I'll post more, sure - all I need is a tiny bit of encouragement!
This is the level just below the one posted first. The dungeon has 4 levels, which I'm calling 1-4 based on the sequence a party is likely to encounter them, and also in terms of the difficulty. But geographically, 1-3 get deeper into the earth, whereas level 4 is actually above the mine, reachable only by the elevator (E near area 7 below). (There is a secret entrance directly into dungeon level 4 from the outside which is a conceivable point of entry as well.)
This map here is reachable from the one earlier posted in 4 ways:
-The leftmost caverns with arrows on both maps are joined together (though I see now I have the arrowheads facing each other, which is a little silly)
-The elevator shaft in area 4 from the first map lines up with the elevator shaft near area 7 on this map
-The larger lake in area 14 is the same lake as the one in area 12a in the first map; in the first map the room is crossed up high on the rope bridge but conceivably one could get down to lake level directly
-The floor trap in area 7 from the first map is the ceiling trap of area 13 on the following map; normally this is used to dump ore into this level from the level posted above
Here's the key I've roughed out. I know these RPG elements are a little off topic for this forum, but I present them in order to get advice on the map. Each room has a function in the mine, and I assume that whoever built the mine would have done so in the most efficient way possible, making allowances for constraints offered by the rock, location of water and lava sources, etc.
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KEY:
1 - Entry cavern.
2 - Ore processing room (hence the rubble/dirt on the floor). Ore from the mines is received here and moved into area 15.
3 - Guard room. Baddies who make certain there's no unlawful entry or contraband smuggled out.
4, 5, 6 - Quarters for 6 Dwarven goldsmiths who are the "brains" of the refining operation.
7 - Elevator room - Final product is shipped up to the command level (Dungeon Level 4, coming soon). The elevator is operated by an ogre or troll or like creature (still trying to decide) on the upper level; to request raising or lowering, the refinery monsters strike a chime twice, which echoes up the shaft. The elevator here is small compared to the shaft it sits in; a thief could reconnoiter by climbing the sheer surface of the shaft. Probably no more than 4 armored creatures can ride the elevator at once.
8, 9 - Quarters of the refinery level slave masters (hobgoblins? orcs?)
10 - Prison entry. A locked door leads to the slave quarters.
11 - a is a vestibule; b and c are slave quarters. Slaves work 12 hour shifts in the vat rooms (15 to 1; one pen holds the day shift and the other the night shift. All refinery level slaves are women (mostly human); mining level slaves are male. The party's motivation is recovery of a husband and wife; these are on 2 different levels. The wife will either be here or in a vat room (50% chance).
12 - Storage room. Final product is stored here until a large enough load is ready to be moved up the elevator.
13 - Ore room. Promising ore from the mining levels is dumped into this room and eventually sorted and gathered by slaves. (The rubble/dust shown on the map for rooms 13 - 18 indicate the heavy use of these rooms in processing ore; there is crumbled rock all over the place.)
14 - Underground lake. This lake is about thigh-deep in most places and is fed from a deeper spring. The water is used to wash the ore, for hydration, for bathing, etc. Slaves gather water here to distribute to other locations in the mine as needed. The room itself is 30-40 feet high; a rope bridge (dashed line) crosses it about 18 feet above the lake; adventurers may well cross the bridge when on the level above.
15 - Water vats. Ore is washed and cooled here.
16 - Acid vats. In my reading about gold refining, I learned that certain acids (hydrogen cyanide) are used to remove gold from rock ore. When necessary, ore is treated here. This will be a very dangerous room, with acid vapors causing damage to anyone staying in the room too long. Vapors are evacuated through shafts in the ceiling; I may connect this to a trap or dangerous room in the level above. I'd love to find an intelligent humanoid monster that is immune to acid that might supervise the work here.
17 - Lava vats. This room may cause heat damage. Inside are lava filled vats for melting metal; the heat is also used in certain extraction recipes. The doors to this room are periodically propped open to reduce overheating (33% chance all doors are open).
18 - Cooling room. Metal bars (gold, copper) are set on workbenches to cool; occasional gems that are mined are sorted and identified. The Dwarven smiths rove all of the vat rooms but spend most of their time here, or in room 7, 12, or their quarters.
19 - Lava cavern. Lava for the vats is gathered here when needed. Heat from this room is also vented to the Command Level sauna and pool (Dungeon Level 4, forthcoming). This cavern is fairly large (high ceiling), but still extremely hot. I'm assuming something bad ass will live back here, a flame salamander or something. Escaped slaves may have perished here. Lava levels shown may change rapidly with seismic shifts. The heat from these caverns are noticed well outside the door that has been placed between it and area 18.
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The lava cavern is an interesting location but a real challenge (for me!) to map. What I have is more than adequate to run an adventure, but it's the kind of thing where I'm sure some of the talents on this site could also make it look beautiful. Ditto the lake and the vats.
Thanks for the comments above, more comments welcome; the whole thing is a work in progress.
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