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Deep dungeon that goes to the underdark. The party is locating and escorting a supplier who has yet to return back with supplies to make important enchanted oil and wicks for lanterns that are designed to keep beasts off the streets at night. Without this supplier and supplies, less light for the town spells certain disaster for its citizens. · Medium · Medium

The Drowned Ledger

The old light works now drown in black water, and something below waits for the town's lamps to fail.
Rooms
7
Foes
16, CR 1/2 to 4
Traps
6
Treasure
830 gp
1234567Entrance
Select a room on the plan to open it.

The party is in

1. Upper Loading Gate

Seen

Something wanders by

At a glance

The threat

A subterranean faction of cave-dwelling raiders and corrupted tunnel servants has claimed the lower cisterns, using the flood choke point to control access while they stockpile stolen lantern oil and intercept anyone who comes looking for the missing supplier.

Wandering monsters (1d4)

  1. 1

    1d4× Giant RatsCR 1/2

    When: When loud movement disturbs the upper loading routes or a corpse is left unattended.Thin scavengers that slip between broken crates and attack anything carrying food or light.
  2. 2

    1d3× Goblin Flood-RunnerCR 1

    When: When the party makes noise in the flooded hall or tampers with crates.Small raiders wearing oil-skin scraps and using stolen tools as weapons.
  3. 3

    1d2× Hobgoblin PatrolCR 2

    When: When the party lingers near maintenance passages or triggers an alarm.Disciplined tunnel soldiers patrolling between choke points with polearms and whistles.
  4. 4

    Duergar EnforcerCR 3

    When: When the party is deep in the lower cisterns or after the boss has been alerted.A grim labor brute carrying hooks, chains, and a lantern cage full of bones.

Rooms

7
1

Upper Loading Gate

2 foestreasuresecret

What they see

Read aloud

A cracked loading gallery opens onto the upper edge of the old works, with broken winches, stacked crates, and a slick stone stair descending into darkness. The water below reflects lantern light in wavering bands, and fresh boot prints show that someone recently passed through toward the deeper flood levels.

Features

  • Collapsed loading crane
  • Mold-streaked crate stacks
  • Shallow runoff channels
  • Fresh boot prints in silt

What the GM knows

Monsters

2× Giant RatsCR 1/2

Hungry tunnel scavengers drawn to food scraps and the smell of oil.Tactics. They dart from cover to harry rear ranks and retreat into drain gaps when badly hurt.

Treasure

Sealed Lantern Hood10 gp

A watertight lantern hood with the supply hall seal, useful for keeping a flame steady in damp air.
Room secrets · GM only

Notes

Good opener with clear signs of recent traffic. The boot prints can point toward the supplier and establish that this place was entered not long ago.

2 doors: N (normal), W (normal)

The place

What it is

Beneath the ruined town supply works lies a flooded distribution hall that once stored lamp oil, enchanted wicks, and delivery ledgers for a network meant to keep the streets lit and beasts at bay.

Atmosphere

Cold water ankle to knee deep, oil-slick and stale, fills the lower halls with a sharp scent of rust, mildew, and old lantern tallow.

The threat

A subterranean faction of cave-dwelling raiders and corrupted tunnel servants has claimed the lower cisterns, using the flood choke point to control access while they stockpile stolen lantern oil and intercept anyone who comes looking for the missing supplier.

History

This complex was built decades ago as part of a town supply works, where enchanted oil, wax, and treated wicks were stored before being carted to street lanterns and watch beacons.

Rumors

1d5
Roll a rumor

  1. 1The supplier vanished after taking a cartload of oil and wicks to the old works, but the gatekeepers swear they heard singing from below.
  2. 2People say the lower cistern floods on its own whenever torches are lit near the west drain.
  3. 3A clerk in town claims the missing ledgers were altered before the delivery team left, as if someone expected them not to return.
  4. 4Old miners warn that the drainage tunnels open into deeper caves where pale folk trade in stolen light.
  5. 5A broken lantern recovered near the works had black fungus growing inside the glass, though it had never been filled with anything wet.

Plot hooks

3
RescueThe Last DeliveryThe town's night watch hires the party to find the missing supplier and recover enough oil and wicks to keep the wards burning through the next moonless stretch.From: Captain Elra Venn, town watch captainReward: 350 gp and a case of enchanted lantern oil
InvestigationMissing from the LedgerA desperate clerk offers a hidden map of the old supply works if the party brings back the ledgers that prove who diverted the last shipment.From: Mira Tallow, counting-house clerkReward: 200 gp and access to sealed records
DefenseDark Between the LampsStrange beasts have begun testing the streets at night where lanterns have gone dim, and the party is asked to stop the source before the wards fail completely.From: Borin Vale, apothecary and lamp-makerReward: A batch of superior oil and a favor from the craft guild

Corridors

4

  • Between and

    Riveted pipework runs along the walls, still carrying occasional cold surges that rattle the grates.

  • Between and

    Collapsed freight rails jut from the floor, half-buried under silt and broken crates stamped with lantern marks.

  • Between and room-7

    A narrow drainage slit leaks warm air from the deeper chambers, carrying faint voices in Undercommon.

  • Near and

    Chains and rusted pulley hooks hang over the corridor junctions, left to lift oil barrels that no longer exist.

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