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Wednesday, 28 September 2022

d100 Strange Doorways in Auldwood




So commoners often find openings and doors to caves and structures on Exile island, Auldwood and Anglerslund. Often people just cover them up so kids don't find them and mess with them. Sometimes locals know about them and leave them alone due to local legend or past failures from looters. Many assumed tombs of the dead so leave them alone like good people. Sometimes people are diggining up old ruins for building supplies and good stones and find something. There are even towns that thing bringing in adventurers under contract to loot the tomb and 50% of the loot. They would rather a share with money than useless magic weapons. Maybe exited villagers tell adventurers passing by in the pub. Perhaps some kids have opened a hole and gone down and now need help?

Holes in hills - fillers for hexcrawls, local village sidequests or perhaps to plant some huge dungeon as a distraction or for later to visit.  

d10 Quick Types
1 Tombs
2 Old Ruin
3 Cavern
Old Mine
5 Lair
6 Outpost
7 Passages
8 Home
9 Dungeon
10 Deep Magic

d100 Strange Doorways in Auldwood 
01 Open ancient burial chamber of cyclopean stone long empty
02 Heavy stone slab of poor family crypt with common remains, a holy symbol and idols
03 Clay sealed stone door of crypt with long sleeping lesser undead and some treasure
04 Stone door with easy opening action, ghouls secret lair once a tomb. They have dug other tunnels to local graveyards and other tombs
05 Sealed wide stone door, tomb of ancient hero possibly with horse or chariot now a wight
06 Sealed door with ancient script. Tomb with stone sarcophagi of a mummy with a valuable gold horde
07 Stone lid over a pit, a tomb with a crypt of a wraith or spectre
08 Crude stone slab blocking tomb opening. If opened releases shadows or spectral minions
09 Boulder deliberately moved over entry to cave tomb with an armoured skeleton warrior on a throne with a horde of plunder, may not be human, often has magic items
10 Sealed stone slab door with ancient script of a curse warning of evil within. Tomb inside is sleeping vampire or trapped demon in a stone sarcophogi with a holy seal
11 Wooden doors under house foundation. Farmhouse cellar with crumbling goods and rats. Possibly some ok wine or metal tools
12 Rotting wooden doors under vines in a hillside. A crumbling storehouse with huge harmless scuttling bugs and a giant toad who came in when little. Old crates of intact goods and straw inside
13 Pile of stones with a tribal sign of the old ways. An storage tunnel with shelves of very old dried food, pottery, an idol and some potions from a tribe long ago
14 Trapdoor In burned remains of an old house. Remains of those who hid from raiders above and were sealed inside without air. Might be very angry undead family
15 Strange square stone in old foundation. COntains plague victims in long-buried cellar. When opened a miasma of disease is released possibly some diseased undead inside
16 A clay wall over whicker frame found in a gully. Ancient storehouse using part of a large cave, now overgrown with giant fungus and bugs. Possibly a family of peaceful goblins live here
17 A round stone lid into a slippery angled shaft. Within foundations of large house long ago. An ancient coal cellar with remains of a strange wagon and furnace.
18 Trapdoor under remains of a shack. Inside is a small dry cave with well-preserved food items and a common family forgotten treasure and animal pelts
19 Trapdoor drops down a shaft with a ladder or spiralling ledges to a well in the bottom. Connected to underground semi-flooded caves (some large creature lives in the water)
20 Stone door on a wall on crumbled remains of tower. Once a watchtower. Inside are stored weapons many intact and a petty golem guardian
21 Stone lid on pit to a glowing cave complex with dangerous fungi and giant bugs and some pixies
22 Rotting wood covered in vegetation. Cave where some wine was stored but tunnels go into the deep to a river or underground canal with a crumbling wharf and rotting small boats
23 Sealed stone slab door. Cave complex where remnants of a family of cannibals were sealed inside generations ago
24 Covered by vegetation stone door. Cave complex where some kind of market once took place and there are many passages and tunnels into the deep
25 Wooden locked door. Cavern with a lake and a village of fish folk who lived here for centuries and were sealed inside by human settlers 
26 Sealed wooden door. Steamy cavern, the upper area used as a bathhouse by someone and deeper chambers connect to steam caves and lava flows. Large reptiles and bugs live down here. Some human and other remains are partially coated in calcium accretions
27 Stone slab door. Clan of troglodyte lizard folk live here in secret in a great cave where they hunt bugs and toads and bats. They even have a treasure in a temple. They built the door to keep out strangers. Occasionaly a demon worshipping faction take over and cause trouble outside 
