This is the last major section. After having made they way through the subterranean city, the players reach the final goal... the Shrine Maze of the Jaidor Talisman. This is the maze of traps and such that the morphians built long ago to guard the Talisman. Because of Aracles magical blunder and subsequent merging of all the morphians into the Godbeast, this maze ended up being their "tomb" as well.
The sarthak, using their great mental and magical powers, were able to defeat the maze. However, when they encountered the great Godbeast in the center, they communicated with it. They took pieces of it back to their cities and they worshiped it. They rebuilt the maze of traps and the underground city. They considered this holy ground.
The players will have to use all the spells and skills to penetrate the Maze and reach the innermost chambers. There they will encounter the Godbeast and, for the first time, see the actual Jaidor Talisman. They must defeat the Godbeast in combat, obtain the Talisman and destroy it.
The tunnel connecting the subterranean city to the residential
chamber is a half kilometer (about a quarter mile) long. It then opens up into the south residential
chamber. The chamber is enormous. It is a half kilometer long, some 200 meters wide
and almost 100 meters tall. The side walls are composed of five levels of
balconies. The floor of this huge chamber is an underground park setting. It has
grassy hills, trees, bushes, fountains, statues and winding cobblestone
pathways. The ceiling, rather than being a stony surface lost in shadow, is
blanketed in an illusion. It appears as a peaceful night sky. Moonlit clouds
drift by and stars can be seen beyond. The clouds, moon and stars are merely an
illusion. The illusion actually has day and night cycles and mimics nature.
However, it's unlikely the players will be here long enough to witness multiple
cycles. The illusion is powerful and actually provides light for the
plants in this self-contained ecosystem.
A cobblestone path winds its way through the central garden. In the garden, the
party hears chirping insects, rustling leaves and babbling water.
About half way through the gardens, they come across a huge
circle of blackened and charred grass. A crater is at the center. The is actual
a spell effect which was detonated long ago. Once an active spell, it's energy
has dissipated. Stepping into the perimeter does nothing.
Further on, they come upon some strange plant life. One tree looks like an oak
that has been twisted and warped as if by some foul magic. Another tree seems to
shimmer. Upon getting closer, the party will realize that this tree has hundreds
of blinking human-like eyes reflecting the light. The eyes will watch the party
as they walk by. The leaves of this strange tree shake and rattle like a
rattlesnake’s tail.
The plants and animals in this garden have been horribly mutated by the magic of
the Talisman, like the morphians and everything else. So, feel free to put all
manner of bizarre mutant plants and small animals here (primarily insects and
small reptiles and such). This is just another opportunity to pit any creature
you want. Either something from the garden that has been mutated. Or perhaps
some undead from the original population thousands of years ago that have been
re-animated by the residual power of the Talisman. Or perhaps a mutant spawned
from the Godbeast.
The Shrine Gate
At last the party will reach the far side of the huge residential chamber. At the edge of the trees and grass, there is a broad expanse of cobblestone stretching from the grass to the far wall, some 20 meters away. The party might have expected to see a blank expanse of stone bricks in the huge wall which somewhere hid a secret door. After all, the morphains were trying to hide the Talisman. However, a blank wall is not what the party finds. A set of huge double doors are in the wall. The doors are about 13 meters tall (42 feet) and 9 meters wide (29 feet). They are made of some type of dark grey metal and covered in intricate etchings which depict battles, cities, armies and dozens of different animals. At the center of the etchings, spread across both doors, is a huge glyph – it is the symbol of the Jaidor Talisman. The same symbol that the players have on the map which they have followed across the world. The same symbol that the players have seen in the ancient texts they looked up in the Citadel far away. This is the symbol that has led them on this quest, taunted them with its mysterious marking on their map for so many thousand leagues. And now, at the end of the world., here they find it, on a set of gargantuan doors.Inscribed upon the doors is the following message, written in several languages (Old Kartese, Morphese, Sarthak, Chaddi and Thullian) is the following cryptic tale:
Shapeless, shiftless did they come
Across the world did they run
To dungeons deep, where secrets sleep
To guard their freedom precious won
Across two years they built the maze
They labored long through endless days
Their leader wise but so untried
Dreamt greater things beyond his gaze
He dared to tame the Talisman
He sought to free its power to run
Through magic bent, his mind was rent
Befouled of reason, quickly done
The seed of evil quickly spread
And doubts brought fear which turned to dread
Ill wrought magic, Fate spun tragic
While others fought and died, two fled
The Talisman was not denied
Those who struggled quickly died
Far from the sun, they become one
And so the final godbeast thrives
Minds not merged could not agree
A single goal they could not see
Conflicts came, to traps ordained
A pure ideal was not to be
The shaking land did lead the way
From places deep they came one day
And found the mines, from ancient times
Beneath the wilted lands they lay
The maze was like a puzzle locked
To those whose minds will not be blocked
They cracked the maze, in but three days
And found a power they would not mock
They heaped prestige upon its name
Rebuilt the maze and honor claimed
Magic bound in crystal crown
As it was built, now it remains.
