When the party reaches the bottom of the stairs, read:
A staircase leads upward into the gloom. It seems as though you have found the entrance to another layer within the complex.
The second 10-foot square along these stairs is warded by magic like that of a
Thereafter, the statue breathes the next three times someone moves into or through the warded area. After four breaths, the statue retreats to its room and the door closes. (The statue’s resting place is connected to a hot water geyser in the bedrock, through which it replenishes itself.)
Slippery Steps
After the statue breathes for the first time, the condensing steam makes the stairs slippery difficult terrain. A character who moves on the stairs must while they are slippery must succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check or fall prone.
Secret Door
If the characters get to the top of the stairs without triggering the glyph, someone can discover the secret door here with a successful DC 20 Wisdom (Perception) check. The door can’t be opened from the outside, however.
41. Free Gold
At the western end of this corridor is a pile of golden coins heaped on the floor. On top of the gold rests a skull missing its lower jaw. In the right eye socket, a black spider has made a home. Several bones are piled with the coins, and the hilt of a broken sword thrusts up from the mass.
This apparent pile of gold is covered with a pale yellow dust. The entire pile of coins is actually
Eastern Door
Close examination reveals that the stone in the center of the corridor is smoother than the surrounding wall. Because of this clue, it takes only a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check to find the secret door. The door can be opened by stepping forcibly upon an obvious cobblestone that is slightly raised from the floor. The door has two facing panels that pivot inward when it is opened.
Western Door
In front of the secret door is a dark stain on the floor, which makes the door as easy to find as the eastern one. This door swings on a horizontal pivot in the middle of the slab. Pushing in at either the top or the bottom of this secret panel causes the opposite end to swing outward, providing enough space to crawl through into the secret passage beyond.
42. The Chapel of Kukulkan
(Koo-KOOL-kahn, the feathered serpent)
Beyond the secret door, the passage bends around to the left. At the end of a narrow corridor hangs an ornate mirror, and a door is set in the eastern wall next to it.
Magic Mirror
The first creature to come within 10 feet of the mirror at the end of the corridor must make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw. On a failed check, the creature believes that it is in deadly combat with a feathered warrior that has emerged from the mirror. This effect is like that of a phantasmal force spell, with the character battling a warrior that has a +6 bonus to hit and deals 3 (1d6) psychic damage, as described in the spell. The effect ends if the affected creature deals the imaginary warrior a total amount of damage equal to the creature’s own hit point maximum.
While under the effect of this magic, the creature is actually paralyzed, appearing to others as if it were just standing there staring into the mirror. If someone disturbs the affected creature, that creature can repeat the saving throw, ending the effect on a successful save.
The Door
When anyone get close to the door, read:
The door seems to be very heavy, and it has many glyphs carved upon it. In the center of the door is carved an eagle killing a serpent. Two stone warriors dressed in loincloths and wearing panther masks are sculpted into the door posts.
The glyphs on the door tell a story in ancient Olman of a journey to find truth and light, which ended in failure and imprisonment in the land of the dead.
The door opens outward. When the characters pass through the doorway, read:
Beyond the door is a wide foyer that leads into a circular room. On the south wall of this hall is a jade death mask affixed at chest height.
Taking up the middle of the chamber is a cross-shaped dais with sets of stairs leading up to it along each of the four ends. In the center of the dais rises a cylindrical structure that appears to be made of transparent walls of crystal enclosing an oddly carved, stone pillar.
The stairs that face the room’s entrance are carved with the heads of many gods. The steps on the north side are bloodstained, and atop the landing stands a statue of a warrior. The stairs to the east, across the room, are partly obscured by shadow. The southern staircase is luminescent, appearing to change colors in the light.
Tucked into each nook where the arms of the cross come together is a low shelf on which are placed small offerings: silver bracelets, earrings, neck collars, anklets, piles of coral beads, and silver and jade statuettes.
Trapped Mask
The mask (worth 25 gp) is the trigger to a trap. If the mask is taken off the wall, the lever it hangs on pivots up and three sets of iron bars drop, caging whoever is in the square in front of the mask. The bars are old, and they can be bent or lifted away from the floor with a successful DC 20 Strength (Athletics) check.
Trapped Treasure
If any of the items on the shelves (worth a total of 450 gp) are touched, the exit door seals with an effect like that of an arcane lock spell, requiring the use of magic or a successful DC 25 Strength (Athletics) check to force the door open.
