The dungeon of the Crumbling Stair is the ruin of a redoubt created by the dwarfs for the humans that inhabited the castle Marituk. They did this as part of the agreements that united the 5 races into the Fallen Kingdom. This was the central point for the network of gates that formed the main means of communication and trade between the far-flung states of this kingdom.

This area of the ruins of Castle Karituk is of Dwarven construction unlike the castle itself, which was of human construction.

All of the levels underground are very clean if they have been exposed to the roaches. The rooms with closed doors will be dusty and show no signs of entry previously unless otherwise noted. The roaches running in their old program are keeping the place spotless. In fact, it will be difficult in areas they have access to find anything that isn’t made of stone. Even the droppings of the roaches are converted to something used to nest their territory.

The gates of the dungeon are well protected. They lie behind heavily locked doors loaded with spells. Often, the items in the rooms with the gates have a clue to where the gate leads.

The gates were used as diplomatic tools, scholarly pursuits, trade goods and the like. Thus, the rooms will contain goods going to the place where the gate is. All the gates are of human construction.

Notables

All areas have a horrible insectoid smell, except those that have a source of air and are not inhabited by the roaches.

(Trade items from location – trade items going to the location)

Inside one of the root rooms (Gate and room are in the NW area of roots)

Agricultural Items, Good Wood workings – Exotic Sea items, steel items (weapons and cooking)

Located in the ancient cellars under the new buildings.

Soldiers – Weapons

G3 – Level 3 – Room 7 -> Stone House From 8^th level of dungeons under the vanished house

Art Items – Gold, Silver, Electrum

G4 - Level 1 – Room 31 - Ravenscrag Castle (Top of Condom Tower)

Important Papers – Scholastic Research

G5 – Level 2 – Room 13 - Seacomber Marsh (Behind Cliffs) (One way only)

Fine Stonework – Food and Leather

G6 – Level 1 – Room 37 - Underdeep Dungeon - beneath Waterdeep - Underdeep a spot on the 3^rd level, N. section of level 3, near stairs that go to point "C" on level 2 (SW corner of map).

Food – Potions and Books

Punishment

Temple to Chauntia and Lathander

Dwarf Stone goods and Hobbit Import goods

The destinations of the broken gates can not be determined, but clues to where they went will lie in the kind of goods contained in the rooms..

There are three main types of doors. These are represented on the map by:

Normal Door – Normal mark

Broken Door – A X mark

These doors have been opened and held open by roach dung. 2 people can close them with 1 turn of work. The door has been opened all the way back into the room against the back wall. The dung has been worked into the cracks at the floor and against the wall all the way to the top of the door. It has been added to over the years and has approached the consistency of sandstone.

Secret Door – An S mark

These are very cunningly hidden. The triggers to open the doors are hidden 15’ away from the door. Check to see if the players find the trigger; they will never find the door (or notice it in any way) without finding the trigger. The doors descend into the floor when triggered, leaving only a handle (used to pull the door back up again) protruding above floor level. Some sort of counterweight is used.

Hasp Locked Door – A circle around a normal door mark

The door looks to be made of wood and bound with iron. Actually, the door is made of metal lightly veneered with wood. The iron is only a cover to stainless steel of fine sword quality. The doors have been preserved and look as if they were made yesterday.

These doors are heavily locked and trapped. Det. Magic will show them glowing in numerous places with so many spells employed that no information on school or details of the spell can be determined even with special spells. The door is covered with runes, some magical, some common. They have warnings in all 5 languages saying

"High Danger! The area beyond this door is not for public access. If you have the keys to this room, you may pass with complete safety, but without it YOU WILL SURELY LOSE YOUR LIFE IF YOU ENTER!"

There are 3 locks on each door. These locks were delicate and have long since become frozen such that only 1 in 10 can be opened without destroying it. A few permanent spells have been cast on every door. They are:

Blur – Makes reading the runes on the door impossible. Cast by a 10^th level wizard, the spell may be dispelled.

Darkness 15’ radius – The glowing red runes will not be revealed until this is dispelled. It was cast by the same 10^th level mage (Gink)

There are numerous contingency spells that have been cast as well as more normal traps. Note that all spells are duplicated on the interior of the room (except for the lock related spells).

Contingency 1 – Warm blooded creatures touch any part of the door gently

An Advanced magic mouth appears in the center of the door and speaks in each of the five languages "This door can be deadly. Do not touch it again"

Contingency 2 – Cold-blooded creature touches the door

Triggers a Fear Spell as a level 10 mage

Contingency 3 – A spell is cast on the door

A dispel magic is triggered as level 15 mage to eliminate the spell cast

A Ray of Enfeeblement attacks the caster

Contingency 4 – The door is "shouldered or kicked"

Magic Missile spells as a 10^th level mage attack those who touched the door

Contingency 5 – A lock is touched

Magic Mouth appears and says in each of the 5 languages "this lock is deadly if you have no key"

Contingency 6 – An attempt is made to pick the lock (turn with no key)

A Web appears over the door trapping the thief

Magic Mouth begins shouting "I have caught a thief!" for 1 turn

Contingency 7 – The door is attacked by a weapon or tool

A heat metal spell starts and within 2 rounds sets the wood veneer on fire. It will prevent anyone approaching for 2 turns until the metal cools. This has no effect of other contingency spells (the runes are also visible on the metal door).

