Derelict Donjon

An adventure location

The remains of the fort stand abandoned at the base of the Ironcrest mountains. Once a proud outpost of the Old Kingdom, now an emblem of the decay which sweeps across the northern part of the realm in the wake of the Kingdom's fall.

Approaching from the South, the crumbling walls are obvious and an eerie silence rests on the ruin.

Any number of the following may be true.

1. It's the last good bit of shelter before the mountains or the wild Northern plains. Travelers who want to avoid notice in the inns use it for a good night's sleep before tough journeys.
2. The caves beneath the fort are endless and dangerous, people enter and never come out.
3. It is used by a tribe of orcs as a base of operations for their raids on nearby villages, and as a stash for their wealth.
4. It is haunted by the ghosts of the soldiers who died trying to defend it.
5. It once housed the powerful wizard Talazar, and the place is infused with his magic.
6. The last emperor stashed treasure there when the war began, in case he needed to flee to the west. It's still buried somewhere under the fort.

1. Tumbled Tower

• Walls collapsed in places allowing access from outside and into the courtyard.
• Upper floors collapsed. Rotten staircase up to partial first floor which allows a clear view of the forts surroundings.
• Ground floor overgrown and strewn with debris. Armour clad skeleton hidden underneath a section of timber flooring.
• Haunted by the despondent ghost of Terence, knight exemplar. His clanking and loud sighs give him away.

2. Gutted Gatehouse

• Large wooden gates, off their hinges.
• Debris, rubble and smashed timber. Rusted weaponry, a few pieces of old armour, tattered playing cards, tin mug.
• Skeletons in tattered remains of leather armour.
• Vicious giant rats nesting in rubble piles.

3. Broken Bailey

• Open air courtyard, huge block of broken masonry of a different stone and style to the fort lies in the centre.
• Rotted training dummies, rusty weapon racks, iron cauldron over a fire pit.
• Broken ballista, fallen off its swivel mount. Wouldn't take much to repair.
• Marble fountain in the centre, pool filled with jet black liquid. Liquid is in fact a Parasitic Ooze. It leaves the fountain at night to hunt, won't attack or respond unless disturbed.
• Small, perfectly intact animal skeletons litter the courtyard.

Parasitic Ooze.
Stats as preferred ooze.
Will separate into multiple oozes if cleaved. Can separate at will into small droplets and attempt to enter a sentient body. Save against poison or become an ooze host, reversible only by death or a skilled magician.

Ooze host:
Gains an insatiable hunger for meat, preferably rotten.
Penalty to intelligence.
Bonus to constitution.
Heal 1d4 HP per round.

4. Collapsing Keep

• Imposing keep building at the heart of the fort.
• Mess hall, dormitories, office/ study.
• Every room is trashed and looted.
• Occasional humanoid bones. Some concealed in obscured locations with adornments - finger bone with a ring, pelvis with belt made of silver webbing (Magical. Grants the wearer the ability to levitate for a few minutes once per day.)
• A smooth 1ft diameter stone, freezing cold to the touch. If tampered with may give visions of past events in its location, reverse gravity in the area around it or open a portal to the Void and let though a many tentacled creature.
• Passageway into caves from the office. Once concealed behind a bookcase which now lies toppled, what remains of the books scattered on the tiled floor. Recognisable Titles: Elber's Almanac, The Amphir treaty: Trade and relations with Bandera, Hallier's Works Vol 3-5: Sermons, Political tracts and economic policy, History of the Bruhn Dynasty, The Espine Tribe by Mittle.

5. Crumbling Cave

• Large cave with a network of stone walkways above a deep sunken floor.
• Twintail Bats dwell here.
• Narrow crack in the rock leads to 7. Impossible to pass fully laden or in armour. Passes a gem seam.
• Barricaded tunnel to 6. Barricade is crudely made from new timber. Gruff voice on the other side politely and uncertainly enquires at any knocking.
• Horn of the Ally. Blowing the horn summons a ghostly knight to fight beside you for 1d6 rounds, recharge by retelling the story of the battle at a campfire.

Twintail Bat
Stats as giant bat.
Fly outside at night to hunt in groups of 2d6.
Attracted to loud noises and the smell of blood. Repulsed by bright light. Tail stings contain a powerful psychotoxin, causing temporary amnesia. Save against poison or forget everything including your own name until someone reminds you.

6. Splintered Shelter

• Cave strewn with grubby beds, several benches covered in mouldy food.
• A permanently lit fire fills the cave with smoke and the smell of burning meat. Sight and smell at disadvantage.
• Entrance tunnel to outside fort, concealed by overgrown bushes.
• A small band of orcs has made the cave their base. Kerug, their leader is wily, fierce and intrigued by human culture. Will accept mundane human trinkets for favours.

7. Cracked Coffers

• Small cave housing a mount of 'treasure'. Mostly just rusting armour, damaged weaponry and agricultural tools. 2d4x100 gold in coins and gems buried within the pile.
• Solitary Orc guard. Has grown lazy with lack of stimulation and spends most of his watch sleeping upright, slumped against his spear.
• Narrow crack in the rock leads to 5 via a gem seam.

Encounters

1. Orc scout distracted with picking it's toenails.
2. Tarrow, an opportunistic thief. May attempt to steal from the party, will happily profit from their misfortune. Loot: Concealed knife, half a bottle of wine, beaten up stuffed doll.
3. Jesber, a farmer turned adventurer who has come to reclaim a prized trophy which was stolen by the orcs. Looking to settle a score.
4. 2d6 Orcs, laden with the spoils of a raid on a farming settlement.
5. Kerug, the Orc leader wants to intimidate the party and take their treasure.
6. An inconspicuous moss covered boulder turns out instead to be a shambling mound, which engulfs a character who gets too close to it.