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[Maloy]

I ran a one-shot back at the end of July. It was based in and around an old fortress I built and played for a long time. I got really great reviews from the players and a lot of them were excited to finish up our current campaign and play more in this world actually. I'm posting it so others can use it or even just get ideas from it if you want! It is a roleplay heavy campaign. Combat can be hard at times, but is placed with intention of emphasizing the roleplay portions.

Background:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The surface world is gone. An event only known as the Calamity occurred three hundred years ago wiping away all sapient surface life. The only survivors are those who already lived in or fled towards the great dwarven forge city of Swordburn. The city was already one of the largest in the world before the calamity, but with the influx of refugees and soaring population growth they have been forced to expand ceaselessly downwards for new resources and living space. The city is broken up into districts and each can have it's own unique governing style as long as they all pay tribute and show obeisance to the over-government. Each district also tends to develop it's own culture and outlook as it fills with different races with different backgrounds. These cultural changes are also influenced by where the district is: Is it a series of converted mining tunnels? An underdark border town? A massive forge that works all day and night? Perhaps one of the elven garden districts where life is preserved? Keep all these in mind if you make your own custom district.
Magic is forbidden in the city. In fact, it's existence and that of divine powers is largely unknown to the populace leading any users of divine or arcane powers to being arrested or killed by the over-government(More on that in character prep)

The City

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Swordburn is ruled by a monarchy, although heirs are chosen by the dwarven assembly rather than the monarch. The ruling clan is known as the Blackstone clan and they rely heavily on a secret police force that operates from a prison known as the Onyx Tower to deal with threats before they come up. For the most part the over-government doesn't care what districts do as long as tribute is paid, but they will ensure order when they have to.

Swordburn is a massive city-VERTICALLY-. It grows downwards more than it does outwards and as such it can be broken into three vertical layers.

Upper Layer: This is the original layer of the city. It is filled with traditional dwarven architecture, massive forges, libraries, temples and overall a wealthy and well-maintained populace. Immigration to upper-layers is often near impossible due to spacing issues and each district approaches population management different, but more fairly than other layers. The upper layer is majority dwarven with at least one major elven district. Most raw resources from below flow into the upper layer and once processed most of it stays there although some does return to improve the living situation below.
 
Middle Layer: The middle layer is highly inhabited, but in the old days it was the frontier of the city. Mining tunnels, outposts, farms, and other such border necessities and raw resource manufacturing. As the city filled and these locations were stripped they were filled with inhabitants instead. Due to the background though most settlements look like tunnel warrens, although the modest wealth of those living here has permitted them to make it look as homely as possible. Most residents have been here for generations and fight fiercely to maintain positions for descendants. There are only two underdark settlements in this layer as it is too high above the underdark to reach more.

Lower Layer: This is the frontier. The lower layer has untapped mineral resources, exotic underdark biomes, and seemingly unlimited space to expand and very little government oversight. This attracts unregistered and illegal settlements to prop up and these are tolerated as long as tribute still finds a way to the over-government. Thanks to this the people may exist in whatever anarchic shape they so desire with the loss being that they receive virtually no protection from the over-government. Magma pockets flooding tunnels, forgotten abominations being released by miners, the overwhelming amount of poisonous flora, the alien environment's tendency to drive people insane, and the terrifying monsters wandering the depths are only some of the things people may encounter down here! Still, people come in droves to settle motivated by desperation, greed or freedom. Mining guilds recruit workers to send them into dangerous mines and some of these guilds are reported to not always require the individual's consent before they are "hired". Adventurers come to make names for themselves and nourish the mushroom forests with their own bodies producing wood for ill-equipped workers attempting to harvest resources without breathing noxious fumes.
Most upper-layer citizens deny the existence of the lower layer.

Races

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I only allowed the classical set of fantasy races from the surface present: Dwarves, humans, elves, and goblins. Half breeds of each race are also acceptable. All other surface races either have never existed or were forgotten completely.
All underdark races are available for use, including and especially sapient cavern races from dwarf fortress to be homebrewed in. Personally, I excluded deep gnomes, duregar and drow because I have other future plans for them in this setting.
The rest of this section is the lore background of the other races present


Dwarves: Dwarves are the ruling population of Swordburn. Not only is the city originally designed to suit their habitation, but other than goblins they are the only ones to truly have adapted to underground life. Although many clans aren't originally from the city they have still found a place in the hierarchy of society, one that favors them, for most positions and habitations are inherited and no one keeps better records of family deeds, inheritances and trades than dwarves. Although rare some dwarves may not know their clan or may have lost them all. This dwarf's presence would be viewed as an ill-omen as they are either cursed by the gods or guilty of incredible ignorance.

City Elves: When they lived on the surface the elves were an entirely nomadic people living at one with nature and making great use of magic. Now separated from their beloved forests they find themselves both superbly blessed and deeply cursed. Using their powers they have achieved a wealth and splendor in their own districts that surpasses all others, but have reached an extreme of cultural decay and degeneracy. Elves born into and living in the city are deeply hedonistic, selfish and closed off from the short lived races. This attitude and power is tolerated as they have been able to maintain a small amount of surface animals and plants in special biomes and provide a substantial amount of assistance in agriculture as well as their famous "Elf Lanterns" which glow and light the many roadways of the city without noted power source. Most elves stay to their own districts neither allowing other races in nor spending much time out among the others!

Wild Elves: Some elves have refused to give way to their new way of life and instead have fled into the underdark. Although life is brutal and harsh it still follows the tenets of nature and the elves have adapted believing they are the only true followers of Cacame's path. They are difficult to reach and rumors portray them as hostile savages, but the wild elves are well known for assisting travelers and will warmly receive any who happen upon them.

Humans: Before the calamity humanity was just barely breaking into it's bronze age. Now, thrust into an alien environment and alien culture many have lost their cultural identities blending into the dwarven. To be a human in this world is to be one without a sure identity. Tribes and nations stopped existing for a people who found strong identities in both. Now every human must answer the question "Who am I and what is my value?". They are the physically largest race in the city and thanks to this they are well received and sought after for hard labor. The positive history they have with the dwarves often leads to more favorable concessions. Most humans dwell in the middle-layers with the race leading the expansion to the lower layer.

