Go to Part 1 – Maps

AREA 1-1 – BLUESTEEL DOOR

• Entrance from The Complex of Zombies.
• Someone has crudely carved the words “Athvor Krassek” into the lintel above the bluesteel door. (This is the password for the door.)

AREA 1-2 – STATUES OF THE SKULL-KING

Ceiling vaults up to 40 feet.

STATUES: Four identical depictions of a cloaked man with a skull-faced mask, standing 20 feet high. Carved from a black stone, standing in stark contrast to the cream-colored walls.

• GM Background: These depict Ghul the Skull-King.

AREA 1-3 – TEMPLE OF JESSUK

The room is paved in glistening ebony, rising in three tiers.

STATUES: Two horrific statues stand in the corners of the second tier.

• To the left is the pillar of Kihomenethoth (see Ptolus, p. 274)
• To the right is the statue of Shallamoth Kindred (see Chaositech, p. 91).
• The names “Kihomenethoth” and “Shallamoth” are inscribed in Issyl on the base of the pillars.

ALTAR: The altar on the upper level is a black slab of ebony.

• Any investigation of the altar reveals the sigil of Jessuk minutely carved in the rear corner of the altar.

TAINT: This area is tainted and under the effects of an unhallow spell.

AREA 1-4 – HALL OF ORCISH WARRIORS

These two halls are filled with varied statues of orcish warriors.

AREA 1-5 – SKULL SIGIL OF GHUL

BAS RELIEF: A dark-grey granite rises about three inches from the floor, forming an immense, skull-shaped sigil. The granite is laced with thick, black cords that twist like gleaming ebony across its surface, sucking the eye down into a void beyond emptiness.

• The stone is shadow-veined rock (see below).

CHILL AIR: The entire room is chilled — breath steams in the air.

• GM Note: This is the remnant of an ancient ward that is now failing.

DAMAGING THE SIGIL: Causes the rock to begin to bleed. The blood which pours from the wound is a dark, venal crimson.

• Those touching the blood must make a Fortitude save (DC 15) or suffer 1 point of taint.

KNOWLEDGE (ARCANA):

• DC 15: First part of the Shadow-Veined Rock
• DC 20: First & second part of the handout.
• DC 25: Full handout (including shadow tokens).

SHADOW-VEINED ROCK

Deep beneath the roots of the mountains, where stygian blackness has never known the sun’s warm touch, the shroud of eternal night has forged a primeval connection between this world and the Plane of Shadows. In such a place even the rock itself is changed by the touch of eternal night, its very substance becoming one with the shadows in which it has lain for untold aeons.

Shadowveined rock is literally laced with primal shadow. Thick black cords twist like gleaming ebony across its surface, sucking the eye down into a void beyond emptiness. To the touch it seems both substantial and insubstantial, particularly along its veins of shadow-stuff, as if it were both solid granite and illusionary figment all at once.

The result is not only a captivating beauty, but an intrinsic and mystical bond within the rock itself to the Plane of Shadows.  Although this bond does not allow the passage of physical creatures from one plane to another, certain magical and supernatural effects can use the shadow veins to pierce the veil between worlds. And effects which actually involve the Plane of Shadows or its base material are generally more powerful and effective in the presence of shadowveined rock (as described in the sidebar on this page).

SHADOW-VEINED PROPERTIES

Shadowveined rock has the following effects on spellcasting and other magical or supernatural effects:

Arcane sensors and similar effects can pass through shadowveined rock into the Plane of Shadows. For example, an arcane eye or prying eye can move through a block of shadowveined rock and emerge upon the Plane of Shadows. Similarly, if a spellcaster touching or holding a piece of shadowveined rock uses a scrying spell to observe a creature currently on the Plane of Shadows, his target does not receive the normal +5 bonus to their Will save as a result of being on another plane.

When casting shadow walk a spellcaster can take advantage of nearby shadowveined rock to cut a more direct path through the Plane of Shadows. Upon casting the spell, the spellcaster, and anyone else affected by the spell, simply steps through a solid wall of shadowveined rock. Upon doing so, they are transported deep into the Plane of Shadows, allowing them to move at a rate of 100 miles per hour (instead of the normal 50 miles per hour). In addition, if their destination is a known wall of shadowveined rock they can increase this speed again to 150 miles per hour, emerging from the rockface at the other end.

