The Ruined City of Limnus: An Adventure Site

Here’s something I wrote a few years back--my take on a ‘ruined city’ adventure site. It was originally part of a larger Limnus Vale sandbox setting I was developing for D&D, but it can be easily stocked, modified, and dropped into almost any existing fantasy setting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lo! Death has reared himself a throne
In a strange city lying alone
Far down within the dim West,
Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best
Have gone to their eternal rest.
There shrines and palaces and towers
(Time-eaten towers that tremble not!)
Resemble nothing that is ours.

-Edgar Allan Poe, The City in the Sea (1813)

Ruined Limnus

•  A century ago doom struck Limnus. On a silent, clear day and without warning, an earthquake shattered the vale. Mountain tops shook loose into rumbling cascades. Buildings collapsed into rubble, city blocks plunged into sinkholes and ground opened up like a fresh wound. The surviving townsfolk fled for their lives. Within days Limnus was abandoned, cold and broken upon its hilltop, nearly forgotten and left to the slow rot of time. 
• Limnus remains a haunted ruin. Rumors of flesh eating monsters and prowling beasts keep most folks away, but the lure of lost treasure draws the rare, bold adventurer.

City Gates

• The ruined town lies behind a crumbling stone wall. The wall is collapsed and scalable in several places but is easily accessed through two prominent gates--one to the north leads into the Noble District, and one to the south leading through Miners Village.
• Arched stone gateways are now rubble choked and tangled with weeds and thornbrush. Chipped and worn bas-relief adorn the arches. To the south the motifs are of men with hammers and picks loading carts with ore, to the north, motifs of urns, and dancing women in flowing dresses among flowers and ivy. The iron gates lie twisted and half-buried in the nearby weeds.
• Several pits and fissures throughout Limnus drop down 100 feet into an open chasm below. Rock shelves burst with glittering clusters of clear and rose crystals and massive rock columns spiral up its height. From the chasm floor, tunnels wind below town- and deep into the nearby foothills.
  

Miner’s Village

• Crumbling wooden husks of small single room cabins, empty and overgrown. The shell of a temple devoted to an unknown deity of craft. Within it, an old heroic stone statue standing upon a worn stone dais--in one hand a hammer, the other a chisel.
• The statue's hollow head is infested with a buzzing swarm of bees. Honey drips upon the stones from its broken jaw.
• The head is set upon a rotating base, and following the party's movement if nearby. At the center of the beehive is its operating mechanism--an amber colored gem that floats up into the air and hovers at about 5 feet (it obeys the command of anyone who holds it for more than 1 minute).

Structures

1. grouping of wooden shacks
2. Medium sized stone buildings
3. Series of gated stone walls enclosing an overgrown area
4. Collapsed sublevels
5. Statue set upon stone dias (1. Heroic Miner, 2. Obelisk, 3. Saint)
6. Large wooden buildings with several adjoining rooms

Arrangement

1. In a tidy row
2. In a crowded jumble
3. Single isolated structure
4. Built with grid-like regularity
5. Built at random angles to each other
6. Built in tiers upon itself

Architectural Details

1. Detailed with ornamental borders, of an open hand, a miners hammer chased within complex knotwork. Colored crystals of various sizes are inset into the pattern.
2. Structure is perfectly symmetrical, made of smooth, uniform components- and shows little aging or weather damage.
3. Structure is collapsed perfectly sideways, and is standing at a precarious slant. Any disturbance will send it tumbling down.
4. Made of slapdash materials. Whole structure is improbably hobbled together with disparate parts, and salvaged components.
5. Structure is disintegrating with age & weather. Disturbing it will cause the whole thing to collapse in a plume of dust and rubble.
6. Structure is torn in half across an open rent in the ground. The middle portion of the structure has fallen into the crack, to a depth of 15 feet.