Goblins: When the calamity happened only a handful of goblins were allowed into the city, as the majority of their race was in a vicious genocidal war against the dwarves, after words the goblins disappeared within the tunnels and sewers of the city and over the generations grew to be the numerically largest race in the city. When young goblins are vile, selfish, cruel and overwhelmingly hostile, but if they survive to an older age they often calm. Some districts outright ban goblins from entry much less settlement and the dwarven military only successfully holds the hordes back thanks to the fact that goblins are just as likely to attack one another as they are non-goblins.

Underdark Native: As the city ceaselessly expands this leads to many interactions with the local species of the caverns. In some cases this might be brutal expansion over tribal territories while others are more peaceful coalescences. Sometimes creatures like Gorlaks venture to the city looking to bring some light into a dark place. The cultures, species, and motivations of underdark natives can be more than one can imagine! Swordburn residents frequently distrust them though and some districts forbid them a place.

Religion

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Perceptions on religion: Religion in Swordburn is a unique experience. How different groups perceive the religions of others creates a lot of variety relating to alignment. For example dwarves and humans consider the elven forest spirit Cacame to be chaotic neutral, but the elves don’t recognize the chaotic or lawful axis. To them Cacame is simply good. For the sake of clarity and ease for alignment all deities are going to be marked by their alignment according to dwarven sensibilities since they are the dominant power.

Dwarven Religion: (Lawful Good/Neutral) Dwarves generally worship a pantheon known as the Twelve. These gods represent different aspects of dwarven society and life. Although most religious knowledge was lost during the collapse most dwarves still call upon and cite the gods when in need. The Twelve are encapsulated in the Old Temple of the Twelve that occupies the upper layer. Some dwarven deities may fall out of the spheres of the 12. They are either the gods of dwarven travelers forced to settle into the city, exiled ones or sometimes one of the 12 under an unrecognized name.
Deities of the Temple of the Twelve

Avuz: mountains

Tosid the Greatest: Strength, Oaths, Courage

The Gorge of Amethysts: Jewels

Ral Wealthjewels the luxurious Gold of Pearls: Wealth

The Spry: Death, Rebirth and Birth

Midor: Deformity and Suffering

Oboth: Scholarship, Writing, Poetry

Nekut the Hole of Murk: Darkness

Lek: Persuasion, Speech

Arban the Defender: Fortresses, War

Shosel: Love

Belal: Marriage, family, trees, rain, thunder, storm and lightning

Limul Oilgorges the Bronze Silver: Earth, crafts, ingenuity, labor


Humans: (All Alignments) Human religion has mostly ceded into dwarven. Many of their gods had similar spheres and they adapted to using dwarven names as a result. Still, human society conflates the role of politics and religion together, a staunch taboo in dwarven society. This along with desires for more representation in dwarven religion led to a New Temple of the Twelve forming in the Middle-Layer. The deities keep their names, but take on more human forms with newly invented tales to give humanity a sense of ownership on these identities. This temple is ruled by royal priests that ultimately serve the human monarchy recognizing one human monarch as the representative of the gods and sole true leader of the Temple.
In the fringes of human society people insist on referring to the gods by their ancestral names and challenge any authority claimed over them.
In many parts of human society a mysterious monotheistic religion is on the rise. It is hard to fathom for most people of a god that doesn’t occupy only a few spheres, but all of them and the religion is still widely misunderstood and underrepresented

Elves: (Chaotic Neutral)Elves worship only one entity, a nature spirit named Cacame. The traditional wood elves don’t view themselves as worshippers per se or build temples to the spirit, but instead view it as a universal force in all of nature. It provides and empowers in return they honor, respect and never take too much. The city elves are, in practice, mostly agnostic. They will still acknowledge Cacame as their deity and will become hostile to any who assume otherwise. City Elves tend to view that Cacame was a literal spirit that dwelt on the surface and therefore didn’t follow them below in contrast to the traditionalists universal view. Fringe believers view it as a collective consciousness of the forests or even of the elves themselves that manifests itself around them.

Goblins: (evil) To put it as honestly as possible; Goblins worship demons. In their own mythology the select demons that wandered the earth pre-collapse and led the goblin tribes were ascended goblins. Goblins may build shrines for the previous demons of the world, but in practice their focus and desire is in emulating and becoming more like them. Commonly, goblins dream of world conquest and becoming the most powerful being on the planet and so their beliefs all revolve around accomplishing this end. Names of known demons: Apufi of the Labyrinth, Gogol the ungodly onslaught, and Uzin Scrapefist.

Cults and the Underdark: (any alignment) Many cults pop up in this metropolis and so any variation of belief is encounterable. Not only this, but just because a religion originates with one particular race doesn’t mean someone else might not actively follow and worship those deities.
In the Underdark many mysterious beliefs are cropping up and there are some who believe that the strange and terrifying beasts of the underdark are infiltrating the minds of the city.

The Actual Campaign
Hook:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

 You are a prisoner of the Onyx tower. Any knowledge of your existence has been wiped from all official records. You have walked the line of usefulness as a prisoner. Too weak and you’d be disposed of as a waste of resources. Too dangerous and you’d never be permitted to leave your cell. Or worse.
You and other prisoners have been released temporarily to complete an assignment for the Tower. Find the dwarf: Dana Frostmourne. All you have to go on is the last district she was sighted in and orders to bring her back. Your warden will accompany you on this journey to assess and monitor your actions. You may survive the many dangers of your investigation, but it is he who will decide if you survive after it is over.

Will you attempt to make your escape? Will you dutifully obey? Who is this dwarf that you might be sent after her? Or is it all a test? They have tested and prodded you many times since your imprisonment and it is often difficult to tell when you are being tested or not.

Who Are You?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

There are three kinds of people who end up in the Onyx Tower

Underdark Monsters - Assessed as threats to the City they are usually imprisoned either in the tower or in one of the city’s arenas to fight for the entertainment of all. All the guards would need to arrest you is your appearance.
Pros:
Difficult to Discern - Your appearance is notably “inhuman”. Your expressions and intentions are hard for others to read giving you advantage on deception.
Underdark Experience - You are moderately familiar with the flora and fauna of the underdark and will have advantage on any checks regarding

Cons:
Xenophobia - Your inhuman appearance is disturbing to most people and the difficulty they have reading your expressions decreases overall trust. Some will refuse to talk to you or even report you to authorities if they can see you are not a native city-dweller. Disadvantage on persuasion and certain NPCs will refuse to speak with you.

