Dungeon Dressing: Shrine

According to Emmerline’s Taxonomy, a shrine is a space dedicated to the veneration of a specific god, which, unlike a temple, has no permanent attendants. A shrine may be any size, but a small chamber, niche, or cairn is most common, though. Given the chaotic nature of many dungeon environments, it's a significant feat for a shrine to avoid vandalization for any period of time.

A popular shrine may have the protection and patronage of the surrounding denizens, even where these denizens are enemies to one another. This may be particularly true where the shrine offers some benefit, magical or otherwise. In some cases a shrine is considered neutral ground, though in others, it may be fought over as a valuable possession. Lit candles or recent offerings are a clear sign of regular patronage.

An unmolested shrine in a heavily trafficked dungeon area may also be a sign that the local population share the same religion or, more likely, that the shrine has a powerful protector nearby, possibly on a deeper level of the dungeon. A few shrines protect themselves from desecration via trap, curse, illusion, or teleportation. Some beneficial good shrines are able to disguise themselves, being visible only to good-inclined individuals.

Some races have characteristic shrines. Grey Mountain Gnolls, for example, leave noisome memorials wherever they travel as a means of marking their dominance.

Dungeon Dressing: Windows

Being underground, dungeon locations do not commonly include windows. Nevertheless, the humble window can be a significant and telling feature of the subterranean environment.

Dungeon windows are naturally of two types, exterior-facing or internal-facing. External windows may be encountered anywhere that a dungeon abuts a surface space, such as in a tower, ruin, pyramid, or mountain retreat. These can provide an excellent means of orienting your position in relation to the outside world, a source of light, or even a way in and out of the dungeon.

Internal windows are by no means rare, as there are any number of reasons to connect underground spaces in this way. Dark Elves in their great labyrinthine cities are known to relish the sounds of urban life, and their dwelling often include small windows that allow it to echo from room to room. Where there is a large cavern or hall, windows will open directly into it. Where there is no such great space, they will open onto major underground thoroughfares. Often these windows will be placed high up, or barred and trapped against assassins and thieves. By contrast, the various races of sentient fungus in their cavern villages do not use windows. The reason for this is unknown.

Light shafts, dimension doors, arrow slits, murder holes, and scrying devices are outside the scope of this article.

Dungeon Dressing: A Dead Adventurer!

Few sights are more mixed in their reception than the discovery of a dead adventurer, for on the one hand, to the jaded, it promises the possibility of treasure, but on the other, it represents the potential fate that awaits every delver. And then there’s the question of what caused the adventurer’s demise in the first place. The wise explorer always thinks of the cause of death before the value of treasure. A certain tribe of Gnolls in the northlands has taken to planting nests of poisonous arachnids on the corpses of fallen adventurers in hopes of gaining more victims and loot, though the efficacy of this practice has been somewhat degraded by overuse.

Dungeon Dressing: Canopic Jars

Canopic jars are used exclusively for the storage of human organs. Often canopic jars are associated with the ritual removal and storage of organs, possibly to preserve the deceased from arising in an undead state. In rare cases, however, they may be involved in rituals with the opposite purpose. An experienced cleric or magic user should have a good chance of determining which is the case. Most necromancers will know at a glance.

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Dungeon Dressing: Fireplaces

Fireplaces are common enough in shallow dungeons, burrows, and hobbit holes, but in the really deep dungeons, they are rare. The problem is the chimney. The Dwarves have learned the trick of creating deep networked chimneys that make use of natural faults in the stone. As a result, Dwarven constructions may have working fireplaces even in very deep dungeons. The flue is almost always well barred against monsters and vermin, though there are occasional exceptions. Only a very brave or foolhardy adventurer would enter such a place, however, due to the danger of encountering a monster in a difficult enclosed space. Dwarven fireplaces may also occasionally feature a hidden compartment for the storage of gems. Gold is never kept in such a heated space. Powerful magic users such as wizards or Rakshasa also relish the luxury of a fireplace, though theirs are more apt to be illusionary or otherwise magical. Adventurers should beware of a burning fireplace in an otherwise abandoned area, as this is a sure sign of old, powerful magic and a misstep could trigger an arcane explosion, or bring them face-to-face with an angry fire elemental.

Dungeon Dressing: Amphorae

Amphorae are tall vessels with two handles used for the storage of valuable liquids in bulk transport, usually by sea. Their presence in a dungeon setting may hint at smuggling operations, or perhaps buried treasure. Occasionally one will encounter a rare form permeated with stellated crystals of ethereal origin. These valuable containers are sometimes used by the Dron to transport arcane unguents across the ethereal plane.

You Walk into a Room...

7 things to put into a dungeon room:

1. Dozens of jars, carefully sealed with wax, containing dried preserves
2. Someone has tracked dirty footprints across the floor
3. A banana peel
4. Remains of a furious fight, including dozens of tiny black arrows and black iron swords with hooks on the ends
5. The skeleton of a dungeon creature, much too large to have fit through any door
6. For a generation, monsters, adventurers, and others have left graffiti carved into the ancient wood beams
7. A makeshift cairn to an unknown tribal deity