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AREA 1-18A – THE BROKEN CAGE

Twisted bars and shards of wrought iron lie scattered around this area. Several pieces of iron have been driven into the walls, sticking out at odd angles.

AREA 1-18B – ANCIENT CORPSES

Nearly a dozen horribly burnt and mutilated corpses lie in this room. Near the center of the room are the charcoaled remains of some enormous beast — nearly the size of an elephant.

GM Background: During the evacuation, this creature suddenly metamorphosed. Its cage (in Area 1-18A) exploded and it immolated not only itself but a dozen guards who tried to bring it back under control.

DOOR TO AREA 1-19: This is a glass-and-bronze door. It has been smashed open (by the goblins).

AREA 1-19 – ABOVE THE ARENA

A stone walkway surrounds a 30-foot deep pit in the center of the room. A metal walkway extends out over the bit in the shape of a cross with a rusty ladder suspended from it near the middle. Looking down into the pit you can see that the walls and floor below have been deeply stained with ancient, rust-colored blood. It seems as if ever surface was drenched in it. Several doors lead out from the bottom of the pit.

LADDER: The ladder originally had a release mechanism to lower it, but the mechanism has rusted over. (It could theoretically be broken loose from the mechanism and then lowered manually.)

BOTTOM OF THE PIT: See Area 2-21.

AREA 1-20 – WEAK FLOOR

Whatever furniture or items may have once been in this room have rotted away into utter ruin.

FLOOR: The floor here has been weakened due to the fissure-collapse below. If more than 100 pounds of weight is placed on the floor, it collapses into Area 2-23. Reflex save (DC 15) to avoid falling. 3d6 damage. Search DC 20, Disable Device 23.

GM Background: The seal on this storehouse (see Area 1-21) was broken by the damage done to the floor.

AREA 1-21 – STORAGE

These areas were storehouses of supplies for the activities here. They were sealed and protected in the fashion of Ghul’s warehouses. Their contents remain in perfect condition.

• AREA 1-21A – FOOD: Raw beef and mutton.
• AREA 1–21B – ALCHEMICAL SUPPLIES: These were valuable and removed. But removed quickly: Various crates lie smashed open, their contents scattered. Craft (Alchemy) (DC 10) allows one to assemble to complete alchemist’s labs (worth 500 gp each).
• AREA 21–C – MISC. SUPPLIES: Chains, ropes, and other miscellaneous supplies.
• ARAE 21–D – SADDLES AND TACK: Brands, bridles, feedbags, and whips. Many of the whips are viciously barbed. Some of the feedbags are bloodstained. A Handle Animal or Ride (DC 10) check can easily determine that many of the saddles have been custom-designed for creatures which apparently no longer exist (or may have never existed). There is one masterwork military saddle designed for a horse among the rest.

TOTAL VALUE: The total value of all the unusual and standard equipment is perhaps 4,000 gp if sold to the proper collectors, but the total weight is more than 1,000 pounds.

AREA 1-22 – AUTOPSY AND SURGERY

Several large racks of polished steel have been positioned throughout this room. Above them are large contraptions consisting of sawblades, syringes, and similar devices suspended on fully articulated metallic arms. The equipment is caked with old blood and pools of fresh blood lie glistening on the floor.

• GM Background: The blood is preserved by the same magic as the storehouses (Area 1-21).

KAOSTECH: An examination of the surgical tables will reveal that the sawblade-contraptions have no visible controls, but a plug-like device at the end of a long cord is attached to each of them.

• GM Background: These are kaostech-controlled devices.

RACK OF POTIONS: Still stored in syringes along one wall.

• 5 potions of cure light wounds
• 2 potions of cure moderate wounds
• 2 potions of lesser restoration
• 1 potion of restoration
• 2 samples of mixture A from Area 1-14
• 2 samples of mixture B from Area 1-14
• 2 samples of mixture C from Area 1-14

OTHER ITEMS:

• An iron collar of gentle repose hangs on the wall next to the rack of potions.
• Various herbs and the like are stored in a cabinet. A Heal check (DC 10) reveals these to be sufficient to stock 3 healer’s kits.

