Beneath Beatrice Blackwell's Basement

Rumors of long-lost smuggling tunnels promise untold riches to the crime family who can locate an entrance. The rising Murdoch clan is convinced that one of these access points is hidden under the old Blackwell family crypts.

But the ruthless Blackwell matriarchs knew how to protect the secret of their smuggling empire with tricks, traps, guardians, and worse.

The crime family sent their best delvers down into Beatrice Blackwell's basement, but none returned. Now the Murdochs look for outside support.

Beneath Beatrice Blackwell's Basement is a layered scenario about a smuggling mafia trying to gain a local foothold, an old family crypt with a secret, and a kobold tribe with big ambitions. It's trap-heavy module intended for a party of levels 2-3. The traps are all very fun and cool, not overbuilt 'gotchas,' and there's even a build-your-own-trap-on-the-fly section with advice for the referee. There's a classic gelatinous cube setup, a kobold knight riding a fire beetle, and a very fun corpse scavenger hunt subplot that involves searching for the previous victims of the dungeon, the hapless first party sent down there to die. The PCs get paid per body recovered and some of them require a little detective work to locate and remove. Most groups take around two sessions to complete the delve.

Yochai Gal gave this one a special shoutout on his podcast Between Two Cairns, showing that he is a man of culture and taste. A lot of folks sleep on this one. I blame myself because I named it "some lady's basement." What was I thinking?