A Story-Based Dungeon

Dungeons are a key part of D&D. It's in the name--just as dragons are key to the mythos of the game, so are dungeons, the home of much combat and treasure hunting across so many games. The core experience of most dungeons is combat--how will the players strategically defeat a number of enemies to get the treasure? But a dungeon doesn't have to be a combat-only affair. The following resource is a complete dungeon which revolves around story--specifically the story of a cursed artifact and the person who it consumes. Read on for a full dungeon to play with your group. 

Here is the map for this dungeon:

The players begin in room 1. The hook for this dungeon can be anything that fits your campaign. If you're at a loss for how to connect this dungeon to your campaign, you might have an important NPC direct them to it, or have a strong magical aura coming from the dungeon, or entice them with the promise of a powerful artifact. However your group arrives, proceed with the descriptions below. 

1. Entry hall. Eight suits of fine armor of dwarven and elven makes line the room, two on each wall. They are posed holding intimidating weapons except for the pair surrounding the door that leads deeper into the dungeon--that pair is posed as though they are monks ready for combat. Torches hang from the wall that holds the door to the next room, burned nearly completely. (Insight DC 13 to recognize that these torches have been burning for nearly a week.) A heavy aura of power hangs in the air, more powerful near the door. 
2. Disused banquet hall. Four tong tables are pushed to the edges of the room, with dozens of chairs stacked atop the tables or smashed to splinters on the floor. A frail half-elven woman cowers in a corner, her arms chained to the ground. There are piles of freshly ground stone near the chains, where they seem to have been recently anchored to the floor. A giant spider is scuttling around her, clicking its fangs and raising and lowering its abdomen. The half-elf sees you and calls out. "Help, please help!" (Use the giant spider stats if the party attacks the spider. The spider will ignore the half-elf in favor of fighting the party. If the party lets the spider kill the half-elf, it turns against the party and fights to the death. If the party saves the half-elf, she introduces herself as Harriet Illthar and says: "Thank you for saving me. I've been chained up for almost a week, I think. I came to save my husband, Vincent. He came here two months ago to find a powerful artifact but never returned. I am weak from my time chained up and cannot fight, but I will try to help you if you take me with you." Harriet does not know the way to the end of the dungeon, but she will offer helpful tips if the party brings her along.)
3. Arcane library. Oak bookcases line the walls of this small room. There are perhaps 200 books, most in forbidden languages, which detail dark spells meant to harm people. (Attempting to read this books results only in frustration; the words appear at first in Draconic, then Abyssal, then Infernal, and then to a series of shapes that no one can recognize. "Decipher Script" or "Speak Languages" cannot help, but "Detect Magic" reveals that the books have been protected by a spell which disguises the true nature of the writing.) One book lies on the floor, left open to a half-completed page. The book's earlier pages match the magical texts, shifting between obscure languages, but the most recent page is written in scrawling handwriting. It reads: "The stone has made me more powerful than I could have imagined. It awakens in me some force I did not know I had. The world will quiver when it sees my true power." 
4. Art gallery. Dozens of fine paintings cover the walls of this intimate yet large room. Most of the paintings are portraits of people, all of whom have a strange glowing aura around their eyes that makes them look haunted. The few remaining paintings are of a lumpy black stone--a dark, misshapen lump or perhaps obsidian with transparent crystals growing from its surface, perhaps quartz. The stone seems to call out to you, suggesting that you may not have become your true self yet. The stone can help. As you inspect the room, a sharp sound near the door grabs your attention. Looking up, you see a whelp of a goblin picking up a scimitar from the floor in the doorway. It scoops up the sword and lopes away, deeper into the dungeon. 
