Go to Part 1 – Maps

AREA 2-11 – OFFICE

A large desk on the far side of the room has been smashed to pieces. The once-luxurious carpet is stained and soiled. Surprisingly, nothing here looks particularly rotten or aged — merely damaged.

SEARCH (DC 18): A concealed trapdoor in the floor hides a safe.

• OPEN LOCK (DC 30): The safe is empty except for a scroll – Ghul’s Commission.

GM Background: This area is protected by a preservation spell, but the ichorclaw has inflicted damage in random bouts of rage over the years.

GHUL’S COMMISSION
(ORCISH – UNTRANSLATED)

This heavy roll of parchment unrolls to reveal a text of thick, reddish-black Orcish characters. Despite being written in Orcish, the entire document appears to be elegantly scribed. Near the bottom of the page an immense black seal has been set — impressed in the wax is a skull-shaped sigil, and the wax also attaches a piece of black-and-gold ribbon to the parchment.

GHUL’S COMMISSION
(ORCISH – TRANSLATED)

This heavy roll of parchment unrolls to reveal a text of thick, reddish-black Orcish characters. Despite being written in Orcish, the entire document appears to be elegantly scribed. Near the bottom of the page an immense black seal has been set — impressed in the wax is a skull-shaped sigil, and the wax also attaches a piece of black-and-gold ribbon to the parchment.

The parchment reads:

By the divine hand of Ghul – Skull King, Banelord’s Heir, Sorcerer’s Get, and Blue Lord of the Arathian Stock – Ulthorek tal Yattaren is thus set down as the Chieftain of the Laboratory of the Beast. Within such domain, he shall rule by the Hand of Ghul.

                                                                GHUL THE SKULL KING

AREA 2-12 – GREAT HALL

A massive table of stone stands in the middle of this room. Massive, yet elegant, high-backed chairs stand around it. A large ambry of oak stands against the north wall.

AMBRY:

• 18 silver goblets (worth 25 gp each)
• 3 bottles of ancient orcish bloodwine (worth 250 gp each)

GM Background: The room is protected by a preservation spell.

AREA 2-13 – TORTURE CHAMBER

This room is filled with implements of torture, including a bloodstained rack, iron maiden, and manacled chair. (The room is protected by a preservation spell, so the blood is still fresh.)

AREA 2-14 – PRISON CELLS

The bars of each cell are activated by a switch on the wall opposite the doors.

SHATTERED CELL (A): This cell is empty and the bars have been broken and bent outward. (This is where the ichorclaw came from.)

SKELETON (B): An orc’s skeleton lies in this chamber.

SKELETON (C): An elf’s skeleton lies in this chamber.

AREA 2-15 – BATTERED BLUESTEEL

This bluesteel door has been battered from the outside, bending it hideously inward. However, it has lost none of its strength and remains equally impassable. No password is written nearby.

AREA 2-16  – SMASHED CENTURION CHAMBERS

The centurions are absent from these chambers, but the smashed remnants of their machinery is still present. (See Area 2-10.)

AREA 2-17 – EMPTY CHAMBER

This chamber appears empty.

SEARCH (DC 18): There is a keyhole in the center of the southern wall. Cleverly hidden.

KEY: The key for this secret door is located in Area 2-8.

AREA 2-18 – VAULT SECURITY

Four iron rods, each topped by a ball of brass, stand in the corners of this room. The iron door in the far wall has no handle. Instead, a large impression in the shape of an orc’s hand is in the center of the door.

IRON DOOR (3 in. thick): hardness 10, hp 90, break DC 30. The door will open if anyone holding Ghul’s Commission (from Area 2-11) places their opposite hand in the depression.

• It can also be fooled with a Use Magic Device check (DC 30).
• Any other attempt to open the door will trigger the trap.

TRAP (CR 4): magic device, proximity trigger (alarm), automatic reset, spell effect (lightning bolt, 5^th-level wizard, 5d6 electricity, DC 14 Reflex save half damage); Search DC 28, Disable Device DC 28. (Cost: 7,500 gp, 600 XP)

• A lightning bolt bursts from each of the four iron rods.

AREA 2-19 – THE RESEARCH VAULT

The walls of this iron-shod chamber are lined with numerous shelves both little and small. The shelves are covered with small, carefully crafted niches, each of which was clearly designed to hold some unique item. All of the niches are now empty.

GM Background: The vault was emptied when the complex was abandoned. It once held a variety of odd artifacts and the like, waiting to be analyzed by Ghul’s researchers, but now nothing of value remains.

AREA 2-20 – BEAST KENNELS

These were once beast kennels. The wooden doors leading to them are almost entirely rotten away through sheer age.

