If the characters approach from the north, read:
A ramp slopes gently down from north to south. Set in the floor at two-foot intervals are smooth stone cylinders that apparently function as rollers.
If the characters approach from the south, read:
A ramp leads gently up from south to north. Set in the floor at two-foot intervals are smooth stone cylinders that apparently function as rollers.
27. Stairs
This corridor ascends from south to north in a series of short, gently sloped staircases.
Pressure Plate
The 10-foot square indicated on the map is the location of a pressure plate (see “The Ruins: General Features” at the beginning of the adventure). If more than 30 pounds is placed on the plate, the trap described below triggers.
If the characters detect the presence of this plate, they can remove it from the floor with 10 minutes of work and a successful check as for an attempt to block the plate from moving. A failed check means another 10 minutes of work is required, followed by another check.
Rolling Stone Trap
A millstone, concealed in the wall behind a layer of stucco, lies at the top of the steps. No nonmagical means can detect the hidden stone. If the trap is triggered, the mechanism pushes the millstone through the wall and sends it rolling down the stairs. When this occurs, anyone who has a passive Perception score of 14 or lower is surprised. Everyone rolls initiative, including the stone, which has a +10 bonus to the roll. On its turn, the stone moves 60 feet. Anyone in its path must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or take 27 (5d10) bludgeoning damage and have a 50 percent chance to drop anything carried in hand. A character whose saving throw fails by 5 or more takes maximum damage, is knocked prone, and drops anything held in hand. Dropped objects take damage from hitting the stone and end up somewhere on the stairs.
The stone ultimately crashes into the doors to area 25, breaking them open and destroying them. If beetles remain in the room, some or all of them come into the stairway agitated and looking for a fight.
28. The Arc of Nanahuatcin
(Na-na-WA-tzen, the Pimply One)
This is a spacious, vaulted hall, weathered and cracked from the ravages of time. The walls are charred and scored. Scattered around the floor are several stone statues of baboon-like creatures, chipped and tipped over. The remains of a few once-living baboons, partially eaten, lie nearby, with fungus covering their corpses.
As the area is further penetrated, it is discerned that this was once a processional hall. Little remains to identify its past purpose except for a carving etched in the center of the worn floor that depicts a silver sun with a single eye. The beast that lairs here will not attack until the party sights it.
Ahead, something spherical floats in the air at about chest height. The sphere has a central eye and about a dozen tentacles growing out of its top. Each appendage has a white sphere with a black pupil at its tip.
Creature
The spherical creature is a gas spore that represents Nanahuatcin, the “sun.”
Treasure
Near the center of the south wall is a sack made of fish skin. It contains seven silver pellets, each about the size of a sling bullet and worth 1 gp.
29. The Tomb of Pelota
As you approach a bend in the passage, you see a series of faint line drawings on the walls depicting people playing a game that uses a ball and has goals on either end of the playing field.
At the place where the corridor bends is a capstone that seemingly covers a hole in the floor. Etched into the top of the slab are several glyphs obscured by a layer of dust. This writing, in Olman, reads,
Glyphs
“Dare not open this pit unless you be willing to meet the challenge of pelota.”
Five feet above the capstone in the southern wall is a hemispherical depression 1 foot in diameter.
Lifting the capstone requires the application of leverage and the combined effort of up to two characters with a total Strength of 25 or higher. Beneath the stone lid is a pit filled with the skeletal remains of the losers of a previous game of pelota in this area. Atop the bones rest several figurines and a plaque, all made of jade, and a glistening black ball 1 foot in diameter.
Cursed Treasure
If any treasure is removed from the pit, a curse will fall upon its bearer 1 hour later. The victim must succeed on a DC 15 saving throw, or it has disadvantage on Strength and Dexterity ability checks and saving throws until the curse is dispelled.
The jade plaque depicts two men, wearing padding on their arms and hips, with a large ball traveling between them. The figurines are carved in the image of a sun-god in a feathered robe. There are seven jade items in all, weighing 1 pound and worth 30 gp each.
