30 Minute Dungeon Delve 11: The First Thing On My Blog To Have Bogeymen In It

Idea: A group of bogeymen (bugbears) live in a cave outside of town, and have come out at night to terrorize children and kill adults. They have some pet dire wolves which they sometimes use as mounts.

Hook: There have been strange murders and disappearances about town, with children insisting that its the work of monsters. Pieces of fur have been found at the crime scenes, and some bloodied, bestial footprints lead to a nearby cave.



Key:



1. The floor here appears to be covered in a primitive carpet of untanned hides, a couple of which seem disturbingly human-like. (These hides cover a hole in the floor with spikes at the bottom.)

2. Some wolves the size of ponies are chained to the wall, and bark furiously at the adventurers, pulling at their metal leashes. (There is no way to pass by them without them being able to attack, and if fired upon by arrows or other missile weapons, there is a 2 in 6 chance that they will break their chains in order to attack out of sheer rage. One of the wolves has a gold studded collar.)

3. Dangling from the rock ceiling on a spiked chain is the corpse of a man who had recently gone missing. His skin is flayed off, with deep claw and bite marks, though his clothes are oddly undamaged. (The man is apparently recently dead, if touched he is still warm.)

4. There is a gong in this room, fashioned from cheap brass. Next to it is a mallet made from a spinal chord and a skull. (If the gong is rung, it is supernaturally loud, deafening whoever rang it, shattering into pieces and causing rocks to fall from the ceiling.)

5. A man is tied to the wall by ropes with spikes braided into them, listless and disoriented. (If approached by the party, he will stare at them and whisper that he needs help. The man’s name is Jeremy, and he is severely dehydrated and starved. If fed and given water, he will explain that he was kidnapped by the bogeymen, claiming that they gave him the choice to be taken away and tortured or have his child be killed.)

6. The room is pitch black, supernaturally so. The light of a torch or lantern seems more like a candle light here. (Some bogeymen lurk in the shadows, and will strike when they have the opportunity.)

7. An underground stream burbles out of the wall, trickling across the floor. There is a slight green glow to it. (Anyone who drinks from the stream becomes extremely nauseous, but is also able to see in the dark for 1d6 hours. If a character could already see in the dark, they instead no longer can see at all.)

8. Shelves have been chiseled into the walls haphazardly, and lining these walls are childrens’ toys of every possible kind, including mechanical ones from distant lands. (Some of these toys are extremely expensive and rare, though upon closer inspection most toys do have some blood stains on them.)

9. This room initially appears empty, but after a moment it is evident that there are some expensive gems glittering in the walls, just waiting to be dug out. (If the gems are picked at and pulled from the rock, there is a 3 in 6 chance that the bogeyman king’s guards will come to investigate and attack the party.)

10. A large bogeyman with a twisted crown of bones sits on a throne, with a handful of smaller bogeymen nearby wielding axes and wearing armor with hideous horned helmets. (The bogeyman king will be impressed that the party got so far, and will offer gold and a promise not to hurt them in exchange for the adventurers leaving him alone to kill and terrify. If the adventurers do not accept, he will rise from the throne, unsheathing his claws, and his guards will assist him in attempting to slay the party. The bogeyman king’s crown allows him to teleport through shadows within line of sight, and turns black whenever he does so.)