d20 Amalara Dungeon Dive 7 Spawning Pits of the Tomb Bats.pdf

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Spawning Pits of the Tomb Bats

by Morgan Davie

Requires the use of the Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook,

Third Edition, published by Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

This product utilizes updated material from the v.3.5 revision.

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Dungeon Dive 7:

Spawning Pits of the Tomb Bats

by Morgan Davie

A pre-populated adventure location appropriate for adventuring parties of 3rd to 11th level.

Additional Credits

Cartography: David Garrett

Interior Art: Pawel Dobosz, V Shane, Jason Walton, Maciej Zagorski

Reference to other copyrighted material in no way constitutes a challenge to the respective

Dungeon Dive , Amalara , and their associated logos are trademarks of Amalara.

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Dungeons & Dragons and Wizards of the Coast are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. in the United States and

other countries and are used with permission.

"d20 System" and the "d20 System" logo are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and are used according to the

terms of the d20 System License version 6.0. A copy of this License can be found at http://www.wizards.com/d20.

Art by V Shane from Arcane Publishers Edition vol 8

Art by Pawel Dobosz and Maciej Zagorski from The Forge: Skulls and Bones

Dungeon Dive 7

Using this Product

ly out into the world and animate dead

in cemeteries and on battleields. If your

antagonist is a necromancer, or is working with

necromantic magic and the undead, then this

asset is an easy it with your campaign.

Unlike typical “adventures,” this product

is designed to be used by a GM who has

already designed a plot, NPCs, and a big,

bad, boss creature. Unlike typical “maps,”

this product is designed to be used with very

little preparation. In addition to the layout of a

dungeon, this product includes traps, hazards,

creatures, and treasure.

It is possible to use this dungeon with other

kinds of antagonist, as well. The tomb bats

could perform some other function, one that

serves the needs of the antagonist better

– perhaps they spread plague, or they function

as spies, or they hunt out magical items or

worshippers of a particular god. Perhaps they

are not bats at all – perhaps the process creates

specters or lesh golems instead of tomb bats,

or some other kind of creature. Perhaps the

process creates a new kind of poison, or a

new precious metal, or a special kind of food

that can be used to turn humans into half-

iends. The tomb bats can be adjusted to serve

whatever far-reaching goal your antagonist has.

This dungeon assumes only that the process

relies on a heavily researched technique and

that the vivisection of dire bats is required.

Each Dungeon Dive product is also adaptable

to a wide range of power levels, and each

encounter area contains a section with

information targeted toward low, medium and

high-level parties. The Target Level for each

option is as follows:

• Low: 3rd

• Medium: 7th

• High: 11th

As you read through the product, simply refer

to the power level appropriate to your party.

This setting is not designed as a primary base

of operations for your campaign’s primary

antagonist. Instead, this outpost is intended as

one of their secondary bases. The antagonist

maintains permanent rooms here, and

presumably visits on some regular or irregular

schedule. Depending on your campaign, the

chief antagonist could be visiting when the

characters arrive at the fortress, providing an

early brush with the arch-enemy that should

prove inconclusive for both sides. In this case,

ensure the antagonist has a means of escape

(the ability to ly is very convenient, as it

allows escape through the shaft, the quickest

and most direct route out of the facility). The

antagonist should be able to get away while

the outpost falls – a grievous loss that will

no doubt deepen their enmity towards the

character group.

Additionally, DCs for certain skill checks may

have multiple values, for example (Search DC

20/25/30). This should be read as the DCs for

Low/Medium/High level parties.

The full stat blocks for all monsters are found

at the end of the product. Each power level has

a separate appendix. Statistics for hazards and

traps are included directly in the entry for each

power level, for ease of reference.

Running the Spawning

Pits

In Your Campaign

The spawning pits dungeon assumes that

the primary antagonist in your campaign is

creating tomb bats. These small creatures

Spawning Pits of the Tomb Bats

Location

runs this operation. Living quarters, a

receiving room, and storage space are

all here, as is a set of quarters for the

antagonist’s use during visits.

The spawning pits are located in isolated hills

or mountains. The entire dungeon is located

underground, accessible by a tunnel from the

surface, a tunnel from the underworld, and an

access shaft for those with light capability.

Coming in the front door will make things very

dificult for the characters; if they can ind the

other ways in, they will have a much easier

time of it.

