frp

Outline:

1. Cleaning up after the ghosts
2. The Temple to Lolth
3. The toll bridge
4. Carrion Crawlers
5. Annihilator + Beholder
6. Godstone

Because of the ghosts' Rejuvenation ability, the group will reform in 2d4 days, unless the party opts to figure out why they are here and deal with them. I seriously doubt they will care, though – so I have prepared nothing for this possibility.

However, there still remain 8 Troll Hunters (MM, p.247) who were not present during the battle from the previous day. They will return roughly 11 hours after the others were killed.

The exact timeline was never established – so I'll do so here…

The party had to wait for the Dancer to cross the surface of the full moon. As full moon's rise at sunset, this occultation must have occurred between sunset and sunrise. By random determination, this was at the midpoint of the night, which would put it around 1:30AM. Very little time was spent in combat and discussion with Matron Talice, so they would have cast their Find The Path spell and left the city no later than 2AM. This means that the fight with the Trolls occurred around 5:30AM. With a half hour to “wind down”, and eight hours of rest, they will be preparing new spells around 2PM. This will put them back on the quest around 3-4PM (at the earliest).

If they remain in the area any longer, the Trolls will return. Use the “Drow Enclave” map for this fight.

For the inside of the temple, use the “Fane of Lolth” battle map.

In here, the party will find dozens of additional ghosts. However, inside the temple, they will appear as normal, corporeal Drow. In addition, they are entirely non-combat. If one is attacked in any way, it will fade onto the ethereal plane – only to reappear a round later in the same spot (unaware that anything unusual happened).

Because of their strange state of mind, they will not recognize the party as enemies – thinking them to be Drow who have come here to worship. The most common question asked of newcomers is, “Have you come to supplicate to the Queen?” Any answer other than “Yes” will receive a harsh rebuke and will likely end with the Drow asking the party to leave.

Because of Roderick's strange quality vs. Ghosts, he is completely unaware of them and will be immune to anything they attempt. Similarly, they will be completely unaware of them. This puts him into a convenient position to explore the temple without putting anyone else in jeopardy.

In the temple, there is a large altar (area 18). Behind this is a large statue of Lolth (area 21). The only thing of consequence in this entire area is a highly magical obsidian statue of a spider – which is actually the handle to a crystal shard that it set in a holder in the stone at the base of the larger statue. The crystal shard is clear and is the exact dimensions as one half of one of the “dark crystals”.

This is an artifact – whose purpose will be revealed once the party reaches the vault of Erel Hudai. (The short version is this: Once it replaces the heat crystal, it will weaken the Erel Hudai undead and allow the party to defeat them).

After the Ghosts, the secret passage intersects back with the primary passage in hex W-12. Just about 100 yards down this main passage, the tunnel narrows slightly and intersects a deep chasm (100-foot drop). A bridge spans the chasm and is guarded by four Drow (2 on either side).

The Drow are from Mlezzir (hex B2-14) and they will demand a payment of 10 gold pieces for each creature who wishes to pass. However, Roderick's path veers to the right and plunges over the edge of the chasm rather than going over the bridge – so the party really doesn't need to use the bridge.

The Drow will not mind if the party opts to go down the cliff, but will take opportunistic shots at them if they become vulnerable in any way.

Down in the chasm, there is a large amount of refuse – which is “tended” to by a large colony of Carrion Crawlers.

There are a total of 39 Carrion Crawlers in this area, but only 7 of them will approach the party initially. Each of these is an advanced creature as follows: (Note: Their size remains “Large” even though they have been advanced to 9HD)

Note: Even with the numbers, this combat is likely not worth any XP.

The chasm under the toll bridge is actually the passage connecting hexes W-12 and R-7 on the map. Unlike the other passages the party has been on so far, this one gets very little traffic since there is no “civilization” out here.

This passage also has more side tunnels, chasms, and other “uneven” features than the other places. However, Roderick's path will steer them clear of all these distractions. This section stretches eight miles before reaching the Godstone – which is guarded by a particularly nasty Beholder.

The first encounter will be with a bizarre assortment of Beholder Thralls. These creatures share nothing in common except that they all have been persistently charmed by the Beholder and will serve it to the death.

Use the “Mushroom Cavern” map from “Hellspike Prison”

The assortment consists of the following: (Adjust based on miniature collection!)

• 1 Gauth Beholder (MM, p.26)
• 2 “Lieutenant” Drow (Dezzavold, p.93)
• 3 Average Xorns (MM, p.260-261)
• 4 Ettins (MM, p.106-107)
• 5 Bugbear Captains (see “Gelgar” stat sheet)
• 5 Human Fighters (see “Serjeant Thed” stat sheet)

Each of these creatures is CR 6

Alternate assortment consists of the following:

• 1 Gauth Beholder (MM, p.26) Advanced to 18HD (CR 9)
• 2 “Captain” Drow (Dezzavold, p.93)
• 6 Troll Hunters (MM, p.247)
• 6 Ogre Tempest (MM4, p.109)

These creatures are CR 9-11

After a few rounds, three Annihilators (Underdark, p.79-80) will enter the map – along with their master, Ton'ang the Beholder Sorcerer. Since the Annihilators Disintegrate power deals up to 40d6 damage (on a failed save), I've rolled a few results here to save me the trouble of corralling that many dice during the game: 127 149 150 153 147 139 127 152 151 139

Ton'ang is an advanced Beholder (15 Hit Dice) with 8 levels in Sorcerer. His spell list consists entirely of spells without Somatic components. Due to his extra hit dice and levels, he gains three additional ability points and four additional feats. For abilities, he has +1 WIS (16) and +2 CHA (17). For feats, he has the following: Lightning Reflexes, Focused Antimagic, Skilled Telekinetic, and Metaray (the last three are on p.45 of “Lords of Madness”)

The Advanced Gauth's stats are as follows:

Note: The size change from Medium to Large modified his stats as follows: STR +2, DEX +0, CON +2, Natural AC +5, AC/Atk +0 (rather than the normal progression documented on MM p.291). Also, I didn't bother applying extra feats/skill/abilities – since he'll be dead quick enough as is…

Ton'ang's stats are as follows:

Note: I was so pumped about this guy that I submitted him to the d20 NPC Wiki: http://d20npcs.wikia.com/wiki/Ton%27ang,_Advanced_Beholder_Sorcerer/8.