AREA 1-23 – BLOOD SAMPLES

The walls of these rooms are covered with shelves. And every shelf is crammed full of glass jars containing fresh blood.

• AREA 1-23A: Red blood.
• AREA 1–23B: Red blood.
• AREA 1-23C: Black blood.
• AREA 1-23D: Green ichor.
• AREA 1-23E: Blue blood. (What has blue blood? You dunno.)

KNOWLEDGE (ARCANA) / SPELLCRAFT (DC 23): You’ve heard of storage facilities like these. Before the development of the modern clone spell — a powerful magical rite — the archaic version of the spell was dangerous to both subject and spellcaster. However, the now largely forgotten blood clone spell was safer, although it was not as useful (the subject would awake an amnesiac). Most modern spellcasters consider blood clone to be only one step removed from raising the dead, since you are essentially capturing a soul which then loses its own identity.

AREA 1-24 – BROKEN BLACK CENTURION

A broken black centurion hangs from the its interface machinery. The machinery failed centuries ago and, without power from the pit of chaos located beneath the complex, the black centurion became inoperative.

The machinery is now ruined, but an inspection will notice a kaostech plug attached to the back of the black centurion’s skull.

REMOVING THE CENTURION: If it is removed from this area, the centurion destabilizes, sublimates into a cloud of caustic black vapor, and inflicts 5d6 acid damage on everyone within 30 feet.

AREA 1-25  – FOUNTAIN OF THE HOUNDS

What appears to have once been an extremely large fountain stands in the middle of the room. If there was once water here, it’s gone now — the fountain is dry.

On a pedestal in the center of the fountain are three statues, each depicting a wolf-like creature: One appears to be a wolf of prodigious size. Another gapes saber-like fangs and has bony protrusions which jut from its spine. The third appears almost pantherish, with tendrils emerging from its shoulders.

AREA 1-25A – BLOCKADE

Large chunks of rock, furniture, shelving, and the like have been stacked up in a great jumbled heap completely blocking the corridor.

GETTING THROUGH: Opening a crawlspace through the blockade takes 60 minutes of work. This is increased or decreased by the total Strength modifiers of the people working on it (minimum of 10 minutes).

• Move Silently checks are made at a -10 penalty due to the labor-intensive nature of the work. If the ghulworg skeleton in Area 1-34 hears them, it will carefully move to the small chamber just down the hallway. It will remain out of sight until they’ve cleared a path and entered its domain. Then it will attack.

AREA 1-26 – MIND-TRANSFERENCE DEVICE

A massive apparatus of machinery is built up in the center of the room. Nearly ten feet across, it extends from the floor to the ceiling. (And, in point of fact, burrows down and up ten feet beyond sight in either direction, as well.)

The far wall is inset with a large, ten-foot-wide sheet of smoky, opaque glass.

On opposite sides of the chamber, up short flight of stairs to both the left and right, are large, coffin-like boxes of metal lying on the floor. Flanking these boxes, to either side, thick, metallic rods stand upright from the floor with large, bulbous ends.

METAL COFFINS (A): The metal coffins are, in fact, split down the middle. Each half can be partially rotated back, revealing a cocoon-like depression. One cocoon appears to be shaped for a humanoid; the other for a large dog or wolf. Both are outfitted with manacles.

ACTIVATION CHAMBER (B): The glass partition is a one-way mirror. If you’re inside the room you can look into the outer chamber through the smoky glass (but not vice versa).

The north wall of this chamber is covered in a morass of machinery — wires, glass tubes partially filled with liquid, convoluted gearworks, and so forth.

GM Background: This is a kaostech device. In order to figure out how to activate it, a character must make a Craft Kaostech check (DC 20). (This check is 1d20 + Intelligence modifier + inverse Wisdom modifier + skill modifier.)