Buried beneath the skeletons is a chalice of beaten gold, inset with six amethysts, that weighs 1 pound and is worth 150 gp.
Pelota Ball
The ball, made of rubber wound around a balsa core, is used in the game of pelota. It is the same size as the depression in the wall, which is one of the goals on this playing field. The ball is cool to the touch. If it is picked up, it suddenly jerks free of the holder’s grasp and rebounds off the south wall, then speeds 30 feet to the north and hovers. It animates for the purpose of challenging the violators of the tomb to a game.
The ball can fly up to 30 feet on its turn, and it can hover. It makes melee weapon attacks with a +5 bonus, dealing 1 (1d4-1) bludgeoning damage on a hit. The ball has AC 13 and 50 hit points. It is immune to all damage except for magical effects that deal acid, fire, force, piercing, or slashing damage. The ball is immune to most conditions, but it can be grappled or restrained by effects that work on objects. It makes ability checks to escape such entanglements with a +5 bonus.
Start of the Game
Roll initiative. The ball uses its initial actions to bounce off the walls and strike at characters, trying to get them to strike back. When a character’s attack hits the ball, it bounces off the south wall, and the depression in the wall briefly glows orange. After the second such occurrence, the ball will break off its attacks. A sound like that of a trumpet indicates that the game is about to start. The goal above the pit and another goal at the northern end of the hall 140 feet away are limned in orange light that remains until the game ends. When the characters hit the ball, it flies to the south and the southern goal flashes briefly. When the ball moves, it flies to the north, and the northern goal flashes.
How to Win
The characters win the game by propelling the ball into the goal above the pit while preventing the ball from reaching the northern end of the hall. If all the characters fail to hit the ball for 1 round, the faint sound of a drum dirge will be heard.
A character who attacks the ball successfully sends it flying south up to 15 feet. To knock the ball into the southern goal, the ball must be within 15 feet of the goal, and a player must declare that the character is trying to score. If the character’s attack roll exceeds the ball’s AC by 4 or more, the ball goes into the goal.
If the ball moves to within 5 feet of the northern wall, it can bounce itself into its own goal. To do so, the ball must make a successful attack roll against AC 15.
Once the ball is knocked into a goal, it sticks there for 1 round, impossible to remove without destroying it. If the ball enters the goal to the north, a number of magic missiles erupt from the goal equal to the number of conscious characters in the corridor. Each missile strikes a different character for 3 (1d4+1) force damage.
When the ball moves out of a goal, it flies to the center of the corridor and hovers, awaiting the start of another point. The game continues until the characters die or score a goal that puts them 2 points ahead of the ball.
Spoils of Victory
If the characters win, the ball becomes inert. The sound of triumphant drums erupts briefly, then the area goes silent. The southern goal goes dark, but the northern goal continues to glow orange.
Investigation reveals that a small panel has opened in the back of the depression. Within the space beyond is a pouch made of fish skin that holds ten pink pearls (worth 20 gp each), a topaz and shell necklace (worth 50 gp), and a whistle made of an eagle’s bone with feather decoration, which is an
30. The Guardian Beast
This oddly shaped room is decorated in a cat motif. The center of the southeastern wall is carved to resemble the face of a snarling tiger with hollow eyes. Near the center of the room is a stuffed tiger, posed as if on the prowl. The tiger’s left ear has been torn off, leaving a jagged scar on the head. Also near the middle of the room stands a stone statue of a tiger-headed man holding a spear.
In several other spots on the floor are stuffed domestic cats in various poses: sitting, stalking, pouncing, and one is begging, pawing the air. One of these cats in the center of the room has been knocked over and chewed on; its stuffing is falling out.
Hung on the walls are several skins of lions and leopards, tiger heads, and a cat-of-nine tails. Along the northwest edge of the chamber a large calendar stone is mounted on the wall above a stone table or altar.
The statue of the cat-man depicts a tall human male with two extra sets of nipples. He seems to be wearing a tiger-faced mask and is clad only in a loincloth. A jagged scar runs across the left side of his chest, above the heart, and his chest is sunken and bony. The spear is stone-hafted, but bears a silvery head.