On the left door, at chest height, is a large
locking mechanism with four keyholes. A very complex lock, it seems.
The truth is that the
sarthak placed these doors here during the time when they
rebuilt the maze and began worship the “flesh god” within.
The quadruple lock is linked to a ingenious trap. Hanging suspended above the
ground in front of the huge double doors are four enormous glass spheres. Each
was 12 feet in diameter and hanging by a large iron chain about 18 meters above
the ground. They have an invisibility spell cloaking them. These spheres are
filled with something pink – a pinkish liquid of some kind. The door actually
has four separate locks. If any lock is tampered with, the associated glass
sphere comes crashing to the ground and spilling the liquid. The liquid will
turn to gas immediately. The pink liquid can turn into a gas or could be a form
of acid. Your choice.
The actual Shrine Maze can be customized to suit your needs. If you want to make the Maze huge and elaborate go ahead. Feel free to expand upon it and fill it with traps and guardians and anything else. Give you players as much challenge as they need.
The main thing about the Shrine Maze is that it was primarily designed to keep people out, but at the same time, allow morphians in. Since morphians can shape shift and even become semi-gelatinous, it's possible that they could flow like honey through cracks and small gaps. The morphians wanted to make sure that only a morphian could get through the maze. Many of the traps are designed to allow a shape shifter through easily
However, the group of morphians that built this place did not know what the future might bring. There might come a time when the morphians could find a way to unlink themselves from the Talisman and thus use the Talisman themselves as a weapon. (In actuality, Aracles did discover the unlinking spell, but only after the maze was built and even then, he was so far gone with madness that the idea of unlinking from the Talisman was repugnant to him).
Therefore, the maze is designed such that every door, gap or opening is large enough for the Talisman to get through. They wanted to make sure that, if the morphians ever needed to, they could retrieve the Talisman from the maze. The Talisman is roughly 50 cm wide and 50 cm tall. Therefore, every door or passageway must be at least that large. The morphians don't need such a large opening. They can easily flow under door cracks. That minimum passage way size was for the Talisman.
What follows is an example of what the Maze could look like. You don't have to follow this exactly and feel free to expand on it. But here are a few ideas on way you can set up the Maze.
Beyond the Shrine Gate, there is an opulent chamber. Marble
floors and walls, decorative columns and curtains of white silk. Directly across
the chamber is another set of doors, but these have no locks and are more
decorative than the last set. They seem to be fashioned from steel and marble,
trimmed in silver and gold. The marble blocks of the floor are arranged in a
large geometric pattern which converge to a central circle. As the party enters
this chamber, a flicker of light appears within the central circle on the floor.
This light flickers and blossoms into an incorporeal being… a humanoid shape
that seemed to be composed of light and smoke.
If the party makes any threatening moves, the being will gesture to them to
lower their weapons. It speaks…
“Welcome to the Shrine of the Jaidor Talisman… herein lies that wondrous
artifact and that which lives through it… Sarkurothim, The Devourer of Flesh,
The Evolution of Ages, The Sum of All Races. Despair ye, who look upon him."
You come now to the Shrine of the Talisman. That which was fashioned long ago
by the Seeds of Sarkurothim, the Shapeless Ones. Here they toiled to fashion a
Shrine befitting of his glory. What was achieved through the Power of the
Talisman was nothing short of divinity.
The Great Maze, originally crafted to keep out all but a Shapeless, is a
wondrous blend of Shrine, Temple and Labyrinth. A perfect union of magic and
mundane, organic and mechanical, life and death. Herein lies the Answers to all
Questions. There are those who have tried to ascertain the hows and whys of the
Shrine Maze. But how can we, mere mortals, possibly think to comprehend the mind
of a God?
I am Dulobar, a humble servant of the Sarthak Communion Buranzakar, placed here
for the benefit of all Sarthak.
The being will study the group for a moment, as if, having finished its speech,
now sees them for the first time.