The entire room is, in fact, a mind-transference device (see below). Ghul’s researchers would use it to transplant the minds of orcs into the hounds of Ghul; particularly ghulworgs.

Mind-Transference Device: If either creature is unwilling, it gets a Will save (DC 20) to resist the transference. Even if both creatures are willing, they must both make a Will save (DC 20) to avoid suffering 1d6 points of damage to Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma during transference. (Thus, unwilling creatures make two saves.)

Transference is only one way, so if the target body still contains a functioning mind, there are suddenly two minds within the same body. They must make opposed Charisma checks each hour to determine who controls the body. More often, a mind is transferred into a mindless body.

A mind carries with it its Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma, skills, feats, spells, knowledge, or spell-like abilities. It can access natural abilities, extraordinary abilities, and supernatural abilities. The body retains its original Strength, Constitution, and Dexterity scores.

Taint: Anyone undergoing a mind-transference must make any immediate taint check. A room in which a mind-transference device has been used becomes a faintly tainted place.

Lever activation; Craft DC 50; Price 100,000 gp; Weight 14,000 lbs.

Go to Part 7

Go to Part 1 – Maps

AREA 1-14 THE PITS

The air smells of vomit and rot. Three of the ten-foot-by-ten-foot pits in the center of this room are partially filled with thick, noxious chemicals. One of the pits appears to be filmed over with a thick, fungal growth.

The remnants of some sort of mechanical contraption hang in shattered, rusting ruins from the ceiling. You can make out a large hook of some sort dangling down and what may have been tracks for moving the hook back and forth.

GM Background: The alchemical concoctions perfected in Area 1-12 were poured into these pits and the experimental subjects from Area 1-13 were then lowered into the pits. Successful transformations would be transferred to the Arena (Areas 1-19 thru 1-23).

PITS: The pits are 30 feet deep and filled about 20-25 deep with the alchemical mixtures. (The effects of the pit liquids are described below.)

• FORT SAVE (DC 14): Anyone leaning over the pit must make a Fortitude save or vomit.

SECRET DOOR (SEARCH, DC 14): This secret door requires the use of a key to open. The key is long gone. The door is made of stone, but the latch mechanism can be broken more easily. (Break DC 28, hardness 8, hp 90)

MOTILE MOLD: The fungus skimming over one of the pits is, in fact, a collection of 10 motile molds.

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MOTILE MOLD (CR 1) – N Medium Plant
DETECTION – blind, blindsight 60 ft., Listen +0; Init -1; Aura swamp gas (30 ft.)
DEFENSES – AC 13 (-1 Dex, +4 natural), touch 9, flat-footed 13; hp 11 (2d8+2); Immune acid, gaze attacks, illusions, plant immunities (critical hits, mind-affecting, paralysis, poison, polymorph, sleep, stunning), visual effects; Weakness vulnerability to fire
ACTIONS – Spd 20 ft.; Melee acid touch +1 (1d6 acid); Ranged +0; Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; Base Atk +1; Grapple +1; SA decomposing slime, death burst, engulf
SQ plant traits (breathe, but do not sleep), swamp gas (30 ft.)

STR 11, DEX 8, CON 13, INT 1, WIS 10, CHA 5
FORT +4, REF -1, WILL +0
FEATS: Track
SKILLS: Hide +2 (+12 in marsh/swamp), Listen +0, Survival +2

Death Burst (Ex): When destroyed, explodes. 10 ft.—Reflex DC 12 (half), 1d4 acid damage. Save DC is Constitution-based.

Decomposing Slime (Ex): Touching or striking motile mold inflicts 1 acid damage.

Engulf (Ex): Standard Action—Envelop creatures of its size or smaller by moving into their space. Target can make Reflex save (DC 12) or attack of opportunity, but not both. On successful save, target can  move aside or or back (target’s choice) out of the mold’s path. Save DC is Constitution-based.

