The Lair of the

Alchemist
A dungeon crawl inspired by
The Island of Dr. Moreau

Text and Art by

Francisco Lemos v0.8
 1.Cave entrance
•
7.Ritual chamber
The boat docks next to some overgrown rocks.
• Holes in the roof let in sunlight.
• Large carpet intricately deco-
• Possums running around, between coffee plants.
rated (after a few steps, the floor
turns into quicksand, you sink and
fall to a cell in the 9.Old prison,
5.Storeroom
DEX save or suffer 3 damage). • Embalmed polar bear, with a seal in-
• A shrine in the center: candles, side, with a pelican inside with... Roll
2d6 gold coins and a bowl with on the Treasures table (P5).
holy water (heals all wounds). • Crate (6 valuable bottles of wine).
• Here Morelius performs the • Puddled coffin (ice bars and a dead dolphin).
ritual of severing pieces of a • Jar with live acidic snails (their slime melts metal).
creature’s soul, absorbing their • Roll on the Minor Loot table (P5).
essence by the Black Diamond. • A precious box with ritual objects:
• Black robes that smell like incense.
• Dagger with etched veins, whispers of desired
9.Old prison body parts; will capture the soul of its victim.
• Dense air, loaded with humidity
and fog. Echoes of dripping.
• Divided in two levels.
• Cells:
• Ngur, Ogre-Shark (P7).
• Segundo, Rat-Halfling (P7).
• Torture equipment (optional:
a kidnapped smuggler).
• Crate with the pris-
oners’ belongings:
• Chainmail.
• Healing mushrooms
(4), 2 doses.
• Roll on the Minor
Loot table (P5).

Water falls
10.Flooded cells down the
stairs.
• Foul stench.
• A rotting crate with chunks of gray flesh.
• Water enters through cracks in the
wall, flooding the room.
11.Flooded passage
• Two large pits full of water, with bars • 2m (6.5ft) deep (mid level), small holes in the walls.
(weakened by rust, break easily). • One eel emerge from the holes: Skill 1, HD
1. An Ape-Crocodile (P7). 0, ML 2, bite (2 dmg). The amount of eels in-
2. Fluorescent coral (with tiny thorns that get under creases each time someone passes through.
the skin, 2 dmg). Half buried by mud, rocks • The door to 12.Lab is closed (keys in 6.Collapsed mine).
and coral, there seems to be something at • If the PCs make noise opening the door,
the bottom: roll in the Treasures table (P5). save DEX or Morelius (P8) hears and pull
the lever raising the water level.
 2.Smugglers hideout 6.Collapsed mine
• Holes in the rock serve as win- • Corpse smell.
dows, overlooking the sea (one has • Ancient rails under collapsed rocks (a lost
a rope ladder as emergency exit). tunnel from the old dwarven mine, long aban-
• Crates (nails, tea, saffron, quality arrows). doned. The stones are impossible to remove).
• Tiny glowing crystals embedded in
the walls (valuable to an alchemist).
• Decayed corpse of a woman, looks like a ranger:
• Rudimentary tourniquet on a lacerated leg.
A small and • Some moldy bread.
rusted barred door • Keys (12.Laboratory).
partially hidden • List of test subjects ripped out of a book.
by vegetation. • Roll on the Minor Loot table (P5).
3.Bones pit
• A dump of skeletons of all kinds. Roll
on the Minor Loot table (P5).
• Damp old journal. So wet that its pag-
es fall apart. Information it provides:
• It belongs to Segundo.
• Mentions a mythical magic helmet.
• Comments on the mysterious dis-
appearance of fishermen.

4.Studio
• Entry door mechanism:
• On each wall on the sides of the door there
is a niche with a handle deep inside.
• To open the door, two people must fully
insert their arm and pull simultaneously.
• Otherwise, a shackle ensnares the arm, a bell
tolls, and a noxious gas is released (3 dmg).
• Bookshelves:
• Countless tomes in old dwarven language,
about alchemy and comparative anatomy.
• Fake book reveals a door to a hidden passage.
• Scroll of Levitate.
• Ornate wooden cabinet:
• A closer look reveals grooves within the
decoration. Spikes spring forth if opened
carelessly (2 dmg), DEX save to avoid it.
• Inside is the Helmet of Kalendra (P4).
Secret vertical passage behind bookcases,
connecting 4.Studio and 12.Laboratory. It
looks like the hole for a disused rope lift.
Metal sliding door ornamented with runes
(opening it reveals just a wall, as it’s a magical portal
to the outside that is activated by Morelius’ bracelet).