The kennel rooms contain feeding troughs and watering troughs.

Large channels from each room lead out to a 6-inch-wide gap in the middle of the hall’s floor. Beneath this gap is a 50-foot-deep pit down which charnel waste was washed. (There’s nothing on interest down there.)

AREA 2-21 – THE ARENA

This bloodstained arena was once used to test the creations of the laboratory and instill a blood-thirst in the hounds. It is an open pit, with the upper level described in Area 1-19.

AREA 2-22 – WEAPONS STORAGE

Hanging from the walls and iron racks down the middle of this room are a great variety of weapons, all designed for beasts: Tines, serrated harnesses, and the like. All of them have been crafted to appear as vicious and merciless as possible.

There are also a selection of short iron spears, designed to enrage creatures.

The vast array is impressive, but a closer inspection reveals that most of them are unusable — either custom-crafted for unusual creatures; with important bits rotted away; or their metal rusting and fatigued from age.

AREA 2-23 – COLLAPSE

The ceiling of this room has been weakened by the fissure (which was created by an earthquake many years ago).

OPENING THE DOOR: Opening the door to requires a Strength check (DC 18), but also causes the ceiling to collapse.

• TRAP (CR 6): mechanical, location trigger, repair reset, ceiling falls down (8d6, crush), multiple targets (all targets in room), never miss; Search DC 20, Disable Device DC 16

FISSURE: The fissure leads down to Area 1 of Goblin Caverns of the Ooze Lord.

Go to Part 1 – Maps

AREA 2-1 – THE COLD THRONE

GLOWGEMS: The vast chamber is filled with an eery, silver, sepulchral light emanated from countless small glowgems in the ceiling.

• The glowgems magic is failing with age, but each would still be worth 5 gp. (There are a total of 600 such gems, although prying them out would be a major undertaking.)

POOL: Most of the room is filled with a large, but shallow pool of dark, silvery-grey liquid.

• UNHOLY WATER: The pool is unholy water. (Elestra and Dominic will suffer damage as if exposed to acid.)

AROUND THE POOL: A ten-foot-wide walkway circles the pool, with various hallways and doors leading out of it. A bluesteel door can be seen along a wall near a recessed edge of the pool.

PLATFORM: In the center of the pool there is a raised platform surrounding a large pit of some sort. Several large rods of iron with large brass balls at the end of them are positioned around this platform. An arch of stone rises over the pit and, at the apex of the arch, there is a huge throne wrought from intricately detailed and gothic steel.

• BOTTOMLESS PIT: The pit seems to be bottomless. Lights dropped down it seem to go on forever before finally passing beyond sight. (It’s actually 10,000 feet deep, ending in an immense pit of Pits of chaos are described in The Complex of Zombies.)
• PITONS IN THE PIT: The goblins have driven pitons to climb up more than a hundred feet from a fissure below. This leads down to Area 2 of the Goblin Caverns of the Ooze Lord.

THRONE OF THE OVERSEER: The throne is kaostech. The metal is cold to the touch, but not harmfully so. A hidden panel (Search DC 25) can be recessed, revealing a long, spongy cable with a plug at one end of it (which could be plugged into a headclamp).

• If activated, 12 separate spheres emerge from the throne of the overseer. The operator of the throne can control these spheres to fly anywhere within this complex. The operator can see and hear through them and even manipulate objects through them with an effect similar to telekinesis.
• The throne is a fully tainted (not faintly tainted) object.

AREA 2-2 – LARDER OF GREEN SLIME

Various pieces of ancient and scarred wood lie scattered here and there, suggesting that this might have been a storeroom of some sort.

SPOT (DC 18): The green slime on the ceiling.

GREEN SLIME: Currently quiescent, but 1d4 rounds after someone enters the room, the presence of life rouses it and it drops from the ceiling.

• 5-foot square deals 1d6 Con per round or 2d6 damage vs. wood/metal (ignoring hardness). It does not harm stone.
• First round of contact, it can be scraped off. After that it requires cold damage, fire damage, sunlight, or remove disease. Can also be hacked off, but this causes at least 1d6 points of damage to the victim and requires 1d3 rounds.

GM Background: The preservation magicks on this larder wore out and the green slime got in. It devoured everything edible and then entered its quiescence.

AREA 2-3 – JEWEL SCARABS

The walls and floor of this chamber glitter. It takes a moment to realize that they are completely covered in the gleaming carapaces of large scarab beetles. Each carapace appears to be studded with large gemstones.

JEWEL SCARABS: There are 10 surviving jewel scarabs in this area — 3 ruby scarabs, 5 emerald scarabs, 2 opal scarabs.