Flora Textures

1. Overgrown with knee high grass
2. Rampant wildflower blossoms
3. Trees growing around and through
4. Thick layer of fungal growth
5. Choking thornbrush (thorns deal 1 damage)
6. Dense tangle of bloodberry bushes. Berries sagging and dripping red juice from the branches. Chattering red birds gorge themselves upon the fruit.
7. Silver-blue Ivy covering and crawling upon every surface, creating a tunnel like appearance.m
8. Thick spongy luminous green moss covers the ground. If it is walked upon, a PC will sink to a depth of a foot.
9. A blighted area. The bones of small animals are half buried in rusty brown soil and no plants grow here.
10. Voluminous ferns, the size of a grown man grow here. They seem to sway and billow slowly, although there is no breeze.

Noble District

• Collapsed walls and gutted ruins of noble manor houses, crumbling temples & overgrown gardens. Mixed in among the debris and unstable foundations are any number of ruined objects associated with a life of upper class luxury, as well as the bones of the old dead. 
• Mutilated deer corpses are found at the gates into this district. A mated pair of Displacer Beasts hunt here throughout the ruins of burned and collapsed town houses. They slowly and carefully hunt any PC’s who venture into this area.

Structures

1. Manor House
2. Villa with central courtyard
3. Shrine to a god of wealth and luxury
4. Public Fountain with a water filled basin
5. Gated Garden, with rampant overgrown foliage
6. Large multi-story apartment building
7. A walled park with a gazebo, benches & statuary
8. Bath House
9. Lavishly ornamented greenhouse
10. Public building

Arrangement

1. Singularly placed, takes up its own city block or area
2. Shares a block with another type of structure (reroll)
3. Built in a grouping (1d6) of almost identical structures (Layout: 1. Grid, 2. Row, 3. Circle, 4. Jumbled Cluster)
4. Part of a grouping of several varied structures. Roll 1d6 for number and roll or choose from Structures table. (Layout: 1. Grid, 2. Row, 3. Circle, 4. Jumbled Cluster)
5. Architectural Materials (roll once or more)
6. Veined Marble block
7. Polished stone with infused colored crystals
8. Deep red oak
9. Wrought iron
10. Stained glass
11. Copper as ornament or structural material
12. Gold or silver ornamental motifs

Architectural Details

1. Free standing sculpture (1. Seductive nude woman riding a unicorn that is trampling a serpent, 2. The three muses (nude) dancing upon the bones of the dead, 3. Saint of a solar pantheon holding a phallic looking gold tipped spear, 4. Wyvern devouring a human body, 5. Nude men wrestling, 6. A laughing child with a golden halo, arms outstretched)
2. Porch with fluted columns
3. Tall steeples & spires jutting from roof
4. Numerous peaked cupolas
5. Single large dome
6. Large rose window
7. Massive skylights
8. Covered in gargoyles
9. Attached wing made of glass.
10. Pointed arches and heavy buttresses
11. Numerous unusually large chimneys
12. Bas relief ornamentation- (1.Filigree/ Knotwork, 2. Beasts attacking and devouring each other 3. Botanical motifs, 4. Salacious nude women embracing)

Merchant District 

• Tall hollowed buildings, wide streets, large open square at center. 
• 20 foot tall thornbrush hedges sagging under the weight of bloodberry clusters.
• Flocks of hundreds of bright red birds are loudly chattering and feasting upon the berries in swarms. Red juice dripping and pooling onto the ground.
•  Cracks in ground here. Several buildings have collapsed into sinkholes.

Residential District

• Closely spaced insulas and tenements. 
• Narrow fissures in the ground here drop 75 feet to a massive cavern below. 
• Dimly glowing fungus illuminate a natural chamber of valuable crystals and natural columns. A roper dwells there.
  

Basilica of the Sun God

• A large white stone temple bearing a crumbling gold flecked dome. Broken marble steps leads to its arched doorway. 
• Within, a crop of 7' sunflowers grow out of the broken stone tile. Morning-glory vines festooned with white trumpet blossoms wind around fluted columns. Iridescent hummingbirds and bees buzz about loudly. 
• At the far end of the temple, a large arched alcove emblazoned with solar symbols. Standing upon a dais is a 12' golden statue of a man with sparkling blue gems for eyes. He holds a laughing golden baby above him, its small arms outstretched in delight. The vines wind up his base, and wrap around his head like a crown.
• The seed of a sunflower  acts as a Potion of Healing if eaten; this property is lost if it is taken outside the temple grounds. A basin of clear water is also in an alcove, drinking from it grants the Sun God’s blessing once per day (reroll an attack, save or skill check within 24 hours).
  

