--- "The Viper's Nest" Slum Hideout Map ---
[GROUND FLOOR] [Discreet Alley Entrance (GF1) - Entrance] --- [Makeshift Guard Post (GF2)] --- [Common Room (GF3)] | | [Storage & Salvage (GF4)] --- [Kitchen & Prep (GF5)] | | (Stairs Up) V [SECOND FLOOR] [Stairwell Landing 2F (SF1)] --- [Crew Quarters (SF2)] --- [Training Area (SF3)] | | [Smuggler's Den (SF4)] --- [Lookout Post (SF5)] | | (Stairs Up) V [THIRD FLOOR] [Stairwell Landing 3F (TF1)] --- [Captain's Personal Quarters (TF2)] --- [Secret Meeting Room (TF3)] | | [Interrogation Room (TF4)] --- [Encrypted Ledger Vault (TF5) - Objective]
--- Ground Floor ---
--- Area 1 (Discreet Alley Entrance - Entrance) --- Description: Tucked away in a grimy, graffiti-scarred alley, a reinforced, unmarked door is the only sign of this hideout. The air is thick with the smell of refuse and damp stone, and the distant sounds of the bustling slums are muffled here. This is the primary point of entry. Exits/Connections: To Makeshift Guard Post (GF2) (North).
--- Area 2 (Makeshift Guard Post) --- Description: This small, cramped room serves as a forward guard position. A single, rickety table holds a deck of greasy cards and a few half-eaten scraps of food. Crude lanterns cast flickering shadows on the grimy walls, revealing a few discarded weapons. Exits/Connections: To Discreet Alley Entrance (GF1) (South), To Common Room (GF3) (East), To Storage & Salvage (GF4) (North). Creatures: It has creatures (type: bandits).
--- Area 3 (Common Room) --- Description: This large, smoke-filled room serves as the gang's communal gathering space. Overturned wooden chairs and tables are scattered around a perpetually smoldering brazier. The walls are adorned with crude, hand-drawn maps of the city and boasts of past heists. Exits/Connections: To Makeshift Guard Post (GF2) (West).
--- Area 4 (Storage & Salvage) --- Description: Heaps of salvaged goods – broken furniture, rusted tools, and odd pieces of machinery – are piled haphazardly in this cluttered room. The air is dusty and smells of damp wood and mildew. Narrow paths weave through the junk. Exits/Connections: To Makeshift Guard Post (GF2) (South), To Kitchen & Prep (GF5) (East), Stairs up to Stairwell Landing 2F (SF1). Creatures: It has creatures (type: bandits). Encounter Type: Battle Area
--- Area 5 (Kitchen & Prep) --- Description: This grimy kitchen contains a large, sooty hearth, a few stained workbenches, and overflowing refuse bins. The smell of rancid grease and stale food hangs heavy in the air. Crude knives and cleavers hang on racks, some with dried stains. Exits/Connections: To Storage & Salvage (GF4) (West). Trap: It contains a trap (type: tripwire connected to a clattering cascade of pots and pans). Perception DC 13 to spot. Potential Damage: 1d8/T1, 2d8/T2, 3d8/T3, 4d8/T4 Sonic/Alarm.
--- Second Floor ---
--- Area SF1 (Stairwell Landing 2F) --- Description: The creaking wooden staircase ascends to this narrow, dimly lit landing. Faint murmurs of conversation and the clink of glassware can be heard from the rooms beyond. The walls here are covered in more crude graffiti. Exits/Connections: Stairs down to Storage & Salvage (GF4), To Crew Quarters (SF2) (East).
--- Area SF2 (Crew Quarters) --- Description: This cramped room is filled with several simple cots and personal footlockers, many forced open. Tattered clothing and discarded personal items are strewn about. The air is stale and smells strongly of unwashed bodies and cheap spirits. Exits/Connections: To Stairwell Landing 2F (SF1) (West), To Training Area (SF3) (South). Creatures: It has creatures (type: bandits).
