We’re now at book 3, Laios’s guild is exploring 4th level, the Flooded Level, and get to an entrance for the 5th near the end of the book. We get another beautiful example of monster ecology on how food chain dynamics can affect a dungeon. Read on and you’ll see what I mean.
The book start strong as we see Corpse Retrievers in action. Corpse Retrievers specialize in finding dead adventurers, revive them with magic and charge them accordingly. Their work is obviously useful to adventurers but as their source of income depends on their eventual deaths, they’ll keep surviving tips for themselves…
The main monsters of the Flooded Level are the Bladefishes, Krakens, Tritons, Kelpies, Moray Eels, Mermaids, Slimes, Tentacles and Undines
One can counter a Mermaid’s song if they sing very loudly (and lousily?) themselves, that’s creepy and that’ll make them flee
A lot of Bladefishes means too few middle of food chain monsters, which means too many top of food chain monsters, which means at this Level: Krakens
Krakens are colossal and have giant 3′ long Parasites inside their flesh, don’t eat Giant Parasites, they have their own parasites and you’ll get gastro-intestinal troubles
We learn that giving back life to a corpse (resurrection if you will) work only inside the dungeon as it’s a feature of the magic curse of the Golden Kingdom: souls are chained to their bodies even in death, so in essence you just have to heal a body so it can function as the soul never departed
Undines are water spirits, they’re spheres of water that shoots deadly water jets. They’re made of magic, a magic-user can drink them (once they’re defeated) to get back depleted magic.
One way to the Fifth Level (it’s implied that there’s others) is going down through a non-flooded tower that barely jut out of the water
It’s infested with tentacles (Japanese love their tentacles, don’t they). Tentacles can strangle somebody and are poisonous. At least one variety hides inside traps mechanisms, good news is that it hinders the trap. Bad news it that an unsuspecting adventurer that tries to disarm a trap can get caught by the tentacle…
Giant Frogs are immune to the tentacles and live among them, a good example of monster commensalism
In Book 2 we see Laios’ guild going through the Golden Kingdom’s third level (the Crypt being the 1st and the Forest Top the 2nd) and reaching the 4th near the end. The 3rd level is more of a classical dungeon setting as we’re now inside the upper part of the castle and what we see is a lot of bricks: corridors, great halls, and at one point, a vast atrium surrounded by balconies.
The main denizens of the level are undead (skeletons, ghouls and ghosts) and golems (only 3 remains but there were more before) and a few more surprises too. We learn that the presence of the golems is the main reason why there’s not much monsters invading from below. I’m guessing that the golems don’t attack the undead.
Sounds are amplified a lot, echoing along the stone corridors and one attentive listener can identify what’s nearby.
There’s a few fountains with running water but not much food to be collected from monsters on this level for obvious reasons.
There’s places that serves as a kind of disreputable taverns where one can meet adventurers and criminals in hiding.
In the book we see Orcs raiding the area but they usually stay on the lower levels. They’ve been forced out of their village by a rampaging Red Dragon. Orcs weren’t part of the Golden Kingdom, but they were the first to explore the lower levels as they were fleeing the surface after being attacked by Elves and Humans.
Orc toddlers are extra cute, of course they are.
There’s a thing that’s called a Treasure Insect that looks like a coin or a gem or even a pearl necklace (the centipede version).
There’s Living Paintings, if you get near one you get sucked in into a phantasmal world, sort of an extension of the scene that was depicted on the painting where you can get hurt, and probably die too. You’ll need external help to get out, you can’t bring back anything that you found inside but it can be an invaluable source of information/lore as you can see past events and talk to people long lost.
Mimics are very much like giant hermit crabs, they go from small to bigger containers as they grow in size. We learn (here’s a pretty potent example of applied monster ecology) that Treasure Insects are parasites of Mimics: they lay their eggs inside a Mimic so that their larvae feed on it, they can then count on greedy adventurers to open the chest later on and free the new generation!
The 3rd level is in fact many floors high, at the bottom you reach the 4th, the flooded level. It seems like the whole base of the castle is underwater.
I’ve been quite fascinated by the concept of megadungeons for the last two years or so. I’m actually running a campaign inside Castle Xyntillan where I can see for myself how it’s done, we’re seven sessions in and it’s been a blast! I’ve listened attentively (twice!) to Mazirian’s Garden podcast episodes of Into the Megadungeon, on how to run a megadungeon for 100 + sessions (!), trying to absorb everything I hear.
