![]() Dungeon walls can also be hewn from solid rock, leaving them with a rough, chiseled look. ![]() Sometimes, masonry walls-stones piled on top of each other (usually but not always held in place with mortar)-divide dungeons into corridors and chambers. A natural cavern complex joined with another dungeon often provides a route by which subterranean creatures find their way into a manufactured dungeon and populate it. A cavern complex can connect two otherwise unrelated dungeons, sometimes creating a strange mixed environment. Often, a natural cavern complex connects with another type of dungeons, the caves having been discovered when the manufactured dungeon was delved. In other areas, a daylight spell or similar magical effect can provide enough light for green plants to grow. Some varieties of fungus give off a phosphorescent glow, providing a natural cavern complex with its own limited light source. Subterranean predators prowl these forests, looking for those feeding upon the fungi. With no intelligent force behind its construction, this type of dungeon is the least likely to have traps or even doors.įungi of all sorts thrive in caves, sometimes growing in huge forests of mushrooms and puffballs. Created naturally and connected by a labyrinthine tunnel system, these caverns lack any sort of pattern, order, or decoration. Underground caves provide homes for all sorts of subterranean monsters. These guardians also need no sustenance, since they appear only when they’re needed and disappear when their task is done. Magic traps can attack intruders by summoning monsters into the dungeon. Builders of vaults or tombs often place undead creatures or constructs, both of which which have no need for sustenance or rest, to guard their dungeons. Even if there’s no way anything living can survive in a safe storage dungeon, certain monsters can still serve as guardians. Magic is usually the best solution to provide food and water for these creatures. The problem with this strategy is that something must be done to keep the creatures alive between intrusion attempts. Sometimes, however, a vault or a crypt is constructed in such a way as to house living guardians. This is particularly true of the tombs of important people. This type of dungeon normally is built for function rather than appearance, but sometimes it has ornamentation in the form of statuary or painted walls. The safe storage type of dungeon is the most likely to have traps but the least likely to have wandering beasts. Whether the item they want to protect is a fabulous treasure, a forbidden artifact, or the dead body of an important figure, these valuable objects are placed within a dungeon and surrounded by barriers, traps, and guardians. When people want to protect something, they might bury it underground. In such cases, the occupants are typically not the original builders but instead a group of intelligent creatures that have set up their base, lair, or fortification within an abandoned dungeon. Some dungeons are partially occupied and partially empty or in ruins. The inhabitants might have a communication system, and they almost certainly control an access to the outside. ![]() Occupied structures have furnishings to suit the inhabitants, as well as decorations, supplies, and the ability for occupants to move around (doors they can open, hallways large enough for them to pass through, and so on). ![]() Traps or wandering beasts that might be encountered are usually under the control of the occupants. This type of dungeon is less likely to have traps or wandering beasts, and more likely to have organized guards-both on watch and on patrol. An occupied structure might be a home, a fortress, a temple, an active mine, a prison, or a headquarters. Creatures (usually intelligent) live there, although they may not be the dungeon’s creators. Any traps that might exist have probably been set off, but wandering beasts might very well be common. Many subterranean creatures look for abandoned underground constructions in which to make their lairs. ![]() Once occupied, this place is now abandoned (completely or in part) by its original creator or creators, and other creatures have wandered in. Sometimes old dungeons are used again and again by different inhabitants for different purposes. Many dungeons are variations on these basic types or combinations of more than one of them. The four basic dungeon types are defined by their current status. ![]()
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