The Dungeon Below Merle's

(This picks up from The Penny-and-Gramme Inn, part of the I Smell A Rat adventure!)
== The Cellar ==
The cellar is about the same square-footage as the Inn above it. It's windowless, and remarkably deep (about 12' from floor to ceiling). There are several evenly-spaced pillars that cut the lamplight into vertical strips. The vaulted ceiling looks sturdy.
With normal vision and a lantern, the pillars are obvious, and you can dimly see the far walls. Along the walls and spaced near the pillars (GM's design), there are crates, barrels, racks for storage and jars of preserves. There's also a pile of debris on the opposite corner to the stairs you descended. The pillars each have torch holders and torches, but the floor looks... treacherous. Blurry, and gray.
=== Fanon addition: Necessary furniture ===
The cellar (as written) has no features besides the pillars and the junk pile. I've added a lot more set-dressing to the scene to make it more lived-in--and to make it make sense. It's silly to have rats in a cellar that's totally empty!
=== Something on the Floor... ===
The floor is matted with something translucent and hard to focus on. Only the stairs are free of it. An unmodified Vision roll (or Per-based Traps roll at +5) can determine these are Giant Spider webs--and they're particularly thick and matted. The webbing is fairly obvious, but dense, so there's no way through without burning them.
=== ...Ah, webs. Lovely. ===
* Anyone walking in a web hex is grappled by webs (ST 14), anyone falling down onto them in two hexes is grappled at ST 28!
* The webs can simply be burned at 3 points per hex. But as soon as that happens, see Skittering, below!
== Skittering ==
As soon as anyone enters or burns a web, a handful of huge spidersTry about one per party member emerge from breaches in the walls and attack! Likewise, anyone who's webbed is beset by a big spider. As expected, the spiders aren't affected by their own webs.
=== We aren't getting paid enough for this! ===
If the PCs are outmatched (or wish to flee), they can head back upstairs, with the spiders in hot pursuit. Tactically-minded PCs can determine that spiders have little trouble with bad footing, but it's still beneficial to attack from the high ground (net +1 to hit, and spiders at -2 to their dodges). Range C attacks and ranged attacks have no modifiers, but it's always better to strike the bite-only spiders from range!
=== Ms. Lee! Open the door! ===
Ms. Lee takes 2d seconds to open the door from the moment she hears footsteps running upstairs.
=== Well, that wasn't too bad... ===
If the players clear the area, they can head back up (click here), or continue towards the junk pile and hole on the far side of the room. (see Junk Pile below)
== The Junk Pile ==
In low light, you can tell there's something inanimate here. Upon closer inspection you'd see a pile of rubble and containers in various states of disrepair. If the party is not under the immediate danger of spiders, they can burn the webs and light the torches on the many pillars, gaining full visibility in the room.
Casks, planks, crates, and huge mound of loose dirt. Vision, Observation, or per-based Traps roll can tell you there's an opening, albeit barely. A History spell will reveal that spiders and rats use this passage. If looking back a week or more, this reveals that the barricade was created using some unknown magic (perhaps some kind of Move Household Items spell?).
=== Excavation ===
Clearing the path of dirt will take quite a lot of elbow greaseThe book recommends 10 hours of digging and hauling, although if the passage is big enough for the spiders, there should at least be a small opening already..., several hours of digging at least. If you need a bit more spice, a humongous spider may be drawn to the sound of the digging--they're clever beasts, and may see an opportunity to move in. If they dig through, they get to the Hallway (see below). 
* See: Smuggler's Hallway / The Hallway
If running something more slow-paced and non-combat, see Examination! 
=== Examination ===
If searching through the room, the PCs can find a few dozen dead rats (still valid for Lee's deal). A streetwise or history-knowledgeable PC may guess some cellars had secret doors, but it'll take a Vision/Observation/Traps roll at -5. If they find the door, it may take another IQ-based Traps roll to find the latch. If they get the door open, they can get to a small room--the Smuggler's Den. Beyond it is the Hallway.
* See: Smuggler's Hallway / Smuggler's Den
== See Also ==
* Light Sources
* Giant Spider
== References ==