The Secret Doors of Dyson's Delve

Recently, I got the urge to run Dyson’s Delve, a (graciously) free-to-download “Mini Mega-dungeon” available on Dyson Logos’ blog.

For a free adventure, Dyson’s Delve is excellent. Heck, it would be great even if you had to pay for it. It’s got all the things on Arnold K’s Dungeon Checklist, as far as I can tell.

The first level of Dyson's Delve, and an excellent example of Dyson Logos' stellar mapmaking skills.

As great as Dyson’s Delve is, a bit of work I’m doing to run it involves “filling in” the secret doors in the dungeon. Most of the secret doors on the map receive little attention in the text with regards to how they are hidden or how they operate.

Mind you, this is hardly a complaint. You can’t really complain about a free adventure, in my opinion. But, as I’m spending time to think through & flesh out these secret doors, I figured I would share my work. Perhaps it will save other referees the time and energy.

So, here it goes: a description of each secret door in Dyson’s Delve. And obviously, if you’re a player in one of my games or will be a player in Dyson’s Delve, you probably shouldn’t read this.

*I also should add that, although there is a distinction between secret doors and concealed doors, I treat them as one and the same for the purposes of this dungeon.

THE SECRET DOORS OF DYSON'S DELVE

Level 2, between Areas 3 & 4: This is actually a normal wooden door blocked with furniture and barrels on the west side by the goblins (to prevent creatures passing through from #4).

·         A casual inspection on the west side reveals only the furniture and barrels stacked against the wall, though anyone who inspects the pile closely will notice the door behind them. The clutter can be moved aside with a few minutes of careful work.

·         If characters attempt to pass through the door from the east to the west while the furniture remains, treat the door as if it were stuck. Knocking over the clutter in haste will inevitably make much noise, necessitating a random encounter check.

Level 3, between Areas 2 & 3: Each of the alcoves in this wall contains several burial niches. Some are empty. Some have corpses. Some of the corpses are ghouls. (Think of the resting place of the draugr in Skyrim). In the alcove marked with a secret door, the bottommost burial niche has no back wall. Instead, a tunnel passes through to room 3.

·         Standing characters will not notice this tunnel with a casual inspection; only characters who bend down to search the niche will notice the bottommost one has no wall behind it.

·         Passing through the tunnel requires crawling on hands and knees, as it is only 2ft tall and 6ft wide. Characters may also have to remove their backpacks (if they wear them).

My inspiration for the secret door above. I'm imagining a wall lined with several burial niches, as in Skyrim. Image source here.

Three Secret Doors on Level 4: This series of secret doors is used by the lizard men to prey on the goblins and remain hidden from the manticores. This means the doors must be well-hidden and discreet to use.

My idea is to change these secret “doors” into secret trapdoors. In other words, rather than secret doors in the wall, these are secret doors in the floor. And, rather than being part of the dungeon’s initial construction, rooms 9, 10, and 13 are actually tunnels dug by the lizardfolk underneath Level 4.

Therefore rooms 11, 12, and 8 each have large flagstones on the floor. The lizardfolk have “hollowed out” sections underneath the flagstones, allowing them to be raised up and pushed aside to allow passage through (like a manhole cover).

When the lizardfolk prepare to exit, they carefully raise the flagstone and peek out to see if the “coast is clear.” If so, they lift the flagstone entirely and crawl out, then carefully replace it before conducting their raid. Once finished, they return and disappear back down the whole, with one lizardfolk always carefully keeping watch.

Finding these secret tunnels is quite difficult, as the lizardfolk are very clever. Only those who purposefully inspect the floors in rooms 11, 12, or 8 will notice a single tile in each room lacks grout or mortar around it. If you’d like to be a generous referee, you may also say characters have a chance to notice dirt or mud lizard-prints somewhere in the dungeon, perhaps leading to a corner of the room, but disappearing.

Furthermore, lifting the flagstone with bare hands is quite difficult. A tool like a crowbar is necessary to raise it (which the lizardfolk possess).

Characters who carefully listen while on this level (or spend much time here, such as by resting) may hear the lizardfolk emerge from their tunnels (though they try to be quiet about it). Characters who quietly rest or wait in rooms 11, 12, or 8 may even catch a glimpse of a lizardfolk carefully lifting a floor tile to peek out, though any lizardfolk who see a character will quickly try to conceal their presence. The lizardfolk will fight to the death to protect their tunnels and their lair in room 13.

Level 6, between Area 12 to Area 4: Each side of the wall in these locations bears a carved green gargoyle face with a gaping mouth ~4ft in diameter. The mouth is filled with complete darkness that absorbs all light (as per the darkness spell), which conceals a tunnel passing through the wall to the other side.

Air passes through the gargoyle’s mouth, as well as noises from the other side of the wall (if any).

Get the reference?

Level 9, between Areas 1 & 2: Room #1 possesses victims of the cockatrices’ petrification. The door to room 2 is a normal wooden door that swings inward to room 1. The troglodytes block the door with a petrified giant scorpion, which prevents the door from being opened without moving the statue. Each time they wish to enter room 2, the troglodytes move the scorpion aside. The scorpion, made entirely of stone, weighs approximately 1000lbs.

·         Characters with a combined Strength score of 33 or higher can drag the scorpion across the floor, allowing the door to be opened at the expense of making noise and necessitating a random encounter check.

·         Characters with a combined Strength score of 67 or higher can lift the scorpion off the floor sufficiently to prevent it from making noise, when moved.

·         Characters on this level may hear the troglodytes grunt and scrape while moving the scorpion statue to get inside #2. Similarly, characters who leave and return to this room may notice the scorpion statue having moved, freeing the door. In this case, a squad of troglodytes will be resting inside #2.

Level 9, between Areas 13 & 15: The wererats have placed a pair of large, sagging bookshelves here to block a hole in the wall that leads to the lair of the Caecilia. The books are invariably water-damaged and moldering.

·         Investigation of the bookshelves will notice cold air passing from behind them. Light brought close to the bookshelves reveals a cavern beyond the thin gap between them.

·         The bookshelves can be quickly dissembled, at the expense of making a lot of noise. Besides necessitating a random encounter check, this noise will also wake the Caecilia.

·         The bookshelves can be carefully and quietly dissembled at the expense of time and all the costs that incurs (ex. dwindling torches)

And that is all the secret doors in Dyson’s Delve! I hope this was helpful for you 👍 Best of luck in your adventures there.