All the items hanging on the walls are actually realistically painted stucco sculptures. If the characters investigate the calendar stone, see area 31.
Creature
The statue is a petrified werejaguar (use the weretiger statistics). If the altar is molested or any of the room’s contents are abused, the werejaguar becomes aware and seizes the first opportunity to attack with surprise. It can turn to flesh as a bonus action and then transform into cat shape, dropping its spear. (The magic on the creature renders it strongly related to earth and stone with regard to the curse on the
The werejaguar’s heart has been removed by magical surgery and is hidden in the head of the stuffed tiger (hinted at by the scars on man and tiger). Therefore, the cat-man might take damage or even die, but unless its heart is destroyed, it is reborn again whole in one day’s time. If the lycanthrope’s heart (AC 10, 2 hit points) is destroyed, the creature dies and turns to dust.
Treasure
In the belly of the stuffed tiger are 500 gp.
Eye of the Tiger
A secret door is concealed in the mouth of the wall carving. The catch to open it is hidden in the hollow of the right eye. The door and the catch each require a successful DC 20 Wisdom (Perception) check to find.
31. Calendar Stone
The calendar, a great wheel of stone, is carved from limestone. In the center of the calendar is a symbol of the sun surrounded with various sigils depicting seasons of the year. The stone is ten feet across and is mounted five feet above the floor over a stone altar. On the altar rests a ceremonial dagger of flint and a jade statue of a cat. At the foot of the altar is a stuffed cat, posed as if begging or attempting to catch something in the air.
Secret Passage
The calendar stone covers a door and a secret passage to a hidden tomb. A character who examines the calendar and succeeds on a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check can see that it is held onto the wall by a smaller rod of stone behind it. The gap between the calendar and the wall is a few inches wide, so characters looking at the calendar in a specific way might notice the unusual mounting without making a check. In order to open the door, the sun symbol must be pushed into the wall. The calendar stone and the wall behind it then swing to one side on a set of hinges.
Treasure
The sacrificial knife on the table is a
32. The Portal to Death
Behind the concealed entrance is a narrow tunnel that slants down and away. The passage is barely four feet in diameter, and the walls are carved with a profusion of ancient and weird glyphs. The floor of the tunnel is slick with a molten, glassy glaze.
These nonmagical glyphs are of two types. Some are Olman curses cautioning and cursing trespassers; others are arcane symbols of abjuration, which is apparent to anyone who has proficiency in the Arcana skill.
The tunnel opens out two feet above the floor of a corridor running north and south. Three exits are visible, one at either end of the hallway and a set of double doors on the midpoint of the western wall.
The door to the north is barred, though it seems to have no latch. The image of a bear holding a disk of obsidian is set in its face. The lintel of the door is carved in the form of entwined serpents.
The southern door is plated in bronze. Etched on it is a symbol of two circles joined. The path leading up to it has a depression in the stone floor, as though it has been worn smooth by the passage of countless feet.
The floor in front of the central doorway is sunken and glazed. Affixed across the double doors is a golden seal one foot in diameter with ancient glyphs scribed into it. To open this door, it appears that the golden seal must be broken. Ancient glyphs are scribed on the seal. To either side on the lintel of the door are barely discernible scratches, and brown stains stipple the wall and floor.
Northern Door
Even after the bar is removed, the false door will not open. It appears to open outward, but when a character pushes against it, three arms spring out from the lintel and surround the character. Spotting these arms among the entwined serpents in the lintel requires a successful DC 20 Wisdom (Perception) check. The arms are treated as a pressure plate (see “The Ruins: General Features” at the beginning of the adventure) if a character attempts to jam them in place to keep them from moving.
A character caught in the trap can wriggle free only with a successful DC 20 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. Otherwise, unconfined characters can attempt to free a victim. The combined effort of two characters with a total Strength of 30 or higher is needed to pry back each arm, taking 1 round to move each one.
