wooden frames, benches, iron smithy tools, and variously sized sheets of copper. Two brass skull collars sit on the central capacity long ago. The copper plates, walls, and stairs are all pitted and blackened by sudden discharges of bolts of magic. work table, as well as a huge, crude copy of A swarm of storm seal pups flits about. The Situation Storm seal minnows wriggle through the one, nearly 4’ in diameter. Atop the stone, at the end of a makeshift water, fleeing any light. If not yet encountered, there is a 50% walkway of planks, is the massive Skull of The greatest Seree magics relied on Orlug, dragged for endless miles and placed The silty muck on the floor hides a few chance that Korm is here. He will sweep the spell engines—vast devices built to collect, here by Korm as part of his mad project. bits and bobs—brass nibs and styli, ink pots, collars from sight at the first opportunity. harness, and broadcast magical energies for In the back corner of the room is a fish sorcerers to use many miles away. leatherworking tools, waterlogged lamps, and countless rusted nails. E. The Full-Dark Stone skeleton, dry and dust-covered, 5’ long— Spell engines were always built in secret normal, except its skull is that of a gnome. vaults to protect them from theft, war, or The lowest hall, down a 6’ stair, is flooded This huge chamber is filled almost destruction. 7’ deep. In a locked, warped chest are 11 completely by a massive, night-black stone, But now, erosion has cracked open the silver plates and a gold candelabra. 40’ high, 40’ wide, and 50’ long. It seems F. Hall of Meditation vault of the full-dark stone. featureless, absorbing all light. This chamber is empty save for a raised Rainwater filtering through the complex C. The Shorn Stair If touched, the stone is granite platform and marble alchemical has been causing strange magical effects A hundred years ago, revealed to be an aggregate basin. Engravings explain the ritual of downstream, and skeletal vault servants the observation tower of many smaller stones. Vitrum Aquae, but not its purpose. are venturing out. finally fell from C Four circular stairs the crumbling support a limestone F G. The Sapphire Mines Rumors for Nearby Places mountainside. catwalk. These cramped tunnels are scraped • Skull-headed knights have been seen (It lies in a deep clean of all but tiny fragments of gathering herbs along the river. ravine, smashed to sapphire. • Mournful piping has been heard echoing bits.) A quirk of the In the furthest chamber, Korm for miles, its source unknown. mountainside’s shape has stacked all fifteen jackal skulls • It’s said that upriver, the fish fly. funnels rainwater for emergency use, along with a cache • The river folk sell chips of black stone into the stairway, of weapon-arm attachments that stay warm to the touch. flooding the lower for the vault servants. halls. During A. Entrance Hall rainstorms, the Korm the Adept A massive piece of cliff face has fallen flow Korm, the last away, leaving this hidden chamber G apprentice of the open to the air. Level with the long-dead Orlug tree-tops, this 30’ diameter Broadstaff, toils room is the nesting place for a day and night. pair of fierce, gray owls. E He is 8’ tall, stocky, The alcove’s engravings and ram’s horns jut show visitors presenting gems B from his massive head. to a crystal-headed, robed figure. He has learned the purpose of The center of the room is the vault, and the design of the a shallow sand pit, originally a is enough D vault servants has inspired teleportation target. The sand conceals a to make the stairs and him to carry out a mad project: pair of ornate gold buckles intermingled the nearest part of the catwalk A to bind his former master’s skull to the with fragments of leather and various, small treacherous, as it sluices off the side Huge copper full-dark stone. (foot) bones. and down into the lower halls. plates hang beneath the catwalk; Korm is an unremarkable wizard, but a some have fallen, some are missing. determined experimenter, and wants only B. The Lower Halls At the top of each stair is a metal peace and quiet to carry out his work. He D. The Workshop post bearing a wizard flower encased in a considers adventurers a major disturbance Remnants of sodden, rotted furniture A fire crackles in the forge; a half-eaten solid glass orb. Each radiates calmness. and will drive them off if he can. Though float in shin-deep water. Scum lines on the meal (fried minnows) sits on a silver plate. The stone naturally draws magical walls reveal that the water level can rise as The workshop is large, but crammed with energy from the environment, but reached high as 6’ (during storms).