An Electric Blast arcs from the door to the wielder (not the weapon) doing 8d4 of damage.

Contingency 8 – A lock is attacked with a weapon or tool

An enormous Explosive rune is triggered causing the lock to shatter spraying out like shrapnel from a bomb. It will do 10d4 points of damage at 5’, 6d4 points at 10, 2d4 points at 20’, 1d4 points at 40’. The wall will be blackened for 20’ down the corridor.

Contingency 9 – A Ethereal or Astral creature attempts to pass

That person is teleported from the plane in question to the interior of the room with it’s many protections against plane travelling.

Contingency 10 – Psionic abilities are used within 20’ of the door.

A feeble mind spell attacks the user

An attempt to pick the locks will trigger an exploding bladder filled with contact poison type M (20/5 damage) to all within 10’ of door

An attempt to break down the door will break a tube lining the door frame containing gas poison type M (20/5). There are 5 tubes for each door.

An attempt to attack the door that breaks the veneer of the wood will puncture the layer containing the flammable liquid which bursts spreading the fire for 20’. (4d6 points of damage rnd 1, 2d6 rnd2, 1d6 rnd 3)

The channels at first glance look to be natural, but any dwarf may examine the stone work and successfully rolling det. Shifting walls will see rare chisel marks revealing that they were cunning carved by the hand of dwarfs in a style never seen before. The channels are about 10’ deep, and by cunning design of the inlet ducts in the pools of rooms 41 and 33, they are maintained at a depth of between 6’ to 8’ with 8 in spring and 6 at the end of summer. The edges of the channels slope outward and can only be walked down with a –2 dex roll. The current is swift moving at trotting human speed (5mph).

The areas that border on water (either pools or channels) are of similar construction. There is an area of strait flat carved walls and walls that look to have been naturally created by the action of water on stone. This is not natural however, but carved by dwarves. This was a compromise in construction to keep the Elves happy. All of these areas are floored with Grey slate that slope slightly (1%) toward the water area. The slate has been joined together such a way (see diagram at bottom of Level 1 map that they are somewhat hinged and difficult to pull apart. They lie on a 5" bed of rounded river gravel.

The ceilings of these rooms are arched (a major feature of this entire underground construction) every 20’ (at the grid lines) and are ribbed like the stairs.

There are 3 basic types of supports for the roof. The rock of this area (particularly near the surface) is relatively soft. It will not support the weight of more than 30’ of ceiling area. So some sort of support is needed for a 60’x60’ area.

These are of a classical Dwarven construction. They are 3’ in diameter, round, with ribs 2’ deep carved into their surface. These ribs are the same in appearance as the ribs on the surface of the stairway. The base of the column is carved into 4 great cave bear claws; one at each point of the compass. For the benefit of the humans who inhabit the place, the N pointing claw has one talon sticking slightly out that points out the direction. At the top of the column is a carving of an eagle. They all look similar, and 3 are identical, but the head of one is slightly turned indicating the direction to the stairs up.

Cantilevers will support up to 120’x120’ of ceiling. This effect is achieved by increasing the height of the ceiling as the width of the room increases. A ceiling 60’ high is necessary to support the full 120’. Ten feet per 20 feet supported is the rule of thumb. The ceiling is domed, but not circularly. Flat sections curve up to meet at the top. Down the center of each flat area is the cantilever itself. They curve more slightly upward such that they protrude out from the wall and ceiling. The width of the cantilever is about 2’ for every 10’ supported (90’ room, 1 section=45’, 2x4.5=9’ deep cantilever). The cantilevers are cut into the shape of giant dinosaur ribs.

These constructions are formed using a thick central column to support the buttresses that connect to the ceiling at a distance from the column. The balance of this kind of construction is critical. They are more prone to collapse than other supports. They also provide the largest un-broken floor area. A single buttress support will suffice for 250’ diameter area of ceiling. The central column is 10’ in diameter. 4 ribbed shaped supports arch to the ceiling. A slight bulge provides for 1’ of space between the supports. The supports meet the ceiling 70’ from the column. These ceilings are circularly domed.

The roaches keep the p[lace amazingly clean. Some of them clean up the dust, some work on the moss and misc. other stuff they find (and the dung of the rest) while others eliminate other monsters and intruders.

The roaches can open doors when working in a concerted fashion, but only if they have enough room to gather their numbers before striking. This requires at least 40’. All doors with a direct line of sight greater than that distance have been opened and all organic objects and anything else smaller than 1" have been scavenged by the roaches.

In the rooms that have remained closed, the items inside are as they were 400+ years ago. Unless they were protected from moisture and fungus, they will not be worth much unless made of a non-oxidizing metal (like gold and silver). Almost everything organic will have disintegrated, but the debris will provide clues as to what the item was.

Almost all of the furnishings in the dungeon are made of the stone removed from the rooms. They tend to blend unobtrusively into their surroundings and are quite cold to come in contact with. There are traces of the padding and cloth covers that helped make them more comfortable for non-dwarves. Most of this stone stuff is still functional, but all of the organic furniture has been eaten by the roaches, along with everything else organic in the place.