(6th-level characters) Lair of the Crippled One (7th-level characters)

The Secret Room (EL 6)

Read the following aloud.

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.

LAIR OF THE CRIPPLED ONE

An encounter site for 7th-level characters.

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.

Creatures: Two gray oozes arrive here 1d4 rounds after the characters do and immediately attack.

Gray Oozes (2): hp 28, 24; see Monster Manual.

2. Cliff

Read the following aloud.

This section of packed earth and stone climbs 10 feet before leveling off and opening into some larger chamber. It appears that care has been taken to smooth out this vertical surface in order to make it difficult to climb.

Climbing this wall into the upper level requires a Climb check (DC 25). The wall is not an obstacle to the manticore. His human minion can climb it with relative ease, but it is impossible for any of the oozes that frequent this area to climb it.

3. Tolorn’s Home (EL6)

Read the following aloud.

A short wall of mortared stones blocks off the view of part of this room, although the place reeks of dead flesh. A couple of corpses are propped against the northwest part of the room.

There are several rotting bodies out of view behind the short wall. Resting among them is a human monk named Tolorn, formerly a noble’s bodyguard from Bazareene. On an expedition into the Undercity, he was captured by a necromancer. The events he witnessed and experienced in the necromancer’s care snapped his mind, and now he serves the manticore as a bodyguard and servant. He distributes the leftover bits of Halaarn’s meals to attract the oozes and takes care of any errands the manticore tells him to do. Since he is used to the presence of dead bodies and is immune to normal diseases, he sleeps among the corpses kept in this area and sometimes even has conversations with them.

Tolorn: Male human Mnk6; CR 6; Medium-size humanoid; HD 6d8+12; hp 39; Init +6 (+2 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative); Spd 50 ft.; AC 17 (+2 Dex, +3 Wis, +1 monk, bracers of armor +1),touch 16, flat-footed 15; Atk +7/+4 melee (1d8+1, unarmed strike); or +7 ranged (1d8/19–20, masterwork light crossbow); SA flurry of blows, stunning attack 6/day (DC 16); SQ evasion, fast movement, purity of body, slow fall 30 ft., still mind; AL LE; SV Fort +7, Ref +7, Will +7; Str 12, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 15, Cha 10.

Skills and Feats: Climb +9, Jump +9, Knowledge (arcana) +2, Listen +11, Move Silently +10; Deflect Arrows, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, KihuSherem Guardian, Weapon Finesse (unarmed strike), Weapon Focus (unarmed strike).

Possessions:bracers of armor +1, masterwork light crossbow, +1 ghost slaying bolt (Fort DC 20), 10 bolts, potion of cat’s grace, potion of cure moderate wounds, 82 gp.

Tactics: Tolorn is the sentry for the lair he shares with Halaarn, so he is waiting behind the low wall and listening for intruders. A small pipe built into the wall allows him to look through it and into the area by the cliff. He is used to sitting in the dark, only using a light if he has to move a body, so lights approaching the lair immediately attract his attention. If the intruders appear powerful, he drinks his potion of cat’s grace. If ghosts are present, he loads his ghost slaying bolt into his crossbow and fires it at the weakest-looking ghost. Tolorn fights in melee with unarmed strikes and always tries to stun his opponents. While fighting, he calls to alert and gain help from Halaarn, whom he calls “Master.”

4. Halaarn’s Lair (EL8) This is the chamber where Halaarn lives.

Creatures: Halaarn is an old, partially crippled manticore.

Halaarn: Male manticore Ftr3; CR 8; Huge magical beast; HD 6d10+30 plus 3d10+15; hp 94; Init +2; Spd 30 ft., fly 50 ft. (clumsy); AC 16 (–2 size, +2 Dex, +6 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 14; Atk +12 melee (2d4+5, 2 claws) and +10 melee (1d8+2, bite); or +9 ranged (1d8+2/19–20, 6 spikes); Face/Reach 10 ft. by 20 ft./10 ft.; SQ cold resistance 5 (from ring of warmth), darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent, weak flight; AL