The Hidden Alchemist's Lab

I've come back to drawing maps a bit after being away and doing some additional research on how to scan and post-edit my line drawings. The result was this little cave out in the woods. On first appearance, it looks like the abandoned home of a bugbear, hill giant or ogre. But a secret door in the back reveals a hidden room with a more sinister purpose.

The hidden alchemists' lab

Cave of the Kobolds

I've said previously that I like to use something in real life as a jumping off point for my maps. The Cave of the Kobolds was inspired by a cave in West Virginia I've visited on several occasions. The characteristic qualities of this cave are that its in an immense sinkhole, with an impressively large entrance and large passage that terminates abruptly. The cave was once a single large passage near the surface until, for one reason or another, the roof collapsed over the center. Now, the only way in or out is to climb down a ladder into the sinkhole.

This, I thought, would be a perfect place for a kobold settlement. Specifically a religious one that guarded some sort of sacred relic. I had imagined this as a special place kobolds pilgrimage to. 

Player's map version of the Cave of the Kobolds. The only way in and out is through the ladders down in the center. 

I drew this map for an encounter we never wound up playing, so I thought I'd throw it on here and get some feedback. Because I drew this for myself, I didn't add any legend, so let me walk you through it. I've marked up a GM version of the map to point out the areas of interest:

1. Entrance - The easiest way into the sinkhole is by climbing down these two ladders, each of which are 20' high. This brings you to the top of the scree pole which descends another 30' to the sinkhole floor. The scree pile is unstable and slippery.
The remainder of the sinkhole has 60' - 80' cliffs leading up to the relatively flat fields surrounding the cave.

2. Entrance to the kobold barracks - Underneath the large stalagmite and breakdown pile is a small opening which a small or smaller creature can easily crawl into. (the crawl is tight for medium creatures and impassible for large or larger creatures). This little hole leads to the lower level where the majority of the kobold tribe which support the temple lives. The tribe lives in somewhat crowded conditions (which I have left to the imagination). Kobolds make their way up and down this entrance by scaling the walls. Scaling the walls is a moderately difficult accomplishment, made easier if you are medium sized or larger.

3. Drip line - The dotted lines represent the continuation of the cliff face over the cave passages (what in caver parlance is called a 'drip line'.

4. Trees - The middle bottom of the sinkhole has been open to sunlight for so long that large trees have grown nearly up to the lip of the sinkhole (80' here). The dotted green line represents the edge of cover from the trees. This is also a good place to put a fun little animal encounter.

5. Old Dwarven Room - Long before the kobolds came, the dwarves carved this room out of the rock at the end of the passage. After they left, the kobolds came and reappropriated this room for their high priest / leader. The medium-sized door is locked and quite sturdy.

6. Abandoned passage - this passage doesn't go anywhere, but its a good place for kobold guards to set up an ambush for the PCs. The end of the passage is where the two lines parallel each other quite closely. the passage doesn't end, but you'd have to be gaseous to continue. The continuance of this passage would go past and under the dwarven room (Area 5).

7. The great altar - here is where the kobolds pilgrimage to. There is a long, muddy slope which must be traversed to reach the sacred relic and it is difficult going. The acolytes who care for the relic know the places to step and not to step, so for them it is not difficult terrain. For all others, it is quite the challenge.

8. Acolyte resting place / defensive strong point - Acolytes who are on duty sometimes rest against this low retaining wall. It also serves as excellent cover against intruders trying to scale the muddy slope. Acolyte kobolds fight to the death and are inspired by the presence of their relic.

9. Stone pillar - This is just a stone pillar.

One of the questions I'd like to ask is - how would you like me to describe ceiling heights. In cave exploring we put numbers inside of circles to represent passage height. For a GM's map, I could certainly do that (while leaving the player's map alone.)

Oh, and here's a photo of the entrance to the cave. Note the size of the person in the center.