Creature
Coiled about the pillar, trapped within the magic walls of the crystal cylinder surrounding it, is a couatl. Because of its especially potent Shielded Mind trait, it is effectively invisible.
If the characters disturb any of the items on the shelves, the couatl speaks to the party in Common, its voice seeming to come from everywhere in the chamber.
Voice
“Interlopers, you have trespassed on my sacred chapel. For this affront, retribution has already begun, for you are now breathing a toxic gas which will kill you shortly. It is possible your actions were not from malice or greed, but just idle curiosity. Therefore, you will find the cure upon the stone in the middle of the dais, if you can solve the puzzle to reach it by the proper route. Choose your path wisely, and act quickly.”
There is actually no poison gas in the room, but as the characters spend time in here trying to get to the cure, describe how they seem to be getting weaker and weaker. They should feel as if time is running out.
Aura
A detect magic spell reveals an aura of evocation magic emanating from inside the crystal cylinder.
The Right Path
To reach the “cure,” the characters must first face the challenge of ascending the northern steps, where the warrior stands. The warrior, a helmed horror, animates and attacks when it is approached. Once the construct is defeated, the characters can proceed to the center of the dais.
A character who attempts to reach the dais another way has no luck:
- Someone who tries climbing up the shelves takes 2 (1d4) force damage and is pushed back 10 feet.
- The heads carved into the western stairs babble when a character steps on them. That character feels too weak to continue, and sits down until helped away from the stairs.
- The eastern stairs are shrouded in dim light, which can’t be made brighter by any means. Any character who mounts the stairs falls down and rolls back onto the floor, taking 3 (1d6) bludgeoning damage.
- The southern stairs change color constantly. Anyone who tries to ascend them makes no progress (though they can be descended normally).
Once the characters reach the crystal cylinder, the couatl again speaks to them, still hidden from sight:
Voice
“So you have passed the first test. Perhaps you are not the fools you first seemed. But it will take the best tool of your most clever person to breach these crystal walls. Your time is running out.”
The surface of the crystal cylinder is cold to the touch and impervious to all blows. The enclosure has no visible gaps.
A gap appears in the wall if someone who has proficiency with thieves' tools touches the tools to the surface with the intention of finding a portal or a lock. The players might come up with other valid solutions, such as a wizard (clever person) touching the crystal with a wand (tool). It’s up to you which alternative attempts work.
Cure in Sight
By the time the characters reach the pillar inside the cylinder, they feel very weak. On the top of the pillar in front of them is a potion bottle, but an invisible barrier prevents anyone from touching it. A glyph is etched into the side of the pillar just below the bottle. One more time the couatl speaks, its voice now seeming to come from the stone:
Voice
“So you have reached my altar, but your time is nearly exhausted and the cure is just beyond your reach. Trust your souls to the gods, foolish mortals.”
The top of the pillar is shielded by a wall of force that must be breached to reach the potion bottle. The wall can be destroyed by a
Aftermath
When the characters claim the potion bottle, the couatl becomes visible and flies out into the chamber. If the characters immediately attack it, the couatl calls them ingrates and fools, and then attacks back.
If the characters don’t attack, the couatl smiles and thanks them for freeing it from its long imprisonment.
Treasure
Inside the bottle is a potion of healing. The mask, if it is claimed, weighs 30 pounds and is worth 25 gp. Miscellaneous items on the shelves have a total value of 450 gp.
Special Treasure
If the couatl and the characters are on good terms at the end of the encounter, the couatl provides them with special treasures: a
In addition, if the characters ask, the couatl might be willing to use its spells to help the party. It has been imprisoned a long time and doesn’t know anything about the ruins. It returns to the celestial planes after giving the characters their rewards.
43. The Smoking Mirrors
An amber haze drifts in this room, which is unoccupied. Strangely shaped and colored mirrors hang on the walls, and a large, oblong stone basin stands in the middle of the floor. The basin is about ten feet long, five feet wide, and three feet tall. It is filled with a steaming golden liquid.
The red mirror on the eastern wall seems to be composed of fiery glass and framed in bronze. Light beams are broken by the mirror into myriad flames, and ghostly shapes seem to flicker in its depths.
On the northern wall are two mirrors: a striking black one of obsidian framed in lacquered wood, and a stark white mirror with a wrought iron frame. The black mirror has a distinctive earthy odor and the blackness of subterranean caverns, but it seems of crude construction and reflects objects only when they are close to it. The white mirror has a pungent odor of nutmeg and spice, and its depths are gelid and smoky.
