We return to the final section of underworld caverns beneath An-Nayyir’s pyramid today. These caverns significantly predate the pyramid as well as the srocere who’s tomb the pyramid was built atop. This ancient passage from the underworld was a blight upon the land, a wound from which dark creatures would occasionally brave the surface world. Finally, when a hundred-foot long winged wyrm crawled from the recesses, the sorcere arrived to fight it off and to seal the entry.

These caverns are damp and cold, with water dripping from the ceilings forming stalactites that reach down towards large pools of water that have collected here. The echoing drips seem to mask other sounds, even when there are no other sounds to be heard. The cave floors here are uneven, rising up from the various flooded areas. The area around the north side of the largest pool, in the top-centre of the map, is a ledge about twenty feet above the pool surface, and as shown in the side view map (posted with the other two maps in the set), a flooded tunnel links this pool to the pool at the bottom of the well shaft. But as is the way with areas so closely linked to the underworld, something dwells in these cold dark waters.

An unwanted child was once dropped down the well but did not die. The underworld took the child in and it has grown into something slimy and elongated and foul. The long emaciated creature always hungers and if awakened will try to pull anyone collecting water from the main pool under the surface and then through the passage to the well chamber to be consumed.

Unlike the caves above, these caves show little sign of use or activity beyond the stairs cut into the wall that descend from the level above. They usually serve purely as a passage between the true underworld and the pyramid above. Occasionally, small groups from the underworld will travel here to acquire water, based on ancient maps of the throughways, not aware that something new has moved into the waters and hungers for them.

The 1200 dpi versions of the map were drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and are 7,200 x 10,800 pixels (24 x 36 squares – the perfect dimension for a 6×9 book). To use this with a VTT you would need to resize the squares to either 70 pixels (for 5′ squares) or 140 pixels (for the recommended 10′ squares that fit the furnishings shown) – so resizing it to either 1,680 x 2,520 or 3,360 x 5,040, respectively.

The maps on Dyson’s Dodecahedron are released for free personal use thanks to the support of awesome patrons like you over on Patreon. Every month over 600 patrons come together to make these releases possible. You can help too in order to keep the flow of maps coming and to improve their quality – and even get a map of your own!