12.Laboratory
• Dead smuggler on a slab-like workbench, bird
wings partially sewn onto their temples.
8.Barracks • Rhino’s head on the wall (hides a lever that
controls 11.Flooded passage’s drainage system).
• Smoke from a barbecue fills the place; hard to know if • Several bottles of black liquid (rolls on the
its origin is animal, human, or a mingling of both. Cursed Blood table (P5), if there is contact).
• Debris and broken furniture everywhere. • Shelves with flasks of biological experi-
• Smelly latrines in a corner. ments and ingredients such as scorpions
• A wall covered with orange mushrooms with butterfly wings, fluorescent toucan
(releases poisonous spores on touch, 4 dmg). beak, human ears, a rat with many tails,
• Cursed Dwarf Patrol (P6); one of them is cooking, ashes, nails, roots, eyeglobes, tadpoles, etc,
the others fight over a piece of meat. (a passage is hidden behind the furniture).
Backstory seen roaming the port.
4 The former chief alchemist of a
• Morelius, a dwarf alchemist, has nearby city has defected, gone
taken over this ancient tunnel com- rogue some time ago, and is said to
plex, to carry out forbidden exper- be doing experiments of his own.
iments. His altered dwarf minions 5 A long-lost black diamond, the
kidnap fishermen, in order to mod- legacy of a vanished noble family, is
ify their bodies and minds, turning shrouded in stories. Nobody knows
them into monstrous hybrids. his current location.
• A gang of smugglers has set up a 6 Kalendra, a legendary general
hideout in what looked like a de- from centuries ago, is said to have
serted cave on this archipelago, but commanded an entire army of ele-
it turns out that one of Morelius’s phants using a magical helmet.
tunnels connects to it.
• This is where the PCs come into the
picture: they are part of the gang Helmet of Kalendra
and return with some goods, ob-
tained at a bargain price from the
thieves’ guild, only to find their lair
deserted. No sign of their mates,
except for a trail of blood that leads
to a half-hidden door at the back of
the cave.
• Hooks:
• The missing crew are the ones
who have the city’s contacts
on dishonest buyers, corrupt
guards, and other filibusters.
• They owe the PCs a considerable
amount of gambling money. • Made of bronze and coral, in the
• Or simply because... they are shape of a snail shell.
their only family! • Tendrils sprout inside, connecting
to the wearer’s head allowing them

Rumors to control animals (hybrids are also

affected).
1 Dwarves once ruled this land, • If worn:
extracting precious but dangerous • Weakens the user, +1 Break.
crystals from the earth. • It can’t be removed without an
2 Fishermen are catching strange fish alchemical procedure. Its remov-
without eyes, some with strange al by force causes indescribable
hair or horns. They ooze black bile. pain and the Break becomes
3 The thieves’ guild says that lately, permanent.
unknown hooded men have been • Roll d6 and gain control of:
4
 1 Batface (P6) 4 Jar with glowing beetles: lights up
2 Squiddy (P6) like a lamp.
3 Oilytoad (P6) 5 Druid’s Flute: disorients non-
4 Segundo (P7) intelligent creatures, making them
5 Ape-Crocodile (P7) to lose 1 round. 1 use per creature.
6 Ogre-Shark (P7) 6 A bone tablet with runes: sum-
mons the spirit of a sacred deer.

Encounters Skill 3, HD 1, ML 10, antlers (4

dmg). Single use, then breaks.
All creatures have the following stats,
unless otherwise specified:
Skill 1, HD 1, ML 6, attack (3 dmg). Minor loot
1 Harpoon (4 dmg).
1 Raven with human face. 2 Rope with hook.
• Scream: Anyone who hears it 3 Saw.
must save WIL or lose 2 rounds. 4 Horn of an unknown creature.
2 Large snake with bone spikes on its 5 Sewing kit.
back. 6 Healing herbs. Heal d6 wounds.
• Critical Damage: The poison kills 3 doses, non consecutive.
the target in 24hs if an antidote 7 A flask of glue.
is not applied. 8 Pincers.
3 Cursed Dwarf Patrol (P6).
4 D4 large vampire worms (the size of
a human leg). Cursed blood
• They heal d4 wounds by sucking Touching it heals 3 wounds, drinking
blood. heals 6, injecting heals completely.
5 Purple goo. It moves slowly but
continuously. 1 You vomit for 2 rounds and feel diz-
• Immune to physical attacks. zy for the rest of the day, +1 Break.
• Highly flammable. 2 Your eyes turn completely black.
6 D4 scorpions (cat-size). You can see in the dark, but most
• Immune to fire. people are afraid of you.
3 Reroll your STR. Soon, lumps will

Treasures begin to grow all over your body.