28 Rotting wooden door over large cavemouth partly covered by vines. A smaller rotting door can be broken through by kids or hobbits. This is entrance to a vast network of Underland chasms and part of a system that can be used to cover vast distances. Once traders used this and met here in a market within the entry cavern 
29 Ancient stone slab with mystic spirals and dancing horned people. Inside is a magical labyrithe connected to other similar mazes in different times and worlds and other lands. Two battling immortal will try and use visitors to quest for them. One seeks to dominate the multiverse with the power of the labyrynthe, the other wants it for wise mystics to explore 
30 A clay wall in a hillside with ancient handprints. Inside is a series of huge caves and a village of humans sealed inside who have become cave folk over generations living off bats and bugs and eating troublemakers. They hate outsiders who they believe will come to finish them off so all intruders must be killed and eaten 
31 Rickety wooden door with keep out sign and some names stating a claim. Inside a small tunnel complex is some lead and silver ore. Acid could be used to refine more silver possibly. A crazy old miner lives inside who murdered and ate his buddy one winter and now hides in the dark. He welcomes visitors and has booby trapped the place
32 Pit with wooden rotting hatch. Drops into a mine tunnel occupied by dwarf zombies who want to haord metal and valuable goods from some remnants of dwarf instinct. Dwarves who see this will be outraged
33 Open pit mostly covered by grass, a falling hazard. Inside is a small gold mine with remains of miners where they breached a much larger and older goblin mine
34 Small stone door locked with complex mechanisms and easy open mechanism. Gnome mine into rock tooking for Bismuth deposits. The passages are for small creatures, larger may have to crawl. They have left several mining automata here to work and a stockpile of bismuth to flood the alchemy market in the city for years
35 A secret stone door that slides away easily. Glowing elf runes inside indicate which clan own the mine. Its passages have become more like natural caves and are well lit by glowing crystals elves mined here for a cold smokeless light source for their palaces and treeforts
36 A crude but not very old wooden door. Some might recognise as lazy goblin craft. Inside is a 4 foot high tunnel complex of a iron deposit. When the iron was dug out a family remained behind to start a small kingdom and have converted tunnels to bug and fungi cultivation 
37 A bricked up mine opening partly hidden by vegetation. A mine dug into a deeper older mine that had a hellgate. The miners who got out sealed it up. Inside are undead and imps who use this as their entry in the world supplying cultists with orders and gifts of hell
38 Bricked up mine entrance. Soldiers used this tunnel to dig into a winery cellar and steal booze until caught. The entrance is still sealed but the winery is long gone and has been used by creatures to populate the mine
39 Metal lid on a shaft deep into the rock made with magic. Part of a broken which and chain is partly buried nearby under a clump of weeds. Down in the deeps below is a fossil mine where a wizard once dug up prehuman creatures and unpetrified them for research. There is the remains of an ancient menagerie, caves of petrified monsters and some of the creatures have survived after eating the wizard. The menagerie has magical food bowls in pens that have allowed creatures to survive. Some of the statues are of serpent folk
40 Locked iron bar gate on a mine. Has been used by a criminal gang for storage and if anyone touches this cave the smugglers guild will be very unhappy 
41 Open cave behind bushes with claw marks on walls. Inside is a family of bears or cave lions
42 Tunnel blocked by rocks and loose earth. A giant burrowing toad lives here and keeps the door shut since some prying adventurers found it
43 A wall of dripping ice blocks a chilly cave entrance. Inside is a frost salamander brumating for the current non ice age. Will wake up if any noise heard especially breaking ice of magical fire. It repairs the wall often and goes out some blizzards to hunt
44 A confused mimic without a dungeon home has set up here as a fabulous looking dungeon door just begging to be opened
45 A large slab of burned log blocks a cave mouth. Inside is a troll 
46 A cave entrance with rock carvings some very ancient. Seems to have been expanded in ancient times by residence. Cave art decorates the chambers and a lone cave person with a fireplace who is very angry at visitors. There is a firepit room with an air shaft and a well in another chamber and a tomb with hundreds of dedicated bodies and some oldest with cavebear pelts
47 Door in the hillside concealed behind grass. Is the secret den of a werewolf and remains of animals and a few humans are to be found inside
