Room 12 – Toth Nekamek’s Library (by Daryl Gubler – Ikazuchi)
Room 12 – Toth Nekamek’s Library (by Daryl Gubler – Ikazuchi)
Door:
The ironbound wooden door has hieroglyphs carved all over its surface. A crude, gnollish mark of warning is hacked into the wood. The lock has been bashed into a bare semblance of it original form. Otherwise, the door is unlocked, and opens smoothly with barely a squeak. A Hieratic inscription, barely understandable beneath the gnollish mark, requires a decipher script check of 20 to translate, and states “The Light of Knowledge. The Light of Toth Nekamek”. (Hardness 5; HP 18; Break DC 23)
Room:
The first thing you see are the bookshelves lining the walls and crammed full of ancient books of varying size and scrolls. A large table stands slightly to the left, upon which rests a three-pronged oil lamp made of silver and gold and surmounted by a tiny wooden asp. A slight scent of incense fills the air of this room. Across the room you see another wooden door, with some form of carving on it.
Traps:
None.
Features:
The room is tidy, no dust at all. All the books are in fine condition.
The oil lamp still has scented oil in it and can be lit. The lamp is worth 25gp to most merchants, but can fetch two to three times that from an dealer in antiquities. A Search check (DC 18) will allow the PCs to discover that the wooden asp can be removed from its resting spot.
A tiny asp made from a dark wood with a circular base one inch in diameter. The word “Hafau” is etched on the base and it appears that it was made to attach to something.
The books are all religious texts and the scrolls are prophecies. They are all written in hieroglyphs, and require a Decipher Script (DC 30) to comprehend. Any character deciphering the scrolls of prophecy find them to be the dark and creepy mad ravings of an ancient prophet. Any character reading a scroll of prophecy must make a Will check with a DC of 10 plus 2 for each scroll they read. Failing the check causes 1d4 points of temporary wisdom as the ravings drag the character towards the same madness that spawned them.
Novitiate Primer: There is a book in the library that was used to teach initiates the hieroglyphic script used in many places of the tomb. If the PCs find this book (a Decipher Language check, DC 20, will allow them figure out the hieratic writing within), they can use it as a guide in translating the hieroglyphs within the tombs, granting them a +4 bonus to Decipher Script checks dealing with the hieroglyphs. Randomly searching the books will give the characters a 10% + 1% per book chance of stumbling across the primer. A specific search for such a book requires a Decipher Script check (DC 20) and then a Search check (DC 15) to find the book.
Encounter:
If any character touches either the books or the door to room 13 without first lighting the all three prongs of the oil lamp, the spirit bound to the library awakens. Originally a fallen follower of Toth Nekamek, it was willing bound to the library to guard the memory of Toth Nekamek.
A dim blue light begins to emanate from beneath the floor, shining through the spaces between the floor stones. A pair of spectral hands reaches up from beneath and grips the stone floor. A moment later a ghostly form drags itself up through the floor. The form is wreathed in the tatters of once fine white robes and hundreds of ghostly scorpions climb about its body. In Hieratic the spirit shouts “Ye who would defile the memory of Toth Nekamek shall not be suffered to live!” While it speaks, the spectral form coalesces into a solid form and lunges with its outstretched hands.
The wight attacks whoever’s action awoke it.
Wight: CR 3; LA —; Medium undead; HD 4d12; hp 26; Init +1; Spd 30 ft.; AC 15 (+1 Dex, +4 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 14; Base Atk +2; Grp +3; Atk Slam +3 melee (1d4+1 plus energy drain); Full Atk (same); Space/Reach 5 ft./5 ft.; SA create spawn, energy drain; SQ darkvision 60 ft., undead traits; AL (Always) LE; SV Fort +1, Ref +2, Will +5; Str 12, Dex 12, Con —, Int 11, Wis 13, Cha 15.
Languages: Common
Skills and Feats: Hide +8, Listen +7, Move Silently +16, Spot +7; Alertness, Blind–Fight. (Wights have a +8 racial bonus on Move Silently checks.)
Create Spawn (Su): Any humanoid slain by a wight becomes a wight in 1d4 rounds. Spawn are under the command of the wight that created them and remain enslaved until its death. They do not possess any of the abilities they had in life.
Energy Drain (Su): Living creatures hit by a wight’s slam attack gain one negative level. The DC is 14 for the Fortitude save to remove a negative level. The save DC is Charisma-based. For each such negative level bestowed, the wight gains 5 temporary hit points.
Combat: Wights attack by hammering with their fists.
