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