Engulfed creatures are considered grappled within the mold’s body and are subject to its decomposing slime once per round.

Swamp Gas (Ex): 30 ft. aura—Fort save (DC 12) or sickened for 10 rounds. Poison effect. Cannot be affected again for 24 hours after successful save. Save DC is Constitution-based.

Skills: +10 racial bonus on Hide checks in marsh/swamp terrain.

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THE PITS

Any creature completely covered in one of the liquids must succeed at a Fortitude save or become altered in some way. The effect ends after d8+2 minutes at which time the fluid has suffused the victim’s body and entered the stomach. The victim’s body rejects the fluid and vomits it out. The victim must succeed at a Fortitude save (DC 20) or cough up a good amount of blood, too, suffering 2d6 damage.

(The researchers would stabilize the mutations with a separate alchemical compound, now lost.)

PIT A: : Fortitude save (DC 17). Victim’s neck becomes elongated, growing to twice its normal length. All down the sides it grows gill-like openings that emit a series of horribly shrill, chittering sounds when the victim exhales. Anyone hearing these sounds must make a Will save (DC 15) or become dazed for one round with visions of pale, blabbering mouths, drooling and laughing in their face. (The victim is not affected by this.)

When the effect ends, the gills wither and fall off while the neck returns to its normal length. This process inflicts 2d8 points of damage.

PIT B: Fortitude save (DC 20). Victim’s skin sprouts hundreds of chitin spikes, completely ruining any clothes or leather armor they may be wearing. Victims wearing full metal armor suffer d4 damage each round until the armor is removed. The spikes are fairly brittle, though, and can only be used offensively in a grapple, in which case they do 1d6 piercing damage.

When the effect wears off, the victim is left with small, round scars all over their body.

PIT C: Fortitude save (DC 20). Victim’s eyes explode as two new eyestalks burst from the sockets. This is extremely painful and deals 2d6 points of damage. After 1 round the stalks are fully grown, but the character remains blind for 1d4 rounds.

The eyes are deep red, seven inches long, and each boasts a round, lidless eyeball about the size of a human fist. The victim benefits from 360’ vision (cannot be flanked) and darkvision 60 feet.

When the effect wears off, the eyestalks wither and fall off. The victim suffers 1d4 points of damage and remains blind until a regeneration or similar spell can create new eyes for them.

PIT D: Fortitude save (DC 25). Victim’s teeth retract into their gums and their tongue erupts into a bulbous, five-foot-long, deep red tentacle. The tentacle is completely limp and the victim cannot control it in any way.

When the effect wears off, the tentacle slowly reduces in size back to a normal tongue and the teeth slowly return to their normal positions over the course of 1d4 hours.

(These pits are adapted from “Modification Complex No. 47” by Skrir.)

AREA 1-15 ADMINISTRATOR’S OFFICE

The air in this room is incredibly stale. A small wooden desk has been half-rotten through. What appear to have once been large crates are stacked in the corners, although many of these have collapsed under the weight of years.

LISTEN (DC 10): The sound of deep, laborious breathing echoes through the room.

THE GENTLE HOUND: A large, gracile creature with chocolate-brown fur lies in an impossibly deep hibernation behind the desk. Its neck and hind legs are curiously elongated (causing it to walk and run in a loping fashion).

• It takes serious effort to wake up.
• It will be friendly unless provoked, in which case it will fight back. If seriously injured, it will run down the hallway and operate the secret door, escaping into the larger complex.
• Use stats of a dire wolf.
• GM Background: This creature was a failure of the experiments that took place here; it has a gentle nature, quite out of character with what Ghul wanted in his hounds. The administrator kept it as a pet, but it was abandoned here when Ghul’s empire fell.

SEARCH (DC 18):

• 3 masterwork longspears (once used to keep the beasts under control)
• small gem purse (870 gp worth of gems)

AREA 1-16 – BLUESTEEL DOOR

This is another bluesteel door. No password has been inscribed nearby.