After a victim has been trapped for 5 rounds, the cover to a 5-foot-square pit starts to drop open. The pit is lined with spikes. The cover fully opens in 2 rounds, at which point the arms swiftly spring back into the lintel, releasing any victims to plummet into the 15-foot-deep pit. A fall into the pit deals 11 (2d10) bludgeoning damage. The spikes are hard rubber wrapped around balsa wood, placed for artistic effect.
Southern Door
The image on the southern door is the infinity symbol, representing the dual-god, the supreme god of creation. The door isn’t latched, but it is stuck shut. A detect magic spell cast on it reveals that an aura of conjuration magic emanates from beyond the door. It takes a successful DC 20 Strength (Athletics) check to bash the door open. If a creature does so, the door gives way suddenly, dumping the gate-crasher into a narrow space ahead. Any creature that enters this space is teleported to the west end of area 15, just outside the painted mural on the wall.
Double Doors
The message on the seal, written in Olman, reads,
Seal
“Beware! Beyond this door is death!”
Once the seal is broken by opening the doors, it may not be used to reseal the doors. The gold in the seal is worth 250 gp.
The door is trapped, but the only evidence of this fact is concealed within the door frame and under the stucco on the ceiling, completely hidden. When the doors are pushed open, five heavy crossbows, set in the ceiling of the room beyond, fire. Two are aimed toward each door, and the last is aimed down the center of the two doors. The crossbows have a +6 bonus to hit, and each deals 5 (1d10) piercing damage.
33. The Tomb of Tlacaelel
(Tlah-kah-AYL-ayl)
Beyond the door is a pillared porch overlooking a chamber that contains a model of a city. Arrayed on the porch are numerous clay statues of guards holding bronze-headed spears. The face of each statue is different, as if they were modeled from different subjects. Next to each statue is a small, glazed clay pot. The walls are decorated with brightly colored frescoes depicting a royal court in ceremonial garb and a king arrayed with his armies.
There is a chill in the chamber beyond, like that of a brisk winter morning. In the center of the room is an enormous, tarnished copper raft, crafted to resemble a dragon, bearing a copper coffin. The raft is afloat on a sea of silvery-white, flowing metal, fed by several rivers that trail along the floor of the room. The flowing liquid appears to be cool.
Between the waterways, stepped pyramid-temples rise skyward in mute paean to the gods of ancient Olman. Three of the pyramids appear to have tops that can be removed. In the rest of the area, a royal complex sprawls across verdant fields, and courtyards and ringed marketplaces dot the miniature countryside. There is a blight on this spectacle, however, for several of the models have been smashed and melted.
Fire Trap
On the floor just inside the doorway is a
Creature
Within the copper coffin is a doppelganger. The creature emerges from the coffin through a hole in the side facing away from the entrance as soon as the glyph is triggered. It assumes the form of any character trapped alone in the room and tries to attack with surprise. If it succeeds in slaying the character before the wall of fire expires, then it hides the body in the coffin.
The doppelganger is unfamiliar with the rest of the ruins but tries to act like the character it has killed until it is discovered. If the doppelganger is forced to fight the party, it assumes the shape of a creature of molten metal that shrouded in flames. The fire is an illusion and doesn’t burn.
Liquid Fire
The first time a creature or an object enters or touches the silvery liquid metal of the sea or the rivers on a turn, or a creature starts its turn in such a place, the creature or object takes 3 (1d6) fire damage. If any of this fluid is carried out of this room, it evaporates in 1 minute. The ships and the coffin floating on the liquid deal similar fire damage if they are touched.
Treasure Chests
Three of the pyramid-temples, which are fastened to the floor, conceal treasure. The top of each temple is hinged like the lid of a chest, and the catch is released by pressing down on the altar at the top. Each of these chests holds several coin necklaces, each made of three hundred sixty silver coins pierced and threaded on a piece of gut, and other assorted valuables.
Chest 1. The lid is jammed on the first chest that the characters examine, requiring a successful DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check to pry open. The chest holds ten coin necklaces, six pairs of jade earplugs (worth 15 gp a set), an alabaster statuette (worth 50 gp), and an agate ring (worth 5 gp).