Poor Fit - Depending on your race clothing, weapons and even common foods may not be fit for you. Depending on your race you will have to make greater strides to take care of yourself.


Magic-User: The existence of magic is hidden from almost everyone in the city and little is known about it. The lines between magical and divine are totally unknown to people. Your very existence is illegal and you were likely arrested merely for having the powers much less what you did to be noticed. Imprisoned magic users range from total solitary confinement to being permitted limited facility use for the sake of magical research. You are kept collared with a special metal that actively suppresses your power. When it is removed your powers will very slowly return to you.

Pros:
Surprise - No one in the city is prepared for magical techniques or qualities. Defenses, enemies, etc are all built with traditional methods in mind. Your abilities may be incredibly useful in the investigation providing you can navigate the cons
Cons:
No Witnesses - Your powers must be kept secret. No one should see you use magic. If they do and realize what they saw they must be silenced or you will be in breach of one of the few requirements of your new freedom. You may roll deception/sleight-of-hand or other similar stats while using magic in attempts to hide it while casting.

General Populace: The Tower also holds anyone and everyone who is a threat to the City or the ruling over-government. One doesn’t even have to be convicted to be arrested. Being a potential threat is enough. You are enough of an asset that you have not been executed and dumped somewhere and it is likely important to you to avoid this fate. General Populace are imprisoned based on a variety of threat levels. Each city district has its own prison so make no mistake that your presence here indicates that you are more than just a normal convict.

Pros:
Easier Integration: The city is designed for people like you and so being released back into it you will find it much easier to operate within the city compared to the other two prisoner categories
Tailored for you: Most gear and supplies in the city are tailored for someone like you and so most stores or dead enemies have things you can use if they are within the city.

Cons:
Where Dark Things Hide - The underdark is a disturbing place not fit for your species to dwell within even if many times your people have had to. You will be particularly susceptible to certain underdark threats. Disadvantage in certain underdark scenarios.

The Story
The entire story for the campaign will be spoiled in this section just so you are aware...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Prologue: This entire scene takes place inside of a large cage on the back of a tamed Draltha. The players, who are prisoners of the tower, are all chained inside the cage with each other being taken to a location they know nothing of. This prologue is actually to give time for the characters to introduce themselves, or not and sit in silence the whole time, either way helping to define each others personalities and character to one another.
Eventually the draltha stops in the middle of a tunnel somewhere between the bottom of the upper layer and top of the middle layer. The guards let the players out, undo the shackles, and set a bag of equipment down for each of them. All but one guard leaves, identifying himself as Ral Ivoryink. He is sent to watch their progress and ensure their loyalty, but will overall not help them with their mission
Their mission is to locate Dana Frostmourne a strangely thin dwarf with white hair and scars going down both eyes. She was last seen outside the district that the tunnel they are in leads to. They may bring her back alive or dead. Ral Ivoryink expects them to figure out finding her for themselves to prove their worth and won't have much patience for whining or badgering for more details.

They are explicitly told by Ral that if they are not allowed to tell anyone that they are from the Onyx Tower or anything about the tower! Also no one is allowed to see and recognize any magic or divine gifts! This can be creative for players as they either try to stealthily use powers or perhaps they simply kill all the witnesses! Either way the Tower will not tolerate the populace knowing that they exist or that such powers exist.

Act 1
Picking up the Trail
Dana was last seen in the dwarven district of Deeprun. It is a set of mining tunnels, that once fully excavated, were filled with homes instead. The dwarves have made great attempts to make it homely over the centuries putting planters of glowing mushrooms outside of doors or finding other means to add a sense of liveliness. Thanks to dwarven eyesight they have no need for bright light other than their glowing mushroom plants and so the entire town is dimly lit.
The players MAY get caught up in local dwarven politics and struggles, but the only two pieces of information they need to advance the main story is the following:
*Dana met an elderly dwarf woman named Hubesli Cragslane
*Dana then departed for the underdark district of Redwall
Dana came to Deeprun looking for the descendants of a dwarf named Torag Ironfist, but it turns out that the dwarf left the town himself over two centuries ago to go to the border town known as Redwall. Learning this Dana departs to follow the old trail.

Whether they choose to involve themselves in the coming and going of the town or simply get the information and move on is up to them, but before they leave they SHOULD be confronted with the different problems going on(in the locations section). Regardless, when they leave town Ral will question them about their decisions and motives refusing to betray any emotion or hint of judgement. He asks and when they answer, or don't, he moves on.

From here they shall have a travel section to Redwall. Even if these are dwarven dug roads they are still dangerous. If the players choose to they will find an old dwarven miner bunkhouse converted into an inn. For a staunch fee they can safely sleep there and be well fed, although depending on their appearances they may be questioned by other patrons!
If they refuse and choose to camp they will be attacked. Roll a d-4 to determine whether it will be goblins, giant rats, a swarm of creeping hands, or wild dogs. Then roll a d12 for the number of enemies.


Act 2
The Mad Dwarf
Redwall was a border town a couple of centuries ago, but now is a proper town. By middle-age europe standards it might even be a city!  It is built upon an actual layer of the underdark overlooking a large underground lake. Observing the lake one can see large glowing mushroom stalks jutting out of the mostly still water. The town is made up of buildings made from fungus wood, whose glowing light has mostly dimmed to provide interesting hues of yellow, white or red wood. Redwall is named in spite of its walls actually being made from white fungi-wood because of the amount of warfare and bloodshed by the locals to maintain the position.

The district has yet to be officially incorporated into the city and resists it leading to it being ruled by militia gangs who only cooperate because the threats of the underdark are greater than each other.

This district is the most diverse one that the players shall encounter as well as the most free one. Asking around the district will have them sent to a particular gang of humans led by a bandit named Cutter. He met with Dana as apparently a dwarf named Torag Ironfist was their gang's medic, an impossibility because of the time that had passed from his departure from Deeprun to how old the human gang members were. Cutter was not very helpful to her and will be even more hostile to the players following her. They may intimidate or beat the knowledge out of him, find a note, or perhaps if they don't succeed at any of those find a witness to where Dana went next:
Torag left the town into the underdark two decades ago, to his assured doom in the locals minds, and Dana went after him.

