Seaside Sanctuary

Beyond the bay, just beyond the curve of the horizon past the docks, the jagged mountains meet the waves - their gray face a static bulwark against the persistent crash of the sea. Carved within the mountain itself is a grand cathedral - a sanctuary by the seaside - crafted by the hands of another time to honor a god for a forgotten people: and a vault for the treasure of long lost tithes. 

There is a door, through the mountains - if you care to brave the orcs; or there is a hole in one of its crumbling spires - if you can find a way up the cliff face past the nest of harpies. But - if you care to chance a fisherman's commission, a skilled seaman can bring a skiff up to a lonely portico above the waves. At high tide, you may not even need a rope to climb - all the more space in your pack to haul back whatever finds you!

Seaside Sanctuary

The inspiration for Seaside Sanctuary, a large, formerly monastic order and cathedral built atop the cliff face overlooking a saltwater sound, was the idea of coming into a dungeon at a level that wasn't the first. Instead of popping in at ground level and working your way down, you'd be in the midst right away - going up or going down, both options, and if you weren't keeping tabs on how many staircases you climbed, you may get stuck with no way out save blind luck to find an egress.

For now, two levels are mapped on graph paper, provided here below alongside a label to track the progress of the dungeon. Planned for now, from bottom to top:

1. Cave: a three level underbelly, the lowest levels of which are totally submerged and home to a mer-folk necromancer and his acolytes. The middle layer would have some sections submerged, others not, based on the tide: producing the necessity for dynamic routing for a party running low on light.
2. Monastary: the administrative, housing, and crypt for the original inhabitants: a mix of terrains, now home to three rival factions: a death cult seeking the secrets of the mer-folk below; kobolds, forced below by the warring orcs and goblins above to make a new home int he depths; and the restless dead - relentlessly marching the halls, guarding the bones and secrets below.
3. Cathedral: Vertical levels going up - home to a mess of orcs and goblins vying for control over the interior. Each of several levels faces inward around a central space: once a glorious place of worship - now, a wasteland of broken pieces and decay: a killing field for those foolish enough to cross it. Intended to provide multiple, obvious overlooks into different levels; dynamic access both for adventuring characters and for random encounters.
4. Bell Towers: Two towers, one on the north and one on the south side, rising independently of one another. Free from the orcs below - these are up in the air (har har) as to what inhabits them: though harpies might be fun for one; and the other - maybe clockwork guardians. We will see when we get there.

Mapping, I started at the entry I was inspired to make the map for. These maps would belong to section 2 above; with the second perchance being the point of transition into the caves. Apologies for image quality; loaded from mobile rather than a proper scanner - but the plan is to digitize a map eventually anyway.

"Ground" Level, Entry via Boat

Sub-Level 1, Crypt

Key is had-written for Ground Level - but one of my boys is sick; will have to wait to transcribe and post it another day.

Game on!