The Well-defended Vampire Crypt

In the wealthy portion of the eternal city of Ka, there is a medium cemetery with a secret. Here, the great and ancient alchemist Hesthar is buried in a well-appointed crypt. Hesthar was twice honored as savior of the city for his acts saving the city from the oricsh hordes that descended from the mountains as well as his defeat of the foul dragon Stygothinax.

Yet Hesthar was not content with a well lived life, for it was short. He craved a longer lifespan and in his waning years spent much of his treasure searching for the secrets to immortality. As his reached the end of his mortal coil, the final answer continued to elude him and so he took the dangerous step of deliberately becoming a vampire.

Carefully planned, the poor vampire who infected him was quickly dispatched, leaving Hesthar free to continue his studies. He created this cemetery post-mortem and engaged the morticians and caretakers as his thralls. The cemetery caters to the wealthy and important, and is considered the finest and most beautiful in the eternal city. That the finery is all a front for Hesthar's bloodlust is well hidden. There are enough dying nobles that Hesthar is able to keep himself and his minions sated with the blood of the recently deceased. And so, for the moment, he is content to pursue his alchemical studies in secret. 

The Well-defended Vampire Crypt is a small map  useful for any sort of urban cemetery setting. Encounters can be varied based on party level - the description that follows is only a rudimentary guideline.

The Well-defended Vampire Crypt (GM version)

Surface:

The crypt itself is a standard crypt with a stone sarcophagus in the middle. Along the eastern wall are three plaques which could be family memorials, testimonials or other noteworthy elements to the story. To the north of the crypt is the statue of a dragon – in particular the one which Hestar defeated. To the east is the statue of a giant orc representing his other great victory.

On occasion smoke comes out of the nostrils from the statue of Dragon. This is smoke that originates in the fireplace of room 7.

Opening the crypt reveals a narrow set of stairs leading down into darkness.

Underground:

1. At the base of the stairs is a small, long room with two statues guarding the other entrance. These two statues are animated guardians which are triggered by opening the crypt in room 5. For high-level parties these could be stone golems; for low-level parties these could be animated objects. This room is completely unlit. Once awakened, the golems have orders to prevent anyone from leaving the crypt.

2. This room has niches with human skeletons laying in them.  It is lit by small everburning torches which provide dim light throughout the room. These niches represent previous adventurers who tried to infiltrate the crypt. The names alongside the alcoves are fabricated to make it seem like extended relatives of Hesthar. The skeletons also wake up when the crypt in room 5 is disturbed. Once awakened, the skeletons actively seek out any intruders with intent to kill.

3. This room is located off a secret passage from room 4. It is unlit and the door is locked. Inside the room is Hesthar's treasury minus his most cherished magic items. Several of the items in this room are mildly cursed. These cursed items compel the user to retain possession of them while at the same time acting as a beacon for Hesthar to locate the looter. Hesthar’s strategy here is to give up some of his treasure in order to eliminate the looter at a later date and reclaim the lost treasure.

4. This room is empty. What light there is in this room comes from the alcoves in room 2. Along the west wall is a secret door with a passage connecting to room three. In the bottom right-hand corner our stairs going down to room five.

5. This room is well lit with everlasting torches from small nooks in the wall. In the center of the room along the north end is an elaborately carved wooden coffin. This coffin is designed to look exactly like a vampire’s coffin should with the intent to fool intruders. If a party adventurers listens at the coffin they would hear scraping sounds from within. If the party opens the coffin a ghoul or ghast immediately escapes and attacks the party. The ghoul is ravenously hungry and fights to the death. Opening the coffin also summons the six skeletons from room 2. The skeletons arrive in three rounds.
There is also a secret door on the east side of room 5 which continues to room 6. This secret door is particularly difficult to find.

6. This room is unfinished and unlit. Hidden in the recesses of the left wall (which is all rubble)  is a type of ooze or gelatinous cube. Hesthar uses this creature as a garbage receptacle for biological material that comes into his domain. This has helped to destroy all evidence of a vampire loose in the city. The door to area 7 is locked and difficult to unlock.