The players may seek a guide to get through the mushroom forests, but if not they will need checks and will encounter things along the way.
Regardless, at some point before they leave mention Redwall's war with the Molemarian tribe.
As they leave Ral will once more question their behaviors without judgement.

After following the trail for a couple of days the party shall be ambushed by Molemarians in the underdark. Whether you make it a combat or a cutscene is up to you either way it will end with a Molemarian shaman using his powers to cause a cave-in onto the players to kill them.
They will awaken chained to a wall in a small cave. After some moments their captor will enter who turns out to be Torag Ironfist himself! The dwarf is far too old to still be alive and is very much insane as he uses rare magic and experiments on sapient beings to prolong his life. He is mostly incoherent and came to gloat over and openly ponder what he was going to do with the players. He will put Ral Ivoryink to sleep and drag the dwarf away. Screaming will be heard later.

When he leaves the players will have opportunity to break out and after doing so they can explore some of the other parts of the cave. The store room that has their gear also has another surprise: The headless body of Dana Frostmourne and her severed head resting on the neighboring table with glowing blue eyes. Despite her death she will speak with the players and it turns out she is a necromancer. A very old and powerful one. She promises to clue the party into everything that is happening if they will help her. It is possible to reconnect her head with her body successfully with a check.

If the party wishes to follow the screaming they can save Ral Ivoryink from his torment at Torag's hands. Ral being alive and having a favorable opinion of the party is necessary for the good ending of the story.

Regardless, when they leave Dana will inform the party of everything, which even Ral knows nothing of as he is just a loyal officer of the tower.

The Big Reveal
Dana Frostmourne's true name is Dana Iceblade which is the name of an old dwarven family that had multiple rulers on the throne of Swordburn. She and many others of the original nobility of Swordburn were alive when the calamity struck the world. In fear and desperation of their city's future they all turned to necromancy and immortality. This was all well and good, but for the ruling queen it was not enough. She had the immortal nobility imprisoned in the Onyx Tower, the first residents of it, and they worked and researched for her to build her a throne. Each other necromancer was used and when considered useless eliminated until Dana was all that remained and escaped, but she did not escape to survive, but instead to stop the queen. The secrets of necromancy are mostly lost to history, and the concept of lichdom is lost completely, but the queen found another way to total power: A necrotic throne. It seethes with enough necrotic power that the user of it can command the powers of a lich. With it the queen is immortal, but still enjoys the pleasures of living. With it the queen has raised armies of the dead, a deep taboo amongst dwarves, and uses them to wipe out groups that oppose her. Her army grows and Dana is sure that one day the queen will use her army to purge any that do not give her total obeisance. She has replaced the leaders of the dwarven military, aristocracy and bureaucracy with intelligent undead obedient to her.

From here the players have three options:
1.Believe Dana and seek the downfall of the Queen with her(Ral will not believe her, but can be convinced to come along and see the evidence himself if the players have proven themselves good people)
2.Turn her in. This will result in the players being executed along with Dana for knowing too much. This results in the Queen's rule being undisputed and no one discovering her secret
3.They may attempt to flee the city and live in exile. This will lead to a doomed encounter with a cave dragon ending their saga and leaving the Queen's rule undisputed. Dana will not go with them, but will fail without them.
From here we proceed as if they picked option 1.

Act 3
With Friends Like These...
Dana hoped she could use her old contact of Torag Ironfist to contact influential friends to expose the queen. This failing she seeks after an old companion from before her imprisonment.

From here the players will traverse the underdark, back the dwarven highways and then travel to the upper layer to the Elven district.
The district does not allow non-elves free reign in the city and only allows them entry with approved purpose. Dana possesses the seal of her contact Lord Miwafe. The guards are willing to escort the players to his estate and then straight back out of the district.
The district is the most beautiful and wealthy place the players will have ever seen. Magical lights, gardens with plants and animals from the surface, beautiful art-like buildings with sculptures and artwork everywhere.
It should be a striking experience to the characters who have experience radically different districts in the city and the strangeness of how the elves can so openly have magic in their district. The answer being: Influence

This is not an exploration section and the guards will absolutely prevent them from doing so and instead the players are taken straight to their destination.
Once there they will be allowed an almost immediate audience, but Dana is shocked that it is not the Lord Miwafe she knew, but his son, who was only a child when she last saw him.
As it turns out the immortal lord was murdered long ago and the young, decadent and outright evil heir has taken over.

What are the elf's motives? How does he display his degeneracy and arrogance? You decide, but either way he agrees to help because it benefits him in some way. He will assist the party into getting into the city of the dead, a massive tomb complex, where they will acquire hard-evidence of an undead army that he can use to expose the queen. For Dana this is not enough though and she will urge the party that they should use the royal escape tunnel that connects the royal palace to the tomb complex. Once inside they should destroy the throne and then expose the queen once she is powerless.
Otherwise once exposed she may simply use her army prematurely to wipe out her enemies.
The party's next destination must be the city of the dead.

Act 4
Power
Parts of the city of the dead are crawling with undead and other parts are empty. Areas expected to see regular maintanence or visitation are kept empty of undead, but huge swathes of other portions find bodies filled with unlife pressed together.
The party will work their way vertically through tombs until reaching the level Dana describes. If Ral is with the party he will now be convinced as the party finds the particular tomb with the hidden passageway stuffed end to end with zombies. For Dana this is no concern as the dead will not attack her unless specifically commanded to, but they will attack the party upon detecting them.

The party will have to create a suitable distraction or fight through the horde to the narrow passage the secret entrance is contained in.
They must then hold the horde back while others pass checks to locate and activate the switch. After words they must successfully close the door behind them from the pushing horde of zombies to prevent being overwhelmed.
This should be an overwhelmingly dangerous encounter with a large potential for death. Don't be afraid to have npcs sacrifice themselves if needed.

Regardless they will end up in the royal suite where nobility keep multiple rooms. The party can take the time to loot great treasures and baubles. They do need to worry about prematurely setting off an alarm if a servant or noble sees them though.

They can make their way to the throne room from there.
Inside is general Martok the leader of Ral's military order and the Queen. Martok turns out to be an intelligent undead of extreme power and the queen will quickly initiate combat as power from her throne courses through her scepter and body.
This should also be a close battle with losing possible. If Martok dies the queen can resurrect him on her turn and he returns to full health.

