1
Stairs down to Level 6 - This flight of stairs is very long,
descending steeply into darkness. It is made of dark marble, shot
through with red streaks. Every third step is engraved with a complex
silver pictograph - (they merely count down from the top, in
Atalantëan, so that the rightful owners of the staircase would
know where the two traps on the staircase are). There is too little
metal to have any significant value in the glyphs. At the
two-hundredth and four- hundredth steps are two magical traps
designed to prevent unauthorised access. At the first, a wall of
spinning blade springs up when the glyph is stepped on (2d6 RKA, 1
hex area affect, no range, 3 charges, each lasts 5 minutes). At the
second, is a teleport that sends the character back behind the first
glyph (1 hex area affect, 3 charges). Both traps are monitored by
"spacial awareness", so invisible characters can be affected.
2 and 3
Guard rooms - In each of these rooms are chairs, tables and shelves
to cater to the human guards that were on duty here. The rooms would
have been comfortable before the collapse of their furnishings - the
guards were here to lend muscle for sorcerous summonings and for
status as much as for actual guarding. However, they guard now.
Before leaving this place, the last of the warlocks cast a spell on
the two remaining guards, turning them to stone. They are frozen in
positions of dismay at the top of the stairs. On the floor in front
of them is an convoluted rune, (visible only to magic sense) - if
this is crossed, it will finally break the petrification spell,
freeing the guards, who will finally do what they were placed here
for. The guards stat.s are :
|
|
|
|
4
Bronze portals - This is the way that the warlocks travelled if they
intended to go further than the workrooms. Behind the heavy brass
doors is a slowly swirling silver wall, that looks much like a pool
of quicksilver. Anyone who opens the doors is subject to attack at
OCV 6 by both a teleport and a 3d6 END drain carrier attack
(Teleport, 1 hex area effect, up to 2x mass, 14x range [327
km] usable by others, END batt [only recharges from END
drain]). If the target has a destination in mind, then the
teleport will send them there (subject to all normal restrictions on
teleport), otherwise they will be sent a random direction (d12) and a
random distance (d300) (which is why the doors are there!).
5
Fountain and garden - This room was used for entertainment and rest.
It is the centre of a area effect Images spell that includes sight,
sound and smell. This is activated by touching an ornate raised area
on the fountains rim and simply wishing for the desired changes. In
its natural form it is a high dome (15 m), with walls of native rock
and a tiled floor and a large fountain, which is now dry. Currently
the illusion makes the chamber appear a pergola perched on a lofty
peak. The fountain is covered by illusion to appear an ornate statue
showing figures riding an enormous dragon through clouds. In the
distance, fantastic and picturesque buildings are similarly
precariously balanced. A balustraded walk appears to lead down to a
nearby palace - the entry to room 6. The other doors are obscured by
the illusion.
6
guest rooms - The larger peripheral rooms are more or less identical,
containing 4 poster beds, writing tables and seats made of precious
woods and inlaid with pearl and precious metals. All are collapsed
and basically useless. The large central room once held a large table
and a dozen chairs similarly fashioned to those in the rooms, and
similarly derelict. The smaller room holds a toilet which drops down
to a water channel far below, and a large bathtub - the tanks which
once fed it long since dry.
7
Chapel - The private worship area of the residents, the walls of this
small chapel are hidden by image spells that show swirling clouds on
all sides. Opposite the doors is a huge statue of Cruach Ventanach
with wings outspread. The statue is carved of jet and ornamented with
sliver and gold leaf and bright enamel. Before the statue is a low
altar with service vessels - a large cup, a bowl and a knife of
exquisite workmanship, of platinum and ivory and worth 200-300 Gp
just for intrinsic value alone. There are stone seats for a dozen
worshippers, their cushions and trappings falling into dust.
8
Environment room - (read down before describing this room to your
players!) This tall and rather austere room is lined with pale
blue marble and has benches around three walls carved from the same
stone - and another set 3 M above the floor. The heavy brass door
fits snugly into its frame and has a very solid bar on the inside.
The door is airtight - a fact that will become obvious when it is
closed. This room retains its original spell - it has spell pool that
allows up to 4 environmental changes to be made. The room was used as
a sauna, swimming pool (hence the upper benches), weightlessness
chamber etc. To effect the changes, all one has to do is touch the
ornate carving set in one wall and wish it. The same area activates
an images spell that cloaks the walls with any mirages the user
wishes. Currently the room is set to resemble a sumptuous tent with
raised sides revealing a desert. It is dry and hot, but a warm breeze
blows through. The benches are cloaked in illusion to appear draped
with rugs.
9
Transforming room - The warlocks who inhabited these chambers could
have access to anything they wanted by use of the magical mechanism
in this room. It is currently filled with oddments of furniture,
tapestries, dinner remnants and so on. In a clear space at one end of
the room is what appears to be a large ornate piece of statuary, with
writhing arms, heavily engraved with pictographs about a low central
podium. The podium is a 1 hex area effect 2 d6 cumulative
transformation attack (being an immovable fragile OAF) - any object
into anything else. By means of this, the inhabitants created
anything they wanted simply by placing another object onto the podium
and asking for their desire (in Atalantëan). The walls are
carved in light relief showing a bewildering variety of forms melding
into other forms, over every available inch of space.
10
Receiving room - In this room is a heavy wooden table, carven to
resemble 4 trees whose interlaced branches form the top. It has
survived because of its weight, but the chairs and hangings that once
decorated the room have decayed into fragments.