A shadowdancer can use their hide in plain sight ability within 10 feet of shadowveined rock, even if they are otherwise in a completely illuminated area, as long as they are not carrying the rock in question. In addition, a shadowdancer can use their shadow jump ability with shadowveined rock as either their point of origin or destination (by stepping into or out of the shadowveined rock). When doing so the maximum distance of their shadow jump is doubled (or tripled if both the origin and destination is shadowveined rock).

SHADOW TOKENS

By carefully altering a piece of shadowveined rock, a spellcaster can enhance its connection to the Plane of Shadows. The result is a shadow token – a powerful aid in the casting of any shadow magic.

To create a shadow token the shadowveined rock must first be carefully fashioned into the token. This requires a Craft check (DC 20). Then a permanent shadow planar binding must be cast upon the token (using the greater shadow conjuration and permanency spells) in order to strengthen and, paradoxically, solidify its ties to the Plane of Shadows. Once the connection has been strengthened it must be magically tempered. This process requires the Craft Wondrous Item feat, uses 26,000 gp in raw materials, and drains 1000 xp from the caster.

Once the shadow token has been successfully created, it functions as a use-activated item. A spellcaster holding a shadow token may cast spells as if they were on the Plane of Shadows. Such spells may be cast as though they were prepared with either the Maximize Spell feat or the Quicken Spell feat, though they don’t require the higher slots. Furthermore, specific spells become more powerful: Shadow conjuration and shadow evocation spells are 30% as powerful as the conjurations and evocations they mimic (as opposed to 20%). Greater shadow conjuration and greater shadow evocation are 70% as powerful (not 60%), and a shades spell conjures at 90% of the power of the original (not 80%).

AREA 1-6 – EMPTY CENTURION CHAMBERS

Thick, black cables dangle from the walls here.

• GM Note: These chambers one held black centurions (see Area 2-10) charged with guarding the staircase in Area 1-7, but the equipment was ripped out centuries ago (possibly when the complex was originally abandoned).

AREA 1-7 – STAIRS DOWN

The floor is littered with shattered shards of pottery.

• If a mend spell is used, the shards can be crudely reshaped into four busts: These are largely unremarkable, although on depicts an orc and another appears to have some sort of goggles surgically attached to her face.
• GM Note: These were the head researchers in this complex during Ghul’s reign (although there’s no clear way for the PCs to discern that).

Go to Part 4

Go to Part 1

MAPS

CARTOGRAPHY BY ABIGAIL LALONDE

Scale = 5’ x 5’

LEVEL 1

LEVEL 2

(click maps for larger images)

Go to Part 3

With the 5^th Edition and Cypher System versions of Monte Cook’s Ptolus being announced this past week, I thought it might be fun to visit The Laboratory of the Beast. This scenario was originally designed as part of my ongoing Ptolus campaign, and I’ve discussed it quite a bit in the “Running the Campaign” columns that accompany the campaign’s journal entries. For those who haven’t read those journal entries, here’s the short version of the scenario’s origins:

Beneath the city-state of Ptolus there are a number of overlapping dungeon complexes. One of these is Ghul’s Labyrinth, the remnants of a vast and ancient underground citadel created by the dark lord Ghul. In the main Ptolus sourcebook there’s a scenario called “Trouble with Goblins” in which a number of goblins emerge from Ghul’s Labyrinth into the basement of an abandoned house and do various terrible things.

When I ran this scenario early in my campaign, the PCs backtracked the goblins and followed their trail down into the Labyrinth. In the published scenario, the trail goes cold and the PCs don’t find anything of interest in the dungeon. I decided it made more sense for the trail to lead somewhere, and so I designed a little mini-scenario.

I later published that scenario as The Complex of Zombies. As I described here, the published version of the scenario had been adapted to make it a generic scenario, notably changing the research complex so that it now belonged to the enigmatic Sons of Jade.

A key feature of this mini-scenario is that, ultimately, the goblins’ trail leads back through a bluesteel door: These doors, which are a common feature in Ghul’s Labyrinth, are essentially impassable for low-level characters unless they know the password. (As I discuss in “The Blue Doors of Ptolus”, this is a great way to control and define transitions in a megadungeon complex.)