Once dead the party now has access to several endings to the story defining the future of the city. They will each have to make a willpower save and the ones who fail will attempt to take the throne for themselves(perhaps working together to share it)

1.You take the throne for yourself: The queen rarely interacted with the surrounding city and no one ever saw her outside of her undead servants. So, no one noticed the change in rulership. Thanks to the throne you are now immortal and will rule and guide Swordburn to the future you see fit for it (If Dana is still alive the party will have to kill her for this ending)

2.You destroyed the throne: The city falls into total anarchy either within weeks or days. Whole districts will likely collapse as the leaders of the over-government simply fell over dead all at once. Could this be the end of the last bastion of surface life?

3.You give the throne to Alelu: Alelu honored his vow of patronage although his interest was largely in chaos. He briefly uses the throne to  send hordes of undead to attack districts, including his very own, despising the stasis of peace they live within. Before anyone can be wiped out completely though he destroys the throne. He does not take power of the city for himself either, but works to oversee the transition to a more anarchic setting where each district rules itself. The Blackrock clan is devastated between the loss of queen, the undead attacks and the overthrow that Alelu oversees and become an inconsequential clan.

4.You destroy the throne, but report back to Alelu: Alelu releases the information of the queen’s evil and demise and helps to ensure the city falls into total chaos, but never so much that it endangers himself or dooms all of civilization. He has the most fun he has ever had in centuries.

5.Secret Ending where Ral survives and is persuaded: Ral convinces the party to not destroy the throne outright. Instead, he uses his position with the over-government to rally it together and bring order. Each intelligent undead is slowly replaced with living counterparts as the positions are adequately filled. The throne is finally taken apart and all the dead released and properly interred. Without the undead the new over-government can’t operate alone and is forced to start accepting help from other districts and races. This also leads to them better representing and assisting with the needs of the many districts. Ral would later oversee the dismantling of the Onyx Tower prisoner program.

What Is Your Plot Twist?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

At the end of Act 2 we learn of the true villains and plots going on in the city, but perhaps you want something different? Change it! The truth of what Dana is doing and who she is not revealed until the end of Act 2 including why the players have been sent to handle this delicate task leading to a tidy situation where the DM can easily replace the last two acts with a preferred story!

How Did My Party Do?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

My party actually met all the prerequisites for the secret good ending. They were all anti-authority good guys and one was even a pacifist! But they were convinced that putting off the throne's destruction would lead to more evil while others fought to protect it. As the party began killing one another one of them revealed his powers came from a contract with a god of true death and in that moment he cast a spell and destroyed the throne locking them into Ending 2. Half the party lives in the underdark after this occasionally going into the dying city to help people and improve things. The few people who know of their deeds hate them for it. The plot twist true death worshiper and one other player use the queen's key to the surface to try their luck on the destroyed world above...

I hit max characters so I am gonna have to make another post including details about locations, npcs and what not.

[Maloy]

SwordBurn District Listing

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The purpose of the choice of districts in the One Shot is to communicate the variety of lives lived in the city. Each district is radically different in design, purpose, creation, culture and the very species that make it up. Since it is impossible to cover the whole city in the One Shot, instead it is to make the players feel like they are in a massive environment by communicating these radical differences. The settlements will be in order of the campaign.


Deeprun

Deeprun is a set of former mining tunnels. Once the mineral resources were exhausted dwarves converted the maze of tunnels into living spaces leading to a small middle-class dwarven town. While there are a few services there most dwarves are actually day laborers who walk to farms outside of town. The town is dimly lit thanks to dwarven sight in the dark, but they keep the planters filled with glowing cave mushrooms to serve as a light source and occasional food or drink source.

Culture: Entirely dwarven except for one resident. The dwarves here are isolationist. They aren’t outright hostile to travelers, but one can feel the uncomfortableness they have around them. Major crimes are unheard of in such a small community, especially as exile is usually the punishment for most things.

The town gains new residents only when a house opens. They keep a list, in the order of when you made the request, and go down it. This can take a lifetime though and so species like humans can simply never get in and elves have no interest. This leaves it a thoroughly dwarven town as dwarves keep up with family histories meticulously and keep the documentation. This fed into the dwarves finding non-dwarves uncomfortable

Services: The local tavern is not an inn. It doesn’t have beds available and travelers must camp in the passages outside of town. They do serve food and drink though and it is the gathering place of most workers before and after work.
There is no need for weapons, armor or potions here, but there are work tools for sale.
Due to ventilation concerns the town only has one bakery where all can communally make bread. The owner is also a mushroom florist who sells spores for farmers and bouquets. All these items are more valuable at lower levels of the city.
The town keeps archives with thorough record keeping going back to its founding making accessing information on any previous resident easy.

Town Quest
The players arrive in time to find a murder investigation underway- murder being entirely unseen by the dwarves in the area- and can easily talk their way into the case. The locals and sheriff are predisposed to thinking the only goblin resident in the town did it simply because she is a goblin. Without player intervention she will be accused and cast out(or worse) The players may also decide she IS guilty and go that route. Either way the true culprit was Dana Frostmourne who killed the elderly dwarf for attempting to blackmail and intimidate her. The implied urgency, secrecy and dangerousness of their main mission might make the party choose to do this quest for one reason or another or not at all! Factor that in and use Ral Ivoryink to question and explore their minds a bit.

Major Characters
Nirra Stonebread - Baker/Florist
Nirra has on display in her store many types of glowing mushroom stalks of every color on the spectrum. Strange vine-like plants with growths and roots with flowers just jutting from the ground. While beautiful the majority of these plants are edible and so she uses them also for baking and the ones that can be are sold to brewers to make alcohol. She is a gossip with mostly useless information contaminated by vast hyperbole. She will attempt to sell a beautiful fungi-floral set glowing in an array of colors said to mimic a portion of the night sky found on the surface centuries ago! She also has a bag of Furrow-Morel spores for sale for 10gp. These would actually be worth more if resold on the lower districts.

Ducim Cobaltfeet - Sheriff
Ducim is the law in Deeprun although it being such a slow and well-to-do town this means virtually no work and he is mostly untested. He has a massive belly that requires him to waddle to get around and a large handlebar mustache that is only centimeters away from being able to touch it. The town jail can only fit three prisoners because of how safe the town is. He will bluster and blunder about jurisdiction, but will easily give way if the players press him at all in regards to the case as he has never dealt with a murder.