Beyond the “Mushroom Cavern”, under about fifty feet of rubble, lies the Godstone portal which leads the the N'Galt Underdark.

For more information, see the "Godstones" article from Harnlore Issue 9 (Spring, 1990).

The Beholder's treasure horde consists of the following random treasures: CR18x2 (Ton'ang), CR9 (Gauth), CR11x7 (Troll Hunters). They are all combined below:

• coin: 485 pp
• coin: 21,536 gp
• coin: 1,296 sp
• coin: 1,450 cp
• gem: alexandrite (400 gp)
• gem: amethyst (120 gp)
• gem: aquamarine (700 gp)
• gem: azurite (12 gp)
• gem: azurite (13 gp)
• gem: azurite (5 gp)
• gem: banded agate (9 gp)
• gem: black opal (3,000 gp)
• gem: black opal (3,000 gp)
• gem: black pearl (400 gp)
• gem: black pearl (600 gp)
• gem: bloodstone (50 gp)
• gem: blue sapphire (5,000 gp)
• gem: chalcedony (50 gp)
• gem: chalcedony (60 gp)
• gem: chrysoberyl (110 gp)
• gem: chrysoberyl (80 gp)
• gem: deep blue spinel (400 gp)
• gem: deep blue spinel (600 gp)
• gem: emerald (6,000 gp)
• gem: eye agate (12 gp)
• gem: eye agate (12 gp)
• gem: eye agate (9 gp)
• gem: freshwater (irregular) pearl (11 gp)
• gem: freshwater (irregular) pearl (12 gp)
• gem: golden pearl (80 gp)
• gem: golden pearl (90 gp)
• gem: golden yellow topaz (400 gp)
• gem: hematite (11 gp)
• gem: hematite (13 gp)
• gem: hematite (9 gp)
• gem: iolite (20 gp)
• gem: iolite (40 gp)
• gem: jasper (50 gp)
• gem: lapis lazuli (9 gp)
• gem: malachite (11 gp)
• gem: malachite (8 gp)
• gem: moss agate (10 gp)
• gem: moss agate (6 gp)
• gem: obsidian (14 gp)
• gem: pink pearl (60 gp)
• gem: red-brown spinel (130 gp)
• gem: rhodochrosite (14 gp)
• gem: rich purple corundum (8,000 gp)
• gem: rose quartz (70 gp)
• gem: sardonyx (40 gp)
• gem: smoky quartz (20 gp)
• gem: smoky quartz (50 gp)
• gem: smoky quartz (70 gp)
• gem: star rose quartz (40 gp)
• gem: star rose quartz (60 gp)
• gem: tiger eye turquoise (10 gp)
• gem: tiger eye turquoise (13 gp)
• gem: violet garnet (300 gp)
• gem: violet garnet (500 gp)
• gem: white pearl (100 gp)
• gem: white pearl (60 gp)
• gem: zircon (20 gp)
• gem: zircon (50 gp)
• Total for all gems: 31,043 gp
• art: carved harp of exotic wood with ivory inlay and zircon gems (400 gp)
• art: carved harp of exotic wood with ivory inlay and zircon gems (800 gp)
• art: cloth of gold vestments (110 gp)
• art: cloth of gold vestments (110 gp)
• art: gold dragon comb with red garnet eye (1,200 gp)
• art: gold dragon comb with red garnet eye (800 gp)
• art: jeweled electrum ring (4,000 gp)
• art: old masterpiece painting (1,100 gp)
• art: old masterpiece painting (1,500 gp)
• Total for all art: 10,020 gp
• Arcane Scroll: Darkvision (2), Command Undead (2)
• Arcane Scroll: Invisibility Sphere (3)
• Arcane Scroll: Magic Missile (1)
• Arcane Scroll: Magic Weapon (1), Unseen Servant (1)
• Arcane Scroll: Shatter (2), Hypnotism (1), Sound Burst (2)
• Arcane Scroll: True Strike (1), False Life (2)
• Divine Scroll: Chill Metal (2), Hold Person (2)
• Divine Scroll: Endure Elements (1), Virtue (0)
• Ioun Stone, Scarlet and Blue Sphere (8,000 gp)
• Medium +2 Shield, Tower (4,360 gp)
• Potion: Remove Paralysis (300 gp)
• Potion: Shield Of Faith +2 (50 gp)
• Ring Of Counterspells (4,000 gp)
• Rod Of Metamagic, Silent, Lesser (3,000 gp)
• Rope Of Climbing (3,000 gp)
• Small Glowing +3 Nunchaku (18,302 gp)
• Stone Of Alarm (2,700 gp)
• Tome Of Clear Thought +1 (27,500 gp)
• Wand Of Bear's Endurance (Charges 17) (1,530 gp)

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