• +15 racial bonus to their Hide checks from being able to scuttle through the “dead” shells covering the floor.
• GM Note: Jewel scarabs were a personal pet project of one of the researchers here. He used this area to display them, but the shelves they once occupied have long since rotten away.

TREASURE: There are 54 scarabs here. Each is a beautiful work of art. Although some of their gems have been destroyed or lost, they have an average value of 350 gp each. They weigh 10 pounds each. (Total Value: 18,900 gp. Total Weight: 540 lbs.)

CONSTRUCT LORE: Three successful Knowledge (arcana) checks (DC 25), each requiring eight hours of work, could reverse engineer the workings of a jewel scarab. An additional eight hour session for each of the other two jewel scarabs would discover their gem-type properties. Such techniques could probably fetch another 5,000 gp for each type of jewel scarab if explicated.

JEWEL SCARAB (CR 2) – N Small Construct
DETECTION – tremorsense 30 ft., Listen +6, Spot +4
DEFENSES – AC 16 (+1 size, +1 Dex, +4 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 15; hp 17 (2d10)
ACTIONS – Spd 30 ft., fly 40 ft. (average), burrow 15 ft., climb 10 ft.; Melee bite +1 (1d4-1); Ranged +2; Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; Base Atk +1; Grapple -4; SA spell-like abilities
SQ –

STR 9, DEX 12, CON –, INT 1, WIS 15, CHA 10
FORT +6, REF +4, WILL +2
FEATS: Alertness
SKILLS: Climb +9, Hide +7 (+15 in sand), Listen +6, Spot +4

Spell-Like Abiltiies

Ruby scarab: 6/day—flare (DC 14)

Emerald scarab: 6/day—acid splash (+3 ranged touch, 1d3 acid)

Sapphire scarab: 6/day—ray of frost (+3 ranged touch, 1d3 cold)

AREA 2-4 – LAB OF CONSTRUCTS

A large forge is built into one corner. Strange metal frames are built up here and there throughout the room. The middle of the room is dominated by a large stone worktable.

GM Background: This room was once used as a lab for building constructs.

TOOLS: The material here is badly damaged, but could still be of some use (2,000 gp). The transportable goods weigh 5,000 pounds.

AREA 2-5 – PARTS STORAGE

The walls of this room have been carved out with numerous cubbyholes, cabinets, shelves, and other storage areas. They are covered in a great, eclectic variety of materials.

KNOWLEDGE (ARCANA) (DC 15): Identifies the material as golem construction parts worth 5,000 gp. (Total Weight: 1,000 lbs.)

AREA 2-6 – RUINED CONSTRUCTS

Several large, rack-like structures run down the length of either side of the room. Most of them are empty, but two of them contain mechanical constructs.

CONSTRUCTS: These contructs have been opened up and have either been disassembled or were never complete to begin with.

• The lazuline razor that patrols this level was also built in this lab. The two constructs here clearly come from a similar school of design, but are quite distinct in form and (presumably) function.

AREA 2-7 – THE ADAMANTINE DRILL

A large drill (literally ten feet long and half as thick) is suspended from a scaffolding in the center of this room. It’s flanked by two workbenches.

DRILL: The drill is clearly unfinished, but enough of its mechanisms are intact to show that it would be some sort of self-propelled drilling construct.

• APPRAISE (DC 15): The drill’s cutting surfaces are edged with 9,000 gp worth of adamantine.

SEARCH (DC 15): Turns up a stasis box of cedar inlaid with Ghul’s skull sigil in blackoak on its lid. Within the stasis box:

• Half of the schematics for the drill (worth 500 gp). (The other half were left out have rotted away centuries ago.)
• The schematics are titled, in Orcish: DRILL OF THE BANEWARRENS.
• There are also several arcane notes, also in Orcish, that can be understood with a Knowledge (arcana) check (DC 18). These describe, in general terms, the properties of walls sealed with incredibly powerful spells and exotic materials far beyond mortal ken. Whoever was writing them seemed unsure of the exact characteristics, but the tensile strength of the drill seemed calculated to overcome them.
• GM Background: This drill was designed to penetrate the walls of the Banewarrens (a mega-adventure by Monte Cook).

AREA 2-8 – RESEARCH QUARTERS

These are similar to Area 1-10, but are under the effects of a preservation spell. The furniture is pristine, as is the floor of white tile with Ghul’s skull sigil worked into it as a mosaic.

SEARCH (DC 12): In one of the bedside tables there is a key (which goes Area 2-17).