Nurah Venomfang - Strand-Gatherer
Nurah is the only goblin in Deeprun and the locals wish she wasn’t there. She miraculously won the drawing to get a vacant home in town despite centuries of the town ensuring non-dwarves did not get in. This sparks countless rumors and conspiracies. Like many locals she works out of town and comes home at the end of the day, but because of her race locals accuse her of working for the goblin king in secret and spying on the town and all manner of other conspiracies. The truth is that she works on a silk farm in the nearest cavern where she harvests silk to be spun into a variety of items. She is hard-working and determined, but truly hurt and embittered by the treatment she endures. While she does have former connections to the goblin court she has no active relationship nor a desire to maintain one. She truly wishes to live an honest life and will attempt to deflect and argue if pressed too much. She knew the dwarf that was murdered. The female dwarf was blackmailing Nurah into acquiring a special hallucinogenic chemical from the goblin court in exchange for not being ratted out for her previous connections and being evicted from the town. Nurah obeyed the arrangement miserably, but denies knowing anything about the murder despite the town’s beliefs.
If pressed and pressured by the party she will lead them to the goblin court, but the court will ambush and slay the party sparing Nurah. Nurah attempts to keep the young Kivuk at a distance for his own safety in the community.

Kivuk Brokenshale - Apprentice Rat-Catcher
Kivuk comes from a family of miners who helped mine the original tunnels that make up Deeprun. Most miners went deeper into the earth when Deeprun ran dry, but Kivuk’s ancestors hung up their picks and settled down. Kivuk dreams of adventuring in the lower layers of the city and seeing fantastic creatures and making a name for himself. He will pester the party endlessly and does in fact know that Dana Frostmourne met with the murdered dwarfess right before her death. He is afraid to testify, but also fears that Nurah will be prosecuted and evicted otherwise. He begs the party to take him with them deeper into the city. He will have boots, leather gloves, knee and elbow guards and a miners helmet along with his ancestor’s pick.

Hubesli Cragslane - Murder victim - Retired
Hubesli is the murdered dwarf in question. Murdered by Dana Frostmourne for attempted blackmail. Hubesli is a community pillar of Deeprun, but maintains it through intimidation, gossip, slander and blackmail. Many influential people in town are in her pocket against her will as she uses information to hold their positions hostage. She blackmails Nurah, convincing the goblin that it was HER that got Nurah a house in town and that she only did it to get access to the drug trade. Threatening that if Nurah ever stops helping or confesses the truth she will be convicted and imprisoned. She attempted something similar on Dana who sought Hubesli for information on getting into the elven nobles district for an unstated purpose. Hubesli could not help her in actuality, but told her of a contact in the lower layer district of Redwall. Following the blackmail attempt Dana killed her and fled to pursue the lead.


The Underway
The underway is the network of roads, tunnels, ramps and grand staircases connecting the districts to each other. They are entirely underground. Due to how long the underway is and how many roads it has patrolling is difficult and often not regular leading it to be a dangerous place to dally or go alone. Inns and roadside taverns are popular and are usually made from old miner's bunkhouses or abandoned guard houses. Despite difficulties maintaining it and keeping it thoroughly explored it still plays a vital role in the life of the city as most districts interdepend upon one another. It varies from total darkness to being dimly lit from elf-lights or patches of glowing fungus.

Culture: The Underway doesn't have one, but regular travelers on it are often suspicious of others as well as on guard. Goblin bandits or the occasional cavern monster slip into the underway and ambush travelers.


Services: Taverns, inns, and the occasional merchant can greet parties as they travel reminding them that despite the overwhelming darkness they aren't truly alone in this world.

NPCs:
You can generate whatever you need friendly NPC wise.
As far as threats go ask yourself what would be down here: Goblins, large rats, bandits, swarms of creeping hands from the lower layers, reachers, etc.

Redwall


Redwall is one of the first cavern layer settlements and used to be the “frontier” of expansion. Even if not the frontier though it is still dangerous. Situated at the top of the Lower Layer, this town was built onto a strip of land surrounded by lake with only one entrance to the surrounding underdark. Here the locals have fought for generations against hostile tribes and monsters who viciously fight for territory. They have refused to become an official part of Swordburn meaning they don’t receive military support. They are ruled by several militia gangs that are held together by mutual fear of the many dangers of the underdark. It is a fungiwood settlement with many little homes made from the glowing tree and a wall surrounding the town made from it as well. There are a few large stalagmites that have been hollowed out and turned into buildings.

Culture:
The town is very diverse and hostile. It relies on immigration to maintain its numbers. One might run into humans, elves, half-elves, dwarves, goblins and underdark natives. Several tribes were destroyed in its history and some of those natives have been forced to live in the town as survival alone in the underdark is unfeasible.

The town has access to things that are invaluable to the rest of the City: lumber, hides, meats, fish, farming, and adventuring. Many adventurers go to underdark settlement to venture out and acquire treasures from tribes, forgotten civilizations or more likely from the dead adventurers who came before them.

Services:
Everything an adventuring party could need should be present here.
Former tribal merchants also sell exotic weaponry that you can invent at your leisure. It should be incredibly expensive, but also have neat buffs.

Mining guilds from the lower layer are also here to buy “workers” from anyone to send down below

Mercenaries are available for hire and are a good way to offer your party alternative ways to play or help them if they have a very unbalanced party. It should still be an expensive service for a useful mercenary though.


Town Quest:
There is no specific quest in mind for the town as the locals are really only interested in the players money. It is important to note that the death of Slicer and/or his crew would deeply upset the locals. Even though the gang is dangerous and crazy they played an essential role in the town's defense. There is an on-going war with a tribe of Molemarians who have moved into the area and it should be a topic of frequent discussion amongst the locals. Molemarians are three times the size of humans.

Major Characters:
Rakust of the Golden Hills: A gorlak. Strange and rare underdark natives that travel the caves looking for people to help and wrongs to right. He has been serving in the town for 4 years as a guide for merchants and protector for laborers. He believes the reckless expansion of the town is dangerous. Can be hired as a guide into the forest.

Roktan the Reptilian Merchant: His tribe was one of several that at one point fought for the territory that Redwall now controls. As far as he knows his people have been mostly wiped out and he hates the people of Redwall passionately, but no one can survive alone in the underdark and so he remains in town selling exotic tribal gear to make a living. He does not bother to hide his disdain for surface races.

