A Dungeon

Dungeon

Probably can be placed in most settings. Levels 0-5. Very small.

The Exile's Tomb

1. The Offering Room: 25ftx25ft Dead flowers, apple cores, and bread husks are scattered around. Difficult check finds a talisman (detailed at the end). Doors on the north and east end (Prince's room and Gestalt tomb respectively). entrance on the south wall. Info: the bodies and souls of those exiled from their homes and denied judgement often make their way here, and it is a regular duty of church-affiliated adventurers to purify the souls within.
2. The Prince's Room: 20ftx20ft Statue in the center (man with sword, eyes crudely scratched out) above a coffin. 1d4 shadows, or other level appropriate incorporeal undead. When defeated, statue crumbles to reveal 10sp/gp (whatever is standard) and a longsword (damage dice one step higher for 1d6 days). Info: This room is generally inhabited by the followers of a long dead prince and his line. The sword found in the statue was once a sword lost in the swamp surrounding the tomb. Most of the adventurers that come to the tomb don't enter the prince's room, seeing it as unnecessary.
   
3. The Gestalt Tomb: 25ftx50ft. Lined with stone coffins (corpses only have junk). Each time the room is entered, 50% chance to wake up the combined ghost of the common dead (friendly, knows nearly everything about the dungeon, wants to be purified. possible warlock/cleric patron). Exits on the east wall (Family and killer's room).
4.  Family Tomb: 20ftx20ft. simple trap in front of entrance. Richly decorated coffins (10 sp/gp if gold leaf is removed haphazardly). 25% chance 1d3 will rise as zombies if tomb is desecrated. 10 sp/gp in on bodies. Info: tomb of a rich merchant family, exiled for treason.
5. Killer's Room: 20ftx20ft. Initially sealed, unsealed by gestalt ghost. Pitch black coffin in center. Phantom emerges. If killed, drops Mad Book (see end) and a +0 cursed dagger (curse of dm's choice). Info: A madman was laid here; he was essentially Jack the Ripper. Adventurers should be advised that this room is dangerous.

Treasure

• Talisman: When carried by, or directed towards, a dying creature, that creature automatically makes their next death save. In addition, any psychopomps or spirits they may be fighting in the ethereal world are reduced to half health. The Talisman breaks after one use.
• Mad Book: A scroll book containing two random warlock 1st level spells. Casting either of these spells for the first time causes 1 point of wisdom damage.

How do I use this?

It's a dungeon. It's best when it is the first dungeon the players encounter. The rooms are designed to sort players into their party roles: The Prince Room, Gestalt Tomb, Family Tomb, and Killer's room provide helpful/necessary items to fighters, clerics, rogues, and magic-users respectively, with challenges to fit their niche. It's simple, but it's also the first dungeon in the game.

[This was sitting in my drafts for a while, and I figured I should publish it since it fits this month's RPG carnival theme]

The Elfin War

Optional History: The Nephim

The earliest era known to historians of the Great Sea is the pre-marine era, when the earthly sphere was entirely desert, ruled by the goddess Cthon. The nephim were the humanoids designed by the three goddesses to survive the harsh desert and house the most powerful souls. The lesser souls that would become humans solely dwelt in the spheres above and below at this point.

The immortal nephim built the great black pyramids that dot the known lands, and enjoyed prosperity until the fall of Cthon and the creation of the Lords of Pain. After the fall of Cthon, Selene, who had previously ruled the underworld, caused an global ocean to form, far larger than the Great Sea. The nephim who survived on the sparse islands, though their population was less than a thousand, were given human souls from both above and below to rule over. When they ruled justly, they would ascend to the lunar sphere. When they were cruel, they were thrown to the underworld. When Gaia began her era and made the Great Sea, the nephim numbered less than five members.

The Great King Gu

Gu was a good man. Gu was a good warrior. Gu was a good strategist. Gu was, however, a terrible king. 

Gu was the first king after the nephim. He was what people today would call an elf, but there wasn't any distinction back then. Some people just lived longer than others. In fact, Gu is the ancestor to all modern elfs. He conquered, ruled, and seduced half the known world in his 200 years of life. 

At the height of his reign, he ruled over what is now all the human and elfin kingdoms. "Ruled," however, is a tentative term. The extent of his sovereignty was the taxes levied on the various city-states who governed themselves (mostly on the laws of the nephim). The provinces under his control warred constantly, though none dared approach the capital. After his death, his, "empire," shattered.

The root of the problem was this: the kings before him were nephim. No precedent was set for succession, because they were immortal. No precedent was set for enforcement, because they were divinely appointed. So the empire of Gu fell. 

The scholar priests of Selene posit that Gu was born of the unlikely (possibly miraculous) union of a nephim and a human. Thus, they say, he inherited the right of rulership, and passed it on to his children, the elves. It should come as no surprise that Selene is worshiped near exclusively in the elfin kingdoms.

The Thousand Heirs of Creation

Every elf is a bastard. Bastard blood from father to son, grandfather to father (though the length of an elfin generation makes about only 4-5 generations since Gu was alive). But Gu never bore a true heir, one that held the same strength of dominion as he did. So all elves fight for a throne given to no one.

When Gu died, all of his children made a bid for the crown. They seized control of whatever towns they could and went to war. The First Kings War never truly stopped. However, by the second generation, most of the full blooded humans rose up, under the banner of Patriarch Mortimer I, coincidentally the first patriarch, and conquered the holy city of Cerulemen (which was, of course, not holy then) as refugees.

To keep a strong claim, all elves seek to keep their bloodline as pure as possible. To make a half-elf is to waste a child. The first generation was when most of the families lost their claim: while most intermarried with humans, the more cunning/willful/insane pressured the Fatefire Mages. Within a few decades, a spell was devised to entwine an elf soul with chaotic magic, making elves fateless, magical, and unable to produce children with birth defects. Thus were born the True elves, born with fire in their heart from two children of Gu. The incest of the True elves was one of the factors leading to the Crusade of Cerulemen.

After the Crusade, the elf kings (of which there were 40-60)  were left with a few hundred human farmers and a few dozen half-elf bastard knights each. They couldn't levy farmers, especially not anymore, and they couldn't risk their knights. In addition, the human war-machine had begun in the east, conquering the previously elf-held southern plains and killing almost half of the elves there. For a few generations, all the elves could collectively manage was a rather poor defense and a great deal of intrigue.

The Second Kings War

After 400 years, or 3-4 elfin generations, The Kings War slowly restarted. The population of both humans and half-elves under the control of the Elf kings has returned to historic levels, and the Great Crusade has slowed to a crawl due to public disinterest and the fact that it has lasted for 400 years (though, again, technically never finished). Thus, without real outside threat, and now with actual armies, the elves reaffirmed to themselves that, yes, this land belongs to me and hey that guy's land should also belong to me.

Pretty much any elf or half-elf can make a claim and enter the war as a new belligerent. I'll detail mechanics for players making a claim a bit later.

One of the Elf Kings probably turned into this.

[Gotta cite this post for the True Elves and probably some other bits]