AREA 1-17 – ESCAPE TRAP

This room is empty.

SPOT (DC 18): Several dozen holes have been drilled into the walls of the chamber. They appear to form a curious, flowing pattern.

TRAP (CR 3): mechanical, location trigger, manual reset, Atk +10 ranged (1d6/x3, arrow); multiple targets (fires 2d4 arrows at each target in the room, 1d4 arrows at each target in the first 10 feet of the hallway); Search DC 18, Disable Device DC 20.

• The arrows hit everyone EXCEPT the person standing on the trigger plate.

SECRET DOOR: Search DC 18 (or DC 30 if trap is not sprung). One of the arrows on the far wall will appear to malfunction: It will dangle uselessly from the hole it shot out of. In reality, this is the switch for the secret door — pulling on the arrow causes the door to swing open.

GM Background: Someone being pursued could run into this room, trigger the trap, and perforate their closest pursuers. They could then activate the secret door and slip away.

Go to Part 6

Go to Part 1 – Maps

AREA 1-8 – MODIFICATION COMPLEX (MAIN HALL)

DOOR FROM HALLWAY: This is a door of glass-and-bronze. It has not been broken, but stands ajar. However, if any of the doors in Areas 1-8 thru 1-12 are opened, the door will swing shut and seal itself. It can only be opened with the correct password (which is not available). Breaking the door creates a feeblemind effect (Will save, DC 24).

SEARCH (DC 12): Age-old scratches cover the floor, creating a trail from the bluesteel door to Area 1-12.

• GM Note: These are the marks of hundreds of cages having been dragged in and out of the complex.

DOOR TO AREA 1-11: Open Lock (DC 25). All other doors are unlocked.

AREA 1-9 – THE CHAOS BEAST

An acrid stench assaults the senses.

RUBBLE: The floor here is covered two or three feet deep in rubble — most of it seems to be large chunks of stone, but mixed into the debris is broken glass. Here and there you can see that pools of some sort of thick, black liquid has coalesced.

DORMANT CHAOS BEAST: Mixed into the rubble is a dormant chaos beast. 1d4+2 rounds after the door is opened, the chaos beast spasms into action.

CLEARING RUBBLE: Reveals a floor of badly damaged white tile with Ghul’s skull sigil worked into it as a mosaic. There are also footings for two stone tables (which would appear to be where all the rubble came from).

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CHAOS BEAST (CR 7) – Medium Outsider (Chaotic, Extraplanar)
DETECTION — darkvision 60 ft., Listen +11, Spot +11; Init +5
DEFENSES — AC 16 (+1 Dex, +5 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 15; hp 44 (8d8+8), Immune critical hits, transformation; Resist spell 15
ACTIONS – Spd 20 ft.; Melee 2 claws +10 (1d3+2 plus corporeal instability); Ranged +9; Base Atk +8; Grapple +10; SA corporeal instability; Combat Feats Dodge, Mobility
SQ darkvision 60 ft., spell resistance 15

STR 14, DEX 13, CON 13, INT 10, WIS 10, CHA 10
FORT +7, REF +7, WILL +6
FEATS: Dodge, Improved Initiative, Mobility

Corporeal Instability (Su): Fort DC 15, or become spongy, amorphous mass; shape melts, flows, writhes, and boils. Cannot hold any item. Worn items become useless. Large worn items afflict -4 Dex penalty. Speed -10 feet. Cannot case spells or use magic items. Attack blindly at random target (-4 penalty, 50% miss chance).

1 Wisdom drain per round. If Wisdom reduced to 0, victim becomes chaos beast.

Can attempt Charisma check (DC 15) as standard action to regain normal shape for 1 minute. Permanent cure requires restoration, heal, or greater restoration.

Immunity to Transformation: Can be affected by polymorph or petrification effects, but can resume mutable form as free action.

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AREA 1-10 – PRIVATE CHAMBERS

These rooms are filled with furniture ruined and rotting from age. Each room has a floor of white tile with Ghul’s skull-sigil worked into it as a mosaic.