AREA 2-9 – GHUL’S TELEPORTAL

The walls of this chamber are carved from pitch-black stone. A strange spiral pattern has been carved into the floor. Orcish letters have been carved into the far wall (reading “LABORATORY OF THE BEAST”).

TELEPORTAL: These teleportals appear throughout Ghul’s Labyrinth. The teleportal network was powered through the Tourbillion (Ptolus, p. 453). After the Signet of Shallamoth Kindred was removed from the Tourbillion, the teleportal network was left unpowered and useless. (If the teleportal network were active, one could stand on this teleportal, say the name of any other teleportal, and appear there.)

AREA 2-10 – BLACK CENTURIONS

All eight of these areas hold a black centurion. They are suspended from metal machinery bolted to the wall.

MACHINES: These kaostech machines are powered by the pit of chaos beneath the complex (thus avoiding the dangers of chaotic failure). The black centurions are connected to the machines by headplugs.

ACTIVATION: When activated, the centurions simply drop to the floor and begin moving sinuously.

• If anyone disturbs the throne in Area 2-1 they will activate in waves: 2, then 2, then 4.
• If anyone passes through this area, one will automatically activate. If it meets with difficulties, the rest in the local area will activate. If two of them are destroyed, the four in the other area will activate.

Go to Part 10

Go to Part 1 – Maps

LOWER LEVEL – PATROLS

ICHORCLAW: Areas 11 thru 15

• Attacks anyone entering those areas.
• Starts in Area 2-12.
• It originally escaped from the cells in Area 2-14.

The ichorclaw is a skeletal undead, but its chest cavity is filled with internal organs that still glisten with pulsing blood. Often too many internal organs, as it will frequently harvest organs from its victims. Its phalanages have been unnaturally lengthened, creating disturbingly gracile claws.

ICHORCLAW (CR 5) – CE Medium Undead
DETECTION – darkvision 60 ft., Listen +8, Spot +10; Init +6; Language Ancient Common
DEFENSES – AC 16 (+2 Dex, +4 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 14; hp 78 (12d12); Immune undead immunities (mind-affecting, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, disease, death effects, critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability drain, energy drain, ability score damage, fatigue, exhaustion, any effect requiring Fort save)
ACTIONS – Spd 40 ft.; Melee 2 claws +9 (1d8+3 plus blood drain); Ranged +8; Space 5 ft.; Reach ft.; Base Atk +6; Grapple +9; Atk Option blood drain; SA ichor spray; Combat Feats Combat Reflexes
SQ darkvision 60 ft., sure-footed, undead traits
STR 16, DEX 15, CON —, INT 7, WIS 10, CHA 14
FORT +3, REF +7, WILL +7
FEATS: Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative, Improved Toughness, Lightning Reflexes
SKILLS: Balance +10, Listen +8, Spot +10

Blood Drain (Su): The long, slender claws of the ichorclaw are venous. When plunged into the body of a living victim (any time a target suffers damage from its claw attack), the ichorclaw can suck blood from them, causing the internal organs which dangle within it to pulse with fresh ichor. The target suffers 1 point of Constitution damage. Each time the ichorclaw inflicts 1 point of Constitution damage, it heals 5 points of damage.

Ichor Spray (Su): Swift Action—The ichorclaw inflicts 5 points of damage on itself and sprays blood from its dangling organs. As per the grease spell (Reflex DC 17), centered on the ichorclaw. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Sure-Footed (Ex): The ichorclaw is not affected by slippery terrain, including its own ichor spray.

LAZULINE RAZOR: Areas 3 thru 7.

• Patrols constantly through these rooms.
• Will not move into Area 2-1, but may observe from hallways or southern end of pool. (It tried to harvest the Cold Throne and got itself tagged as an enemy by the black centurions in Area 2-10.)
• If he’s having problems, he will try to lure the PCs to Area 2-3 (the jewel scarabs consider him an ally and will not attack).

The lazuline razor is a construct made up from interlocking plates of blue-tinted metal. Its head, studded with a single eye which glows like a sickly emerald, arches out with an almost prehensile neck. As it jettisons its outer mechanisms, it reveals biomechanical components at its core.