48 Large wooden door in a hill with a chimney. Inside in a family of ogres and their orc servant
49 Grassy curtain of tuf covers this hole which is home of a wyvern that hunts by night well away from its lair
50 Loose shaped heap of earth covers this burrow entrance of giant carniverous insects like ants, beetles, wasps, etc
51 Hidden hole in a hill is a outpost of local halflings spying on humans. Several of the sherrifs men are hidden here with a special non smoking field stove, a smokehouse, a pump for water and comfortable chairs in a smoking room. Well provisioned and wary of nosy biguns
52 Secret door in a cliff has been revealed by running water down a rockface. Inside is a dwarf secret watch outpost. There as a stockpile of dwarf rations and weapons here to supply other agents. May still be occupied and could be good or evil 
53 Tree covered hill where someone saw a tiny door open in a tree but cant find it now. One of several tree doors to a secret gnome home where they have a mission to keep an eye on local humans. They have pet badgers or giant ferrets
54 Huge ancient tree seems to have a doorway in it locals know about. It is a secret door to an elf watch tree where several elves can monitor local events, There will be good supplies of food and arrows. May be occupied by elves or their servants or pets and may be good or evil. They will have hundreds of years of records and reports
55 Dark hole in a creek mostly covered by vegetation seemingly an animals hole. An old outcast witch is living here observing it for some dread purpose. She pretends to be a hermit but has an impressive room of herbs and crafted occult trinkets. She may be interested in making money or gaining secret influence for her chaos coven
56 Heavy fortified door has been spotted in a ravine, orcs have build an outpost here
57 Wooden door under a shaded ledge. A secret bandit outpost with supplies and used to inform rest of the gang what happening in area. Pigeons in cages are kept for food and messages
58 Fake turf trapdoor, inside is a enemy nation or faction spy outost, part of a netwok
59 Hole in a tree has a ladder into a cave outpost with shrine supporting cultists in the area at work
60 Trapdoor into ancient cellar in foundations. Inside is a thieves guild safehouse here members on the run and secret goods are stashed and the occasional hostage 
61 Huge gate in cliff under vines with a smaller door of stone or metal. Requires keys or a puzzle to open on magic command. Actually is a entry to vast dwarvish underground highway some with tracks and various stations and side tunnels
62 Stone block with remains of metal door torn off, inside is a circular rusty iron stairwell and air vent to an ancient dwarf tunnel system connecting a cavern complex and a highway
63 Wall found to be an illusion. Behind that is a black diorite stone door carved with a likeness of a serpant folk wizard. This tunnel connects to a prehistoric tunnel complex with signs of inhabitants and obsidian tools. In the deepest pit serpent folk and their dinosaur pets are sleeping in magic crystal caves
64 Open narrow tunnel crosses miles used by ancient demihumans and smugglers
65 Stone door into chamber with locked iron bars and a deep shaft with a ladder. Enters into a gnome tunnel with rail tracks in state of abandonment
66 Wizard locked stone hatch in rock with dark elf runes. Behind it is a deep stairwell into a vast cave where dark elves lived but now is a fungus forest of dark fey with ruined buildings and giant walking toadstools
67 Stone door into ruined cavern town now only home to monsters and can be used to cross a fair distance in secret
68 Open passage into the deep. This is the entrance to a vast cave with a population of a hidden subterranean race. There are multiple guard posts on the way 
69 This passage is a secret hellgate to the first layer of hell. Inside is a huge devil face which opens as the portal and sevelel lesser devils guard it. Cultists and messenger imps often visit 
70 This cave is a magical time portal back to prhuman times, it is one way unfortunately but their are lots of powerful alien wizards who might be interested in you
71 Tiny painted wooden doors in trees and rocks in area from a clan of gnome homes
72 Door in the base of a giant tree stump is home to a forest dwarf and his badger folk friend and a goblin
73 Door in a tree with lovely bronze knocker. Home to a an elf scholar looking for seclusion and peace, likes to offer candy to young visitors who are all children to them
74 Small door in a hill is a halfling family part of a larger hidden clan
75 Door in a hill with a chimney releasing smoke. Inside a family of fauns are relaxing
76 Huge tree with a wooden locked door. Home of a forest druid who replaced the previous druid guardian
77 Wooden door on a cave where a holy hermit lives in isolation with a vow of silence
78 Wooden door into a house semi buried in hill with a turf roof. An elderly couple live here with a stove troll and a few brownies and pixies. They are far older than they seem