11
Dining room - This room was decorated in a similar style to the
receiving room before it, with the addition of large cupboards
holding implements for eating and drinking. The smaller pieces of
furniture have collapsed but the cupboards and table remain These are
very fragile with age and will collapse if handled without care -
attempting to use them normally, say. If this happens, the fine
porcelain and glassware within the cupboards will be destroyed. If
the cupboard is supported by at least 2 people when opened, it will
stay upright. The dinnerware inside is of eggshell porcelain and
would be worth rather a lot (400 Gp) to a connoisseur. There is also
tableware of porcelain-inlaid gold, worth a similar amount, which
will lose 1-100% of its value in a collapse.
12
Bedroom - This room is simply furnished with a raised dias filling
the whole back half of the room. It holds an enormous bed and is
bordered by a low rail worked in dark wood. In the corner of the room
shielded by rotting screens are two cupboards filled with mouldering
robes, mostly shades of blue, decorated with birds, dragons and
clouds. The robes are all ready to collapse into clouds of dust and
tatters of cloth, but if the mess is searched it will yield a small
dark tube of metal about 15 cm long. This will telescope out if
pulled into a 60 cm wand with the following functions :
It has 12 charges and regenerates charges instantly if brought below -100 °C. The wand will only work if extended. In the other corner of the room is a brazier, a lamp and a small shelf, all of fine work, but badly corroded.
13
Study - This study has lines of scrolls filling shelves all around
the walls. These are as dilapidated as the ones in the library on
Level 6 and it has likewise been plundered. There are scrolls and
tablets carelessly tossed on the floors and the drawers of the huge
desk that dominates on corner of the room all hang open. There is a
peculiar contraption of gilded wood in the other corner. It resembles
a podium with crank-handles and rods framing the central tray. Over
this is a hooded lamp - still glowing with a pure white light. It is
of course a scroll reader, and the lamp can easily be removed - the
structure is very fragile, only the gilding having preserved it. On
the desk is a similarly constructed lamp, designed to fit into the
same holder, although this one does not appear to emit any light. In
fact it acts as a discriminatory sense for detecting magic. Any magic
exposed to the lamp's rays will fluoresce - it was used to detect
glyphs and the like hidden on manuscripts, but is quite portable,
weighing only a couple of Kg.
14 and 15
Bathrooms - These rooms are both panelled in dark green stone
(jadeite) with gold headed nails at each junction. They contain huge
bathtubs magically replenished with a continuous flows of warm water
from the golden dolphin spouts at one end. The flow goes under the
toilet, in the small adjacent room, carrying wastes away before
magically disappearing through a teleport (it reappears in the small
stream below the crag, where the water steams on cold days). There
are bowls that receive the water, somewhat hotter, before the tub,
and full length mirrors adorn the walls either side. The rooms are
warm and faintly steamy.
16
Receiving room - A large ornate table dominates this room - it has
stood the test of time, being made of stone, heavily carved - the
legs are demonic looking creatures bowed beneath the top. the remains
of 11 chairs lie around the table. The twelfth is still intact and is
much larger than the others. It also is carved with demons crouched
to form the legs and arm rests. Anyone who sits in the chair can
command (in Atalantëan!) the demon statues to animate and carry
the chair like a litter. They can even fight, holding the chair with
one hand and striking with the other - but they cannot release it.
They will defend themselves (ie : if any damage is done to the
chair). Once animated, they will attack anyone entering the room. The
Demon chairs' stat.s are :
|
|
17
Withdrawing room - Once the shelves that lined this room held dozens
of the rarest narcotics and drugs known to alchemists. Now most of
them are dust in the bottoms of the many jars that fill the shelves.
There are two still active, however. In a lead bottle marked with
sigils - one of several such - is a potion that allows the users
astral body to float free, if so desired. It does render the user
drowsy and thus causes DEX to be halved for the duration (Desolid, 1
use, lasts 6 hours, leaves a solid body behind). In a sealed glass
jar, is a powder that sprinkled on brazier causes strange and potent
waking dreams (12 d6 mental illusions, explosion area effect 1 use,
lasts 1 hour). The room is filled with the remains of cushions and
sumptuous rugs, falling into dust. There are two delicate folding
braziers, of silver chased with gold and decorated with twining
flower patterns, and a large hookah, surrounding a low table, on
which are golden vessels for drinking. Boxes on the walls hold a
variety of pipes of multitudinous designs and also a number of small
sharp implements for letting blood. One wall is covered by a large,
ornate sacratata glass mosaic.
18
Dining room - This room was decorated in a similar style to the
adjacent receiving room, with the addition of large cupboards built
for implements for eating and drinking. The chairs have collapsed but
the cupboards and table remain. The cupboards are very fragile with
age and will collapse if handled without care - attempting to use
them normally, say - but they are empty. There was obviously some
sort of interrupted dinner in progress when the castle was attacked -
plates, goblets and jugs litter the table, some overturned. All the
tableware is of platinum inset with lapis lazuli or amethyst and the
set is worth 600 Gp.
19
Bedroom - This room is the reverse of the baroque splendour elsewhere
in these rooms. A raised dias holds a simple sleeping pallet and the
walls are panelled in dark wood. A simple rack once held clothes but
now has fallen empty to the floor. A low table next to the bed holds
a fine porcelain flask and cup. The flask is enchanted (1 d6
transformation, cosmetic changes) to change the contents into any
(non-magical) liquid desired simply by incanting in
Atalantëan.
20
Study - The owner of this room left nothing for the invader - it is a
burned out shell, like his lab on the level below. Nothing can be
made from the tangle of melted metal and stone.