The basic design goal here was to give the PCs a reward for successfully pursue the trail, but then definitively end the scenario so that they could move on to other things.

But it didn’t work out that way.

As described in “Tales from the Table: Unexpected Successes” (which is probably worth a read, if I do say so myself), the PCs managed to pull a rabbit out of their hat and successfully guessed the password, causing the bluesteel door to open.

The Laboratory of the Beast is what lies on the other side of the door. (The goblin trail ultimately leads through the laboratory to another scenario called The Goblin Caverns of the Ooze Lord. If response is positive to The Laboratory of the Beast, perhaps I’ll be able to share that latter adventure in the near future.)

With all this in mind, there are a few ways that you could use The Laboratory of the Beast in your own campaign:

• You could use it as designed, attaching it to the door at one end of The Complex of Zombies.
• You could make it a stand-alone dungeon. You could put the door leading to the laboratories almost anywhere: In the basement of a ruined keep. Or found in the aftermath of a tragic collapse during sewer construction. Or carved into the side of a mountain. Or it’s actually a portal that you leap into from a lich’s sanctum.
• You could incorporate it into some other megadungeon complex, with or without The Complex of Zombies.

I’m presenting the scenario here basically in its original form (with a minimal amount of clean-up to hopefully make my intentions clear to people who don’t live inside my skull), so if you use it in combination with The Complex of Zombies you’ll probably want to make a decision about whether you’re using the Skull-King Ghul or the Sons of Jade.

If you’re planning to use this scenario in your own Ptolus campaign, you should also note that it was written for the version of Ptolus as it exists in my personal campaign world and may, therefore, have any number of metaphysical inconsistencies with Ptolus Prime.

GENERAL FEATURES

During the time of Ghul the Skull-King, this complex was being used to breed the hounds of Ghul — powerful war hounds who, through the machinations of this laboratory, became ever more dire and horrific.

Walls: Cream-colored stone (hardness 8, 15 hp/inch).

Unkeyed Rooms: These are empty, dusty rooms. Some might contain vague discolorations on the floors and walls, suggesting that they might have once contained equipment which has been removed. Or strange alchemical stains.

Bluesteel Doors: Indicated by a shaded door on the map. Made from steel with a distinct bluish tint. One cannot open them by normal magical means and they have no lock to pick. Instead, each door will open in response to a specific word. (3 inches thick, hardness 12, 120 hp, Break DC 31)

Glass & Bronze Doors: Indicated in room keys. Made of glass bound in bronze. These doors are very fragile, but have been laced with dark magic which curses whose who break them. (The effect will be described in the key entry when appropriate.) Resisting the curse requires a Will save (DC 24) and can be removed only by a cleric of at least 13^th level casting remove curse on sanctified ground.

Taint: Various items and locations are tainted. See Advanced D20 Rules: Taint for rules on this dark perversion of reality.

Kaostech: Kaostech items can be found throughout the laboratories. See Kaostech for more information on this technomantic art.

Go to Part 2: Maps

In “On the Use of GM Screens” a few years back I shared my personal best practices when it comes to using GM screens. Probably the biggest reason I like them is the vertical reference space: One of my secret weapons as a GM is simply arranging my reference material so that I can lay out multiple elements (stat blocks, room descriptions, campaign status document, maps, NPC roleplaying templates, etc.) simultaneously. I can thus cross-reference material by just flicking my eyes back and forth, and can often easily compare information directly instead of having to flip back-and-forth.

The vertical reference space of the GM screen, therefore, is basically free space. I’ve already covered every inch of table space in front of me (and often have a TV tray to one side for additional reference material), so basically creating more space in the third dimension is a huge advantage.

Now, the most common thing I put in that vertical space is my system cheat sheet. It’s virtually always useful when running a game, and putting that information into the vertical plane means that my horizontal surfaces can be focused on scenario-related material. These cheat sheets can also be prepped ahead of time

But this is not the only way you can utilize that vertical space! This is a trick that I didn’t think to include in “On the Use of GM Screens” because I don’t use it very often, but it can be very effective upon occasion and you may find it even more useful than I do.

