Rappan Athuk

Rappan Athuk is a fabled dungeon beneath the coast the Eastreach Province towards the Pontine Straits. To explore it is the purpose of our campaign. It is also called the "Dungeon of Graves".

Both Russ and Garamond explored the dungeon before us.

Known Monsters

 * "Malicious spectres"
 * "Nasty creatures with big mouths that lived in heaps of trash"
 * An undead king, whose domain is in Rappan Athuk
 * Giant spiders in the caverns along the river.
 * More undead in the caverns along the river.
 * Trolls in the caverns along the river.
 * A giant purple worm the size of a small town. Russ suggests passing by it without disturbing it. Garamond claimed that his party defeated it, having a magic sword was essential; a knight was even swallowed hole, cut himself out, and continued to finish it off from the outside.
 * In a particularly deep and large cavern a floating mass, as tall as a man, that consists only of mouths and eyeballs. Possibly a beholder, even though a beholder has but one mouth. It has the ability to shoot rays from its eyes and steal spells from a wizard.
 * Huge metal statues of bulls, which exude a petrifying gas as one approaches and come alive. The effect is temporary, but they trample over their victims, shattering the ones that are still petrified.
 * Priests, which originally created the temple and the complex, presumably of Orcus. They are considerably more dangerous than anything in the caverns along the river. Garamond did not even consider the giant spiders, trolls and undead worth mentioning, but the priests drove his party to flee. They attack with spells and summoned demons.
 * Fire demons, living in a like of liquid hellfire, who try to burn passers by by pulling them into the pool.

Traps
(also see "Known Locales")


 * Pretty much every kind of mechanical trap one could imagine
 * Hidden spear traps, which with floor plates that only break beneath sufficiently heavy persons.
 * Tunnels which seal behind the adventurers after they passed through
 * Shifting and crushing walls
 * Magical Traps, specifically mentioned:
 * Teleportation traps, sometimes with a way back but usually not.

Known Entries

 * There is a front door to the Rappan Athuk.
 * There is at least one side entrance at the dungeon itself. There is a side entrance due east of Rappan Athuk, directly the coast, where the cliff collapsed.
 * The Tunnel to Rappan Athuk
 * It is possible that the "another evil temple" in the foothills, east of the Dragonmarsh Lowlands contains an entry to the Rappan Athuk.

Known Locales
Garamond gave us a sketch to indicate how the stream, caverns, the temple and the room with the staircase are connected to one another: http://www.kingdomofmorrain.com/RA/mapsnippet1.jpg


 * A winding underground stream which leads through various caverns. There are caverns with trolls, giant spiders, trolls, a giant purple worm.. It has a fast current and a very low ceiling. The two boats of Garamond's party kept colliding with each other and they had to duck to avoid the ceiling. The river leads much deeper under the surface. There is a "foreboding evil" in one the caverns, which drove the knight in Garamond's party to become sick. After that they found the Temple.
 * The upper layers of the dungeon are man-made, the lower levels are vast natural caves.
 * Relatively high up in the temple must be a room with no obvious exits. Corbel Grambien told us that, after half his adventuring group had entered, a member already inside touched a relief. Everybody in the room was teleported away and never seen again, the event could not be reproduced. According to an oracle the missing members "dead in something called ‘The Bloodways'".
 * There must be a temple (presumably of Orcus) in Rappan Athuk. Russ did not find it, he guesses that the passed by it as they skipped a level. Garamond's party did find the temple. A long wide hallway leads to it. The priests within the temple knew that Garamond's party was coming and launched a surprise attack with spells and summoned demons.
 * The area beneath the temple has a deteriorating effect on the mind. The deterioration continues even after one leaves Rappan Athuk.
 * At least one well. Russ suggested to not go down it.
 * A room of doors. Garamond's presumably opened only one of the doors. It contained a narrow staircase down (according to his map it was the door to the right, coming from the temple). It is presumably a rift to Hell.
 * The staircase leads extremely hot environment (presumably Hell). In the near vicinity is a room with remainders of burnt ritual sacrifices. It inevitably leads to a lake of liquid fire (not lava, as apparently has the density and viscosity of water). In the lake are demons, trying to pull adventurers into the fire (that's how Garamond was killed and, even though he was later revived, lost his leg).
 * Near the room with liquid hellfire is a room with supernatural cold, presumably to ward against the fire demons.