Slicer: Scarred and half-mad leader of a militia gang only dubbed as “slicer’s crew.” He is an older human and quite knowledgeable on the town, the coming and going of travelers, and the surrounding region. It is only a matter of overcoming his overbearing hostility. He is as likely to attack as he is to cooperate.

Salvian Matius: Human mercenary. According to him his name comes from a noble lineage that existed on the surface pre-collapse, but he also doesn’t care at all about such a heritage and is looking for glorious battle and adventure. He charges a lot for his services, but can be negotiated down with feats of strength or proof that this particular adventure shall be suitably intense.

Renald the Fair: An eye-patched half elf "merchant" present on behalf of the Motus Mining Company. If the party has any NPCs with them, other than Ral, he will offer to buy them for a considerable sum. He wishes to sell them as slaves, "employees" as he dubs it, to the company at the lowest parts of the city where they will work in mines. The death toll in these mines is atrocious.


The Mushroom Forest
This is a 3 day traveling portion of the campaign as they pursue their quarry into the forest following her trail. Without a hired guide they will get lost and will have to rely on a specific event in the forest happening to them. At some point before leaving town or at least on their way out, an NPC informs them of the ongoing war with a Molemarian tribe and that the forests are incredibly dangerous.

Rather than having a map of the forest instead one should rely on artwork and music and instead communicate the passing of time as the party searches. Every half day roll a d20 to determine if they are attacked or not 11 or higher and they are attacked. Lower and they are not.
Then you can run a table of underdark and dwarf fortress cavern creatures and roll to see what they encounter and roll again for numbers.
Note: It is okay to throw an encounter that is too dangerous for them, as this communicates the tone better, but they should be allowed to escape if it is an animal. Most predators will not try to devour creatures from unfamiliar environments and so it would not be strange for an underdark predator to simply chase them away rather than kill.

The Shrine:
A shrine to the elven god Cacame. Wood elves live nomadically and sometimes pass through the region. Properly interacting with the shrine, which may require a translation of its text to do, or otherwise waiting around it long enough can cause a wild elf encounter. A negative encounter would be looting it's valuables. If the players have a positive interaction this will also lead to a better wild elf encounter down the line.

Area Quest:
At some point on their return trip from Torag's hideout they are likely to encounter a cave-dragon feeding off of a beast it slew. If the party had a positive shrine interaction the wild elves will intercept them before running into it and guide them safely from the forest. If they didn't they may stumble upon the dragon and will be forced to stage an escape. This is done to help communicate the idea that life outside the city is near impossible for most people.

Culture:
The underdark is hostile, mysterious and cold. Two seasons exist: Decay and Growth as unlike on the surface with a growing plant life here the plant life simply feeds on decay before it also decays.
Due to the space and limited food species can be overbearingly hostile and most tribes attack on sight rather than talk.

Adventurers often think to find their glory and wealth in the underdark looking for ruins or treasure. They usually just end up as food for the fungi.

Wild elves live nomadically here. Most of their species has fully adapted to city life, but these traditional followers of the nature spirit Cacame wander the depths of cavern forests living at one with nature and protecting it. They can be cold, but they are not hostile and welcome anyone who wishes to live at one with nature. They will help people in need, but this is often to prevent nature from becoming unbalanced

A Molemarian tribe is the current tenant of these lands. These quasi-intelligent abominations are overbearingly hostile and will attack anything on sight. They do not wear clothes, but often string the severed heads of victims onto their bodies.
They are led by an earth shaper shaman

Silvery Exile
The first home of the elves in the city and the most beautiful district above all. Silvery Exile is a glowing bastion of elven culture and history. One should communicate that this is likely the most beautiful sight the party has ever seen.

Magic:
While few know of magic’s existence the elves have used it commonly. The over-government relies on the elves for a large variety of things and has been unable to deal with them, but the tension is present. The elves' magic not only provides lighting in many places, but has made it possible for some surface crops and animals to survive underground.

Culture:
Elves are immortal and so relationships with short lived species can be tragic for them. The city is for elves only and no one from outside is allowed to explore. Instead if one has an acceptable reason to be allowed in the guards will escort one straight to their destination and then back out.

The elves have reached a pinnacle of magical advancement, but this has come at the cost of cultural and religious stagnation. The once nomadic wild elves are now magical noble houses playing overly-complicated games of intrigue and drama. Non-noble elves look for excitement in these houses as spies, bards, courtesans and more.
While most of the noble houses are led by elves from the surface a few are locals. Essentially, all elves born inside the city have largely fallen into moral degeneracy and the beauty of the city might occasionally be contrasted by deeply inappropriate artwork.
The society openly follows Cacame, but is largely agnostic in practice as the elves realize the hypocrisy of worshiping the nature spirit while actively defying and abusing any actual balance of nature. Elven philosophers range from arguing that Cacame died on the surface to him only being a local nature spirit. Wild elves argue he is everywhere in nature while some even argue that he is a collective consciousness of elves.
“Lesser” races are a passing curiosity to the elves and most would simply find them entertaining.

There are no services as there is only one specific reason to enter Silvery Exile and the guards will not permit anyone to wander.

NPC
Lord Alelu Miwafe: He is the heir to one of the most powerful noble houses in Silvery Exile and also born in the city. He is selfish, vain, incredibly intelligent and evil. He finds the situation in the city to be boring and seeks excitement in life. Dana's interactions promising interesting times of which he definitely desires. He should mock the players and make them deeply uncomfortable and irritated while at the same time offering free support and resources.

The City of the Dead

This is a massive multi-level complex where all of the city’s legally existing dead can be interred. Dwarves take burial more seriously than anyone although anyone who legally exists may be interred. Tombs range from entire levels stuffed with coffins, to royal mausoleums, and more.
The city is guarded by a Tombs Guard, a ceremonial military, and unbeknownst to most they don’t actually patrol the majority of the city. Just the well appointed parts. Entry into the city for anything other than burials has been strictly forbidden for many years now.

Culture:
Each level should communicate the variety of cultures of those buried. It is a wonderful opportunity to communicate through the environment.
Some of those buried may have even arranged for dangerous traps due to not trusting anyone.