LAZULINE RAZOR (CR 5) – CE Medium Construct
DETECTION – darkvision 60 ft., Listen +9, Spot +9; Init +6; Aura disorienting (5 ft.); Languages Ancient Common
DEFENSES – AC 18 (+2 Dex, +6 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 16; hp 53 (6d10+20); DR 3/–; Immune construct immunities (mind-affecting, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, disease, death effects, necromancy effects, critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability damage, ability drain, fatigue, exhaustion, energy drain, massive damage, effects requiring Fort saves)
ACTIONS – Spd 30 ft.; Melee 2 slams +9 (1d6+4 plus 1 Wis); Ranged +6; Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; Base Atk +4; Grapple +8; SA razor’s edge; Combat Feats Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Mobility
SQ darkvision 60 ft., construct traits
STR 18, DEX 14, CON —, INT 11, WIS 10, CHA 8
FORT +2, REF +6, WILL +2
FEATS: Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Mobility
SKILLS: Balance +6, Escape Artist +7, Listen +9, Spot +9, Stealth +11

Construct Traits (Ex):

• Cannot heal damage on their own.
• Not at risk of death from massive damage.
• Immmediately destroyed at 0 hit points or less. Cannot be raised or resurrected.
• Does not eat, sleep, or breathe.

Disorienting Aura (Su): 5 ft.—Will save (DC 12) or affected per lesser confusion.

Razor’s Edge (Su): Swift Action—Once for every 10 points of damage the lazuline razor suffers, it can jettison its outer layers. These sharp metal plates explode outward, dealing 3d6 damage to all creatures within 20 feet (Reflex DC 14 for half damage). In addition, for each layer jettisoned the lazuline razor will pick up speed, which has the following effects:

• -1 natural AC
• +2 Dex (note that this keeps the razor’s base AC unchanged)
• +1 to attack and damage rolls
• +10 feet speed

When the lazuline razor reaches half of its starting hit points, it is affected as per a haste spell.

BLACK CENTURIONS: Area 2-10.

• Ordered to protect the Cold Throne at all costs. If the Cold Throne is touched, they move to attack in waves (2, then 2, then 4).
• Will also attack anyone passing through Area 2-10 who isn’t authorized. (Which is essentially everyone at this point.)

A humanoid construct of pitch black metal suspended from an elaborate half-cocoon of complicated machinery. A black centurion is utterly featureless – their faces flat black planes. They are formed from a black, mercurial substance crafted by the cunning of the master-crafters of Ghul. Normally highly unstable, the centurion’s creators have managed to both stabilize the substance into a humanoid matrix and exploit its unique properties to create a dangerous mimic.

BLACK CENTURION (CR 3) – N Medium Construct

DETECTION – darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, Listen +7, Spot +7; Init +2 (Dex); Languages Ancient Common
DEFENSES – AC 17 (+2 Dex, +5 natural), touch 13, flat-footed 15; hp 64 (8d10+20); construct immunities (mind-affecting, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, disease, death effects, necromancy effects, critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability damage, ability drain, fatigue, exhaustion, energy drain, massive damage, effects requiring Fort saves); Resist cold 10, fire 10; Weakness vulnerable to sonic
ACTIONS – Spd 30 ft.; Melee +3 longsword +9 (1d8+3/17-20) or +3 lance +9 (1d8+3/19-20/x3); Ranged +3 heavy crossbow +8 (1d10/19-20); Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; Base Atk +6; Grapple +9; Atk Options absorb properties; SA create weapon; Combat Feats Combat Reflexes, Dodge
SQ absorb properties, create weapon, construct traits, death vapors
STR 17, DEX 14, CON –, INT 12, WIS 11, CHA 10
FORT +2, REF +4, WILL +2
FEATS: Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Critical (created weapon)
SKILLS: Balance +4, Escape Artist +4, Hide +5, Jump +7, Listen +7, Move Silently +6, Spot +7, Tumble +6
ADVANCEMENT: 9-15 HD (Medium); 16-24 HD (Large)

Absorb Properties (Ex): If a black centurion is successfully struck by a magic weapon, all that weapon’s properties are absorbed by the black centurion for 1 hour. The weapon loses its properties during that time (or until the black centurion is slain). A black centurion can manifest any of these properties (up to a total +5 enhancement bonus) in its created weapon as a free action.

A black centurion cannot hold more more than a total of +10 enhancement bonus worth of properties. Additional properties are not absorbed. As an immediate action, a black centurion can choose to give up absorbed properties to absorb new properties.

The manifested properties must be applicable to the created weapon (for example, a mace cannot be imbued with the keen property). The total enhancement bonus on a created weapon cannot exceed +5.

Create Weapon (Ex): A black centurion can spontaneously create a single weapon from its flowing metal form as a swift action. Such weapons have a +3 enhancement bonus. Created weapons are part of the black centurion’s form and cannot be used by other characters.

Construct Traits (Ex):

• Cannot heal damage on their own.
• Not at risk of death from massive damage.
• Immmediately destroyed at 0 hit points or less. Cannot be raised or resurrected.
• Does not eat, sleep, or breathe.