5. The Great Stairs. This long room is composed of long stairs that slowly descend. Along the side of the descending stairs are a pair of doors, one lower than the other, and a third door at the end of the long stairway. It is a utilitarian room, meant only as a staircase; no furniture or decorations adorn this room. As you make it even with the first door about a third of the way down the stairs, the door at the bottom of the staircase opens, and five armed goblins emerge (one of them being the goblin they sighted in the art gallery if they went there). A larger goblin with a battleaxe points at you and shouts in goblin ("There they are!") and then common, "Defend the stone!" With this, the goblins charge up the stairs toward you. (Use the goblin boss stats for these beefed-up goblins. The goblins should fight in a disorganized way, which will make the more organized combat later on more exciting. If two or less goblins remain and their health is less than half, have the remaining goblin(s) throw down smoke bombs and escape to a deeper layer of the dungeon. When the party defeats these goblins, they can collect weapons and armor from their bodies as well as a combined 10 gold pieces. When the goblins die, their appearance changes: they go from having green-brown skin to pale yellow skin when they die, and their bodies look withered. 
6. Defender's quarters. A small wooden plaque hangs over the door to this room, identifying it as the "Defender's Quarters." Behind a thick wooden door is a small room divided into quarters; one quarter houses a bed with crumpled blankets and a dresser, another a small work desk, a third a chamber pot and basin, and finally a rack for armor and weapons--specifically a masterwork suit of chainmail and a masterwork spear. Suddenly, the blankets on the bed stir, and a withered old dwarven man groans from the bed. He is barely able to stay conscious, let alone speak, but he does manage to mumble, "The stone . . . It isn't what it appears." After speaking these words, he goes still. (If Harriet is with the party, she quickly performs rites for the recently passed dwarf.)
7. Training grounds. When first entering this room, you can see a wide room dotted with cloth and padding dummies anchored into the ground. Some of the dummies are frayed, stuffing poking out through the burlap surface. As the room turns at the corner, the long hallway formed by the turn contains a collection of archery targets, many with arrows and crossbow bolt lodged firmly inside. In the far corner is a pile of common weapons of many varieties, most in states of disrepair. (Once the party has seen the room, have a powerful goblin enter the room and charge them. This single goblin won't pose as much of a threat as the earlier goblin encounter, but his increased power will make him more interesting. Have this goblin be especially ferocious, and when he is defeated, have his skin change from green-brown skin to pale yellow.)
8. Astronomer's lab. This large, circular room houses a massive telescope. You can see a stone chamber leading upwards out of the ground above, though you saw no indication of a telescope from the surface. Most of the room is empty except for the large housing of the telescope's base. (If a player looks through the telescope, they see a furiously burning star which seems to grow and recede each moment. The controls to move the telescope have been disabled.) Suddenly, a team of heavily armored goblins emerge from a hallway to the south. There are four heavy goblins and one goblin leader. (These goblins do not back down from fighting--all of them will fight to the death now that they are closer to the end of the dungeon. When the goblins are defeated, all of their skins turn from green-brown to pale yellow. The goblin leader drops a small shard of black stone with quartz crystals growing out of it. If touched by a player, they must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw DC 14 or are overcome by rage and attack the rest of the party at random for the next two actions. If Harriet is with the party, she will cast a spell on the stone fragment that renders it powerless for one minute; she will try to cast it far from where the party will go.)
9. Printing press. This small room houses a number of bookcases, each lined with stacks of paper and scrolls. In the center of the room is a rudimentary printing press which appears to have been used recently, as there is still drying ink on the press. (If the players inspect the papers and scrolls, they find that all of them say the same thing: "The Stone is our source of power. The Stone is our source of happiness. The Stone is our source of life." These three lines repeat forever, each page carrying on the same chant. There are at least five hundred pieces of paper with these same statements repeated.)
10. Brig. This room is a series of cages much smaller than ordinary prison cells, just enough for a full-sized humanoid to sit inside. In each cage is a humanoid--some goblins, some dwarves and elves, and some monstrous creatures like oversized spiders. Everything in the cells is dead, and appears to have been so for some time--at least months, if not years. (Perception DC 12 to recognize that all of the dead beings have lost skin tone in the same way that the goblins have when they died.) All the cage doors are locked by expert-level locks, but there is nothing but nearly-naked corpses in each cell. (If Harriet is with the party, she leaves the room after ensuring that her husband is none of the corpses. She apologizes for excusing herself, but is feeling sick after seeing the scene.) 