c b n a - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ - Find more adventure locations at http://blog.trilemma.com strong enough to twist off a head, he however, he will retrieve a few jackal skulls easy to cast very rapidly. made from starved jackals. considers himself neither warrior nor wizard from his cache in the mines, bind them to This came at the cost of rigid, erratic Vault servants topped by jackal skulls enough to fight if outnumbered, and instead vault servant bodies, then set them loose. personalities and mental illness, as flexible hunt in packs of up to 8, sneak carefully, he works subtly to repel intruders. Korm is made of stern stuff, and unless he brain function was displaced by more and attack from ambush, and stop only when He hides his talents, claiming that he is is hacked apart and burned, his enchanted more spells. (To say nothing of the tragedy their victims are torn limb from limb. here merely as a student to study the “tomb.” blood will eventually heal him. of failed meditations!) Korm knows a ward that keeps him safe. He will do everything he can to play up He is badly infested with dire fleas the mystery of the stone. He marvels aloud (which he picked up years ago), enough for Wizard Flowers After death (whether natural or Storm Seals that at times it seems alive, and suspects one to hatch every six hours. He apologizes hastened), wizard brains were boiled away These magical creatures normally dwell that its “calls” are an attempt to commune each time anyone else is bitten. by their successors in order to extract the within thunderclouds, but their young are with other stones, hidden far away. “wizard flower,” the hardened gemstone, being drawn here by the stone’s charge. He claims that the storm seals are a Random Encounters now a cauliflower-like structure—a magical The minnows are aquatic, but the mouse- great menace to him, and he begs for help in Roll hourly while in or near the vault: thought in physical form, useful for sized pups take to the air in wingless, flying removing them. 1-2: d3 vault servants, toiling constructing enchanted items of all sorts. swarms, keeping down the gnats and dire If threatened, he’ll make a pathetic, 3: d12 storm seal pups (only once) fleas. theatrical show of handing over a small 4: d2 adolescent storm seals (only once) Adolescents are the size of large dogs, and quantity of gold, silver, and gem fragments 5: Korm Vault Servants are large enough to hunt. They are cruel, stashed in a small coffer in the workshop. Adepts that lacked the talent for powerful 6: the full-dark stone emits a deafening, playful, and opportunistic. Adults are a full Whenever he can act unobserved, magic were still useful for drudgery. mournful piping tone for d3 minutes 12’ long, large enough to lift a struggling Force-fed low-grade topaz solutions, after horse up to meet death. death their skulls housed crystal flowers, Bolts of Magic too, but instead of spells, they stored the Every d12 minutes, the full-dark stone habits of endless servitude. Dire Fleas emits a crackle of unfocused magic, lighting The skulls were preserved with the As big as a locust, dire fleas are parasitic the chamber with a blue glow. flowers still inside, labelled according to vermin. Their bite is numbing and injects d3 Roll d6 to determine what it strikes: their habitual duty. With a replacement larvae, which burrow deep into the body. 1-2: a copper plate, deflecting the bolt back body they could continue their work, serving The larvae emerge explosively as full- into the stone their masters eternally. grown fleas 2d6 days later, leap to a new 3-4: a wall or staircase Arise! Toil! Rejoice! target, and begin the cycle again. 5: a seal pup flying past the stone Anyone caught bringing them into town 6: someone with a direct line of sight to A Body of Wood and Sinew will most likely be carted off and burnt. the stone Vault servant bodies are carved from The effect is random, roll d6: wood and brass. They are 7’ tall and strong The Skull of Orlug Broadstaff 1: bolt of lightning enough for hard labour. A skull collar (an enchanted brass sleeve Centuries ago, Orlug, an ogre-blooded 2: invisible for d6 minutes with a central post) affixes the skull to the hack-mage, learned the ritual of Vitrum 3: teleported to the entrance hall body, passing on the impulses from the Aquae from Seree tablets he found in the 4: teleported ten minutes into the future crystal flower. Blightlands. He made himself mad by 5: polymorph d6 x 10% of target’s body Vault servants wander the area cleaning, crystallizing his collection of third-rate spells into random animal/monstrous form repairing masonry, repairing copper plates using impure minerals, then succumbed to 6: mind transferred into a vault guardian in the workshop, or venturing to the river to dementia. for d6 hours collect herbs and fish. His 8’ tall skull, battered and dirt-stained Occasionally, life-like secondary habits from its long journey to the vault, contains Vitrum Aquae a massive, 30-lb wizard flower of quartz, emerge for a few brief seconds: scratching, The Seree wizards who built this place nose-picking, stretching, and slouching. agate, and emerald. mastered the ritual of Vitrum Aquae. They There are thirty servants within the If Korm finishes the massive collar and would drink alchemically liquified gemstones vault, and replacement parts for 5. binds the skull to the full-dark stone, skull while meditating on spells in order to and stone vanish: the stone’s mighty reserve crystallize (literally) the impossibly complex of power becomes Orlug’s “body,” propelling thoughts. Once mastered in these controlled Jackal Skulls his broken, fragmentary mind into godhood. conditions, the spell could be drawn on The Seree also maintained a store of almost instinctively, making difficult spells crystal-infused skulls for defensive purposes, Writing & Illustration - Michael Prescott Editing - Andrew Young
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