Crescent Moon Maze

I was doodling in paint on a black canvas and turned the sketch into a quick dungeon map. A very simple one.  I decided to take it another step and detail out room descriptions. In 20 minutes I had a complete 1-2 session adventure for any old school game (and some new).

Crescent Moon Maze is a series of natural and worked caves connected to the surface by a cold water stream. Located to the north of the village of Stillwater, most of the locals are aware of the caves because of the curious carving above the cave mouth - a crescent moon. The carving has been there since before anyone can remember.

Several villagers working in the fields have gone missing.  It happened near dusk and a local boy saw short, dog-like creatures chase down the farmers and tussle them into large sacks and drag them off.  It sounds like an overly aggressive tribe of kobolds. The locals ask the players to help. An intermittent trail leads to stream bubbling up into a pond that eventually empties into the lake. To follow the stream upriver explorers will have to briefly dip under water to enter the caves. Note what that does to spell components, food, torches and the like.

In the caves, the kobold chief Grimfang has been building up his tribe with the help of a Human cleric of Stibon (god of pain, suffering and despair). Now that cleric (Zul) has insisted on some human captives so he can sacrifice some souls to his god.  So the kobolds went out and found some locals.  There is also a kobold shame, Sootcloak he has become Zul’s faithful assistant. I have not differentiated between male and female kobolds figuring they have the same statistics. Also no kobold young.

There is an escape chute in the ceiling of Grimfang’s lair. The stone ball ambush is exactly as it sounds. Four kobolds will roll 1 ½ foot stone balls down the slides at adventurers. There should be some treasure in Grimfang and Zul’s belongings. Also, something amongst the stolen supplies.

Crescent Moon Maze Quick Map