11. Dungeon keep. This massive room is like the Great Stairs in that it slopes steadily downward in distinct steps, but with defensive structures scattered across the room. There are a handful of bunkers to hide with facing the end of the room, which has a huge gate and a raised structure with parapets and arrow slits. A ramshackle set of stairs leads from the base of the structure up to the platform with the parapets and arrow slits. As soon as you make it into the room, a goblin cry goes up, and the door behind you slams shut. Before you are a small contingent of four goblin archers as well as a massive goblin which appears to have been magically enlarged. (For the archers, use the standard goblin stats, and for the enlarged goblins, use these troll stats. The archers should use cover as often as possible. They can be accessed by climbing the stairs, but the enlarged goblin will do everything possible to block them from passing. When killed, the goblins all go from green-brown skin to pale yellow skin; the enlarged goblin will drop another shard of the magical stone--obsidian with quartz crystals--which will have the same effect as the earlier mentioned shard in the astronomer's lab, but for three rounds rather than two. Once the goblins are all defeated: A booming laugh sounds from the door beyond the keep.) 
12. Vincent's chamber. This circular room is empty save for an obsidian throne in the center of the room. A second level of the room is a balcony that rings around the entire room. As you enter, the booming laugh sounds again. Then, from the balcony above, a human man looks down on you. He looks withered and sleepless but driven. "I see you've bested my goblin forces. You probably think you've intimidated me. But you have no idea the power of the Stone. It has given me knowledge and power that you can't imagine." His eyes fall on Harriet, and for a moment, it looks as though his expression might change. But his eyes harden and he vaults over the balcony's edge. "I won't let you take the Stone," he says as he lands and steps towards you. "I'll never relinquish this power." (Here you should have the party roll for initiative. For Vincent's stats, you can develop the boss however you want in order to make it more fitting for your players, but you can use these stats and abilities for a basic encounter. I think Vincent's increased power translates best through two mechanics--powerful spells [5th level or so as a baseline, adjusted depending on party level] and the ability to resist damage [I recommend having Vincent roll a Constitution saving throw to take half damage on all damage done to him]. Once Vincent is defeated, have him die slowly, with Harriet coming to his side. "My poor Vincent," she says, "but you're not really my Vincent. Not anymore." Vincent's skin turns ghastly pale and sallow. Harriet reaches into Vincent's robes and pulls out the Stone, a fist-sized chunk of obsidian and quartz. Her eyes light up for a moment, and her skin grows ruddier, but then she grits her teeth, throws the stone into the air, and casts a spell on it in midair, shattering it into hundreds of tiny pieces. 

Epilogue: Vincent and his goblins defeated, Harriet helped the party to protect the world from the Stone of Corruption. It calls to many with promises of unlimited power, but only overpowers their judgment and makes them increasingly evil beings. Harriet takes the party to the nearest town, a small lumber village called Greattree, and explains the heroics that the party accomplished to try and rescued her. The people of Greatree are dismayed that poor Vincent succumbed to the Stone, but they are grateful that the many evil-turned beings from the nearby dungeons will no longer bother them. As a reward for their heroics, the town offers the party various boons. You should select the reward that best suits your players, but if you're at a loss, I recommend either masterwork armor/weapons for the party or a notable magic item that the party can all benefit from. 

So there you have it. A complete dungeon with a story tucked inside; all you need is a group to run it with. And my number one piece of advice with this dungeon is to customize it. Make it your own in whatever ways make sense. Your players will appreciate getting to play a story that you've personalized to them. 

That's all for now. Coming soon: how to use character-building exercises for character development and fun, a one-shot based on the movie The Warriors, and a profile of the literature in my homebrew world. Until next time, happy gaming!

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