Where the Alchemist's Lair Comes From

I've been expanding the Holmes sample dungeon. The 3rd level comes from an old map I drew years ago; it was supposed to be originally the 4th level of the Mentzer sample dungeon.  I was going to make that the 2nd level originally but I decided that putting a dragon's lair on the second level of a dungeon wasn't playing fair. So, I started researching how other people had expanded the Holmes Basic dungeon. I found this. The author, Bliss_Infinite filled out the dungeon with some single page dungeons. I decided that was a good idea so I found some too and made the second level of the dungeon some themed sublevels. One was shrine to Blibdoolpoolp created by myself years ago, the other was a goblin lair, and finally a ghost library.

The players have now at least partially explored all the sublevels. The shrine to Blibdoolpoolp I had to populate with cultists and fishmen. The goblin lair I had to change drastically and I was honestly disappointed with it when I ran it. There was not enough detail on the treasure and items which created momentary confusion and it was pretty generic. The idea of an alchemist hanging out with a bunch of goblins was pretty interesting though. The Forlorn Archive, which became the ghost library sublevel, I ran without any changes and I thought it was neat. It was in some contest and I don't think it even got an honorable mention or anything. Well, I thought it was the best.


Also here is a magic item:

The Inconspicuous Wardrobes: Two large wardrobes, large enough for a man to walk into. The two wardrobes are linked, someone walking into one wardrobe and closing the door will be teleported to the other wardrobe. They can then open the door and walk out or just hang out in there. Only adult human sized creature can fit in at a time.

The wardrobes are hard to notice. If someone does not know where they are they will be unable to find them unless they are searching for secret doors. Elves have  their passive secret door sensing chance to see the wardrobes. Players that explicitly state they are searching for secret doors near one of the wardrobes will find it regardless of what they roll. The wardrobes do not detect as magic when they are closed.

The wardrobes only function properly if they are both in the same plane of existence. Anyone who enters one of the wardrobes while they are in different planes will be teleported to a random location in the multiverse or lost to time and space completely.

Fishbert the Kuo Toan