7. This room is well lit and Hesthar’s living quarters and laboratory. In the northeast corner is a cluttered desk with numerous writings and scrolls on it. Just northeast of the desk is a lit brazier. In the southwest corner is his laboratory workspace. Numerous potions and alchemical equipment litter the workspace. Due South is a fireplace which Hesthar uses for heating and alchemical experiments. In the center of the room to the north is a small table. Directly west and along the north wall of the small table is in other secret door leading to area 8.

8. This room is Hesthar’s private chambers. In here is his crypt. His crypt is on a raised dais with an alcove behind and due west of it. A small hole at the far end of the alcove leads upwards to the surface where a corresponding small hole exists in the windowsill on the north side of the crypt. This allows Hesthar to enter and leave his home without attracting attention or altering anything in areas 1-7.

The Well-defended Vampire Crypt (Players version)

From artistic perspective there two things that I want to mention with this map. The first is that I’m still working on getting the process of digitizing line art down. I feel that this art is okay but that the original pen and ink still looks a lot better. I want to get that gap to be less each time I produce something.

The other thing is the inclusion of the stone and gravel to indicate where there is rock. I rather like this affect and think I will use it more in the future.

That’s pretty much about it. I hope you like the map and that the two versions (PC version and DM version) are helpful. I intentionally kept the encounters vague so this can be used across multiple platforms.

Map: Pitax, Mivon and the Stolen Lands at 12mi to the hex with some geographic and geologic notes.

Pitax, Mivon and the Stolen Lands at 12 miles to the hex. The full map can be downloaded here.

It's here! The completed map of Mivon, Pitax and the Stolen Lands at 300 dpi. This should be suitable for using as a background in VTTs like roll20 or as a large handout / foldout for the tabletop.

This map drew on the following sources:

Inner Sea Region Poster Map
PZO9031 - PZO9036: Kingmaker Adventure Path
PZO9217: Pathfinder Chronicles Guide to the River Kingdoms 
PZO9226: Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Inner Sea World Guide
PZO9270: Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Numeria, Land of Fallen Stars
PZO9411: Pathfinder Companion: Gnomes of Golarion 
PZO9448: Pathfinder Player Companion: People of the River

Notes:

• Restov is placed where it would be in the Kingmaker AP, approximately 50 miles east of where it would be on the Brevoy map. There is no resolving that corner (where the Stolen Lands, the River Kingdoms, Brevoy and Iobaria meet) so I've worked from the perspective of the most detailed map to the least. 
• Mivon is listed as having several settlements between Mivon city and Sarain to the west. These are described as village sized settlements. 
• The Branch of the Sellen River bordering Mivon and the Stolen Lands is unnamed. I've attributed the name Mivon Branch of the Sellen to that waterway. 
• Mivon's border with the Stolen Lands encroaches on the bottom row of hexes in the Kingmaker AP. However, Mivonese claimed lands do not overlap any of the AP encounter areas. Furthermore, Mivon's ability to enforce their rule north of the Mivon Branch of the Sellen is questionable.
• Brevoy has numerous villages along the East Sellen River and in the vicinity of New Stetven. These are unmarked on the map. 

The overall topography of the stolen lands is U-shaped going from the Glenebon uplands to the Tors of Levenies with the lowest point of the U in the Hooktongue Slough. The Hooktongue Slough is consistent with a type of drowned terrain which was the result of recent glaciation following Earthfall.  Similar types of terrain can be found all over the world in the wake of retreating ice-sheets - particularly in North America (Canada and the United States) as well as northern Europe. Furthermore, it could be reasonably expected that there are numerous small lakes and ponds (known as kettles on Earth) scattered throughout any of the grasslands terrain in Brevoy, Mivon Pitax and the Stolen Lands. The Dunsward may be an exception to this rule as the glaciers may not have gone east of the Tors of Levenies. 