The Tombs guard is largely dwarven and human. The order is dedicated to the dwarven goddess of death, birth and rebirth: The Spry

Traps:
The tomb that is needed to get into the palace is filled to the brim with zombies. Too many for the players even with NPC allies. The secret passage should require checks to identify, open, and then close. All while others fight or distract the horde. I made my checks very high so that they had to fail and try again next turn multiple times adding onto the pressure. "you fumble with the lock and the pins fall back into place causing you to have to restart" all while a zombie horde bears down on their backs.

The Palace


The palace is the upper most portion of the city. It was built and renovated upon the old entrance to the surface which has now been sealed by a golden gate behind the queen’s quarters.
It is largely filled with noble suites although there is a garrison of royal guards.

There is also secret passage connections that lead to both the Onyx Tower and the City of the Dead

Culture:
While it is the height of dwarven opulence most of the residents are intelligent undead. The queen has slowly replaced every major member of the government with them.

One may run into the occasional living resident who lives blissfully unaware.
The intelligent undead will immediately attack an intruder or run to inform others.

Services:
The only thing to do here is to loot noble suites and confront the queen.

Traps:
Upon reaching the room right before the throne room the players may notice or not that the room is trapped. If they open the door to the throne room then the room they are in fills with a poisonous and very lethal gas. If they let go of the lever the door to the throne room closes immediately. With a very high check the players can disable the trap. Otherwise someone will need to stay behind and expose themselves to the gas so everyone can get through. This is ideal for an NPC companion to sacrifice themselves, but players can too.

NPCs:
General Martok: He has been the leader of the Swordburn military for ages and is an intelligent undead of supernatural power. He doesn't speak unless commanded to or issuing a command and has total loyalty to the queen. He is a martial fighter and should tie up the players. If he dies he can be resurrected at full health the next turn

The Queen: She uses magic to cause her to appear both simultaneously overflowing with authority and also beauty. Her royal scepter glows green with the power of her throne and she will offer the players the opportunity to surrender. If they do so willingly they will be killed and then brought back as intelligent undead. If not the queen promises to raise them as mindless zombies after she kills them. She has the raw power of a lich, thanks to the throne, but her body is as vulnerable as any other. Not only that, but her more powerful abilities require her to use a turn to charge them up. In our game players would have a turn to duck behind a statue before a blast of pure power obliterated it. Dana was the first victim of the spell and after that the party caught on.

There is an opportunity after the battle to flee to the surface using the queen’s key to the gate.

Maps
If you're making maps for this campaign I actually recommend using dwarf fortress. I built each district in my fortress and screen shotted the design and used it for our game.

Questions for the DM

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

As the DM when playing the districts ask yourself some questions:
Who would live here and why?
How would this environment influence how they view the world?
What has happened to them since they've been here and how has that changed them?
What would this look like to the players?

For the elves I asked the question: "What would happen if dwarf fortress elves were trapped in a dwarven city for centuries?"

If you've gone through all this and still need some other information for me to add let me know!
I'll go ahead and say now that I don't use standard stat blocks normally. Normally I hand-create each stat block I'm gonna use so the encounters are more properly catered to my party's set up. So, I don't keep a list of statblocks available.

[Maloy]

There done sort of
If you have read this all I am impressed!
If you want more info let me know and I can add it to the second post as it still has space!

[neblime]

Ooh very cool i'll give it a look.  For a long time i've been thinking about having a campaign set in one of my DF worlds..

[Salmeuk]

nicely compiled, Maloy. a lot of crossover between the systems so its cool to see someone go through and actually make this campaign.

[Maloy]

nicely compiled, Maloy. a lot of crossover between the systems so its cool to see someone go through and actually make this campaign.

Thank you! It was way more work compiling into a readable form lol. When I DM my notes make no sense to anyone other than me, because they are mainly there as reminders rather than a hard script.

Ooh very cool i'll give it a look.  For a long time i've been thinking about having a campaign set in one of my DF worlds..

I think it's very possible and I realized playing this one that you have to prepare your players that this isn't a DND world. In mine magic was rare and other races were limited and that is actually very different from base DND

[Maloy]

After positive reception from my crew and personal inspiration i've been developing the surface world for an upcoming homebrew campaign.

This combines my two favorite kinds of dwarf fortress worlds:

1. Newborn worlds that are still filled to the brim with monsters and places to discover
2. Ancient ruined worlds with a history begging to be discovered and dangerous threats hiding round the corner

The map is drawn from the same dwarf fortress world I generated that Swordburn was originally in and so world history and shape is all dwarf fortress even if the setting it is taking place in will be more pathfinder with dwarf fortress flavoring.
This one is actually being written out as a proper module since it will be an open world instead of a driven narrative.

Hook:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

It has been 350 years since the Collapse. A world ending event where all sapient life on the surface world simply perished. Civilization survived underground in the city of Swordburn; a sprawling forge city that was forced to expand ceaselessly deeper into the earth to take care of its multiplying population. Now though the situation has grown dire in the city and expanding further into the earth is no longer an option. The city government has made a desperate decision: Send a team to the destroyed surface to explore it. They will find resources, secure settlement locations and deal with potential threats as months after the team arrives colonists will be sent from the city to tame this world. None of you have ever seen daylight before or most of the creatures that call the surface home. What will you find? Will you survive? What kind of world will you help build for those to come?

This is a map of the old world before the Collapse


The party will be given this map and a blank one for them to record the new world upon.


Gameplay:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

-The players will have a set period of in-game days to complete as much of the campaign as they can manage.
-They are to seek out resources for colonists to use(think lumber, iron, coal, water sources, etc)
-Places for settlements
-Artifacts and historical documents
-Their reward at the end of the campaign is dependent on their performance with the above

Custom Mechanics

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I've also workshopped a body-part-losing system based on death saving throws and dwarf fortress' system. When they hit death saving throws they will roll to see which bodypart is destroyed/cut-off. In the same fashion as dwarf fortress the list ranges from pinky fingers and eyelids all the way to one's entire arm or leg.


Pathfinder also has the basics of a system set up where your gear can break, but no games really ever incorporate this, so we are incorporating that system where the players have to be concerned with the state of their gear.

The tone the campaign wants to communicate is how unfeasible adventuring lifestyle is in the long term and it is in the player's best interest to accrue as much wealth as they can by the time this ends.

My previous campaigns I rely heavily on NPCs to communicate everything to the players, but what I'm wanting to do is really show them stories, histories and lands through discovery and let THEM add meaning and character to it as they learn more about stuff.