You are not Sarthak. And you are not shapeshifter…. You will not survive the
maze. Do you really think it wise to trespass on Sarthak holy ground with such
impudence? I strongly urge you to turn back now and protect what is left of your
lives.
If the party persists...
Very well. If I cannot deter you, then I must welcome you
to the Shrine of the Jaidor Talisman. What the Maze sees, the Sarthak see. The
Sarthak delight in the torment of lesser races. Those who come here to challenge
the Maze prove grand entertainment for the Masters and Lords of the great
Sarthak city of Buranzakar which lies beneath your feet. Therefore, do try to
put on a good show. And know that WHEN you die, your death is not in vain. For
the Sarthak have enjoyed your struggle. I will now allow you to introduce
yourself so that your names may be recorded in the Book of the Talisman and kept
for future generations. Who now dares to penetrate the Shrine Maze?
If the party gives their names, the apparition will thank them, wish them luck
and vanish. If they don't, the apparition will still disappear.
Beyond the doors, there is a wide set of stone steps leading down. At the bottom of the stone stairs, the passage opens up into an octagonal room. The floor of this room shows a radial pattern of tiles forming the Jaidor Talisman symbol. In each of the eight walls, there is an identical door. All eight of the doors are trapped. Feel free to come up with a variety of traps - poisoned darts, acid spray, fireball, spring loaded blade, etc. Even if the traps are sprung and the doors are wrenched open, all eight doors reveal only blank wall behind.
In truth, all eight doors really are fake. The way out of this
room is in the floor. The center brick at the center of the floor, a round
brick, is not mortared in place. Rather, there is a very small gap. With
effort, this central brick can be pried out. It is circular and shaped a bit
like a cork. It covers a small shaft in the stone which is only about 6 inches
in diameter.
A morphian could easily turn to protoplasmic goo and ooze his way down this
shaft. Non shapers shifters can not. The shaft is 5 meters deep and opens up into
another room below. The floor is made of
girrall (also known as Karrym stone). A heavy stone laced with minerals that
deflected magical energy. Spells such as dimension door, teleport or passwall
can penetrate it.
The party might choose to use some type of spell or magic item to shrink
themselves or remove the stone. If they cast a spell on themselves, it will
negate the antidote in their bodies. However, at this point, the infection from
the Scourge is not really a concern. The Scourge takes 24 to 36 hours to kill
and the players won't likely still be in this dungeon more than 24 hours.
After managing to get down the shaft, the party will find themselves in a small stone room with only one exit – a set of broad stone stairs leading down.
Half way down the stairs, there is a trap. Four of the steps in a row are pressure switches. Any weight placed on them will active it. All steps rotate 45 degrees forming a continuous slide. The party will slide down the ramp, out of control. At the same time, gallons of oil will be dumped from vents in the ceiling coating the party as they fall. Dex checks with massive penalties seems appropriate here. Now that they are greased up, stopping their slide will be in tougher. The long ramp ends in a spiked wall. Party members unable to stop their slide will be impaled. Moments later, the second part of the trap goes off... a small object falls from the shadows above and detonates in a fireball engulfing everyone.
By this point, the party is bruised, battered, bleeding, cut, impaled, burned, coated in sticky oil and now on fire. Isn't this a fun trap? This should be enough to give even high level characters pause. And this will likely eat up lots of their healing potions.
A thorough search will reveal a secret door on the side of the wall. It is only a half meter wide and a half meter tall.
On the other side of this small opening, there is a corridor that goes off in one direction. After 30 yards, the passageway opens up into a large room.
The floor of this chamber is 3 meters lower with a short
flight of stairs leading down to it. The room is filled with a whitish mist all
the way up to the ceiling. The mist completely obscures the far walls, so it is
impossible to tell how large the room was. Based on the echoes of their voices,
the party might be able to guess at its size, at least 50 meters across.
The floor was covered in one foot square stone tiles, each bearing a glyph. The
glyphs depicted the following images: a sword and hammer, a flame, a lightning
bolt, snowflake, crown, egg, hand, wand, skull and eye.
The players might think that they need to step on only the correct tiles. This is a good idea, but wrong in this case. Every tile will produce a magical effect. The flame glyph causes fire damage. The snowflake causes cold damage. And so in. Be inventive. Come up with 10 great effects. But to make a long story short, there are no "safe" tiles. All tiles will cause damage. The only safe way across is to fly. A morphian could sprout wings where as land walkers would have to deal with the tiles. A clever wizard might try flying across.