Chest 2. The second chest is trapped. When hands are thrust into the treasure, a mechanical vise in the wall of the chest grabs the limbs within. A character must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or become grappled by the device (escape DC 15). A creature is restrained while grappled in this way. Roll initiative. Six mechanical needles spring out from the sides of the chest on initiative count 0. The needles can be attacked (AC 12, 5 hit points). Each needle deals 1 piercing damage.
A creature struck by one or more of the needles must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw. The creature takes 21 (6d6) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. In either event, the creature is poisoned. The poisoned creature must repeat the saving throw every 24 hours, taking 3 (1d6) poison damage on a failure. The poison ends when the creature makes five successful saves against it. Until the poison ends, any hit points lost to it can’t be regained. The poisoned creature is feverish and occasionally trembles, gibbers, or retches.
The chest holds nine coin necklaces, eight bracelets of beads (5 gp apiece), four small figurines of jade and coral (25 gp each), and three rings carved of jade and alabaster (10 gp each).
Chest 3. Operating the catch of the third chest requires more force than with the other two. If the catch is pressed, the chest lid sprays perfumed oil on anyone within 5 feet of it. The nozzles that produce this spray can be discovered by someone who succeeds on a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check. The only way to disarm the “trap” is to disassemble the chest lid and remove it without pressing the catch. Doing so takes 10 minutes of work with thieves' tools.
When the catch is pressed, a lever wedged in the lid pops up, triggering the launch of darts. The tubes that hold these darts are sealed with a thin layer of stucco, so they’re all but impossible to discover without damaging the chest. Someone who cautiously opens the chest can feel the pressure from the lever and see it by peeking into the chest. If someone can reach the lever through the half-open lid and hold it in place, the trap doesn’t function. Holding the lever in place as the lid is opened requires a successful DC 12 Strength check.
This check must be repeated in every round that the lever is held down. If the trap triggers, four darts fire from each of the chest’s front and back sides. Each dart flies up to 60 feet, has a +6 bonus to hit, and deals 5 (2d4) piercing damage on a hit.
The third chest holds eleven coin necklaces, fifteen bracelets of obsidian, bronze, and shell (10 gp each), and two piles of gems (tourmalines, spinels, and topazes; sixty gems worth 5 gp each) lying upon two silver platters 15 gp apiece).
Other Treasure
The clay pots on the porch are sealed with wax, and they hold scented oils and perfumes-there are twenty such containers, each weighing 10 pounds and with contents worth 15 gp.
Several places that represent royal granaries in the modeled city are actually stone bins that hold aromatic woods and spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, quince, cinchona, sandalwood, and pepper). This haul is worth a total of 250 gp and weighs 10 pounds.
Inside the coffin are the bones of Tlacaelel, for the doppelganger has eaten the flesh. Scattered around the interior are the ornaments once worn by the corpse. These items include a stone box, two jade bracelets (worth 20 gp apiece), and an alabaster statuette of Coatlicue (Koh-WA-tlee-cue), the snake woman, mother of the gods (worth 25 gp). The stone box (worth 75 gp) holds five small figurines carved of coral (25 gp each), a large jade thumb ring (10 gp), and eight ceramic miniature flasks of perfumes and essences (10 gp apiece).
Cradled in the crook of the elbow of the corpse’s right arm is a baton of granite. The baton is a scroll case with a cleverly fashioned plug. Within the case is a piece of faded parchment-a
Upon the skull is a ferret-faced, feathered mask that functions as a
33A. Sacrifice to the Sun
When the characters can see the northern end of the chamber, read:
In an alcove framed by pillars stands a stone bench on which a shriveled corpse huddles. Scattered around its feet are various trinkets.
This figure is the preserved body of an adolescent male, whose heart has been cut out. He was a guesa, a boy chosen at birth to be sacrificed to the sun upon his coming of age.