Encountering Inhabitants

Elsewhere

If characters can ind an inhabitant of the

facility off-site, they can try to capture

or follow it. Success could make the task

of getting inside substantially easier. The

following inhabitants might be encountered in

this way:

Dungeon Overview

The dungeon is divided into four small areas,

each separated from the others by tunnels. The

four areas are:

Grimlocks: Grimlocks from area A

occasionally venture out to the surrounding

hillside to hunt for fresh meat.

• The Secure Gate: Here, the main

tunnel in from the surface is met with a

fearsome gauntlet of security. A series

of barriers force visitors through an

extremely vulnerable entry corridor,

where the security forces are well able

to pick them off. Subterfuge, deceit

or careful planning will probably be

needed to force in this way.

Troglodytes and Veck: These inhabitants make

regular trips into the deeps. If found, they can

lead the way back to the lowermost entrance to

the facility.

Maastricht: Maastricht regularly leaves the

facility at night via the shaft to hunt for prey.

These are the only inhabitants who might be

found outside the facility. Grisantilus is never

outside the facility, and Loxus Dyne would

only be found there in unusual circumstances.

• Caves of the Hunters: Here, a group

of hunters base themselves between

expeditions into the underworld to

capture Dire Bats for the process.

The area contains the hunters’ living

quarters and the cage in which they

keep captured bats until they are

needed.

Entering the Facility

There are three access ways into the facility,

providing a choice for adventurers who realize

this:

• The Foul Laboratory: Here, the

process to transform Dire Bats into

Tomb Bats is researched, perfected and

carried out by the demented Grisantilus.

The spawning pits themselves are also

here.

The main entrance: This entrance is concealed

in a rocky hillside (Search DC 20). It leads to

a 200 ft.-long passageway that culminates in

the door described at A0. The entrance and the

passageway are unremarkable.

• Halls of the Master: From here

Maastricht, the antagonist’s deputy,

The shaft from above: At the top of that same

hillside is a 10 ft. hole in the ground (Search

Dungeon Dive 7

DC 25). This is the top of a long shaft that

stretches down about 100 ft to the spawning

pits themselves at C2. The shaft is not directly

vertical, with plenty of jags and bends along its

length. One of these jags conceals a side shaft

which itself culminates in area D5. Due to the

bends and corners, someone falling in the shaft

will fall anywhere from 10 ft. to 70 ft. (2d4-1 x

10 ft.).

way to the door to B3, ensuring it is locked,

and posting a guard on the other side. The

defenders will hope that the intruders will, if

they survive the cave of the hunters, proceed

through the door-and-portcullis and down the

tunnel into the deeps, out of the facility.

If characters surrender, Maastricht will strip

them of their possessions and lock them in the

dire bat cage while determining what to do

with them. If the campaign’s chief antagonist is

already hunting the characters, Maastricht will

probably learn who they are and either deliver

them to its master or kill them outright. If they

are unknown to Maastricht, attempts will be

made to learn why they have come and what

they know, and unless something particularly

interesting emerges from this interrogation

they will be killed.

The tunnel from below: There is a tunnel up to

the facility from the deeps beneath the earth. If

the right path could be found in this network of

tunnels, it will lead to the door and portcullis

described at B3. The details of inding this

tunnel are left to the DM.

Response to Intruders

The defenders of this facility are not static.

They will react to the actions of the intruding

characters, and set about defending their

territory as effectively as they can.

Note that the hunters in area B are not

particularly loyal to the rest of the facility, but

they will meet any incursion into their territory

with aggression. Veck will prove nearly

impossible to pacify, but diplomatic characters

may be able to convince the troglodytes to

allow free passage to the group.

Loxus Dyne and the grimlocks in area A are

the most reliable inhabitants of the facility. If

they detect intruders, or if intruders coming in

the secure gate entrance are proving dificult

to repel, they will send one of their number

to notify Maastricht as a matter of priority.

Maastricht will come to aid in the defense.

(This combination of opponents should be

enough to overwhelm most adventuring

groups, so make sure the players are well

aware of whatever options there are to lee or

to surrender.)

Grisantilus is only loyal to the facility because

he has no choice in the matter, but his natural

tendency towards chaos and evil means that he

will not ally with the characters.

If repelling the intruders outright proves

impossible, they will try and steer them down

into area B, the caves of the hunters. The

hunters will either inish them off or slow them

down.

Meanwhile, Loxus Dyne and the grimlocks

will redeploy and attempt to seal off area

C from area B. This means traveling all the

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