However, hidden in the fog are four strange creatures... they look a bit like manta rays with claws. These will attack any creature they see except their own kind. If the party takes the time to study the room, they might hear these four creatures flying around up in the fog or catch a glimpse of one of them every now and then as it passes near by.
A morphian would have to transfer into one of these creatures. Like everything else down here, these creatures were spawned by the power of the Talisman and feed off the energy of the Talisman.
On the far side of this room is a small opening, 0.5 meter x 0.5 meter.. Not locked. Beyond these doors is a small passageway ending in a similar opening.
The next chamber is a 30 meters square (roughly 100x100 feet). The floor is
empty. On the far side is another 2x2 foot opening. Floating in mid air in
the chamber are hundreds of weapons. Not just weapons, but weapons being
clutched by severed skeletal hands, pieces of armor (some with bits of skeletal
bodies in them), decapitated heads, limbless torsos, etc. It is a gruesome
spectacle. All of the heads, torsos and weapons will turn toward anyone entering
the room, as if watching them.
The two side walls of the chamber were covered in colored tiled which depicted a
large picture of a lizard. Every 10 seconds, the tiles will flip, shuffle
and rearrange themselves to create a new picture – a lion, a wolf, a hawk, a
horse, etc. . It seemed the pictures cycled through about 50 different animals,
randomly. The weapons, armor and skeletal body parts continue to hover in the
air. They make no move unless someone moves into the chamber.
The weapons and body parts will attack any creature that enters the room that
does not look like whatever is depicted on the wall. For instance, if the wall
tiles show a lizard, only a lizard can safely pass through the chamber. Anything
else will be attacked. Another gruesome fact about this room is that the
weapons, armor and body parts that are floating here are actually the hacked
apart corpses of those who have tried to defeat the trap. Adventurers,
explorers, sarthak slaves, etc. Anyone who dies in this room becomes a part of
it. The only thing powerful enough to free these poor tortured souls from this
room is the power of the Talisman. Several of the decapitated heads beg the
players to find the Talisman and come back and resurrect them.
Arrows fired at these creatures will instead float up to join the other weapons
and become part of this room.
Several weapons and bits of armor in this room are magical. If the party finds
some way to identify them and get them away from the animated corpse pieces,
they might be able to make off with a few choice items.
Here are a few sample items that might be found here...
Mechanoid Arrow – An arrow with a long complex head
composed of tiny gears, blades, metal rods, pistons and bolts. When fired, this
arrow mechanically transforms into a miniature golem – a mechanical quadruped.
The little golem can obey commands, is intelligent, can morph and fold up into a
cube, a snake, a variety of shapes and his original arrow shape. He’s tough and
damage resistant. This arrow is reuseable.
Detonator Arrow – An arrow with a metal tube and dial that goes from one
to 20. Dial is a timer – 0 to 20 seconds. Once shot, the timer runs down and
then boom. Arrow explodes in fireball.
Sword of Karoch – A massive, two handed sword which glows and vibrates.
Enchanted blade bites deep and severs limbs.
Bow of Selestar – Magnificent wood and horn bow. Steel wire string.
Strong enchantment guides arrows to their target.
Liquid Armor – A vial of a thick, silvery liquid that continually moved
around in the vial. If uncorked, the liquid would flow out over the skin and
coat the user in liquid armor. Very effective armor, but temporary. One use
item.
Bio-Enhancer Bracer – An ornate metal bracer with 5 vials built into it,
tubes and needles. Allows the user to rapidly inject potions directly into blood
stream. Also, if armed with a healing potion, the bracer will automatically
inject it if the wearer is critically wounded. Vials are made of glassteel and
are refillable.
Damage Reflection Armor - Bright blue steel armor. Mirror reflective
finish. Damage REFLECTION. Any physical attack made upon the armor would be
reflected back upon the attacker. The reflection of the attack actually comes
out of the mirror finish and strikes.
Short Sword – A sword of dancing. Can be telekinetically wielded at
range.
There are several ways across this room.
Shapeshifting: Any kind of shape shifting ability might work. If a player has a way to transfer into the indicated animal type (by spell or magic item or ability), that will be sufficient to grant safe passage.
Brute Force: If the party tries to just battle their way through the room, they could succeed. But it's going to be very difficult fight. They should exhaust a lot of hit points, healing and charges getting through this room. Keep in mind that the various body parts won't stop fighting until all are destroyed.