--- Area SF3 (Training Area) --- Description: This open space has clearly been used for combat practice. Scratches and gouges mark the walls, and a few blunted training weapons lie on the floor alongside worn sparring dummies. A heavy punching bag, stuffed with rags, hangs from a ceiling beam. Exits/Connections: To Crew Quarters (SF2) (North), To Smuggler's Den (SF4) (West). Secret Passages/Areas: A loose section of brickwork behind a worn tapestry (Perception DC 17 to find) conceals a narrow, disused ventilation shaft that provides a hidden route to the Lookout Post (SF5).
--- Area SF4 (Smuggler's Den) --- Description: This room serves as a central hub for the gang's illicit dealings. Barrels of contraband liquor, bales of suspicious fabric, and a few sealed crates are stacked here. The air is thick with the smell of smuggled goods and illicit profits. Exits/Connections: To Training Area (SF3) (East), To Lookout Post (SF5) (North), Stairs up to Stairwell Landing 3F (TF1). Creatures: It has creatures (type: bandits). Encounter Type: Battle Area
--- Area SF5 (Lookout Post) --- Description: This small, high room has a reinforced, barred window overlooking the alley below, providing a clear vantage point. A single chair and a spyglass sit next to the window. Empty bottles and a few discarded ration packs litter the floor. Exits/Connections: To Smuggler's Den (SF4) (South). Trap: It contains a trap (type: strategically placed bell on door frame). Perception DC 14 to spot. Potential Damage: 1d8/T1, 2d8/T2, 3d8/T3, 4d8/T4 Sonic/Alarm.
--- Third Floor ---
--- Area TF1 (Stairwell Landing 3F) --- Description: The final set of stairs leads to a hushed, heavily guarded landing. The air here is colder, and the silence is broken only by the distant, muffled sounds of the hideout below. The walls are unadorned stone. Exits/Connections: Stairs down to Smuggler's Den (SF4), To Captain's Personal Quarters (TF2) (East).
--- Area TF2 (Captain's Personal Quarters) --- Description: This room is surprisingly well-furnished for a slum hideout, with a comfortable bed, a sturdy desk, and a locked wooden chest. Scattered papers, half-eaten meals, and a few discarded weapons suggest recent occupancy. A faint, metallic smell hangs in the air. Exits/Connections: To Stairwell Landing 3F (TF1) (West), To Secret Meeting Room (TF3) (South). Creatures: It has creatures (type: bandits - elite personal guards).
--- Area TF3 (Secret Meeting Room) --- Description: This small, heavily insulated room is clearly used for clandestine meetings. A single, round table is surrounded by four chairs. The walls are bare, and the only light comes from a single, hooded lantern. The air feels oppressive and tense. Exits/Connections: To Captain's Personal Quarters (TF2) (North), To Interrogation Room (TF4) (West).
--- Area TF4 (Interrogation Room) --- Description: This grim chamber contains only a single, heavy wooden chair with restraints, a rusty iron basin, and a variety of cruel-looking implements hanging on the wall. Dark stains mar the stone floor. The air is cold and carries a faint, lingering scent of fear. Exits/Connections: To Secret Meeting Room (TF3) (East), To Encrypted Ledger Vault (TF5) (South). Creatures: It has creatures (type: bandits - enforcers/interrogators). Encounter Type: Battle Area
--- Area TF5 (Encrypted Ledger Vault - Objective) --- Description: This small, highly secure room is protected by a thick, steel-reinforced door with multiple complex locks and perhaps a magical ward. Inside, a single, heavily chained and locked wooden chest rests on a stone pedestal. This chest contains the small, encrypted ledger, its cover emblazoned with a subtle, almost unnoticeable symbol that ties it to the corrupt City Watch captain. Exits/Connections: To Interrogation Room (TF4) (North). Encounter Type: BOSS FIGHT! Objective: This area is designed for the final confrontation with the rival criminal outfit's leader (the 'boss') or their most trusted guardian. The objective is to retrieve the "small, encrypted ledger" from this vault. The ledger details the rival's "dirty dealings with a corrupt City Watch captain," fulfilling Silas's request. The challenge lies in reaching this secure location and dealing with its defenses to obtain the sensitive information that could "destabilize the entire underworld."
