Dungeon 23 Week 8 - Deepcrossing

 Welcome to Week 8 of my Dungeon 23 challenge! This week is the final map of this first chunk of 8 dungeons, and brings our brave (or hapless) adventurers into direct conflict with a seat of Basalt Power for the first time: The Deepcrossing.

The Deepcrossing itself is meant to serve as an obvious transition point between the Marketlands (where we have currently been exploring) and the Basalt Flats, where Fune and its army of elementals and conjurers holds dominion. Both in-game and out of game, this is signified by the first room on the map. Sticking your head in shows a bunch of banners that literally say "Fune was here" and shoots some big crossbow bolts at the party. But, note that the alarm isn't sounded unless the party sticks around. This way, should the party stumble into this place at low level, they can flee if they want and not provoke any response.

The timing on the alarms, and the programmed nature of the Basalt Walkers, also provides an interesting non-violent approach to this entire dungeon if the party is clever or informed enough. Rather than a straightforward dungeon fight through the complex, if the party can bypass or defeat the two arbalests in a single round, no alarm is sounded and so no walkers are hostile on site. The party would still need to be sneaky or clever to make it all the way to Kjinai's area without alerting the entire complex, but it can be done. And once there, since Kjinai's ultimate goal is to replace Fune as leader of the Basalt, the party could conceivably team up with her against the larger foe (for now).

So who is Kjinai? And Fune? And the Basalt elementals? Honestly, I haven't completely worked it out yet, but the seed of the idea is that in ancient times, the Priory trapped a mage named Fune, well before the market was in place. To survive, Fune made a bargain with an evil elemental force of earth, becoming the first Basalt creature. After thousands of years, Fune's power is such that it can act almost as a patron for other spellcasters, granting them basalt magic in exchange for their service. Kjinai is one such spellcaster, the most talented of them, and she has recently decided that she's learned enough from her elemental master and wants to move into more of a leadership role in the organization. With violence, if she gets any say about it.

That's all for this week - next time, we'll start fleshing out the Basalt Quarry, which contains the next five of the five-room dungeons making up the Greater Priory.