• GM Note: These were all private chambers for the researchers and laborers who lived here.

AREA 1-10A – LABORERS QUARTERS

As per Area 1-10. Several large bunkbeds have been crammed in here.

• GM Note: These were the laborers quarters.

SEARCH (DC 20): Wedged under one of the mattresses are some research notes written in orcish. The paper has been badly damaged by age, but even a casual perusal will see that it deals with alchemy.

• KNOWLEDGE (ARCANA) / CRAFT (ALCHEMY) (DC 15): The alchemical calculations seem to be related to the effects of alchemical concoctions on living flesh and bone.

AREA 1-11 – CHAMBER OF SKULLS

The walls of this dome-shaped chamber are covered with skulls. All the skulls would appear to belong to wolf-like creatures, but they don’t seem to have any relationship to any living creatures you’re familiar with. Some seem almost normal, but even these seem curiously (or horrifically) warped.

HOUND HOWL: If any of the skulls are disturbed, it causes all of the skulls to begin howling. The effect passes through the room in a cacophonous wave and then the skulls fall silent.

• The skulls never howl again.
• The entire collection of skulls would be worth 500 gp to a collector.

GM Note: This was something of a “trophy room” for the researchers here. Many of these represented their successes; others merely their most impressive failures.

AREA 1-12 – LABORATORY

The first thing one notices about this room is the smell: A metallic odor fills your nostrils, and the air feels moist and greasy.

WORK TABLES: Tables line the walls, littered with alchemical equipment. Broken beakers, flasks, tubes, and syringes lie haphazardly.

GREASY FILM: The walls and floor seem to be coated with some sort of greasy film.

• BALANCE (DC 12): If moving faster than normal in this room.
• GREASY RESIDUE: After spending 5 minutes here, PCs wearing metal armor may notice an oily film beginning to form on the surface of it (Spot DC 15, decrease DC by 2 every 5 minutes). This isn’t harmful, just hard to get off.

SPOT (DC 12): It’s clear from looking around the lab that whoever worked here were slightly larger than humans — the tables are just slightly too high and the equipment just slightly too big.

SEARCH:

• DC 10: a set of keys (to the cages in Area 1-13) hangs from a nail on the wall
• DC 12: potion of spider climb (that causes one to actually grow arm-sized spider legs, two on each side; Fortitude DC 25 to resist, but if resisted the potion is useless)
• DC 15: five unbroken syringes; two filled with potion of bull’s strength, 1 filled with potion of bear’s endurance, 2 empty

SCRATCHES: The scratch marks from Area 1-8 continue through this room and into Area 1-13.

AREA 1-13 – CAGES

Maverick Monarch – Monster Manual V

The room is filled with large cages of wrought iron. Each of the cages has a large ring attached to the top of them.

• CAGE A: Contains the bones of a dire wolf.
• CAGE B: Contains the bones of a bear.
• CAGE C: Contains the bones of a ghulworg, but the skull has been smashed, making identification impossible. (Comparison with the ghulworg skeleton in Area 1-34 is quite possible, however.) It is clear that the bones are laced with metal, and an Appraise (DC 15) check will identify it as 1,000 gp worth of adamantine.
• CAGE D: The remains of an ankheg, its armored plates lying haphazardly.
• CAGE E: This unusually large cage contains the remains of a mockery monarch (Monster Manual V, p. 126). In life it would have stood twice as high as a man. It was bred here from ankhegs as part of the experimentation. Its large armored plates are silver in color and might be worth 250 gp to a collector.

Mockery Monarch – Monster Manual V, p. 126

SCRATCHES: The floor is covered with scratches from where the cages were dragged from Area 1-12 and through to Area 1-14.

Go to Part 5

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).

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MAPS

CARTOGRAPHY BY ABIGAIL LALONDE

Scale = 5’ x 5’

LEVEL 1

LEVEL 2

(click maps for larger images)

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