Invisibility: Invisibility will work or not, depending on how difficult you want to make this room.
Large Scale Spells: Fireball or other large area-of-effect spells will work. It's possible that the characters could fire big spells into the room hoping to take out all of the floating body parts. Of course, use this as an opportunity to use up lots of their magic.
[DM Note: When I ran the campaign, the players had a non-player character with them... a short mute goblin-ish character named "Gruebal". He had tagged along following the party through MANY adventures, being more annoying than useful. But I put this room in because Gruebal could bail the party out and he was the ONLY solution. This chamber vindicated his being with the party. The solution is that Gruebal was the only one of the party SMALL enough to fit through a gap to pull a lever that stopped the trap from killing the party.
I'm including it here only for curiosity sake. It might have to be modified to fit your particular campaign. Below are the original notes, unedited. In my campaign, only Gruebal was small enough to fit through the opening, but then again, it's possible that another small character could save the party. A female elf or a small halfling or whatever - the idea is that this chamber cannot be defeated by magical might or brute force. Instead, it's an opportunity for the smallest member of the party to play the hero for once. You as the DM have to set it up that way and make sure the littlest member gets to be the hero. It's up to you. If the party doesn't have anyone small like that, it might not be a good trap to include ].
The hallway ends in a pair of double iron doors. They open
inward. They are locked. If the doors are unlocked and opened, they find a large
circular room. The room walls have dozens of small alcoves. (As seen from above,
like teeth in a gear). On the east and west walls are identical double iron
doors.
In an alcove on the far wall is an altar of sorts. At the center of which there
is a stone statue. Some kind of writing is inscribed in the stone. The statue
seems to be a blend of dozens of different creatures – horse, dog, reptile,
bird. It has six arms. Each arm is holding something in each hand/claw - a wand,
a scepter, a short sword, a scroll, a dagger and a short sword and whip. [All
six radiate magic if detected for].
If the party fails to enter the room, the statue animates, points the wand at
them and a violent telekinetic shove pulls them into the room. Then the wand is
used to slam the doors shut and activate the mechanics.
The circular walls rotate 45 degrees, immediately covering up all exits. At the
same time, the rotating wall uncovers several things. It uncovers metal plates
in the secondary outer walls that emit a very powerful anti-magic field. No
magic, at all, will work. in this chamber. Once the walls have rotated, the
ceiling starts to descend. Very slowly.
If the party looks around, they notice that not only were the anti-magic plates
uncovered, but a small exit in the wall. It's very small, only 18 inches tall
and 18 inches wide. A long straight corridor with a level at the far end. Only
Greubal can get through. The anti-magic field will prevent the undead monkey and
Synda’s Spider from going in as both would lose power (no magic in this room due
to anti-magic field). At the far end of the tunnel is a lever. Pulling the lever
causes the ceiling to retract slowly and the circular wall shifts back to its
original position.
Scroll – Cursed – Blindness until Wish used to restore sight.
Short Sword – Frostbite – +1d10 cold damage. Freezes solid (Fort save) on crit.
Wand – Telekinesis – 75 charges. Any telekinetic spell. 1-5 charges.
Dagger of Maiming – Wound continues to “cut” (1d8/rnd) damage until limb is
severed or death.
Fire Whip – wounds include 1d8 barb and 1d8 damage. Wounds don’t heal naturally.
Triple against cold based creatures.
Although the statue is holding a number of magic items, none of them can be used because of the anti-magic field. Once the circular walls are rotated back to their original position, the anti magic field shuts off, the doors are exposed and the magic items on the statue function again.
At some point during their progress through the maze, there is a familiar flicker of light which appears in mid air and then brightens and takes shape. It is the "avatar" of the sarthak. The messenger that greeted the players in the first chamber. It assumes a vaguely humanoid shape, composed of light, and then speaks...
Greetings Crusaders... I have been sent to inform you of events that transpire above... the others that come from your lands, the soldiers from Duthelm, have managed to force a hole in the dimensional lattice. Their leader, Lord Caramus, wields great power. They have broken through the lattice and are now inside the mountain. He and his minions are flooding through the first level of the dungeon as I speak. They will reach the underground city soon. You must hurry.
A narrow corridor that runs 50 feet and 5 feet wide. Once the first person gets half way down the corridor, the doors at either end will close and foot thick stone walls will drop down from the ceiling. This is a series of walls that divide the length of the corridor into five foot sections. This, hopefully, will divide the party up, separating them so that each one is in an individual section. However, it's possible that 2 characters could end up in the same section, though it would be tight. It's only 5x5 in each section.