The mirror that hangs on the western wall is in a stone frame and is blue in color. Reflections in this mirror ripple as if the viewer were looking into a pool of water.
Red Mirror
A creature that looks into the red mirror sees a ghostly white form next to its own reflection. This mirror falsely predicts the viewer’s death. The ghostly image takes on the appearance of a monster or a trap from this adventure. The image then assaults and kills the viewer’s reflection. The mirror functions only once per character; after a character has this vision, the mirror becomes a normal mirror for that individual.
A creature that touches the red mirror for the first time on a turn takes 2 (1d4) fire damage.
Black Mirror
A creature that looks into the black mirror sees its reflection blur and then reappear in ancient garb as if depicting a previous incarnation. The image says, in Olman,
Image
“Command me to answer, and I shall.”
The image of a long-dead Olman is superimposed on the character’s reflection. A command spell can cause the spirit to answer three yes-or-no questions (the one-word command is “Answer”). The spirit answers only questions spoken in Olman, and nods or shakes its head in response.
Any creature that touches the black mirror must succeed on a DC 13 Charisma saving throw, or all valuable metals and gems in its possession turn into lead and glass.
White Mirror
Reflections in the white mirror are blurred by what looks like a fine mist. Any creature that steps before this mirror and looks into it must make a successful DC 13 Wisdom saving throw or be stunned until the end of the creature’s next turn. If the saving throw fails, the mirror, which is really an ochre jelly of unusual color, comes out of the frame and falls upon the character. Behind this false mirror is a door, which can be opened once the jelly is removed.
Blue Mirror
The mirror on the western wall is actually a window of magical glass that offers a view of a pool of water. Any character who touches the glass must succeed on a DC 13 Charisma saving throw or be drawn through the glass, becoming submerged in the water. Weapons can be used to break the glass (AC 15, 20 hit points). If the glass is destroyed, the water in the pool and those trapped in it spill out into the room.
Golden Liquid
Any nonmagical object immersed in the basin reacts with the fluid inside, which turns the object into gold for 1 hour. If any of the golden liquid is removed from the basin, it becomes colored water.
44. Sun of Motion
In the center of this diamond-shaped room is a dais on which a weirdly formed altar rests. The altar is made to resemble a many-armed and beaked octopus-like creature with a large purple-red stone its forehead. The altar and floor are covered with dust. The walls of the room are decorated with paintings of the sun and moon in motion. Other images show people standing about a temple making sacrifices of flesh and blood, while the figure of a priest holds the heart of his latest victim above his head.
Trapped Altar
The altar radiates an aura of transmutation magic if
The gem in the center of the altar has AC 17 and 15 hit points. If it is destroyed, the altar stops spinning and the character is released. The gem is a cursed stone, but it appears to be a jewel of value, and it can be pried from the altar. If the gem comes in contact with a creature’s flesh, that creature must succeed on a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw or be affected as if by an Otto’s irresistible dance spell, going into a spinning dance that lasts until the stone is released. To let go of the stone willingly, the creature must be the target of magic that removes a curse or breaks an enchantment.
If the creature dances for a number of minutes equal to its Constitution score, it must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or suffer one level of
45. Mictlan
(Meek-TLAN, Land of the Dead)
This room is decorated with a bizarre diorama depicting the land of the dead. Small, brightly painted clay statues have been placed about the room to represent the inhabitants of this realm and the unfortunate people they have taken into their care.
In the center of the room, the floor rises to form a small hill. A group of small figures seem to be struggling to roll a boulder up the hill, while a devil drives them on. Above the hill in the ceiling is a glowing spot that illuminates the entire chamber with an eerie silver light.
A cobblestone path leads from the western door to the foot of the hill. A similar path runs eastward and then veers south. Sections of the diorama around the perimeter of the room depict different environments in the land of the dead.
In the western end of the room is a region of burning sands. There devils torture those who have been unfortunate enough to fall into their hands.
Along the southern side is a grassy plain where people frolic and hunt antelope and deer.
North of the grassy plain and south of the hill, the floor opens into a model of a canyon. A river of lava flows down it while flames lick the walls. East of the hill, in a side area of the room, is a counterpart to this fiery canyon-an icy waste.
To the north of the hill is a putrid, bubbling marsh where figures strive to keep their heads above the surface.
From out of the marsh a black, torpid river wends its way past the northern edge of the hill and flows west to pour over the lip of a steam-filled chasm in the northwest comer of the room. Within this dark chasm, worms pursue the fleeing forms of naked people.
