaft sealed by a locked door. The ground around the door feels warmer than the surrounding area.

The Locked Door.

If someone in the party is capable of reading Draconic, the language of dragons, wizards, and sages, they will discover several warnings:
“Danger.”
“Do NOT Open.”
“Fiery Death Contained Within.”

There is also a warning written in the language of Hill Giants:

“We place boulder to cover door. Fire djinn down there.”

The lock on the door is challenging to open. A skilled Thief will need to succeed on a DC 15 DEX check to properly open the lock. On the upside, it isn’t boobytrapped. However, opening the door breaks the magic seal and awakens the water guardian and the first cell containing a salamander.

The door is heavy, but with a DC 16 STR Check, it heaves open. This can be accomplished with Jake, Eddy, their father and a couple of hefty looking bystanders pulling on a rope if need be. The door was clearly constructed and sealed by someone larger than a regular human.

When the door is finally opened, a large cloud of thick black smoke smelling of soot and sulfur issues from the tunnel beyond. Once the smoke clears, a cloud of steam and soot jets from the tunnel as well. Faint, muffled screams echo up through the tunnel.

Room 1: The long, steep, dark tunnel.

The door opens into a roughhewn 10ft x 10ft x 10ft room. The floor is caked with ash and soot. The walls are stained with thick layers of smoke. The ceiling is pitch black. The room reeks of charcoal and burnt flesh. Across from the door is a smooth 20 ft diameter tube.

There is no light in the room whatsoever save part illuminated by the daylight coming in through the door and whatever light sources the characters are using. The tube beyond the room is pitch black and almost seems bottomless.

Observant adventurers will notice more writing on the walls and floor. Much of the writing consists of wards and runes to fend off evil, fire elementals, and sealing the djinn.

The floor just before the opening of the tube conceals a pressure plate that when pressed causes wrought iron portcullis to drop in front of the door. They are magically sealed and covered with more symbols of warding. The portcullis requires a Dispel Magic or Knock to unseal them and a DC14 STR check to lift or bed the bars out of the way so someone can squeeze through.

The message on the wall is quite clear that the djinn and his minions contained below are not allowed to enter civilized lands. Too many priests, monks, warriors, hill giants and others gave their lives to contain the djinn and his three salamander minions. The water guardian should repeat this warning.

The djinn’s sword, Foe Scorcher, is especially dangerous and should be avoided at all cost. Each of the beings below are magically sealed into caves and placed in stasis. Regular weapons were of no use against them and all who sought to banish them died horrible deaths.


Closer inspection of the tube reveals it has a very steep angle, almost a straight drop. Characters will have to tie more than one 50ft coil of rope together to reach the bottom, approximately 170 feet below. If anyone tries to free climb/slide/fall down the chute, They will need a DC 15 DEX check to control their descent or at least slow themselves down. Freefalling through the tube is not advised as it ends in a gigantic forge at the bottom.

The chute ends in a round opening 30’ off the floor of the kiln. IF the character or creature fell the entire distance the end damage is 20d6 total. The burning embers at the bottom provide little comfort. (If the characters stay in the embers more than two rounds, they begin to take 1d6 fire damage per round.

Room 2: The Forge and beyond.

Next time. The characters have certainly entered the Shadowdark at the bottom of the chute. Cunning mid-level adventurers should have had little problem thus far. The fire is lit, but not stoked to be hot enough to heat metal.

The closer they get to the bottom, the more they will hear hissing and snarling as two opposed elemental creatures fight it out with tooth and claw.

Side notes for the GM.

My intention is to lead the characters down the chute however they choose to go. The idea is to let them make the decisions to search for clues in the room, or not. If they don’t, then they get to find out the hard way. There is obviously something happening at the bottom of the chute, but exactly what is unknown.

I don’t intend to railroad the party into what is likely a deathtrap for some. The group could decide to take all of the warnings at face value, seal up the chamber again and walk away. It’s their decision to make.

However, there could be some unintended consequences if they decide to leave the site open and walk away. Jake, Eddy, and their father, Don, might start asking questions. This thing was found on their land.

What if the djinn gets loose? What happens if another party of adventurers comes along and reopens the door? Does the group want all that carnage on their collective consciences?

This also raises a question of what happened to the Hill Giants that once lived in harmony with humans, elves, dwarves, etc so long ago? This could lead to more adventures in the area. What if there are other tunnels and entrances to the Shadowdark buried beneath the local soil? It’s up to the GM if they wish to open an even larger sandbox going forward or if this is a one-and-done.

I can say there is some sweet loot at the bottom of all this including a greatsword of immense power. If the GM wishes to taunt the players into exploring further out of character, or even in character, one might float some rumors about the loot down in the forge area itself. More details will be provided later on the specific gear and armor down below. The guardians of all of this loot are quite powerful as well, however.

Thanks for stopping by today. I appreciate it. More rooms in the days to come.