Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Reputed entrances to the Dungeons Below Wintoncester

A hole in an old Roman wall at the end of Crap Alley.  It's called Crap Alley because several houses along the south side of High Street are perched over it and anyone passing along the alley are in danger of sewage barrage.
Via the Chapel of St. Oswald in the Assassin's Guildhall.  Not that anyone knows where the Assassin's Guildhall is.
Beyond a triple-barred ironbound door in the cellar of the Wild Boar Tavern.  Old Bert, the proprietor, is said to allow usage of this doorway for a couple gold a head.
Through the torture chamber under Winton Castle.  This is one of the many rumored ways Empress Matilda escaped the siege of 1141.  Ask around, every gabber in the city has their own pet theory.
Under a hatch on the grounds of the Cathedral of St. Swithun.  The Cathedral is relatively new, the old cathedral was demolished to make way for it.  Rumor has it that the entrance to the catacombs are not encompassed by the new floorplan.
Down an ancient well, said to be in a small courtyard between a tavern and a blacksmithy.

18 comments:

  1. "It's called Crap Alley because several houses along the south side of High Street are perched over it and anyone passing along the alley are in danger of sewage barrage."

    Wouldn't that be true as a general rule?

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    1. Yes, but Crap Alley has no other known features.

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  2. Anonymous4:00 PM

    I'm sure the folks over at St. Swinthun's are going to be THRILLED when people start digging up their lawn.

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  3. Would Henry de Blois' "holy hole" connect up with the aforementioned catacombs?

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  4. Damn Jeff, this sounds great ! FWIW,I Once, had a dungeon enterance through an outhouse behind the inn......see, the cess pit which was under it had collapsed into an old passage. Then, goblins wandered up.....and patrons started not coming back.

    All because I have an outhouse mini in 25mm. Score one for having terrain.

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  5. Anonymous6:38 PM

    Down an ancient well, said to be in a small courtyard between a tavern and a blacksmithy.

    "Ignore it. It's only an old well."

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  6. Anonymous10:23 PM

    I like the detective work implied by these entrances... it seems like getting in would be an adventure in itself.

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  7. Anonymous12:19 AM

    Is the last one Diablo?

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    Replies
    1. I don't know what you mean by that, so I'll go with a 'no'.

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    2. I was thinking it sounded like the old AOL version of Neverwinter Nights where there was a dungeon entrance in an old well in Floodblest.

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    3. Anonymous1:10 PM

      There are plenty of "well entrances" in video games and modules and novels. In Pool of Radiance, in Kuto's Well, there's a dungeon entrance. I put stuff in wells all the time. It's like putting stuff behind a waterfall. The one time I didn't put ANYTHING behind a waterfall in a D&D game the party used Stone Shape to carve out a cache and hid their own loot there because they couldn't carry it all.

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    4. Anonymous6:47 AM

      Ah... Kutos well. That brings back memories. Pool of Radiance was one seriously large campaign.

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  8. Anonymous8:25 AM

    I'm curious if one of the possible entrances could be in a location that you would describe like this:

    "You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door. There is a small mailbox here."

    Then somewhere, possibly, Beneath the rug in the house, is a trap door leads down into a dark cellar. But what initially appears to be a cellar is actually one of several entrances to a vast subterranean land—the Great Underground Empire. (or simply the Dungeons below Wintoncester)

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  9. So...what's the clergy going to say if i emerge from a hatch on the grounds of the cathedral bearing all manner of shiny goodies and possibly the bodies of a dead henchman or two?

    Is it more likely to be "Well done there, brave lad!" or "Guards! Guards! Filthy grave robbing heathens have defiled the tombs!"

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    Replies
    1. Sounds to me like a perfect situation for rolling on the old Reaction chart. What's your Charisma?

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    2. 18/00, of course!

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