Another media that hooked me to megadungeons is the Delicious in Dungeon (Danjon Meshi), a D&D inspired manga by Ryoko Kui. That’s what I want to talk about today.
the french translation I’m reading with my kids
I don’t quite know how popular it is but it must be doing good enough as Netflix is launching a series starting soon, on January. So, you see, I’m actually doing a hype job, would you believe it! But you know what, I think it deserves the attention as I’m sure it offers a thing or two that even the most jaded, old-school gray-bearded dungeon master can borrow from…
In short:
a vast, unique megadungeon: a cursed kingdom that as been magically transported underground a 1000+ years ago, castle, village, fields, inhabitants and even sunlight
Monster ecology cranked to 11; reproducing habits, anatomy and of course, how to cook them
Related: Monsters as Puzzles, even weak monsters seem to be dangerous in this world, to fight them efficiently you must KNOW them, their tactics and weak spots
The logistic of food in dungeon-crawling way beyond simply bringing rations; have you eaten a balanced diet the last few days because if not, you won’t be at your best (and will probably die)!
a well-thought-out dungeon-centered economy: adventuring guilds, the town’s prosperity linked with the dungeon delves, etc.
Now here’s what I’ll do on my blog, I won’t talk much about the storyline I think, but I will highlight the stuff we learn about the Golden Kingdom, the dungeon lore if you will, from book to book. More specifically what we would need to know to run it as a ttrpg or, as usual, what’s worth stealing from.
Book 1
In order of the book:
The dungeon was discovered when a wall inside the village’s crypt (which seems surprisingly extensive) shattered. Beyond the wall, the inspecting villagers found a man that presented himself as the king of the Golden Kingdom that disappeared more than a millenium ago. He mentions a Mad Sorcerer that took control of the Golden Kingdom and he (the king) offers all his wealth to whom could defeat him and then his body turns to dust. (Don’t worry, it’s not simply a « wizard did this » dungeon…).
Adventurers work in guilds, with each members having signed contracts. The guild’s leader owns the party’s equipment in its entirety (weapons and armors included). He’s the one who buys provisions and equipment for everybody each delve. The guild members can resign and leave the guild if they wish so.
The 1st level of the dungeon is the Crypt. There’s no undead over there as one might have thought, it’s not a dangerous place per se as technically it’s not part of the Golden Kingdom but just happens to be the fortuitous entrance to the dungeon. But weak monsters do seep in, in this book we see: the Ambulatory Mushrooms (that come in many varieties, the Japanese know their mushrooms 😀 ), Scorpions (foot-long) that hides in cracks of the walls and Slimes (watch the ceiling).
beware the fearsome Ambulatory Mushroom!
The Crypt isn’t gloomy at all, it’s bursting with activity and noise. Merchants have put their wares among the alcoves of the dead and do their sales over sarcophagi. A bit sacrilegous but hey, there’s money to be made! Many adventuring guilds prepare for their expeditions or rest after they’ve returned from one. There’s a room with a fountain that is called Rookies’ Plaza where beginners gather.
We learn indirectly (there’s a hint of something else I’ll talk about when I get there), when the dwarf Senshi joins the party, that the dungeon has been open for a few years, certainly less than ten.
From the Crypt one can go down to the 2nd level, the Forest. The underground Castle’s numerous towers stand among incredibly tall trees.
A vast network of suspended bridges have been built, criss crossing the entire level, linking trees and towers together. That’s one way to descend to the lower levels, progressively by the bridges, it’s truly a vertical level.
The monsters are already a lot more dangerous (we see another adventuring party being tpked), there’s Sylvan Goblins, a variety of Carnivorous Plants, Basilisks and also, Imperial Bats (human-sized). Tree cavities and towers’ interiors provide ample hiding places for both adventurers and monsters.
There’s at least one shortcut that is indoor leading to the 3rd level (thus evading the scary Imperial Bats) that can be accessed in one of the larger tower but one need to find several secret doors and evade a series of traps.
Inside the towers (and castle) one can also encounter Living Armors. And by the way Living Armors are edible, of course they are! Or at least, the hive-minded molluscs that live inside the plates are…
That’s it for book 1, there’s 12 to date, stay tuned!
Streets & Spores 