The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth – Lesser Caverns

Board

This is a map used in the adventure titled “The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth” published by Wizards of the Coast in the book “Quests from the Infinite Staircase” in 2023. The adventure is a modernization of the original adventure of the same name from 1982.

I used the 2d map included in the book for the Lesser Caverns and gave it a third dimension as only Talespire can do. All of the descriptions in the book guided the construction of the map, I took some creative liberties for the elevations in some areas, but any specific details included in the book are preserved in this map.

I was inspired to create this map after reading the adventure and seeing that when a character falls into one of the rivers, they must make Strength checks to resist being pushed downstream. The 2d map has arrows to indicate the direction the character is pushed, but I knew immediately that I could do better in Talespire.

I designed the map to be easily viewed top-down with the Hide Plane locked high above the map. Although there are significant changes in elevation, there isn’t a lower level or anything that needs to be revealed using the Hide Plane. The ceiling height for each chamber and tunnel are represented by the tops of the walls that enclose them so if you have a player that likes to have their character fly just tell them they cannot be above the walls. There are a few monsters hidden above some of the walls where the book describes them as being on the ceiling of the room when the players enter.

I don’t know how Tales Tavern works with Community Minis but every room that has a monster in the adventure is loaded with them, almost all of them are hidden.

The 6th image shows the GM Block I used for the Atmosphere Settings for the adventure. The book describes the dungeon as being totally dark and requires the players to plan accordingly. If you activate the torch on the players’ minis it gives a cool horror vibe as they explore the dungeon. Some of the rooms have lighting as described by the book. There is a second GM Block that gives the default sky that lights up the whole dungeon.

The 7th image shows the hidden boulder trap that is supposed to fall on unwitting adventurers that enter the room. There is a Cutscene Block that locks the players PoV so you can then reveal the boulder and use the Build Mode to smash their minis while they watch, helplessly.

The 8th image is of the room containing a hidden Chimera named Chossos. Since the map was designed to be easily viewed from overhead by players, I hid the Chimera that ambushes the players from the ledge above after they enter the room. This way the players have no way of knowing the ambush is coming. The 9th image is what it looks like to the players before the ambush.

The 10th image shows the hidden Marid, named Kasdu’ul, that is caged in the bottom of the lake. There is a Cutscene Block here too that forces the players PoV to the caged Marid after it has been revealed. The adventure has the party attempt to free the Marid after conversing with it and I figured this was an easy way of facilitating that interaction.

I will make the second map for the adventure, called the “Greater Caverns” soon, hopefully.