Death Vapors (Ex): The black mercury from which black centurions is constructed is highly unstable. If they are prevented from returning to their chambers at least once every 12 hours, a black centurion will being losing cohesion (losing 1d6 hit points per hour).

In addition, when a black centurion is destroyed they immediately sublimate into a caustic black vapor. Everyone within 30 feet of the black centurion suffers 5d6 points of acid damage (Reflex save for half damage).

Go to Part 9

Go to Part 1 – Maps

AREA 1-27 – ORGANIC STORAGE

The walls of this room are covered with glass cylinders — between four and six feet long and perhaps six inches around —filled with a light blue liquid. Floating in the liquid are dozens, if not hundreds, of clawed animal legs.

A few of cylinders have shattered, allowing the liquid to run out. In these, only skeletal remains are left.

KNOWLEDGE (NATURE) (DC 12): All of these legs belong to dog-like or wolf-like creatures.

HEAL (DC 15): They don’t appear to have been amputated. They don’t have any serrations or the like.

SEARCH (DC 18): Twisting one of the glass tubes causes several dozen neighboring tubes to move out from the wall and slide to one side, revealing — in a burst of stale air — a doorway leading to Area 1-27A.

AREA 1-27A – KAOSTECH STORAGE

The walls of this room are covered with wooden cabinets and drawers; a truly chaotic cacophony of such things, seemingly organized with no rhyme or reason.

• SEARCH (DC 16): All of the cabinets and drawers are trapped (see below).
• SEARCH (DC 25): There is a master deactivation switch located in one of the cabinets near the door.

TRAP (CR 5): mechanical; location trigger; automatic reset (5 times); gas; multiple targets (all in the room); never miss; poison (weakened burnt othur fumes, DC 18 Fort resists, 1 Con/2d6 Con); Search DC 16, Disable Device DC 18

• CRAFT (ALCHEMY) (DC 15): The poison gas is burnt othur fumes, but they have been significantly weakened by age.

INTERESTING ITEMS: If the master deactivation switch is hit (or if the trap is depleted), it is trivial to search through all of the drawers and cabinets. Otherwise there is a 1 in 20 chance upon opening any of the cabinets or drawers that one of the following kaostech items will be found inside:

• LIFE SENSOR: Two vaguely cube-like hunks of metal attached to each other by a 2-inch long cylinder. A rubbery tube runs from one of the cubes and ends in a plug-like device. (Playing with it may cause the other cube to split open after being twisted, revealing a multitude of very tiny switches arranged in a random jumble.)
• DEMONFLESH: A small glass sphere filled with thick, black liquid.
• A small wooden box filled with metallic discs with holes drilled through the middle of them. (A closer inspection reveals that the metal has been folded back on itself countless times, like a samurai’s sword. And the edge of several of these folds have been intricately feathered. — These were once kaostech headclamps, but the organic components have rotted away.)

Life Sensor: The user of this device can set the sensor to detect a given type of creature. He must specify the creature type (humanoids, dragons, giants, etc.) before activating the sensor; this takes 10 rounds. Once he has chosen, he cannot change the creature type without resetting the device. The sensor cannot detect a specific creature — the use can select “humanoids”, but not “Aragorn the Ranger.” Once activated, the sensor gives a short whine whenever a creature of the specified type comes within 80 feet. The whine occurs only once, but it occurs again for each new creature that enters its range. There is no saving throw to resist the keen sensing power of this device.

Headclamp activation, Craft DC 32, Price 5,000 gp, weight 5 lbs.

Demonflesh: This substance usually comes in a sealed pot. It can be applied to a creature or object, granting either +2 natural armor (for creatures) or +5 hardness (for objects). The coating gives the object or creature a demonic, horrible appearance. The coating lasts for one hour + 6d10 minutes. A creature suffers a -4 circumstance penalty to Bluff, Diplomacy, and Gather Information checks while coated with demonflesh.

Use activation, Craft DC 40, Price 600 gp, weight 1 lb.

AREA 1-28 – FORMER ARMORY

OUTSIDE THE DOOR: A broken, rusty sword lies on the floor in front of this door.

This room is lined with empty stone shelves. Several large, fist-sized stones lie on the floor. They’re smooth and rounded, like the stones from a riverbed.

SPOT (DC 15): The stones of the floor glint in the light as if they were metallic.

STUNSTONES: On closer inspection, all the stones of the floor would appear to be made of both stone and metal. There are 16 stunstones in total.

SEARCH:

• DC 12: A broken paralysis ray emitter (a kaostech item) lies in the back corner of one of the top shelves.
• DC 20: In the corner where two shelves meet, a quiver of 10 ghost arrows and 10 insane arrows (randomly mixed together) has fallen down out of sight. Shifting the shelves reveals the quiver.