Treasure
The items at the corpse’s feet include an agate carved in the shape of a heart (worth 15 gp) that is actually a
34. Guardians Bar the Way
The passage leads toward a set of double bronze doors bearing the engraved face of the jaguar god. Both walls of the corridor are carved to represent two lines of warriors in profile, holding hatchet-headed polearms and facing the western doors. These figures are painted with vivid, lifelike colors: red, black, white, green, and yellow.
Pressure Plate
Near the midpoint of this corridor is a 10-foot-square pressure plate (see “The Ruins: General Features” at the beginning of the adventure) that triggers if more than 30 pounds is placed on it.
Shocking Blades
If the pressure plate is depressed, two of the carved warriors pivot out from the walls in front of the party, crossing their metal halberds before them to bar the way to the northern doors. The blades spark and hum when they are brought together. A creature that touches either of the blades takes 5 (2d4) lightning damage and must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or become paralyzed while it is in contact. A paralyzed creature takes the damage again at the start of each of its turns.
There is barely enough room for a Medium humanoid to crawl under the crossed polearms and between the statues. Doing so without touching the blades requires a successful DC 10 Dexterity check.
35. Xipe’s Audience Chamber
(Zee-PAY)
When the door comes open, a rush of warm, fetid air greets you. The room is lit with a sanguine glow. On the wall opposite the door are tacked several human skins. A cat-o'-nine-tails hangs beside them.
To the west the room widens to accommodate a statue that towers almost to the ceiling. The statue is an ogre-like figure, outfitted in flayed skins and adorned with skulls, with a gaping mouth wide enough to swallow a horse whole. It is seated atop a huge basin of red-hot coals, more than ten feet in diameter.
Around the statue is a pile of splintered bones, skulls with cracked pates, and broken weapons. In front of the display crouches a panther, deathly still, facing away from the statue.
To the east the walls are highly polished. They loosely enclose an intricately carved well that seems to be illuminated from within. Beyond the well, mounted on the wall, is a blackened mirror with a richly ornamented frame. Directly above the well, in the twenty-five-foot-high ceiling, a five-foot-wide opening can be discerned in the red light of the room.
The statue represents Xipe, “Our Lord of the Flayed Skins.” The chamber serves as the foyer to his lair, which lies beyond the opening in the ceiling.
Statue Guardian
If the characters approach the statue, the panther will stand and pad menacingly in their direction and then continue on past them. The panther has a mental block that prevents it from being able to see humans, which initially applies to other humanoids as well. It likewise ignores familiars, but it attacks any beast companion or other non-humanoid present with the party.
If the panther is not attacked and is unable to find a target, it takes to pacing in front of the door. If the party attacks the cat, its mental block regarding other humanoids fails, and the panther attacks any such creature it can see. If it can see no target, the bewildered panther resumes its pacing.
Treasure
Almost all the weapons around the statue are useless, though the head of a +1 mace attached to a broken haft can be found.
Well of Light
The illumination inside the well comes from liquid light, a fluid that clings like oil if touched to a given surface and in the presence of other light eventually spreads to cover the entire surface.
If a creature falls into the well and is pulled out, the liquid light clings to a small portion of its body, then spreads to cover an additional 5 percent of the body every round. Eventually the liquid covers its eyes, nose and mouth. If this happens, the character can’t breathe until the liquid is removed by immersion in water. In the absence of a light source, the liquid light doesn’t spread, and a darkness spell renders it inert for 1 hour.
If anything is tossed into the well, brilliant light flashes upward and a bellowing voice fills the chamber. The voice belongs to Xipe, and he asks (in Giant) who has come and for what purpose. Nothing else happens, for Xipe can’t be bothered to leave his lair to investigate.
Ceiling Tunnel
The hole in the ceiling leads to Xipe’s lair. If the characters try to climb the walls, they discover the walls are too slick to be ascended in this way.
A surefire way of getting in is to tie a grappling hook to an arrow and shoot the arrow up through the hole. This method never fails to anchor the hook on something, for Xipe grabs the rope once it is fired through his front door. If a creature then decides to climb the rope up into the lair, Xipe starts to reel in the climber when it has ascended halfway.