Basically, 3M makes these removable restickable glue sticks:

They can be used to essentially turn any piece of paper into a Post-It note. And that, in turn, means that you can turn any piece of paper into a swap note that you can quickly paste up or remove from your GM screen.

For example, you can print out the stat blocks for your current scenario. Here I’ve grabbed an Orc War Chief accompanied by a warband of Orcs, and also a second encounter featuring a Werebear and his pet Owlbear:

And then, while running the game, you can quickly use the restickable glue stick to attach them to the GM screen for easy reference during an encounter:

Other stuff that you might find useful as a swap note:

• A list of upcoming, timed events for the current session that you don’t want to forget
• The map of the dungeon
• NPCs in the current scene
• The standard features (door types, ceiling height, light sources, environmental effects) of the current dungeon
• The daily weather forecast for the next several days of a sandbox campaign (so that you don’t forget to make it rain)

As I’ve talked about before, what reference material a GM finds useful will often be very specific to that GM, and will often change over time. So experiment with different options, and pay attention to the type of information that you had to stop and scramble for (or just really wish you’d had handy) during your last session.

You can also just keep a straight-up stack of Post-Its that you can scribble out transient-yet-important information onto.

This is also works on the other side of the screen, too! If you have visual references for the players (like, say, all those photo handouts that are part of the Alexandrian Remix of Eternal Lies), you could similarly turn them into Post-Its and slap them onto the front of the screen. If you’re going to do this a lot, it might argue for using a simple pattern for the player’s side of your screen. You could even go for a collage approach, where instead of removing the references you just keep layering them on top of each other, creating an ever-evolving visual motif of the campaign that continues to grow as the campaign goes on.

PROVISOS

In my experience, this technique only works passingly well with the old, thin cardboard-style screens. But it works great with the modern, glossy, board-stock screens that have become de rigeur. It works even better with modular screens like those from Pinnacle, Strategem, and Hammerdog.

You don’t want to leave the notes attached for an extended period of time. I first used this technique with my Eclipse Phase screen and I ended up leaving a few swap notes attached when we moved on to other games. When I opened the screen up a couple of years later, I found that the glue had chemically deteriorated and left a chalky residue that was difficult to clean up.

Go to Part 1

Yesterday I rolled out some experimental rules for revising hydras and creating new hydroid creatures. Today we’re going to put them into practice with a few sample creatures.

Bear in mind that this is still an installment of an Untested column: The general rules for hydroids haven’t been tested and these specific monsters even less so. If you do find occasion to use them in your own games, please circle back and let us know how it went!

HYDRALING

Baby hydras — also known as hydralings – are two-headed serpents, only developing the legs of an adult hydra during adolescence. The mothers of hydralings have been seen to deliberately bite off one of the heads from their offspring, prompting the growth of an additional head. Some have hypothesized that this is because hydralings never truly sleep (since one of their heads is always awake), but it’s more likely an instinctual action which prompts (or is prompted by) the hydraling’s development.

HYDRALING
Medium monstrosity, unaligned

Armor Class 13 (Natural Armor)
Hit Points Special
Speed 40 ft., swim 20 ft.

STR 12 (+1)
DEX 15 (+2)
CON 12 (+1)
INT 2 (-4)
WIS 10 (+0)
CHA 6 (-2)

Skills Perception +3, Stealth +4
Senses passive Perception 13
Challenge 1/2 (100 XP)

Amphibious. A hydraling can breathe air and water.

Hydroid. The hydraling has two heads. For every 10 points of damage the hydra suffers, one of its heads dies. If all of its heads die, the hydraling dies.

At the end of its turn, the hydraling grows two heads for each of its severed heads, unless it has taken fire damage since the head was severed. A hydraling can have a maximum of five heads.

Multiple Heads. While the hydraling has more than one head, it has advantage on saving throws against being blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, stunned, and knocked unconscious.

For each additional head beyond one, it gets an extra reaction that can be used only for opportunity attacks.

While the hydraling sleeps, at least one of its heads is awake.

ACTIONS

Multiattack. The hydraling makes as many bite attacks as it has heads.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: (1d4 +2) piercing damage.

