Down in the Dregs is a self-contained adventure I put together for the IKRPG as a tie-in for the launch of their latest set of dungeon tiles. Designed to be dropped into an ongoing campaign as easily as be the starting point for a new one, it features a number of widely applicable quest hooks and potential avenues for expanding upon what's presented.

The adventure revolves around the dregg, a skulking race of monstrous humanoids obsessed with pain and the artful inflicting of it on both their own flesh and that of any unfortunate enough to cross their path. A band of the foul creatures has set up camp in an abandoned ruin not far from a major trade route through the mountainous wilds and begun striking out at the caravans and villages nearby.

The recent capture of a shipment of firearms and the master gunsmith accompanying it, however, has turned them from just another danger of the long road into a threat that must be dealt with.

The heroes, drawn into the conflict for a number of different reasons, depending on their background, must track the raiders back to their lair, purge the dregg, and recover what supplies and survivors they can from the fiends.

Chaotic ambushes, pain-fueled savagery, and the agonizing touch of the torturer's blade await them in the deep dark of the ancient tunnels.

Playing off the main themes of the dregg, which would be scavenging, tormenting others, and being fueled by pain, gave rise to a solid handful of representative adversaries that could be swapped around and reused to populate the whole dungeon. The interactions within the various combinations keeps things interesting, but always feels appropriately “dregg-y”. Two bosses, each of which takes one of those themes and cranks it to eleven, round out the cast in a very satisfying way, both for the gm and the players facing them.

The design of the dungeon itself was informed by the limited nature of the map tiles the adventure was supporting, but a little creative rearrangement and strategic layering (always a good thing to keep in mind when working with tiles) yielded several tactically interesting battlefields that require multiple approaches to get the most out of.