Battlemap
The Sunken Shanties
Beneath the fallen streets, hungry kobolds serve a dragon trapped among the ruins.
The Sunken Shanties are the collapsed lower streets of an ancient city, buried beneath layers of stone and earth. Kobolds have rebuilt parts of the ruins into cramped warrens, scavenging supplies while serving a young dragon hidden in the deepest sanctum. Every block is unstable, and the city's broken defenses still punish careless explorers.
Dust hangs in the cold, stale air, carrying the smells of wet stone, old ash, animal musk, and rust. Pale daylight enters through cracks in the collapsed city above, while deeper halls flicker with stolen candles and guttering oil lamps. Distant chittering, scraping claws, falling stones, and muffled draconic commands echo through the ruins.
☠ Threat
A young white dragon named Rimeclaw has claimed the deepest ruins and commands the kobolds through fear and promises of treasure. It is not yet powerful enough to dominate the entire dungeon, but its cold breath, territorial cruelty, and growing hoard have made every surviving street dangerous. The dragon wants the ancient shrine seals broken so it can escape into the world above.
History
The city of Veyruun built these lower streets as emergency housing after floods drove thousands from the river districts. When a wounded young dragon sought shelter beneath the city, desperate magistrates converted the underways into prisons, shrines, and containment vaults. The city fell before the final ritual was completed, leaving the ruins buried and the dragon trapped below.
Encounter Table
CRA small kobold patrol carrying scavenged supplies and a signal whistle.
Lean feral dogs that hunt by scent through the collapsed streets.
A cloud of bats disturbed from the broken city roofs, creating confusion and falling droppings.
A frightened kobold deserter carrying a stolen lantern and a bundle of rations.
Rumours & Whispers
Kobolds are stealing food because a dragon beneath the old city has started eating its own servants.
A bell rings underground on moonless nights, and anyone who follows the sound never returns.
The ruined city still has a treasury, but its doors open only for the founder's medallion.
Cold mist has begun rising from the old well even during summer.
An ancient priest sealed a monster beneath the streets, and the seal is failing.
Quest Hooks
Quest giver: Mara Venn, a miller whose storehouse was robbed
Kobold raids have stripped nearby farms of grain, tools, and children’s winter clothing. A frightened survivor says the raiders dragged everything below the old city well.
A village purse, six healing poultices, and free lodging for a month
Quest giver: Master Odran, leader of the local stonecutters
A mason's apprentice vanished while examining a sinkhole, leaving behind a sketch of a sealed shrine and a warning about blue-scaled servants.
Basic climbing gear, 50 gp, and first choice of salvaged urban tools
Quest giver: Lysa Pell, a historian and collector
An old city map suggests a family heirloom remains in the buried treasury, but the map marks the area with a dragon symbol added long after the city's fall.
A common magic item, 75 gp, and an official salvage charter
Quest giver: Brother Caldus, a worried traveling priest
The shrines have begun glowing at night, and cold mist now spills from cracks in the ground. Destroying or restoring the shrine network may determine whether Rimeclaw escapes.
A blessing granting advantage on one saving throw against cold, plus 100 gp
Corridor Notes
Cracked paving stones form the remains of streets, with weeds, pale fungi, and broken pottery filling the gaps.
Rusted hooks, faded street signs, and fragments of painted house numbers mark the abandoned city blocks.
Loose masonry occasionally drops from the ceiling when loud noise or heavy impacts disturb the ruins.
Kobold chalk marks show safe routes, guard posts, and warnings about the dragon's favored shrine.
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