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So, you've swum to a Taymoran ruin...

by Senarch from Threshold Magazine issue 31

Image and: 'Undead servants of the devilfish', original digital artwork by Senarch http://pandius.com/UndeadServantsDevilfish.png

The purpose of this article is to quickly generate ideas for a Taymoran ruin adventurers can explore, and it can be used alongside the ruin creation tables in my "To build an Undersea Hex" article. I assume here that you have used that article to determine ruin size and the environment it is in or have chosen them in advance.

The seabed is littered with smaller Taymoran ruins, and these tables are best suited to those, though you can use them for inspiration in making towns or cities. Roll multiple times on the first table in the case of larger ruins.

Think of these underwater ruins as the skeletons of what once was. The vast majority of what survived the Cataclysm and the ravages of time underwater is bones, structural walls, now covered in coral or vegetation, and home to a wide variety of sea life. Depth and environment will have a big impact on what is around (see the encounter tables in the previously mentioned article). The most likely structures to survive are the conical towers, from those of each village to the huge structures housing the nosferatu and vampire sorcerer kings and queens. Many are badly damaged by both war and cataclysm. They are likely partially buried, in sand, silt or rubble. Some may have air pockets, magical or otherwise, especially in lower, buried levels, but many will not.

You can use these tables in combination with online random dungeon map generators. Whatever such a generator creates (on multiple levels if you wish) is what is structurally sound, hermetically sealed perhaps, even if flooded, and therefore forms a "Dungeon".

Population will include creatures from the environment, undead relevant to T1 and dwellers from T2.

T1 d20 What remains?
1	A library, flooded or in an air pocket
2	Fortifications home to a garrison
3	A pleasure palace or brothel
4	Naval structures, a seaport
5	An astronomical observatory
6	A shrine, temple, or monastery
7	The labyrinthine remains of a slum
8	Mercantile quarter, shops, storerooms
9	The dwellings of nobles
10	The workshops of artisans
11	An arena or hippodrome
12	A statue-filled garden or plaza
13	Offices of the state
14	A bathhouse complex
15	An academy or university
16	A secret refuge of spies or rebels
17	A laboratory or research center
18	A prison and torture chambers
19	A treasury or hidden cache
20	A sorcerer-lord's chambers

T2 d20 What dwells therein?
1	A vile coterie of sea-ghouls
2	A deranged wight pirate-king
3	A decadent drug-addled cult
4	An overly friendly hermit
5	A cabal of devilfish spies
6	A trapped lich and its undead minions
7	Sailors digging up secrets for their vampire captain
8	Something(s) cunning and monstrous will hunt, corral, and devour intruders
9	Idolaters worshipping a sea monster
10	A party of adventurers plundering
11	A necromancer gathering minions
12	A shaman cleansing the unholy
13	Mutated refugees and renegades
14	Warring elemental forces
15	The whispering, devouring darkness
16	Tentacled monstrosities of a possibly hallucinogenic nature
17	A sorcerer seeking truths
18	A zealous lawful guardian
19	Mutated, were or undead sea life
20	A litter of baby behemoths

d8 What stands out?
1	Corridors narrowed by rubble
2	Ornate frescoes and arcane runes
3	Magical lighting attracting strange fish
4	Heartbreaking signs of lost humanity
5	Epic grandeur, pomp and scale
6	Cold and darkness
7	Lingering signs of violent ends
8	Vibrant life covering forgotten stone
d12		What is the challenge?
1	Prevent something from getting out
2	Investigate disappearances nearby
3	Retrieve an artifact
4	Prevent a ritual or experiment
5	Hunt and kill a monster or fiend
6	Spy and report back
7	Gather historical knowledge
8	Track a fugitive or lost soul
9	Lift a curse, restore balance
10	Foil an incursion or invasion
11	Rescue trapped allies
12	Negotiate a boon, truce or alliance

d8 What is the complication?
1	Fiendish traps, unsound structures
2	Leaking poisons or magic potions
3	Hybrid or mutated sea life
4	Poisonous or carnivorous plants
5	Dangerous forbidden knowledge
6	Magical guardian constructs
7	Madness inducing illusions
8	Cursed items, haunted relics

Use the bounty table below only if the dungeon or ruin is large enough to warrant it, otherwise use normal treasure tables for the monsters you rolled/selected.

d12	What bounty awaits?
1	Masterworks of a famed craftsman
2	A named magical weapon
3	A dangerous spell-book or scroll
4	An unforgettable work of art
5	The staff/wand of a famed sorcerer
6	Royal treasure
7	The ring of a Necromancer lord
8	The armor of a general
9	All you need to try necromancy
10	A very tempting but cursed item
11	A unique magical artifact
12	A magical weapon of mass destruction

I hope this is enough to tickle your imagination. As usual, you can completely ignore rolls that make no sense and imagine something better.

Examples:

The village of Ga-xul: In the shallows on a wild stretch of the Darokinian coast, lie the ruins of a few houses and out-buildings around two conical towers at either end of a longhouse, once an academy for scribes, 50' (15 meters) below the surface. Jellyfish swim over the ruins, while the outer houses are home to giant crabs, occasionally hunted by small parties of tritons and dolphins. The academy is avoided, as it is too eerie. Glowing inscriptions lead to a cellar level, currently home to several devilfish scouting the area. They plan to use a ritual to awaken the skeletons and zombies of the scribes. The school treasury is haunted by the wraith of the academy head, who died while seeking to plunder it and flee.

The Spear of Amarshish Fortress (8 levels): A sea giant hero has not returned from scouting this location. It is a large, fortified outpost of the city state of Amarshish, subsided deep into the Roister Trench, but well-preserved, though the deeper one goes the less safe the structure becomes. The area is very dark and cold, high-pressured, with little sea life nearby, possibly due to the schools of ghoul fish swimming in and out of the fort from openings and cracks in the walls. Skeleton guards march along the walls and corridors, trapped in an undead travesty of their former roles. Deeper still oozes line the ceilings, and traps guard the prison and haunted torture chambers. In the darkest depths, tentacled horrors await to devour the unwary, amongst the royal treasures of a fleeing Amarshish princess.