I needed a good place for a particular artifact of my campaign to reside. One that would pose a challenge to the players, and have a fun twist. The big bad that I'm using in my campaign is a Baernoloth (inspiration by Shemeska on these boards
), and this relic is a leftover from millenia ago when he tried to snatch this piece of the prime. So, the desert Temple of the Ba'no'oth (Baernoloth with some of the letters missing due to age and bad translations) was born. The following note was given to the PCs by their benefactor at the time:
Before my estate was raided, one of the sages came to me with the following information:
"From the Scrolls of Karthissinnillax, we have gleaned that all but one of the portals leads to some sort of hellish domain, each supposedly guarded by legions of fiendish troops. Our research indicates that there is a document or map detailing what destinations lay on the other side of each portal. It would therefore be of great benefit to know which portal leads where. The document lies in the Temple of Ba'no'oth, located in the ancient Ylarum city of Hallasbran. This city has long sat in ruin, and despite outside requests that it be preserved, the Ylari seem quite happy to let the desert reclaim it. Its location is well documented, so there should be no trouble in finding it. The Temple of Ba'no'oth should be located on the north eastern edge of the ruins.
By our best estimates, the 13 portals are prophecied to be opened 10 years hence, laying our world bare to devestation at the hands of true evil. While I'm certain that most of this is nothing more than flowery prose intended to make the occurance sound more important that it is, I think it wise to locate and open a favorable portal, and find out what sort of outside help we can expect, or at least verify the threat.
On a more troubling note, it would seem that we are not the only group interested in this information. At least two other buyers were interested in our latest purchase, and I have it on good authority that the Inquisition is involved."
The bearer of this note is to accompany and assist you in aquiring this map, finding the portal, and opening it. She can be trusted. I will make contact when I am in a more secure position, but for now, carry out your tasks.
V.
The dungeon itself is fairly simple. Eight evenly spaced rooms surround a large central chamber, something like this:
Code:
-----
| |
-----
-- --
/ / _______ \ \
/ /\ / \ /\ \
-- \ / \ / --
/ \
/ \
--- | | ---
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
--- | | ---
\ /
\ /
-- / \ / \ --
\ \/ \ / \/ /
\ \ ------- / /
-- --
-----
| S |
-----
With the 'S' marking the entry chamber. Each of the outer chambers has a 5' wide passageway (with a door on each end) connecting it to it's two adjacent outer chambers. The passageway connecting the 'S' chamber with it's northwest neighbor is collapsed. The four chambers that don't fall on the cardinal points (so, the northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest chambers) all have passageways linking them to the central chamber (with a door on each end). All of the outer chambers except for the 'S' chamber have a 5' wide by 2' tall secret door on their outer wall. These doors can be forced open, but they serve a special purpose, which I will describe with Al-Hashram below. Al-Hashram's two body guards (normal mummies straight from the MM) are occaisionally wandering through these rooms.
The central chamber is quite entertaining. There is a large platform in the middle of the chamber that is suspended over a 200 foot pit by large chains that go up to the ceiling, and four 15 foot stone bridges that lead to each of the doors into the room. In the center of the platform is a smaller, raised, platform that rises up 10 feet. Two staircases spiral up the sides of this platform leading to the top. On top of this raised platform there are several tables with various implements on them. There is a human-sized figure (Al-Hashram) here whose body is covered in a mass of chains and wires, all of which lead up and connect to a large, circular collection of bronze machinery. There is a 10 foot by 10 foot square hole that goes through the center of the raised and suspended platforms. Attached to the bottom of the suspended platform, directly beneath that hole, is a small stone slab that has a small chest on it. The top of the hole is covered by a plane of force, and there is a plane of force 20 feet beneath the suspended platform that seals off the entire lower portion of the chamber.
The lower portion of this chamber is a colossal cage of force that contains The Terror of the Sands (I used a Half-Earth Elemental Colossal Monstrous Centipede). The force planes are sustained by the unlife of Al-Hashram. Should he die, the walls will collapse, making it much easier to reach the chest, and freeing the Terror of the Sands.
