The Hills
The swamp peters out and turns into miles of grassy hills. Dotted with the occasional 'sinkhole.'
There are also piles of bleached bones lying here and there among the hills. The holes and bones have a sickly sweet odor about them.
About halfway through the hills the Cavemen will run into a few Giant Ant scouts from the massive colony below the hills.
Each ant is dug into shallow pit just below the grassy turf. The pits are spread out at the top of the hills. When the Cavemen approacheth within ten feet of a pit an ant will pop halfway out of the pit with a 1-4 on a d6 chance of surprise. The sickly sweet odor of the ant or the waving of grass might give the pit away.
If surprised a helpless Cavedope is dragged into the ten foot deep pit for personal time with the ant in question.
If not surprised the ant leaps out of the pit to engage the party.
Once they are aware of the danger their surprise drops to the normal odds. Once they make it through the picket of ant pits they can see the ashy sky and smell the burning lava of the Firelands.
Giant Ant scout
HD: 3
Hp: 18
AC: 3[16]
Attacks: +3 to hit, Bite (1d6+ poison)
Saving Throw: 14
Move: 180/60
Alignment: Neutral
Special: poison (2d6 or 1d4 with a Saving throw).
THE FIRELANDS
The Firelands are rocky ash covered hills with open lava pits and flows. Ruins of a pre-human civilization dot the landscape, blasted from existence eons ago by an ancient volcano. Very few animals live in this waste, mostly insects and lizards, which prompt the Fire Ape tribes to range north to more fertile lands for meat and captives.
The Apemen that stole the tribe's women live in cave temple of the ancients.
Their tracks to and from the cave has worn a clear path to follow.
The number of Apemen in the caves and their locations and movements are up to the GM.
The chambers and tunnels are not natural, being rough-hewn but level by a pre-human/ape Serpentman civilization with far more advanced technology. The floors are littered with centuries of rubble: bones, stones, broken petrified wood, etc from centuries of use by the Fire Apes. The treacherous footing calls for use of the Combat Chaos rules:
During combat when a character or creature rolls a natural one on the d20 roll, roll a 1d6 and consult the following chart.
1. Trip and fall: stunned (-2 hit.-2 AC) one round.
2. Twist ankle. Half movement for 1d4 days.
3. Step on sharp object: 1 pont damage, half movemenet for 1d3 rounds.
4. Wrench shoulder: arm useless for 1d4 days.
5. Hit self: damage yourself.
6. Crack head: stunned (-2 hit.-2 AC) for 1d6 rounds.
Scattered throughout the complex is a number of small glowing stones the size of a small hen's egg in a variety of colors. They give a weak light source of 10' diameter.
1 The ledge and cistern:
The ledge leading up to the cave opening is of black volcanic rock and ash. It is roughly ten feet wide. A pool of lava lays fifty feet below the ledge dropoff. A large stone cistern, filled with brackish but drinkable water sits near the opening to the tunnel. A crude wooden and hide cover keeps the majority and ash out of the water.
None have dared to attack their lair before and the arrogant Apemen do not keep a guard out here.
Lava damage
⦁ Fall into a pit: death
⦁ Lava flow: 2d6 per round while exposed.
2 Entry tunnel:
A cube shape roughly fifteen feet wide and forty feet long. The tunnel is dim save for the dim light from outside the caves and the orange glow from the heart chamber.
3 Heart chamber:
The central chamber of the cave complex. It is roughly one hundred by seventy feet. The flat, smooth ceilng rises thirty feet into the air. A large lava pit drops twenty feet in the center of the chamber. Five more tunnels branch off and four ancient carved columns stand in the cave corners. The floor is worn down and the walls are faded mosaics and carvings of serpentmen and strange beasts. Strange glyphs which the Cavemen have no idea are run around the chamber.
A surprise lurks on the ceiling. A giant spider the size of a pony lairs here, fed by the Apemen from their raids, and acts as a guard. It lurks on the ceiling and will attempt to drop on and surprise the Cavemen after they enter.
Giant Spider
HD: 2+2
Hp: 12
AC: 6[13]
Attack: +3 to hit, 1 bite (1d6 + poison);
Saving Throw: 16
Move: 180/60
Alignment: Neutral
Special: lethal poison (Save or die), 1-4 in 6 chance to surprise prey.