A creature being hauled up into the tunnel can release the rope and drop into the well, taking no immediate damage (other than being covered in the liquid light), or it can swing its body outward and drop onto the floor, taking falling damage. Otherwise, Xipe pulls the climber into his lair in 1 round.
Creature
Beyond the hole in the ceiling is a chamber that measures 30 feet in each direction. It is the lair of Xipe, an oni. Xipe can’t cast cone of cold, but he can cast sleet storm and fear once per day each. When he casts fear, he unleashes a great bellow that shakes the room.
Treasure
Xipe’s treasure includes a wooden cylinder that holds a
Lastly, an intricately carved ivory cube about 1 foot tall stands on an ornamental table. The cube (worth 100 gp) is a trick box. To open it, two plugs on either side of the cube must be pushed in, and then its center slides out of a frame formed by the other four sides. This inner box opens like a chest. Within it is a silver and aquamarine necklace (worth 125 gp) and a parchment packet that holds three pinches of
36. Apartment of the Dust of Ages
The floor of this room is covered with a layer of fine gray dust and ash, three inches deep. Across the room, opposite where you entered, is another set of double doors. There are two empty alcoves to the north and south. On small ledges in each corner of the room are pieces of what appear to be broken pottery.
As you move into the room, your steps send motes of dust and ash swirling into the air, and these clouds form into shapes.
First, from the ash, a dusty phantom assumes the shape of a woman. Her face is forlorn and tear-streaked. She throws up her hands in despair, rushes into one of the alcoves, and disappears.
Immediately afterward, two more dusty phantoms emerge-mighty warriors armed with jagged-edged swords and bearing fierce countenances. They move to block the doorway opposite where you entered.
If the characters approach the phantom guards, they raise their swords threateningly. But they can cause no harm, for they are just images of the long-dead past. For as long as the characters remain in the room, other phantoms-in the shapes of priests, sages, and mourning young women-briefly form out of the dust and then dissipate. Moving through any of these phantom forms causes them to collapse.
37. Bed of Xilonen
(Zeel-OAN-an)
In the center of this room is a withered tree that looks like a leafless willow, rooted in a terraced depression. The bottom of this hollow is filled with oily water, a few inches deep. Across the room, beyond the dead tree, is another door. Around the sides of the room, a five-foot wide ledge encircles the tree. The walls of the room are beaded with condensation.
The water in the bottom of the depression makes the floor in that area difficult terrain.
Creature
The “tree” is Xilonen, a semi-sentient (Int 2), gigantic variety of polyp, similar to a sea anemone, once revered as the hairy mother goddess of corn. The polyp, which functions similarly to a roper, is very hungry. Its mouth is concealed among a nest of flailing tentacles and protected by sharp spines.
Treasure
Within the polyp’s gut are twelve pieces of blue jasper (worth 10 gp each) and a silvery rod, actually a copper-nickel alloy, which is a
38. Barred Pit
The walls of the passage glow magenta, bathing the corridor with a ghastly hue. After fifteen feet, the floor drops away to a pit that fills the hallway ahead. The pit is twenty-five feet deep. Eight large, spidery bushes with thorny stems, white leaves, and enormous yellow blossoms grow across its bottom.
Five feet beyond the nearest edge of the pit is a bronze bar, set level with the floor and embedded in the pit walls to either side. Farther out over the pit can be seen other similar bronze rungs, set at five-foot intervals. On the floor by the edge of the pit is a scattering of broken, rotting wooden planks.
Bridge of Bars
A character can attempt to cross this pit by leaping from one bar to the next. There are a total of eight bars and 45 feet of pit. Moving across the bars is akin to moving across difficult terrain; moving 5 feet onto a bar, or between two bars, costs 10 feet of movement. If a creature attempts to move more than half of its base walking speed on any of its turns, it must make a DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. On a successful check, the creature can keep moving. On a failed check, the creature stops moving to regain its balance and can move no farther on that turn. If the check fails by 5 or more, the creature falls into the pit.
