Mansion of the Gastronome Ogre

Walls covered with shelves filled with several hundred cookery books, above low closets. In the center of the room, an ebony lectern inlaid with ivory. Open trapdoor at the entrance to the room.

• → Trapdoor. Concealed 12-foot deep pit. At the bottom: a disarticulated body.
• → Body. Down into the pit to inspect it. Elf. Leather and green linen clothing. Bow and 12 arrows, long dagger, 50 gp in a purse. Neck broken: the fall killed him. A large wound on his thigh, hastily bandaged.
• → Cookery books. In perfect condition, some very old, arranged by theme and alphabetical order. A few random titles for connoisseurs: Every Bit of the Nobbit by Ablard Hardtooth, Elven Delicacies - 13 Recipes You Can Make in the Woods by Gorgoo the Paunchy, Meeting the Meat by Biggy Butch, 77 Recipes for Gnome Foie Gras from Far-Off Frankia by Trevian the Traveling Cook, Dwarfs Can Be Eaten Too: The Magic of Sauces by Smog the Drac, For a Varied Diet: A Different Humanoid for Every Day of the Week by various authors, Pegasus Tastes Like Poultry, and Other Common Misconceptions by Olarf the Fastidious.
• → Lectern. Supports a thick volume of recipes Garagante is currently writing, as well as a quill and inkwell. Meticulous, diligent writing. The recipe in progress is: Halfling fillet glazed with vinegar and cranberry coulis, Blackmoor style.
• → Closets. 4 feet wide and 2 feet high and deep, twelve in total. Most contain papers, ink and pencils, old, uninteresting books or worthless trinkets. The one in the south-west corner is Arzara's hiding place.
• → Arzara. See Clients. Immobile and silent, using her chameleon-skin cloak.
• If she's detected: she tries to escape at the first opportunity and hide somewhere else.
• If she's not detected: she patiently waits for the hosts to leave the library and looks for a trigger to the secret door leading to the Hub (see p. 12).

GARAGANTE IS BACK! (optional)

If you'd like to spice things up a bit, here's a variation. After an hour or so exploring the aerie, a tiny imp appears in a colorful cloud, hands the mission leader a message from their supervisor, then disappears in a flash of light.

The ogre's arrival is tied to a risk die that starts at Δ10. Starting from now, every ten minutes or so, roll the die. When it fizzles, Garagante arrives (his heavy footsteps echo down the staircase to the entrance hall, and his exclamations of displeasure soon echo through the aerie).

GARAGANTE the gastronome ogre. Gigantic muscular body with a bulging stomach. Dressed in elegant hunting clothes. A slightly slow brain, but not a complete idiot either. If he learns about Dungeon, Inc. and understands that his lair is used for profit, he tries to take advantage of the situation (a demand for substantial royalties, or threat to move out immediately. A real blow for the Dungeon!)

HD 5 (28 hp), ARM Δ8, ATT 2 x spiked club d8, ML Δ8.

Fitted like a restaurant kitchen and impeccably clean. Large, round oak table, with a comfortable extra-large armchair. Deep fireplace with various spits. Rows of gleaming copper saucepans hanging off the wall, racks of ultra-sharp knives (Δ6 damage – they dull quickly when used as weapons), wooden spoons, ladles of all sizes and other specialized utensils. Silverware, cutlery and plates, carefully stored in padded boxes. If attentive, a mournful moan can be heard intermittently.

• → Moan. A dying beast? An angry cat? A hungry baby? Comes from behind the north-west door (leading to D).

A wide corridor (frescoes on the walls) leads to a room with four columns, from the ceiling of which hangs a cubic iron cage. Passage to a wide spiral staircase on the south wall.

• → Frescoes. Orgiastic banquet in ancient Epikuria. One foot from the floor, on each wall, a barely visible 6-foot-long slot.
• → Slot. Contains a spring-loaded blade which should sweep the room. Activated by a pressure plate. A trap expert may observe that the springs have been improperly fastened, rendering the trap inoperative.
• → Iron cage. Askew and still partially hanging from the ceiling. One corner touches the floor (a puddle of blood nearby). A trap expert notices one of the ropes holding the cage in its concealed position has not released, rendering the trap ineffective.
• → Blood. Taste it: Yum yum! Elven blood!
• → Staircase. Leads up to a double iron door, the lock of which was recently picked, opening onto the Great Outside.

5'-wide, gently downward-sloping corridor, cool air. Door ajar in the first section. Stairs descend several meters after a 90-degree turn.

• → Door. In fact, a secret door, (a piece of retractable wall). Opens with a simple push from the inside and closes automatically after 30 minutes. The hinges are stuck and preventing it from closing this time. Opens onto a small room not shown on the map. This is where the moaning heard in B comes from.
• → Small room. Cramped, empty of any furnishings. A zombie paces back and forth, groaning, banging its head against the walls at each end. A little bell hangs from the ceiling.

OFF-DUTY ZOMBIE. Wears a Dungeon, Inc. Maintenance armband. Completely harmless unless attacked.

HD 2 (16 hp), ARM-, ATT bite d8, ML–

• → Little bell. The cord used to make it ring sinks into a hole in the ceiling.

Note: The cord is directly connected to Maintenance offices. It rings when the ogre is out, signaling to the zombies that it's time to get to work.

• → Stairs. Before descending the steps: a bizarre song in a guttural, thunderous and somewhat muffled voice can be heard coming from below. A dwarf will recognize a dwarven drinking song.

Vaulted cellar with eight alcoves, each housing a large cask. Above one of them, hidden in the shadows, the rogue zombie awaits its next victims. The song comes from inside the barrel in the northwest alcove

ESCAPED ZOMBIE. Wears a Dungeon, Inc. Maintenance armband. Super hungry.

HD 2 (16 hp), ARM-, ATT bite d8, ML–

• → Barrel. Scratched exterior. Hidden inside: Birnulf the dwarf (see Clients). Intoxicated by the alcohol fumes and the quantities of brandy he couldn't help 'tasting.' Acts like an emotional, sentimental drunkard.

Consisting of an antechamber and a bedroom. XL size, premium furniture. Closets containing luxurious (tasteful and unostentatious) clothes, elegant hunter's hats, and a few subtle yet expensive looking perfume bottles. Colossal four-poster bed piled with feather duvets. A varnished wood footlocker.

• → Footlocker. The lock has been forced. Hidden inside: Zarat the mage (see Clients), ready to cast magic missile.

Series of small rooms with low ceilings. Two storerooms, containing whole hams, smoked meats, salted nobbits hanging from the ceiling, various jars of fruit and vegetables, preserved or in syrup, a rack of vials containing various spices and condiments, etc. Laundry room, table and household linen is hung up to dry. A small underground spring flows into a stone basin. The last room, whose door is blocked from the inside, is the modest but clean apartment of a couple of goblins in the ogre's service.

• → Goblins. Zät and Zöt. Locked themselves in when clients arrived. Have heard sounds of fighting. Not easily persuaded to open the door.

GOBLIN. HD 1 (3 hp), ARM Δ4, ATT mincer or spit d6, ML Δ6.