Rotmire Sewers

The drains run green, and something in the dark has learned to guard its lair.

10 roomssewermedium

Beneath the city lies a forgotten sewer branch that has become a nest for vermin, smugglers, and something far worse lurking in the deeper channels. The flooded corridors connect a crumbling shrine complex to an old maintenance vault, and the whole place feels one bad step away from collapse.

The sewers breathe warm, damp air that smells of rust, filth, and old bleach. Water drips through cracked brick, rats skitter in the dark, and every sound carries strangely through the narrow channels, as if something below the grates is listening.

☠ Threat

A sewer-cursed brute and its swarm of ratfolk scavengers have seized the lower chambers, using the old shrine as a lair and the collapsing tunnels as a kill box. Their leader has begun spreading a tainted sludge through the water flow, which mutates vermin and threatens to back up into the streets if the PCs do not stop it.

History

This sewer branch was originally part of a city purification system built over an abandoned canal shrine, meant to channel runoff away from the lower wards. Decades later, when the old temple district was demolished and the drainage maps were lost, smugglers reopened the sealed passages and the city quietly abandoned the deeper rooms to whatever lived there.

Encounter Table

CR
1/8CR
Sewer Rat Packx2d4

Thin sewer vermin that move in silent bursts, drawn to food, blood, and dropped gear.

1/4CR
Ratfolk Scoutx1d2

A desperate scavenger in patched leather with a hooked blade and a sack for loot.

1/4CR
Pipe Slimex1

A moss-furred ooze that clings to pipes and drops onto the unwary.

1/2CR
Sewer Houndx1d2

A lean, aggressive sewer hound used by scavengers to track intruders.

Rumours & Whispers

1

The sewers have a rat king bigger than a dog, and it wears a priest's chain around its neck.

2

People say lantern light in the drains turns green when the old shrine is nearby.

3

A missing city clerk was heard arguing with smugglers beneath the market well.

4

Tunnels under the east ward were sealed after something started whispering through the grates at night.

Quest Hooks

1
Stop the Backupcleanup

Quest giver: Captain Ilyra Venn

The city watch hires the party to clear a blocked sewer branch before the foul water starts flooding the lower market.

25 gp each and official favor with the watch

2
Recover the Shrine Relicsrecovery

Quest giver: Brother Calren

A priest claims an old shrine beneath the streets holds stolen relics that must be recovered before they are defiled.

A blessed charm and 30 gp

3
Find the Missing Runnerrescue

Quest giver: Mara Tesk, apothecary

A merchant's missing apprentice was last seen entering the sewers with a contraband ledger and has not returned.

40 gp and a crate of healing draughts

4
Trace the Green Seepinvestigation

Quest giver: Old Nessa, tavern keeper

Strange green seepage has begun surfacing from cellar drains, and townsfolk want someone brave to trace it to the source.

20 gp and free lodging for a tenday

Corridor Notes

Between Room 1 and Room 4

Rusted maintenance ladders rise into sealed street grates, each one etched with old city ward marks and fresh claw scratches.

Between Room 2 and Room 5

A shallow channel runs black and oily in the floor, with occasional bubbles that burst in foul little pops.

Between Room 3 and Room 10

The corridor walls are lined with half-collapsed drainage pipes that throb when water surges through them.

Between Room 2 and Room 9

Old prayer candles are stuck in niches along one bend, most long gone, but a few still flicker with pale blue flame.

Visual sheet

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