[sblock=Al-Hashram]
The Mummy Servitor, Al-hashram
Advanced Medium Undead
Hit Dice: 16d12+3 (123 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares)
Armor Class: 23 (+13 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 23
Base Attack/Grapple: +8/+15
Attack: Slam +15 melee (1d6+10 plus mummy rot)
Full Attack: Slam +15 melee (1d6+10 plus mummy rot)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Despair, mummy rot
Special Qualities: Damage reduction 5/-, darkvision 60 ft., undead traits, vulnerability to fire, energy resistence fire 10
Saves: Fort +7, Ref +5, Will +12
Abilities: Str 25, Dex 10, Con -, Int 6, Wis 14, Cha 16
Skills: Diplomacy +10, Hide +7, Intimidate +10, Listen +12, Move Silently +7, Spot +8
Feats: Alertness, Great Fortitude, Toughness, Power Attack, Improved Natural Armor, Improved Toughness
Alignment: Neutral Evil
CR 7
This mummy stands in the center of the chamber, the chains and wiring attaching its body to various parts of the room are etched with strange arcane writing.
Al-hashram stands 6 feet tall and weighs about 160 pounds. He is chained and wired to the control room and cannot leave it, but can release centipede swarms to harass temple intruders. His undead life force is what is powering the Walls of Force that contain the Terror of the Sands and the Map. His two bodyguards are free to roam the complex, but are unwilling to abandon Al-hashram.
Al-hashram can speak Common.
COMBAT
Despair (Su): At the mere sight of Al-hasram, the viewer must succeed on a DC 17 Will save or be paralyzed with fear for 1d4 rounds. Whether or not the save is successful, that creature cannot be affected again by Al-hasram’s despair ability for 24 hours. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Mummy Rot (Su): Supernatural disease-slam, Fortitude DC 17, incubation period 1 minute; damage 1d6 Con and 1d6 Cha. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Unlike normal diseases, mummy rot continues until the victim reaches Constitution 0 (and dies) or is cured as described below.
Mummy rot is a powerful curse, not a natural disease. A character attempting to cast any conjuration (healing) spell on a creature afflicted with mummy rot must succeed on a DC 20 caster level check, or the spell has no effect on the afflicted character.
To eliminate mummy rot, the curse must first be broken with break enchantment or remove curse (requiring a DC 20 caster level check for either spell), after which a caster level check is no longer necessary to cast healing spells on the victim, and the mummy rot can be magically cured as any normal disease.
An afflicted creature who dies of mummy rot shrivels away into sand and dust that blow away into nothing at the first wind.
Infernal Machinery: The machinery that Al-Hashram is attached to provides him with several benefits.
First, he can use the following spell-like abilities (caster level 7):
Wall of Fire 3/day
Protection from Arrows 1/day
Darkness 3/day
Second, he has a fly speed of 20ft. (perfect) as an (Ex) ability.
Third, he may, as a standard action, open any or all of the small secret doors in the outer chambers. When these doors are opened, thousands upon thousands of the Terror of the Sands offspring swarm out. Each time a door is opened, a centipede swarm rushes out.
Fourth, the machinery in the ceiling contains several compartments that hold and preserve scrolls. Al-Hashram keeps a daily log of the activities of the complex, and his scrolls are stored here. Unfortunately, he does not get a fresh supply of scrolls, so he re-uses his existing ones. After thousands of years, all of the scrolls are useless and saturated in ink (the ink is made from centipede venom).
The Infernal Machinery does limit Al-Hashram's movement, however. The chains and wiring prevent him from venturing beyond the central suspended platform. In addition, if Al-Hashram is destroyed, the machinery ceases to function.
Possessions: Ring of Minor Energy Resistence (fire), Amulet of Natural Armor +2, 200 platinum pieces worth of jewelry.[/sblock]
The thing I like most about this dungeon was that I put it together "on the fly", and it came out pretty decent. It was particularly entertaining when the figured out just what was down in the pit, and that they had just released it. They managed to kill it before it found it's way to a nearby town in a particularly fun struggle that had the paladin on his winged steed flying about while the Terror would burst up from the sand and try to snatch him. I kept picturing the Sand Worms from Dune.
I'm interested in either Elements of Magic Revised, or Mechamancy.