4 Sword chamber:
A narrow unlit tunnel leads to a thirty-five by thirty feet chamber with a flat ceiling rising thirty feet. The room is dominated by a three tier platform of glossy green stone rising fifteen feet into the air. Atop the platform is a two-handed sword, stuck point first. It is a +1 sword, shiny and as strong as the day it was forged.
Any Caveman pulling the sword sets off an ancient blade trap.
Gears grind and long closed slots open across the platform and walls. Ribbon blades whip out of the slots filling the room. The ancient trap winds down after three rounds of edged chaos. Each round a Caveman remains he must make a Saving throw or take 2d6 damage. Once the trap has unwound it is inert. The room is now an obstacle course of dead blades causing movement to be halved in the room.
5 Guardian's den:
A small tunnel leads to a squalid den. The smell is palpable halfway to the lair.
Feces, bones, and God knows what else encrust this chamber. Chained to the wall are a dozen baboons which are used as dogs by the Fire Apes. If the Cavemen are discovered the set loose upon them in a wild melee rush.
Baboons
HD: 1
Hp: 6
AC: 7 [12]
Attack: +1 to hit, Bite ( 1d4)
Saving Throw: 17
Move: 120/40
Alignment: Neutral
6 Apeman den:
Slightly less squalid than the Baboon den is this room. The lair itself is a large chamber filled with dirty furs, bones, feathers, shrunken heads, and other trinkets in piles all across the room or hanging from cracks and carved frescoes on the walls. Ancient wooden bed frames, smashed and petrified with age, lay in the corners. A small fire in the center of the room is the only illumination.
A large crystal pylon (marked with a C on the map) stands in a corner of the den, a four sided pyramid.
It is an ancient teleport device. One can step through the flat side facing out and emerge from an identical pylon in Area 10. The teleport works both ways. If a heavy object such as a petrified table or large boulder is placed in front of it the teleport does not work. Only one creature at a time can enter the pylons. The Apemen do not like using the pylon due to their primitive superstition but will do so if they know there are invaders in the caves. It will most likely be used as a flanking device.
During the day a few Apemen children and women are here. During the evening the room is filled with males, females, and children piled into sleeping heaps.
Apemen
HD: 2
Hp: 10
AC: 7 [12]
Attack: +2 to hit, Unarmed ( 1d4) or Weapon (1d6)
Saving Throw: 16
Move: 120/40
Alignment: Chaos
7 Pyramid chamber:
A large 20' four sided pyramid of black stone. Atop the pyramid is a giantic petrified lizard head with two glowing red eyes. The glow comes from two special glow gems. When touched by a living thing that has lost hit points they automatically heal 1d6 hp and the stone goes dark, never to be used again.
8 Secret room:
Ancient petrified chests, locks and hinges long rusted away. Inside are piles of gold and silver coins. The Cavedweebs have no idea what these thing are, other than possibly shiny amusements to trade for other items. Two more of the red healing stones are here, in a cracking lizard skin pouch.
A large four feet tall stone jar stands in the center of the room. The lid can be pried off. To do so breaks the ancient spell keeping its prisoner locked away. A Spawn of Tsathoggua springs out with a roll of 1-4 chance on a 1d6 to surprise the Cavefodder. It is super pissed and ready to take out its frustrations.
Spawn of Tsathoggua
HD: 5
Hp: 33
AC:4 [15]
Attacks: +8 to hit, Two unarmed attacks ( 1d8)
Saving Throw: 13
Move: 120/40
Alignment: Chaos
The Spawn is a tarry ooze which can move up walls, along ceilings, or through the smallest cracks. It is immune to normal weapons, only magical weapons, spells, or fire damages the thing. It attacks up to three times per round with whipping tentacle doing 1d6 damage per hit. It can also choose to make only one attack per round, engulfing a victim in its body. It can ony do this to one man-sized victim at a time. The victim must make a Saving Throw (Dragon Breath) or be fully engulfed and take 1d6 damage per round as he is digested. If he made the Saving throw the victim is only partially engulfed and can fight back. Any attacks on the Spawn when it has fully engulfed a victim does half to the victim inside and none to the Spawn unless it is vulnerable to the attack. If the Spawn is killed before the victim is digested, the victim survives.