 

Graveyard

• A perpetual mist and clinging gloom covers Limnus’ cemetery, even by day. Crows nest here by the hundreds, as well as vultures. Animals who dwell here are gaunt and sickly. The grass is yellow and brittle, the trees ominous and macabre. By night it becomes deadly. 
• The graveyard itself is a sprawling hill, choked with gaunt twisting trees, high weeds and thistles. Broken stones and statues lie everywhere, as well as rents and upheaves of the very ground. Ghouls emerge from their mausoleum nests after the sun sets, stalking the district in hungry packs.
  

Adytum of the Skull

• Mausoleum within the graveyard, high arched walls choked with weeds inside and out. Buried beneath the broken stone floor is a wide flat stone plug that opens to a deep, damp hole. Stone steps wind down to a small square room 12 feet below. 
• In the stone chamber below, a 6' tall  skull is carved in deep relief upon the eastern wall. Its jaws are set tight together--inspection reveals a seam running between its rows of teeth. 
• An inscription is carved in the stone above: “Shortly you will come to me, irrespective of rank or station. I take pity on none, and my embrace is for all and everlasting.” 
• If blood is smeared anywhere upon the skull, its jaws will grind open revealing a passage to the secret chapel of death within.

Lord’s Hill

• A high plateau rises above town to the east. Earthen ramps lead up to a curtain wall and a high gateway leading to the courtyard beyond. 
•  The gateway is unbarred, the gate is raised above and frozen with rust. Strange fetishes and ritual objects dangle from twine and thin braids woven from human hair tied to the bars. Pouches full of finger bones, animal skulls, bundles of feathers, clacking leg bones, etc dangle and twist in the breeze.

Fungus Bailey

• Beyond the gate lies the inner bailey. The ground is covered by a carpet of luminous scallop shaped rubbery orange fungus, punctuated by small patches of yellow and iridescent blue spotted mushrooms. 
• Mounds of indistinct human and animal shapes overcome with orange fungus are visible. Several trees and outbuildings are also overcome with orange growth. 
• The yellow and blue mushrooms are benign, and represent a much smaller proportion of the fungal infestation. 
• The bailey can be navigated by carefully hopping between blue and yellow patches, although this will require a dexterity based skill test. 
•  The orange mushrooms dominate, and represent a very poisonous threat. The spores rub off on contact, and bloom within an hour. If they contact flesh, a Saving Throw vs Poison must be made. If failed the character takes 1d6 poison damage per day as the fungus begins to spread. This damage cannot be healed naturally, the fungus must be burned out first or cured with magic.

Harpy's Tower

• Beyond an inner gateway lies Limuns’ ruined keep and mostly intact tower. A 10 foot deep wide moat filled with putrid mud (15 feet deep) surrounds the stone hull. An old wooden drawbridge is tenuously held in place on the far side by old rusty chains. Rising above the squat keep, soars a 100 foot tall round tower. 
• A harpy makes her nest in the tower. If she spies any characters within range, she will use her song to lure them into the muddy moat. Once dead, the harpy will fish them out later and raid them of valuables and eat their flesh. To avoid sinking in the mud, a character must make a Save vs. Paralysis. Failure means sinking 5 feet (to a maximum of 15 feet) and suffocation (1d4 damage/ round).
• The Harpy’s nest is at the top of the tower. It resembles an oversized bird’s nest woven with vines, branches, bones and compacted mud. 
• A large gold framed mirror is prominent. Polished skulls are set in a semi-circle along the edge of the nest for decoration. Fetishes dangle from strings, and small twig and feather sculptures are displayed in hollowed niches. All manner of treasure, and baubles looted from the town are stashed there in hollows, boxes and sacks.