30 Minute Dungeon Delve 10: Bunker of the Serpent-Folk

Note: Hurray! Double digits! Here is my current plan for these 30 Minute Dungeons; every 20 dungeons I will release a compilation on RPGnow for 5 dollars, complete with maps, b/x style stats, and cleaned up text with reworked encounters and treasure values. In addition, I'll probably put in some public domain art. Anyway, on to the dungeon!

Idea: The underground bunker of prehuman serpent-folk, now inhabited by their pale, eye-less descendants.

Hook: A hidden stone door has suddenly opened in the cliff side, revealing a staircase leading down. At the top of the stairs is a bizarre and expensive looking golden pendant with an engraving of a serpent on it.



Key:

1. Stairs lead down for a very long time. Near the top of the stairs is an ancient and crumbling skeleton. At regular intervals on the walls are odd glass spheres. (Upon closer inspection, the skeleton is only vaguely humanoid, possessing an ophidian head and no eye sockets.)

2. The floor has a black and white checkerboard pattern, and there are dragon faces on the walls. There are some small piles of ash on the floor. (The ashes only appear on the white squares of the floor. If any of the white squares are stepped on, fire shoots from the dragon faces.)

3. The room opens up into a warehouse sized underground jungle of glowing fungus. Small bird-like reptiles can be seen wandering around, feeding on the fungus. (There is a large omnivorous dinosaur wandering about, which will attack when it can smell its victims.)

4. Some white scaled serpent-folk with no eyes worship and run their hands over a large statue of a dragon. (If they catch the scent of the party, they will attack to defend their “god”. One of the serpent-folk wears gold jewelry and has a strange crown.)

5. There are several pits full of greenish, bubbling mud, almost like some kind of bath-house. The mud smells strangely medicinal, like the herbs of a doctor or shaman. (If someone is immersed in the mud, wounds instantly heal over with scaly flesh. Dead bodies put in the mud will reanimate into scaled zombies.)

6. This oddly spherical room is filled with a pale green gas, which burns when breathed in, causing damage. The gas appears to be coming from some barrel-like plants growing out of the ground. (The gas is harmless to serpent-folk, and only affects mammals.)

7. There are a series of 2 meter tall upright glass cylinders, most of which contain mummified serpent-folk. One cylinder contains an apparently living serpent-person, though clearly asleep. There is a lever next to each pod. (The cylinders are stasis chambers, most of which have broken over the aeons. If the lever next to the pod with the living serpent-person is opened, she will awaken from her ancient slumber. She is named Slithak, and is equipped with a translation orb, so she can understand the party. She has an extra translation orb, which she will give to the apparent leader of the party. This orb allows the holder to understand any spoken language while holding it. Slithak is very curious about the events of the last few millions of years, and will be disappointed if not given much information. She is curious, cold, and impartial. If told of the pale serpent-folk of room 4 and 10, she will guess that over the aeons the custodians of this bunker have evolved to survive without light.)

8. Bas-reliefs on the walls depict prehistoric times, with colossal dragons and strange tentacled things. Flourishing all throughout the jungles of the ancient world are the serpent-folk with their strangely beautiful architecture. (Some of the beasts depicted on the murals are known to occult scholars as ancient and terrible demonic gods, many of which were believed to be legends.)

9. There are a series of glass coffins, each full of a pale green liquid with corpses of serpent-folk floating inside. (Most serpent-folk in the coffins are wearing some kind of gold jewelry, and the glass is easily breakable. The green liquid smells awful, but is harmless to living things.)

10. Here is the resting chamber of the pale, eyeless serpent-folk, who are all currently asleep. At the center of the room is a large diamond, atop an intricately carved pedestal. The serpent-folk are light sleepers, and will likely awaken and attack if anyone tries to get to the center of the room.