Then the walls retract back up into the ceiling and descend, in cycles, in such a way that each person can move ahead one section at a time, but all the characters stay separated.
The ceiling, floors and walls of the second half of the
corridor are pierced with
hundreds of small 2 inch holes. Spears come out of these holes, many at once. Only reflex and agility can
help. Even with reflex, it’s not always possible to avoid being hit. At each
five foot section of corridor, the character will have to dodge 4+1d8 spears. Reflex roll for
each one. The DC for each increases. The difficulty class to dodge each spear
increases with the number of spears. The DC is 10 + the number of the spear. So,
the first spear is DC 10, the second spear is DC 12 and so on. If any one spear
hits, all subsequent spears have an additional +6 on their DC (though this
penalty is not cumulative).
For each spear that hits, roll on the table below:
| Die Roll | Result |
| 01-04 | Left Foot 2d10. Foot destroyed. Movement cut in half. |
| 05-08 | Right Foot 2d10. Foot destroyed. Movement cut in half. |
| 09-13 | Left Lower Leg 2d10. Movement cut in half. |
| 14-18 | Right Lower Leg 3d10. Movement cut in half. |
| 19-24 | Left Upper Leg 2d10. Movement cut in half. |
| 25-30 | Right Lower Leg 3d10. Movement cut in half. |
| 31-35 | Groin 4d10. Movement cut in half. |
| 36-41 | Stomach 5d10. Movement cut in half. Dex at -4. Str at -4. |
| 42-48 | Center Chest 8d10. Rib cage collapses. Str, Dex, Con – 8. |
| 49-55 | Left Chest 5d10. Str, Dex, Con -8. 25% heart hit and instant death. |
| 56-62 | Right Chest 3d10. Str, Dex, Con -6. |
| 63-69 | Left Upper Arm 1d10. 50% damage with melee weapon on that arm. |
| 70-76 | Right Upper Arm 1d10. 50% damage with melee weapon on that arm. |
| 77-82 | Left Lower Arm 1d10. 50% damage with melee weapon on that arm. |
| 83-88 | Right Lower Arm 1d10. 50% damage with melee weapon on that arm. |
| 89-92 | Left Hand 2d10. Hand destroyed. Unable to hold weapon. |
| 93-96 | Right Hand 2d10. Hand destroyed. Unable to hold weapon. |
| 97-99 | Neck impaled. 4d10 points of damage. |
| 00 | Head Impaled. Instant Death |
A successful hit by an iron spear ignores damage reduction and armor class since
they virtually punch through anything.
A morphian could pass through this corridor unharmed, simply by morphing around the iron
spear shafts..
The next section is a maze. Like the classic crushing walls trap, but greatly magnified. This next section is a huge room filled with hundreds of stone blocks that can form a maze. These stone blocks can move and even change shape. The maze is constantly in motion... each section constantly changing and shifting. It’s possible to trap people alone in rooms, crush them between blocks, force them to move down corridors and so on. Of course, mapping this nightmare is impossible. The walls and floors of this maze can even sprout stone hands (to grab and restrain), stone mouths (to taunt the victims) and even given birth to stone golems (to battle intruders).
Feel free to throw additional traps, monsters or whatever in the maze as you see fit.
The next section is a huge flooded chamber. It's 300 feet wide and 300 feet long, flooded to a depth of 10 feet. At the entrance to this room, there are stairs that come down on one side, going into the water. Predatory shark like creatures roam the water. (actually, they are spawned from the Godbeast, so you can make these things huge and nasty as you want).
The players will have to descend the stairs into the water and swim across. They will have to avoid the shark beasts. The water is very murky and cloudy. The characters can’t see the bottom.
On the far wall, there is a partially submerged archway and
corridor beyond. About 30 feet in, the ceiling plunges and the characters are
forced to go underwater. They follow the tunnel into a larger tunnel.
They come to a large underwater portcullis. When they hit it, another portcullis
comes down behind them, trapping some or all of the party between the two.
Then a side door opens and additional shark beasts come out and attack.
The Stairs out of the Water
Once the characters make it out of the underwater portcullis trap, they reach
steps that emerge out of the water. The steps rise up to a large long corridor.
The character is 20 feet high, 20 feet wide and over 100 yards long. As the
characters make their way along this corridor, they hear ringing of hammers up
ahead.
This website was last updated March 31, 2026. Copyright 1990-2026 David M. Roomes.