The sediment in the lowlands of the Stolen Lands, Mivon, Pitax and Brevoy is mostly glacial in nature. Glacial sediment is an amalgamation of dirt and stones of all sizes mixed together. It is deposited by retreating and advancing glaciers, in a manner somewhat like a giant bulldozer. Sediment of this kind is most frequently found in the flat, grasslands where the bulldozer effect has smoothed out any previous topography by filling in the valleys and scraping off the ridgetops. Wells driven into this sediment are usually good producers of water, leading to successful farms, even away from rivers. Moreover, glaciers drag rocks from distant places to the Stolen Lands, meaning that there is always some small chance (like 1 in 10,000) of finding some unusual rock randomly. Moreover, the presence of minor ore deposits in the Stolen Lands suggests that there may be more of the same in the Tors of Levenies to the East. Placer hunting for gold in the tributaries of the Gudrin and Little Sellen are certainly possible!

Future Direction:

The next step in this process (barring any revisions to the map brought up by the community) is to have a second map made showing the location of the overland encounters in the Kingmaker AP oriented to the new hex grid.

Following that, I'd like to take a short break and work on a couple dungeon maps (I have a few fun ideas!) that I will then share here.

Following that, it will be time for another hex map. Which begs the question - what part of the Inner Sea would you like to see made into a hex map next? Leave a reply in the comments and I'll do the country that has already been detailed in a Campaign Guide with the most requests.

 

The Stolen Lands redux

So here I am, approximately four years later looking at redoing the hex map of the Stolen Lands. Armed with better mapping skills, software and experience, I'm taking another whack at this.

The goal is to make a map that the community will find useful for both the AP and beyond. Which means I've made some decisions that I think the majority will agree with. They are:

1) I'm mapping at 12 mi to the hex. That's the scale of the Kingmaker AP, so there's no reason to change that. I'll eventually map the surrounding areas at 12 mi / hex as well. Ideally, we'll have a small collection of maps before this is done useful for extended RPing in the River Kingdoms and beyond.

2) The locations of places in the AP supercede the locations of places on larger scale maps. Generally, I will follow the rule that more detail = better. So, if I have something mapped down to the square mile, it will be used over something mapped to every ten miles.

3) I'm going to orient the maps due north (in keeping with the Inner Sea World map. While I can orient it to the Kingmaker AP, I think that it will be better to have north point up. As such, I'll also put together a key to help people locate all the encounters in the respective AP issues.

4) I'll be using the Mystara-inspired tiles. Because I grew up with them, and because they are cool.

That's about it. I've got the Stolen Lands overlain on the regional maps below, so you can get a general idea where everything is. Most things line up pretty well (1-2 miles off at worst) except for Restov. I can't make Restov fit without breaking everything else. Actually, I couldn't even make it fit then. So, in keeping with Rule 2, Restov is moved about 50 miles east of where it would appear on the regional map.

Thoughts?

The Kingmaker AP map overlain on the regional maps. You can see both the Kingmaker hexes as well as the regional hexes. And yep, as many knew or suspected, Mivon sneaks into the bottom of the Kingmaker AP.

Harmony - a medium sized town where I once lived.

This is Harmony - a town in the country of Veridia where I once lived. It is a peaceful town, well, as peaceful as a town that has a wizard academy on the eastern side and a clerical college on the west can be. Squashed in between are numerous dormitories, homes, shops, taverns and other assorted things necessary to keeping a college town running deep in the forest. 

Harmony is a town created for my GM in our current Pathfinder campaign. It's located in the Stolen Lands, where Kingmaker was and where we have set Strange Aeons. In our campaign universe it's a college town, with the magical academy in the upper right and the Clerical college on the hill to the west. It occupies the space where the "Temple of the Elk" existed in the first AP. Indeed, you can see the leftovers of the temple in the left center at the head of the stream.