620_88566_Ghostwalk3.qxd
4/4/03
2:06 PM
Page 210
The Secret Room (EL 6)
Read the following aloud.
LAIR OF THE CRIPPLED ONE
ADVENTURES
CHAPTER 6:
An encounter site for 7th-level characters.
This 10-foot-by-20-foot chamber has a long table and three pots simmering over an iron stove full of hot coals. The acrid smell is very strong here and stings the inside of your nose and throat. A human woman lies bound on the floor, a greenish yellow stain on her lips. Three horribly disfigured, scalecovered, snakelike humanoids stare at you with yellow eyes and flickering tongues. This is the lab where Sachnos creates tainted ones and broodguards. The woman on the floor failed the process and has died. The simmering pots contain a distillation of yuan-ti venom mixed with certain herbs and roots, used in the process of creating tainted ones and broodguards (see Yuan-Ti in Chapter 5: Monsters). Creatures: Three broodguards stand in this room at the command of Sachnos. They cannot be let out of this room, for they clearly cannot pass for human. They attack anything other than a yuan-ti that enters this room not tied up or anyone that Sachnos tells them to. Broodguards (3): Male yuan-ti broodguard War4; CR 3; Medium-size humanoid; HD 4d8+8; hp 26 each; Init +2; Spd 30 ft.; AC 12 (+2 Dex), touch 12, flatfooted 10; Atk +7 melee (1d3+1, 2 claws) and +4 melee (1d4+1, bite); SA rage; SQ immune to hold, charm, and poison; AL CE; SV Fort +5, Ref +3, Will +3; Str 15, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 7, Wis 11, Cha 6. Skills and Feats: Climb +8, Listen +5, Spot +2; Alertness, Iron Will, Multiattack, Weapon focus (claws).
AFTERMATH With the yuan-ti plan (hopefully) averted, the PCs are recognized as great heroes. Jaesicha Millicen herself thanks them for stopping the plot against her—thus creating a powerful political ally for the PCs, which can always come in handy later. The characters can also collect bounties on the slain yuan-ti. If some of the yuan-ti escaped, they immediately begin plotting their next move. This involves not only revenge and retaliation against the PCs, but a way to take control of the Devil’s Cellar and the pool at the bottom again. Their problem is, now that they have been exposed, people will be watching for them there. Their next plan must involve even greater subterfuge and guile.
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SYNOPSIS This is a small lair occupied by Halaarn, a smart and tough manticore, and his human monk minion. Halaarn has the monk leave the remains of previous victims in the area outside the lair to lure the predatory oozes that frequent this part of the Undercity. The oozes serve as unwitting guards and a primitive alarm system for the lair’s inhabitants. The manticore is middle-aged for its type and had its wings badly injured in a fight for a mate. It must resort to different tactics, as it cannot fly for long and has limited room to maneuver underground anyway.
THE LAIR This is a large cave hollowed out of the perimeter of the Undercity, elevated from the ground level to prevent easy access by most creatures. 1. Ooze Territory (EL6)
Read the following aloud. This area of barren earth spans the distance between a group of rubble-filled buildings and a cave entrance along the Undercity’s outer edge. A Search check (DC 20) allows a character to recognize what is so unusual about this area: There are no bits of metal or organic matter anywhere nearby. Even the doors and other wooden bits from the ruined buildings are gone. This is because the gray oozes that frequent this area eat all metal or wood they touch, leaving nothing but bare earth and stone. They respond quickly to motion or strong scents in this area.
