The Congress of Swine

 

this was the first iteration of nutmeg pass

 
initially, what would become The Congress of Swine was just a fun collection of words i came up with when i decided to include Rosa Bonheur's painting of wild boars in the snow while constructing my first map of Nutmeg Pass, using this sort of voronoi-esque hexmap. it sort of stuck with me, so i thought, what better way to follow up my cairn dungeon (see Caspar David Friedrich's painting also included above), than playing around with these mysterious swine.

Rosa Bonheur

now this dungeon, i haven't prettied up quite yet, and it is in fact quite minimalistic. i even had a layout planned at one point, but i am now reconsidering so now i just have an unlinked group of rooms which are to be taken together at some point. the main gist is that maybe these swine are causing trouble for the local aurochs herders (a generational feud if the frescoes buried beneath the cairn are anything to reckon by). like the boarskin mask found among the cairn's hoard, the congress of swine have the gift of stoneskin, but they have no control over when they are flesh and when they are stone. these little buddies turn to stone as soon as the sun fully clears the horizon and awaken when the sun again touches the horizon. these crepuscular transformations keep them relatively safe during the day when the herders are about, yet leaves their lair vulnerable during the day.

domes are neat

while i had considered a full capitol building of mysteries, i am now less inclined to do so, as i feel as though the swine would want to keep a low profile. when players go deeper into a certain section of the woods they will find a stone amphitheater, surprisingly well kept, facing a small open air rotunda. the amphitheater may at time be populated by swine caught in the midst of an argument, in the flesh at night or frozen in stone during the day. within the rotunda will be a small bronze boar statue which is a trapped secret entrance to their underground chambers.

Carl Gustav Carus

 below ground will be a colonnade hall, a small fungus farm, a trophy room, a records room, a magical mud pit, and more. and because this is dungeon23 and i am already working on the next dungeon located in a completely different area, this is where i will leave it for the time being. Sean McCoy did put out a call for minimalism and grace through this, and i think my inclination for this unfinished jumble of mostly keyed rooms is to give myself the wide berth of grace necessary to continue on. i cannot linger any longer on what i have already made well enough. more exists now than had before i started and the show goes on

Jacob Gløersen