Excavation Site Battle Map - Launch

Hello Adventurers, here is our next map, this one is a themed mini dungeon, the Excavation Site! I wanted to create a location that had a research or excavation site vibe, a place that's uncovering secrets or long forgotten dangerous knowledge. I took inspiration from novels and films like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Thing and classic eldritch horror. I imagine something has been uncovered here, and either the place is deserted when the party finds it or the facility is on the verge of uncovering said horrors and the party is witness to its unleashing. Either way, I see some fantastic atmospheric encounters taking place here.

I’m afraid schedules are a bit out at the moment as I was rather ill last week, which unfortunately means the Farm Road (Trackway) map isn’t finished. However the good news is there are two exciting maps coming next month as well as the Farm Road map!

Next month's maps!

Next month I’ll be collaborating with some other fantastic creators to not just release my regular maps, but also give you access to some fun free extras which I’ll tease as I know more. The maps will be:

• A Mountain Pass Guard Tower map, + a free adventure pack.
• A Frozen cliff side with a dragon monument map + free bonus content.
• And then of course, there is the Farm Road (Trackway) map.

I think that's about it for this release, so I’ll leave you with a heartfelt thank you for your support, good wishes for the week and as always happy adventuring! Now let’s release something terrible into the world!

Notes and Tips

The waiting room
The doors to this room slide on greased tracks chiselled into the stone floor. Large bronze wheels attached to the walls seem to be used to open and close the doors. The room is empty except for the benches placed along the left and right walls and down the centre of the rooms boxy interior. Unfriendly cold light emits from glowing lamps attached to the walls at either end of the room.

• This could be an elevator. The party can only progress once the outer door is shut. At that point the lights change to red and the room shakes.
• This could be an airlock, the pressure needs to equalise before the inner door can be opened.
• Describe air vents on the ceiling (used to equalise the pressure), obviously there is something hiding in them, especially if the party takes a look see.
• Have some corpses in here with strange wounds, a hint at what’s to come. Make them zombies with a twist, glowing slightly, parasites under the skins, that kind of thing.

The Main Lab
You walk down copper steps into a large open room. The opposite wall is made up of huge observation windows beyond which you see darkness and maybe the hint of rock formations looming out of the shadows. Along the base of the windows and around the edges of the room strange machinery of bronze and copper sits idle, some with lights blinking, others making ticking and whirring noises. A work area is raised up on a metal platform to your right, tables laden with tools and equipment fill the space along with more mundane items of day to day use. At the far end of the room you see what appears to be a row of large metal suits of armor.

• Depending on the scenario you are running you can have the Lab occupied or empty.
• If the party investigates the raised metal platform have oozes come up through the holes to surprise the party.
• The containers on the table can contain live specimens from the pit, imagine the face huggers from aliens. Oh wait… one of the containers is broken and empty...
• Switching on the machinery can have any number of positive or negative effects, from switching on the lights around the pit to creating an experimental bubble of atmosphere around a party member. Or just a good old fashioned electric shock.
• One of the machines is a decompression chamber and there is someone inside it. Oh the horrible possibilities!

The Specimen Room
Entering the room you see desks along the right and far walls filled with containers of stone, glass and metals. A long stone table sits in the middle of the room and to the left are two large glass or crystal coffers, one of which seems to have been shattered, thick glass shards cover the floor.

• This room can be accessed through the main corridors or through the broken window.
• This area is exposed to the pits atmosphere (be that water or just corrupted air).
• This room can contain some type of creature that has escaped from its glass coffer.
• A large creature has been half dissected on the table, either it's not really dead or it contains something that attacks the party.

The Outside
Leaving the relative safety of the lab you step forth into the outer chamber. Particles fill the air, flowing around you in eddies as you move forward. This is a large open cave with what appears to be ancient ruins half uncovered by the excavation team. At some point a large pit has opened up in the center of the chamber, much of the ruins seem to have fallen into the gaping hole, its edges seem unstable. Equipment litters the ground around the pit, hastily abandoned as the ground gave way.

• The airlock is the primary way to reach this area, unless the party exits through the Specimen room or somehow breaks the glass in the Lab.
• The metal plate at the end of the airlock could be a lift. I feel this could add tension as the party slowly descends to the ground, making a loud grinding noise as it reaches the bottom (broken maybe?).
• Investigating the ruins could reveal some writing or mosaics that depict something terrible, you know, the end of the world or some such ;)
• The pit could emit a constant noise or vibration, or just a terrible feeling of dread.
• Getting too close to the pit could trigger the main encounter.

The Pit
It may be best to have the main combat encounter take place in the ruins around the pit, however, the party may need to enter the pit to finish the scenario.

• The pit can contain any number of awesome things, I’ve left it blank so you can add whatever monster or entity you fancy.
• A portal to some alien realm is always a fun choice. Throw some tentacles in, a few hazardous environmental threats and a voice that torments or tempts your party and you are good to go.
• Make it clear the more time spent this close to the pit the worse the effects on the party.

Variants

No door version with door assets - I've included a map without doors and included open and closed door assets so you can play around with the multiple airlocks in the facility.

Flooded version - For when you want to see how long your players can hold their breath

Ocean version - This could work as an underwater hideout for some super villain!