9 Pillar room:
The skeleton of a giant Ape, at least ten feet tall, slumps chained between two pillars. It is long dead. Shreds of mummified flesh and teeth marks cover the bony frame. Light from the Cavemen's torches or glowstones cause shadows to move on the skeleton, giving the illusion that it is moving.
10 Lava bridges
The room is a large chamber. In the center is a series of lava pits. The room is guarded with Apemen and Baboons. To get past the Cavies must defeat them.
A crystal pylon pyramid teleporter stands in on corner linked to Area 6.
11 Tunnel
Roughly ten feet wide. The tunnel is dimly lit in orange from the lava pits on each end.
12 Lava pits/Throne room:
A massive room with numerous lava pits cut into the floor.
One of the step stones over a pit is trapped. When stepped on it flips throwing whoever stepped on it. Save or die.
Another small tunnel leads from the chamber.
Over one of the pits a group of Apemen have stretched logs and are roasting what looks like a small gaggle of Cavehobbits caught earlier for supper. They do not take kindly to the interruption.
In the far end of the chamber, past the myriad pits, sits a massive onyx throne and on the throne is the Fire God of the Apemen.
A half a dozen frightened Cavewomen are chained to the wall behind the throne. Fresh and old blackened and chewed Cavewomen bones lie in heaps around the throne.
The Fire God is an alien creature which fell to earth eons ago; a Rock Ape. It is gigantic, covered in rocky hide and has evil glowing red eyes. It is cruel and prefers to eat the meat of Cavewomen and the occasional Cavebaby. It spends much of its time bathing in the lava or sitting on the massive onyx throne.
The Rock Ape, Fire God of the Apemen
HD: 8
Hp: 43
AC:4 [15]
Attacks: +8 to hit, Two unarmed attacks ( 1d8)
Saving Throw: 10
Move: 120/40
Alignment: Chaos
Special: Heat immunity, heat from lava.
The Rock Ape is immune to the heat of the lava and can swim through it.
When the Rock Ape emerges from the lava it gains an extra +1d4 to damage from being glowing hot. This lasts for 1d6+6 rounds. It can be renewed if the Rock Ape dives into the lava and reemerges.
13 The Lair of Gorchutk
A hidden room, a former holy shrine to the Serpentmen, converted into a swinging Apemen bachelor pad by the massive Apeman warleader and second in command to the Fire God. The room is dominated by a massive fur and straw pallet, massive humanoid and dinosaur skull furniture, and several glowstones for illumination. Gorchutk has a fetish for Cavehobbit women and two of the feral shorties live here with him. He retains the secret door to the room as a means of privacy. His men can get his attention by banging on the hidden stone door, they all know its here
If aroused from his party time (such as by a massive brawl with the Apemen and Fire God in Area 12) Gorchutk will attack savagely with a metal battleaxe he found at the former shirine. His Cavehobbit lovebunnies will attack as well.
Gorchutk, Apeman Warlord
HD: 4
Hp: 20
AC: 7 [12]
Attack: +4 to hit, Unarmed ( 1d4+2) or Battleaxe (1d8+2)
Saving Throw: 14
Move: 120/40
Alignment: Chaos
Feral Cavehobbit Loveslaves
HD: 1+1
Hp: 6
AC: 7 [12]
Attack: +1 to hit, Scratch and bite (1d4)
Saving Throw: 17
Move: 120/40
Alignment: Chaos
The female Cavehobbits have been together a long time. If they attack the same target they get a +1 bonus to attack.
14 Tunnel of Death
This long twisting tunnel is one giant death trap. When the Cavemeats reach the end the trap is sprung. A stone door drops down over the entrance and a pulse of energy surges through the tunnel, the last gasp of antediluvian Serpentman war technology, the Madness Ray. Everyone caught in the tunnel must make a Saving throw (death ray) or be struck with a berserk rage and attack everyone else in the tunnel.
While berserking the Caveberserks receive a +2 bonus to attacks and damage rolls. The effect lasts for 2d6+6 rounds then they return to normal.
The door at the end of the tunnel can be opened by finding the hidden switch, a 1 in 8 chance per round.
Endgame
Survive. Get the women. Gain a few items. Go home as big heroes.
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