In the south comer of the room on the eastern wall is a barred door.
The light in the ceiling comes from the walls of a chute that glows in the dark. The chimney can be reached by someone who climbs on the shoulders of another character, but to enter it, the character must brace back and legs against opposite walls because there are no protuberances to hold onto. The steeply inclined passage beyond is full of cobwebs and leads eventually to area 48.
Each section of the diorama in this room has a magical aspect that affects any creatures that walk into the region. If the effect isn’t instantaneous and isn’t related to a spell, it can be dispelled with dispel magic cast as a 5th-level spell (or at a level stated in the effect). A creature on which a region’s effect is dispelled is immune to the effect for 1 minute.
The two paths are free of magical effects. If characters veer off the paths, either unwittingly or with the intent of exploring, apply the effects described below according to the areas they enter. Unless otherwise noted, creatures can leave an area whenever they desire, by either moving onto one of the paths or into an adjacent area.
Hill
A magical force pushes those who climb to the top of the hill in a random direction. A creature that ends its turn on top of the hill must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be pushed 5 feet off the top of the hill and knocked prone. If a creature slips, roll a d4 to see which direction it rolls off the hill.
Burning Sands
Any creature that ends its turn in this region must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or start to bleed profusely from the nose. This hemorrhaging causes a loss of 1 hit point at the end of each of the creature’s turns thereafter. If the creature leaves the area, the bleeding stops at the end of its next turn.
Grassy Plain
Any creature that enters this region must succeed on a DC 15 Charisma saving throw or refuse to leave it. A creature affected by the magic is allowed another Wisdom saving throw every 24 hours while the magic persists. A creature can repeat the saving throw every time it takes damage. If companions outside the area try to talk the creature into leaving, you can decide to allow the victim another saving throw. In any case, each time the saving throw is repeated, the DC increases by 1.
Flames
Creatures that enter this section are affected as if by a heat metal spell cast at 3rd level (save DC 15).
Ice
Creatures that enter this area are affected as if by a 3rd-level heat metal spell (save DC 15), but the damage is cold instead of fire, and the creature has no chance of dropping a chilled object.
Marshes
Any creature that enters this area feels a shortness of breath after 3 rounds and begins to suffocate after 3 more rounds.
River
Those who enter the river for the first time on a turn must succeed on a DC 15 Intelligence saving throw or forget how they came to be here and why they are here. A spellcaster also forgets how to cast one level of spells for each point by which the saving throw is failed, starting with the highest level the character knows. Forgotten spells can be prepared again. Dispel magic doesn’t remove this effect, but remove curse or greater restoration can.
Pit of the Worms
Any character who enters this region must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be affected as if by a
46. Tlazoteotl
(Tlaz-ohl-TAH-oh-tel, mother goddess of the earth)
Beyond the door is a modest-sized room with a lumpy pile of earthy material in the middle of the floor. Across from the door in the southeast corner, a glazed flask rests on a small shelf. In the northwest and northeast corners are two more shelves on which rest a small urn and a thin stone cylinder.
Creature
When any character starts into this room the pile of earth, which is a gibbering mouther, opens one eye, and then another and another, until many eyes of different shapes and sizes stare at the party. All about the eyes are fanged, drooling mouths that begin a cacophony of babbling. The creature attacks until destroyed but doesn’t leave the room.
Treasure
The flask contains a dried
The urn holds the dried heart of a mighty yuan-ti that radiates transmutation magic if
47. Spider in Hiding
Creature
In a web-covered opening in the wall of the steeply inclined chute, 30 feet above the where the lower end meets the ceiling of area 45, lurks a giant spider. The spider’s lair is 10 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 4 feet tall. A character must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom (Perception) check to notice the tunnel or its occupant before the spider attacks. If the spider paralyzes its prey, it retreats into its lair with the prey to feed.
In the Chute
The cramped quarters of the tunnel impose disadvantage on weapon attack rolls.
Also, a creature in the chute struck by the spider must succeed on a DC 11 Dexterity or Strength saving throw (player’s choice). On a failed save, the creature slips down the chute 5 feet for every point by which the saving throw failed. If a creature falls 30 feet, it plummets out of the chute, taking falling damage accordingly and rolling in a random direction (roll a d4) after landing prone in area 45. The spider pursues prey into the chute, but is unlikely to emerge to fight in an open area.
Upper End
The top of this passage is covered with a pewter basin, which requires a successful DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check to move.