Page 44 - ghosts-of-saltmarsh

BOOMINC WAVES This area consists of numerous intersecting passages.
All good dungeons have characteristics that make them unique, The ceilings here are only six feet high, and several of the I
and Wave Echo Cave is no exception. The rhythmic thunder of passages end in partially excavated rock faces.
pounding waves echoes throughout the mine, loud enough
to make the stone underfoot shiver. Waves come about two
minutes apart, growing louder toward the northeast. The dead-end passages are places where the miners gave
Wave Echo Cave is nowhere near the ocean, but a water-filled up and decided to move on to other spots. Patiently lurking
cavern deep in the mine is connected to an underground hot in one is an ochre jelly. When the party enters this section
spring. That spring boils over continuously to produce a surge of the mine, the jelly begins to stalk the group, instinctively
that slams into a narrow funnel, making a sound like breaking waiting for an opportunity to attack a lone target.
surf. Describe this sound to players on occasion. It will pique
their curiosity and lure them toward its source, drawing them 3. OLD ENTRANCE
deeper into the mine as a consequence.
The tunnel that runs south was the original entrance to
Wave Echo Cave, but it was buried by the destruction that
1. CAVE ENTRANCE wracked the mines centuries ago. A pitched battle was
fought here when the ores stormed the mines. The dead
Whether the characters follow Gundren's map or receive still lie where they fell.
directions to Wave Echo Cave from another source, their
initial approach leads them to a narrow tunnel whose
entrance is hidden within the Sword Mountain foothills. Many tunnels intersect at this natural, thirty-foot-high cavern.
The walls are carved with simple reliefs showing dwarf and
The entrance tunnel leads into a large-cavern supported by a gnome miners hard at work. Below them, nearly two dozen
natural pillar of rock and containing three stalagmites. In the skeletons in rusted scraps of armor are scattered across the
western part of the cave, behind the column ofrock, are three cavern floor. Some are dwarf skeletons, while others are orc
bedrolls and a heap of ordinary supplies-sacks of flour, remains. Half a dozen large brass lanterns stand in niches or
bags of salt, casks of salted meat, lanterns, flasks of lamp oil, on ledges around the cavern, but none are lit.
pickaxes, shovels, and other gear. Amid the supplies, you see
the body of a dwarf miner, dead for at least a week. Clinging to the ceiling like bats are ten stirges. The
The northeastern section of the cavern has collapsed, monsters find scant living prey in the mines, and they
are ravenous. If the characters are looking down at
forming a ten-foot-wide, twenty-foot-deep pit. A sturdy hemp
the skeletons on the floor, the stirges are likely get the
rope is tied off around a nearby stalagmite and dangles down
drop on them. Any character who isn't watching the
the side of the pit, at the bottom of which is a rough-hewn ceiling is surprised unless his or her passive Wisdom
tunnel heading northwest and east. (Perception) score is higher than the stirges' Dexterity
(Stealth) check total (roll once for all of them). Characters
who aren't surprised hear a flapping noise as the stirges
This was the campsite of the Rockseekers. The dead
dwarf is Tharden, Gundren's brother, who was killed descend to attack.
by the Black Spider. Gundren's other brother, Nundro, The lanterns and the carvings of miners at work were
was here as well and is currently the Black Spider's meant as a welcome to newcomers.
prisoner in area 20. 4. OLD GUARDROOM
The dwarves' supplies are potentially useful, but not
particularly valuable. This guardroom once protected the nearby entrance to
Open Pit. Climbing up or down the wall of the pit the mine, but it was overrun early in the fighting when the
without a rope requires a successful DC 15 Strength ores attacked.
(Athletics) check. A character who fails the check by 5
or more falls and takes Id6 bludgeoning damage per 10 Splintered stone benches and heaps of rubble from a
feet fallen, landing prone at the bottom. The tunnel at the partially collapsed ceiling fill this room. Amid ruined stone
bottom of the pit leads northwest toward area 2 and east
toward area 3. bunks and toppled weapon racks are the bones of several
dwarves and orcs.
TREASURE
Tharden wears a pair of boots of striding and springing. In In the round after any living creature enters this chamber,
his haste to explore the rest of Wave Echo Cave, Nezznar the bones begin to stir and knit together, forming nine
overlooked them.
skeletons. They fight until destroyed.
2. MINE TUNNELS
5. ASSAYERS' OFFICE
This maze of passages is an old section of Wave Echo The mine's assayers worked here, weighing and assessing
Cave's original mine site.
ore samples and paying the minors for their labor.

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PART 4: WAVE ECHO CAVE