The third and sixth bars along the way are corroded. When a character moves onto one of these bars, roll a d20. On a roll of 5 or lower, or 2 or lower for a Small character, the bar breaks. If the bar doesn’t break and the roll is 10 or lower, some obvious sign of the bar’s weakness becomes evident, such as chipping or bending.
Hazard
The bushes growing in the pit are carnivorous thorn slinger. Each plant lies beneath one of the bronze bars and casts its projectiles directly upward against anyone attempting to traverse the bars. A creature balancing on a bar when it is hit by thorns must make a Dexterity saving throw with a DC of 6 + the damage taken. If the saving throw fails by 4 or less, the creature falls prone, catching itself on the bar. (To stand up on the bar afterward, a character must make a Dexterity check as if attempting to move on the bars.) If the saving throw fails by 5 or more, the character falls in the pit.
Someone who falls into the pit always comes down on a bush, cushioning the impact. The fall deals only 3 (1d6) bludgeoning damage, but the character lands on a plant’s adhesive blossoms.
39. Chamber of the Second Sun
This enormous chamber is thirty feet tall with mighty buttressing and a vaulted ceiling. Parts of the ceiling and walls have collapsed, and raw earth has spilled down from a gaping hole in the east wall. Crushed beneath a fallen block in the center of the room are humanoid remains. Elsewhere around the floor are the chewed and decayed corpses of baboons. Through a hole in the eastern ceiling, daylight and fresh air filter in. Above, through this gap, can be seen four baboons. They jump around the hole and scream in agitation, and as they do, dirt begins to slide down the banks and rocks in the walls shift slightly.
There is no poison gas in the room, or in any of the upper areas (40 and higher), because the gas escapes out the hole in the ceiling. The floor is strewn with rubble, so it is difficult terrain. Larger rubble piles are 1 to 4 feet high. Any loud noise (such as an explosion, shouting, or fighting) causes a minor cave-in: at the start of each creature’s next turn after the noise, that creature is subjected to an attack from falling rocks and earth (+5 to hit, dealing 3 (1d6) bludgeoning damage on a hit).
Creatures
Hidden in a pile of rubble in the center of the room is an amphisbaena-a giant, two-headed snake. It fights as a giant constrictor snake that can make two melee attacks on each of its turns, only one of which can be a Constrict attack. This ability increases its challenge rating to 3 (700 XP).
If the snake is slain, the four baboon leap through the hole in the ceiling and down upon the party. (They remained outside the room because of their fear of the snake.)
Treasure
The bones crushed beneath the fallen block belonged to two humans. This block can be moved by the combined effort of up to three characters with a total Strength of 30 or higher. A pouch tied on the waist of one corpse holds 40 ep. One of the humans wore a brooch of bronze and green quartz in the shape of a lizard (worth 25 gp). A silver and beryl-emerald ring (50 gp) is worn on a bony finger. A silvery dagger, actually made of a copper-nickel alloy and worth 10 gp, is stuck in the left boot of one figure. A scroll case holds a map of the territory in which these ruins are located. Finally, a crystal sphere, cracked in the catastrophe, has rolled into the shadow of some nearby rubble. It is made of polished quartz, 3 inches in diameter, and is worth 45 gp.
Crumbling Exit
If characters attempt to climb up the dirt embankments to the hole in the ceiling, they discover that the surface supports only 50 pounds. More weight than that on any space along the slope causes further collapse-each climber must succeed on a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw or be buffeted by dirt and rubble, taking 7 (3d4) bludgeoning damage. If the save fails by 5 or more, the rubble engulfs the digger completely, and the trapped character can’t breathe until dug out. Getting out on one’s own requires a successful DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check, and doing so takes 1 minute.
Serpent Doors
The southeast exit from this chamber is a set of double bronze doors in the north wall at the end of a short corridor. Above them hangs a plaque inlaid with jade (worth 25 gp). The plaque depicts a two-headed serpent, with its second head where its tail should be.