Stunstones: This small stone-and-metal device is meant to be hurled at a foe. Doing so successfully inflicts 1d4 points of damage. Unless the foe succeeds at a Fortitude saving throw (DC 14), it also stuns him for 1d2 rounds with a jolt of released energy. Stunned characters drop everything held, can’t take actions, suffer a -2 penalty to AC, and lose their Dexterity bonus to AC (if any). Each stunstone can be used only once.

Taint: Stun stones are faintly tainted, but only provoke a taint check upon use.

Use activation; Craft DC 25; Price 350 gp; Weight 1 lb.

Ghost Arrows: This arrow carries a ghost imbedded within it. The ghost can help control the arrow’s path in flight, adding a +5 circumstance bonus to the attack roll. Further, the ghost arrow can move around cover, negating cover bonuses to AC. It can even send the arrow around corners, if the archer knows the target’s exact location. The ghost has both darkvision and tremorsense, so darkness and invisibility provide a target with no protection.

Use activation; Craft DC 44; Price 1,000 gp; Weight –

Insane Arrows: A variation on the ghost arrow, this type of ammunition not only houses a self-aware ghost, but a horribly homicidal one. This arrow offers no bonus to attack rolls, but it can go around corners and cover like a ghost arrow, and possesses both darkvision and tremsorsense. If an insane arrow misses its target, it immediately flies at and attacks the nearest target (whether it be friend, foe, or the archer who shot it), unless there are no other targets within 100 feet. If it misses that target, it attacks the next nearest target (but not it’s original target). And so on. This process continues until it hits a target or runs out of targets within 100 feet of its last attempted target. An arrow cannot attack the same target more than once, even in nonconsecutive attacks. The archer can even loose the arrow with no target in mind, if he thinks there might be a foe hiding around a corner or behind an embankment. In such a case, the arrow simply attempts to hit the nearest target after it reaches the intended mark.

Use activation; Craft DC 44; Price 500 gp; Weight –

AREA 1-29 – EMPTY CENTURION CHAMBERS

Thick, black cables dangle from the walls here.

• GM Background: These chambers once held black centurions charged with guarding the complex, but the equipment was ripped out centuries ago (possibly when the complex was originally abandoned).

CENTURION’S HAND (B): A black metallic hand lies on the floor here. If it’s removed from this area, it sublimates into a caustic black vapor. Everyone within 10 feet suffers 2d6 points of acid damage (Reflex save, DC 15, half damage).

AREA 1-30 – WORKING LABORATORY

A half-dozen high stone tables are stretched out across the far end of this exceptionally wide chamber. The surfaces of the table are covered in heaps of rusted metal and broken glass. A large stone shelf reaches from floor to ceiling alone one of the side walls.

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

SEARCH:

• DC 12: On the shelf, an artificial lower jaw made out of steel and sporting razor-sharp fangs.
  • SPOT (DC 14): The tips of the fangs are coated in some sort of black substance.
  • CRAFT (ALCHEMY) (DC 12): The substance may have once been poison, but great age has rendered it useless.
• DC 20: In a hermetically sealed compartment in one of the desks, a few scraps of paper remain. The writing is a mixture of Ancient Common and a remarkably sophisticated and archaic Orcish. (See Handout – Bone Lacing. Identical comparments in other work desks contain nothing.)

PRIVACY ILLUSION: One of the workbenches has been screened with a “privacy illusion” (making it look empty). If anyone interacts with it, the illusion drops away revealing a shocking sight:

• A wolf lies on the table. Its back has been carefully cut open and the flaps of flesh pinioned to the table’s surface.
• Surgical equipment lays nearby.
• More horrifically, the wolf’s spinal column appears to be laying halfway out of the creature. But, upon closer inspection, you see that it is, in fact, a second spinal column — the wolf’s original spinal column is still in place. It looks as if someone were grafting the second spinal column into place alongside the original spinal column.
• The wolf does not move, but it’s eyes are open. It seems frozen in time.
• STASIS FIELD: The entire top of the bench is encased in a stasis field. However, a switch located on top of a jumbled mess of machinery will turn this stasis field off… which will cause the wolf to begin bucking around the room, spraying blood.

HANDOUT – BONE-LACING

This scrap of paper appears to be a segment of highly detailed medical research notes, specifically dealing with a practice the author refers to as “bone-lacing.” The document refers to “numerous successes with metallic substances, particularly adamantine,” but the details of the process are not detailed.

However, you do note that the author explicitly refers to this technique of “bone-lacing” as one of the “arts of the betrayal of the flesh.”

