Battlemap
The Lampwarden Descent
The lamps were meant to keep the dark outside, but the dark came down the intake shaft.
This ruined intake complex once moved lamp oil, wicks, and ritual freight from the surface to deeper workings below. Now it serves as a grim funnel into the underdark, where a missing supplier caravan was dragged inward and something patient has claimed the old route.
Cold air breathes up from the shaft like a cellar grave. The tunnels smell of wet stone, old lamp oil, rust, and something musky that does not belong on the surface, while iron rails squeal softly underfoot when touched. Light is patchy and weak, as if the dark itself drinks it, and distant chittering from below hints that the way deeper is already watched.
☠ Threat
A disciplined underdark holdfast has seized the old intake tunnels and is using them to hide supply theft, moving the missing lantern goods deeper while their overseer, a chitin-armored tunnel commander, prepares to choke the surface town's light by cutting off the enchanted oil. The party must find the supplier alive, recover the cargo, and survive the growing pressure from guardians who know the passages better than any outsider.
History
Long ago, sturdy miners and dwarf haulers carved this intake line to move lantern oil, lamp wicks, and shrine goods from a surface depot down to deeper vaults. When the old trade failed, a darker underdark power bought the route, widened certain chambers, and turned the loading works into a controlled throat for caravans, captives, and offerings.
Encounter Table
CRHungry vermin drawn to spilled oil and food scraps.
Patrolling sentries checking the old routes and listening for intruders.
Pack-hunters from below that follow the smell of blood, smoke, and lamp fuel.
A skittering scavenger that steals tools, keys, and small metal objects from unattended packs.
Rumours & Whispers
Old tunnel workers say the intake shafts were swallowed by something that learned to speak in dwarf codes.
A lantern-smith swears the missing supplier was seen alive, riding a cart deeper underground with his hands bound.
People near the mine claim the dark beasts avoid lit streets only when the enchanted oil is fresh, and that someone's stealing the supply on purpose.
A retired foreman says the old loading rails have a hidden branch that was never on the public maps.
There is a whisper that the underdark buyers pay extra for wicks treated with shrine ash.
Quest Hooks
Quest giver: Mara Vell, lantern-smith of the town ward
The town's night lanterns are failing faster than expected, and a supplier caravan carrying enchanted oil and special wicks has not returned.
200 gp and a cache of lantern oil vials
Quest giver: Foreman Dask Ironbrow
A mine foreman recognizes the intake tunnel entrance in an old survey map and begs the party to investigate before the light shortage becomes a panic.
Access to dwarf-made tools and a 150 gp bonus
Quest giver: Captain Elira Dawnwatch
Strange beasts have begun testing the streets at night, as if they are waiting for the last ward-lanterns to fail.
City favor and a defensive blessing
Quest giver: Tovin Grell, suspicious quartermaster
A rival trader offers a reward for proof of who hijacked the shipment, insisting the cargo contains more than oil and wicks.
250 gp and a contact in the trade guild
Corridor Notes
Old loading rails run along the floor, broken in places where carts were dragged instead of rolled.
Watch niches with cracked arrow slits overlook the main passage, each one stained by soot from failed lanterns.
A narrow maintenance crawl slants under a collapsed wall and bypasses the checkpoint toward the storerooms.
Pale fungus grows in strips along the lower stones, giving off a dim blue-green glow and a bitter smell.
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