TENTACULAR ABOMINATION

A dog-size creature with eel-like skin. It has no head, but its back is a writhing mass of tentacles.

TENTACULAR ABOMINATION
Medium monstrosity, unaligned

Armor Class 15 (Natural Armor)
Hit Points: Special
Speed 30 ft.

STR 17 (+3)
DEX 12 (+1)
CON 14 (+2)
INT 6 (-2)
WIS 13 (+1)
CHA 6 (-2)

Skills Perception +5
Senses Blindsight 60 ft., passive Perception 15
Challenge 3 (700 XP)

Pack Tactics. The tentacular abomination has advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one of the tentacular abomination’s allies is within 5 ft. of the creature and the ally isn’t incapacitated.

Hydroid. The tentacular abomination has five tentacles. For every 10 points of damage the abomination suffers, one of its tentacles dies. If all of its tentacles die, the abomination dies.

At the end of its turn, the abomination grows two tentacles for each of its severed tentacles, unless it has taken acid damage since the head was severed.

Multiple Heads. While the tentacular abomination has more than one head, it has advantage on saving throws against being blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, stunned, and knocked unconscious.

For each additional head beyond one, it gets an extra reaction that can be used only for opportunity attacks.

While the abomination sleeps, at least one of its heads is awake.

ACTIONS

Multiattack. The abomination makes as many tentacle attacks as it has tentacles.

Tentacle. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: (1d6+3) bludgeoning damage. The target is grappled (escape DC 13) by one of the abomination’s tentacles. Until this grapple ends, the tentacular horror can’t use that tentacle on another target.

LENGLIAN SERAPHIM

Wings. Dozens of wings clustered together as if shielding a central mass (although no such mass exists within the impossible dimensional toroid of the Lenglian seraph), with eyes opening and shutting between the wings. Some Lenglian seraphs are also known to emit smoke or aurora-like, multi-colored halos as their wings continue to fold and unfold, stretching, reaching, searching, beating the air around them.

(It is also not unusual for Lenglian seraphs to be confused for a swarm of winged creatures, particularly from a distance.)

LENGLIAN SERAPHIM
Large celestial, lawful good

Armor Class 17 (Natural Armor)
Hit Points Special
Speed fly 80 ft.

STR 22 (+6)
DEX 21 (+5)
CON 14 (+2)
INT 21 (+5)
WIS 16 (+3)
CHA 19 (+4)

Saving Throws Wis +7
Skills Perception +7
Damage Resistance Radiant; Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks
Condition Immunities Charmed, Exhaustion, Frightened
Senses Truesight 120 ft., passive Perception 17
Languages All, Telepathy 120 ft.
Challenge 12 (8,400 XP)

Innate Spellcasting. The seraph’s spellcasting ability is Charsima (spell save DC 17). The seraph can innately cast the following spells, requiring only verbal components:

• At will: bless, detect evil and good
• 1/day each: augury, commune

Hydroid. A Lengling seraph has thirty-five wings. For every 5 points of damage the seraph suffers, one of its wings is severed. If all of its wings are severed, the seraph dies.

At the end of its turn, the seraph grows two wings for each of its severed wings, unless it has been splashed with unholy water since the wing was severed or is under the effects of a bane spell.

Many Eyed. A seraph has eyes proportionate to its wings. While the seraph has more than one wing, it has advantage on saving throws against being blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, stunned, and knocked unconscious.

For every five wings the seraph has, it gets an extra reaction that can only be used for opportunity attacks.

ACTIONS

Multiattack. The seraphim can make one wing attack for every five wings it has.

Wing. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: (1d8+6) bludgeoning damage.

Radiant Gaze (Recharge 5-6). One creature that the seraph can see within 60 feet of it must make a DC 17 Constitution saving throw, taking 70 (20d6) radiant damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

LEGENDARY ACTION

Can take one legendary action. Only one legendary action can be used at a time, and only at the end of another creature’s turn. Spent legendary actions are regained at the start of each turn.

Buffeting Wings. The seraph beats its wings. Each creature within 10 ft. of the seraph must succeed on a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw or take 1d6+6 bludgeoning damage and be knocked prone. The seraph can then fly up to half its flying speed.