AREA 1-31 – BLUESTEEL DOOR

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

AREA 1-32 – IRON RUNES

The far end of this chamber is completely collapsed in a solid wall of rubble and rock.

RODS: Six-inch thick metal rods run between the floor and ceiling. They have been arranged in two rows leading down the passage in parallel. The rods are completely covered in strange runes.

• DECIPHER SCRIPT (DC 20): They appear to be archaic alchemical symbols. Their purpose is unclear.

AREA 1-33 – ANTECHAMBER TO THE COLLAPSE

From here you can see that the next chamber has suffered from the same collapse.

AREA 1-34 – PRISON OF THE GHULWORG

An admantine skeleton created from a ghulworg roams these corridors. It viciously attacks anyone entering this area.

TIGHT QUARTERS: The ghulworg cannot use its Quick Tail ability when confined to a 5-foot-wide space. It suffers no penalties for being in a 10-foot-wide space (because it has become so used to these corridors during the millennia of its stay).

GHULWORG LORE – KNOWLEDGE (ARCANA/NATURE)

• DC 20: This skeleton would appear to belong to a ghulworg — a creature long thought to be extinct or legendary. They were reportedly created by Ghul the Skull-King.
• DC 23: Ghulworgs were magical beasts that were either related to worgs, created from worgs, or were the ancestors of modern worgs (the lineage is confused). If they still existed they would be among the largest wolf-like monsters in existence. Their fangs are oversized even for their huge mouths.
• DC 28: A ghulworg’s tail ends in a lump of thick bone, which it can whip back and forth at preternatural speeds.

ADAMANTINE SKELETON – GHULWORG (CR 6) – NE Huge Undead
DETECTION – darkvision 120 ft., Listen +0, Spot +0; Init +9 (+5 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative)
DEFENSES – AC 15 (-2 size, +5 Dex, +2 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 15; hp 91 (14d12); DR 5/–; Immune cold, undead immunities (mind-affecting, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, disease, death effects, critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability drain, energy drain, ability score damage, fatigue, exhaustion, any effect requiring Fort save); Resist fire 15
ACTIONS – Spd 60 ft.; Melee bite +16 (2d6+9/19-20/x4 plus trip) and 2 claws +16 (1d8+9) and tail +14 (4d8+13); Ranged +9; Space 15 ft.; Reach 10 ft. (15 ft. with tail); Base Atk +7; Grapple +24; Atk Options quick tail, trip
SQ darkvision 120 ft., fire resistance 15
STR 28, DEX 18, CON –, INT –, WIS 10, CHA 1
FORT +4, REF +9, WILL +9
FEATS: Improved Initiative
SKILLS: —

Quick Tail (Ex): A ghulworg needs only a standard action to make a bite attack and a tail attack. The tail deals the indicated damage plus 1-1/2 times the ghulworg’s Strength bonus despite it being a secondary attack.

Trip (Ex): A ghulworg that hits with a bite can attempt to trip the opponent as a free action without making a touch attack or provoking attacks of opportunity. If the attempt fails, the opponent cannot react to trip the ghulworg.

AREA 1-34A – ORC CORPSES

The skeletal remains of seven orcs lie on the floor.

SKELETONS: If their corpses are disturbed or 1d6 rounds after the door is opened, the orcs shamble to their feet as skeletons.

• GM Background: These orcs got pinned down by the ghulworg. They shut the door against it and the ghulworg was unable to force an entrance, but they were unable to leave and slowly starved to death. Their aeon-long proximity to the necromantic pool in Area 1-34B, however, caused them to rise from the dead as skeletons.

AREA 1-34B – POOL OF NECROMANTIC FLUID

A thick, brackish liquid fills the shallow pool in this room. One wall of the room has a pane of smoky glass inset into it.

CRAFT (ALCHEMY) / SPELLCRAFT (DC 28): +5 to check if detect magic active.

• The liquid appears to be necromantic fluid, although diluted to the point where its function is unlikely.
• A creature dipped in necromantic fluid will rise from the dead as per an animate dead

NECROMANTIC FLUID: It still registers as faintly necromantic magic. There is a 5% chance that it will operate properly and create a skeleton.

AREA 1-34C – OBSERVATION ROOM

This room has a smoky, one-way mirror overlooking the pool of necromantic fluid in Area 1-34B.

AREA 1-34D – SECRET DOOR

SEARCH (DC 30): This check detects the presence of the secret door, but there is no mechanism for opening it. (It can only be opened from the other side, as it was designed to function as an escape route from area 17.)

• Break DC 40, hardness 8, hp 180

Go to Part 8: The Lower Level

Go to Part 1 – Maps

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