4 Your blood feels like boiling, you
1 Desiccated hand with 7 fingers: are stunned for 2 rounds. You can
when holding the hand, it pulls speak with beasts.
you as if someone is guiding you. It 5 Something grows inside you, in a
takes you towards magic. few hours it will emerge from some
2 Old mirror: it allows to see in the orifice, trying to kill you in its path.
dark through its reflection. 6 Reroll all attributes. As the hours
3 Gauntlet of Hors: your fist blow pass, your teeth fall out and your
always hit (3 dmg). tongue divides into 3 tentacles.

5
Cursed Dwarf Patrol Squiddy
• Batface, Squiddy and Oilytoad, once • Skill 2, HD 2, ML 4.
dwarf folk, now they are twisted, • Blowpipe (2 dmg).
half-animal creatures. • Tentacled mouth: acid (2 dmg).
• Due to their physical changes, they • Cowardly and treacherous, always
have lost their ability to speak; they the first to escape from combat.
communicate through grunts and • Vulnerable to fire.
guttural screams. • A bag with fishing hooks, earth-
• From time to time, blurred mem- worms and a hand drill.
ories of their past arise disturbing
them.
• The manipulative Morelius became
a father to them, they will defend
him at all costs.

Batface
• Skill 3, HD 2 (5 Armor), ML 8.
• Scimitar (4 dmg).
• Fangs (2 dmg).
• Rusted chainmail.
• Big moustache.
• A sadist that enjoys hurting pris-
oners. Oilytoad
• Afraid of magic. • Skill 4, HD 2, ML 8.
• Carries a leather pouch with glow- • Paddle with spikes (5 dmg).
ing dust (+1 Buff, lasts 1 hour, 3 • Head charge (3 dmg).
doses), d4 human ears, cell keys. • A brute; the most robust of them.
• Afraid of insects.
• Naked, wearing only a spiked hel-
met.

6
Ape-Crocodile •
Cursed Blood table (P5).
If awakened, roll in the Reaction
• Skill 5, HD 3, ML 8. table.
• Bite (5 dmg), Punch (3 dmg), Criti-

•
cal: Dismember.
Gets very nervous in presence of Segundo, Rat-Halfling
strangers. If the PCs stay, he breaks • Skill 1, HD 1, ML 6.
the cell bars and attack. • Bite or Punch (2 dmg).
• Shackled and helpless, he spends
his time whistling an old, melan-
cholic song. He was a talented com-
poser in his previous halfling life.
• Morelius terrifies him. Rolls ML in
his presence.
• Is the only survivor of a party that
ventured into the tunnels looking
for the Helmet of Kalendra (P4).
Vikta, the woman dead in 6.Col-
lapsed mine, was his companion.
• Has been here for a while and
gained some knowledge: occasion-

Ngur, Ogre-Shark ally, Morelius controls him using

the Helmet of Kalendra; in those
• Skill 5, HD 3, ML 6. moments he is able to catch fleeting
• Bite (5 dmg), Punch (3 dmg). glimpses of Morelius’ thoughts.
• Ogre with shark head, wearing
rags.
• Unconcious and chained.
• Connected by tubes to a barrel
with a black liquid. If coming into
contact with the liquid roll on the

7
Morelius
• Skill 7, HD 4, ML 10.
• Expels jets of acid from glands in
his neck (3 dmg).
• Crab toxic claw (4 dmg), critical:
Poison (2 dmg), 1 round vomiting.
• Dinosaur claw kick (4 dmg).
• When in trouble, he summons a
swarm of carnivorous roaches.
• The PCs fight with a Break until
they spend 1 round getting rid
of the insects.

• A grotesque being, with the

build of a dwarf and the
stature of an ogre.
• Has a crab claw, dripping
a poisonous liquid, and a
dinosaur foot.
• He bends over under the weight of
a massive glass tank on his back,
where black bile bubbles. From
it, tubes snake into his limbs and
organs, injecting or draining dark-
ened blood.
• Inside lies the Black Diamond, a enced smugglers, the PCs could
cursed relic used in dark rituals bring in more test subjects. He
that transform living beings’ offers wealth and physical enhance-
blood into a black liquid with ments in return. However, they will
unpredictable effects. have to surrender their comrades
• If broken (6 dmg), Morelius takes as guinea pigs to seal this pact.
10 dmg and lose 2 rounds on the
ground, catching his breath. Designer notes: The PCs find him
• If the PCs come into contact dragging one or more tied smugglers,
with the black liquid, roll on the about to inject them with black bile.
Cursed Blood table (P5). Since he moves through the dungeon, the
• He wears a bronze bracelet with encounter can occur anywhere.
runes engraved (opens the portal in After exploring 70%, it seems like a good
the 12.Laboratory). time to bring him in. Although, if you
• Aims to create a living collection of don’t like this “quantum” approach, you
unique, enhanced creatures. can add it to the random encounter table,
• Proposes an alliance: as experi- or just leave it stationary in the lab.