79 A crack in a tree you can see something inside. Druids used to use magic to open this portal and had a secret shrine in here. Local druids will be pleased to rediscover this and can heal damage to the tree done discovering it. Remains of ancient druid in bed inside 
80 Stone door into a water eroded stone cliff. Requires magic to open and is home to a local spirit divinity responsible for the area. Will be unhappy to be intruded and will insist strangers leave. If offered a gift and are good the spirit may aid them. rude visitors will be cursed
81 Single dungeon door, slocke with a guard niche and empty beer bottles
82 Purtculis gate in cliff. Inside is a dungeon complex full of humanoids, cultists and worse
83 Double dungeon door bolted on inside. The kingdom and a humanoid king
84 Ancient stone disc with mystic carvings seals an ancient tomb cairn. Inside a clan of elves feast eternally and enjoy gold left here by some human king
85 Stone door with an altar, requires blood sacrifice to open and gain entry to this vast cultist complex of caves and prehuman ruins
86 Great stone door with magic runes in a ancient language. Inside is a dwarvern complex long overun by goblins, trolls and chaos cults
87 Great sealed iron door to ancient complex of the necromancer kings
88 Stone slab door found behind a lanslide. An ancient dungeon of elemental cultists with portals to various planes and elemental creatures and a central chamber where the elemental unitarians united four separate cults
89 Circular stone locked door into a gnome dungeon full of machines and their pets
90 Recently built dungeon doors. Goblins found some long empty caves and dug out areas and have sold sections to monsters needing a home. Path to entry shows increased local usage
91 Black invulnerable door with silver lock that radiats LE. Gateway to the black lodge library - the university of hell where anyone can get free tuition for the study of magic. Only your soul is required and some oaths to your free imp each new student
92 Great stone door appears ovenight with a portal to giantland inside that seems like a huge tunnel. The giants plan to colonise this area and are evacualting their current predicament with other more horrible giants
93 Passage with invulnerable silver bars and a locked gate. Leads to a cave with a subterranean river and a wharf. A ferryman will come to take your one coin fair to the underworld or perhaps one of the hells or other netherealms 
94 Great green stone vault door under glacial gravel deposits. Inside is a portal to an otherworldly city of nightmare entities from beyond the void. They planed to invade but lost interest 
95 Black stone door uncovered by mudslide. Inside is a prehistoric temple to darkness with treasures and a otherworldly guardian and strange items
96 Tunnel blocked with rubble long ago with signs of possibly magic used to seal. Tunnel leads to a vast ruined alien metropolis inhabited by degenerate remnants and scuttling trilobites everywhere. Some big enough to ride and be dangerous
97 At low tide a stone door is visible in a coral reef. This is the ruins of a fish folk city inhabited by all manour of pesky sea creatures and their former slaves. A cult will seek to get ahead and sabotage expeditions 
98 An astonomer has seen a shooting star with a door though his telescope and he wants to teleport people up there and go inside. He has made it to the surface on test jaunts
99 A strange scintilating door of rainbow light appears on one of the great elder stone monoliths once a year each soltice, some say it is a gate to paradise or some faerie trap
100  Where there used to be a valley is now a lake of living flesh and there are several strange sphincter doors and mouth like portals. Strange hairless creatures are gathering local protein to feed these gates 

5 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. yes - I'm mostly not a fan and seen some nobodies get very arrogant very fast over it. Some people seem to do better. Ive been creeping more of these experiments. Not terribly great results but i see artists get better results and add to them. I just said nope a book over ai cover and I've seen some used for ads and fraudulent archaeology books. It has its uses but interesting when music and video get to this point

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    2. im considering using some and subscribing to one to play with nut i might do more with them. I know some ppl wont look at a book with vintage clip art or even B&W art. I have had a few artists very slow on deadlines 2 years plus and they seem to hate AI art more

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    3. you'll hear no protesting from me, I was just curious because it was a cool image and I tried searching for it and couldn't find it

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    4. cheers - i will add some more

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