The Undercrawl: What Festers Beneath Briarbone Manor

Jul 29

“By Margann’s crusty beard, if ya ever smell burnt vinegar and wet teeth… turn around.”

There are dungeons. And then there are discarded truths.

The Undercrawl ain’t on any map. Wasn’t built — it accumulated. Sewers, cisterns, unfinished cellars, dead ritual pits, pipes older than memory. And deeper than that? Rooms with doors that don’t open. Not because they’re locked — because they’re ashamed.

It’s the only place in the Count’s empire that he won’t enter. He sends Vorrin, the alchemist, to handle what shouldn’t survive. Sends Serrik when it tries to crawl out.

📌 If yer players are still smilin’ from their stroll through Thorneblight Village, send ‘em here. Smiles melt fast when the walls breathe.

Overview: What the Undercrawl Is

Type: Forbidden sewer-dungeon hybrid
Size: Variable — shifts like a swollen root system
Main Themes: Mutation, secrecy, punishment
Known Entrances:
The well behind Briarbone Manor
The sealed trapdoor under the ledger office
A grate beneath the bathhouse (which never drains fully)

Terrain & Environmental Threats

Humidity of Regret: Every surface sweats. Torches struggle to stay lit.
Stale Magic: Spells here cost +1 slot level unless the caster whispers them.
Hallucination Mists: Roll Wis DC 14 every 10 minutes. Fail = see someone you lost.

Zones of Rot and Purpose

🦴 The Bone Channels

Tunnels lined with discarded uniforms and collapsed clones — failed versions of someone important. One still breathes. It asks for a name. Yours.

🔬 The Trial Vats

Vorrin’s lab. Fluid that stops dreams. Air that makes you remember other lives. This is where he brews the Widow’s poisons — and his own regrets.

🐾 Serrik’s Nest

Half-animal, half-strategy room. His beasts train by mimicking party members. There’s a crow with your rogue’s eye color. It’s staring. Hard.

🧠 The Mind Box

Sealed door. Inside: a pulsing sphere of whispers. They say it’s a remnant of Marlae’s memory purge tests. Touch it and lose a random bond or flaw — but learn a forbidden secret in return.

Sewers With a Soul

📌 By Tharn’s itchy chainmail, if yer dungeons don’t scare the players, not just the characters, yer not diggin’ deep enough.
👉 Drop the Undercrawl under your prettiest town, and watch the smiles crack. Then build the crawl with secrets, grief, and gear from the Tavern Toolshed and plug in threats from the Player Builds & NPCs.

Encounters Worth Cryin’ Over

The Stitched Choir (CR 7): Six mouths. One hymn. Forces saves vs. identity loss.
The Echo of Trial #9 (CR 9): Reanimated regret — it becomes the party member you’ve failed most.
The Tapwater Oracle (CR 0 or ∞): If you drink from the still pond, you see how you die. It’s accurate. Roll Insight vs. 22 to forget.

Hooks to Drag the Party In

They’re sent to recover a mirror shard for the Count. He won’t say why.
A missing child was last seen near the ledger office — but the staff won’t investigate.
A rebel tells them “You want to know the truth? It’s leaking under your feet.”

FAQ

Q: Is this meant to be explored fully?
A: No. It’s meant to haunt fully. Let ‘em go deep — but not all the way. Some doors close behind.

Q: Can you fight down here?
A: Yes — but every fight leaves emotional residue. Players start gaining false memories.

Q: What if someone tries to purify the place?
A: The Crawl adapts. It doesn’t fear light. It absorbs it.

📌 By Bahlin’s bent fork, when yer dungeon starts whisperin’ yer name, it ain’t loot it wants — it wants a story. One you haven’t told yet.
👉 For more settings that crawl, whisper, and fester, explore the Tavern Toolshed, or contact Mike before yer wizard drinks from the memory vat again.