Castle Everglory, Level 7: The Tomb

This is Level 7 (The Tomb) of Castle Everglory
==Entryway (Location 1)==
This round, white marble room is 8 yards in diameter. Standing in alcoves in the wall are 7 white figures dressed in burial sheets and holding two-handed swords. Engraved in the marble are depictions of a variety of birds, standing or in flight. For some reason, the room smells of roses and lilacs.
=== Monsters ===
==== 7 Grave Wardens ====
The Grave Wardens are remarkably well-preserved, looking much as they did in life, save for the fact that their skin is white as paper and their eyes have shriveled to the point that they hang from their sockets. They are four men and three women, dressed in white burial sheets and standing motionless against the walls, holding shining, steel two-handed swords with the points resting on the stone floor. 
The soldiers are unable to negotiate – they exist to defend the room and have no other thoughts. Despite the condition of their eyes, they can see perfectly well.
==== Treasure ====
The 7 steel two-handed swords are of simple design but are fine and balanced. ($6,400 each, wt. 7)
== First Fresco (Location 2) ==
The walls of this 4 yard by 8 yard room have been plastered and the plaster has been painted with brightly colored frescos. There seem to be three distinct scenes on each wall, but in almost all of the scenes, the fresco has been marred in one or more places by the melting of paint, leaving nothing but a blurred stain on the wall. Read left to right while facing into the tomb, the scenes depicted are as follows.
=== Left Wall ===
The first scene, which is undamaged, would appear to depict a tribe of Orcs, or other similar humanoids, destroying farms. The tribe, distinguished by their black teeth and the snarling wolfs crudely drawn on their shields, slaughter livestock, set fire to crops, and kill families of humans.
The middle foreground of the next scene is nothing but a melted blur of paint. The rest of the space is devoted to images of the invading Orcs in flames, screaming and writhing as they burn. The background depicts the ruins of a farm.
The whole left half of the third scene is blurred. The right half shows a tall, elderly woman, wearing simple white robes and with long white hair falling loose down her back. She stares stoically in the direction of the blur, her right arm raised at forty-five degrees, her fingers spread open. In the background, a wide paved courtyard stretches off toward a line of trees.
=== Right Wall ===
The first scene is unmarred and shows an army of two-handed sword wielding humans clashing with an army of two-handed axe wielding Dwarves, set against the backdrop of a great cavern. Though both sides are heavily armored, heads and limbs go flying as the two forces hack at one another.
The second scene is blurred in the lower left hand corner, but otherwise depicts Dwarves apparently in the process of being struck by lightning. The Dwarves scream and twist, some of their faces blackened to smoking skulls, as jagged white “bolts” arc between them.
The entire left half of the third scene is blurred. In the right half, facing left, sits what looks to be a bearded king, crowned and enthroned and wearing regal purple robes. He sits with his hands resting on his knees, palms upwards. Behind him, land stretches away to the horizon, divided into fenced fields.
== Second Fresco (Location 3) ==
The walls of this 4 yard by 8 yard room have been plastered and the plaster has been painted with brightly colored frescos. The scene on each wall has been marred by the melting of paint. Read left to right while facing into the tomb, the scenes depicted are as follows.
=== Left Wall ===
The left wall depicts a sunny garden, filled with trees and with flowers of all colors. In the foreground stands an ornamental wooden pagoda, painted in greens, blues and golds. Around the pagoda is a pebbled courtyard where small red birds peck at the ground. Inside the pagoda is an octagonal wooden table, but everything just to the left of the table has been melted away. PCs who have seen the pagoda in the garden level above will immediately recognize it in the picture. There is no sign of the strange tree.
=== Right Wall ===
The right wall depicts a fine oak-paneled hall, fit for a lord. The mounted heads of animals line the wall, deer sharing space with a crocodile, a lion, a bear and a rhinoceros. The long table that runs down the middle of the room bares a magnificent feast served on silver plates, but the carved wooden chairs are empty. At the head of the table, the paint has run, leaving nothing but a dark blur. PCs who have seen the Great Hall (Grandmother Chtikrix’s lair) in the Palace level above will immediately recognize it in the picture.
== Third Fresco (Location 4) ==
The walls of this 4 yard by 8 yard room have been plastered and the plaster has been painted with brightly colored frescos. On the left wall, the fresco has been marred by the melting of paint. Read left to right while facing into the tomb, the scenes depicted are as follows.
=== Left Wall ===
Twelve figures, their bodies and faces entirely hidden by the voluminous white robes they wear, stand gathered with arms outstretched around what might be a long stone altar, carved with rows of stone orchards. Whatever was on top of the altar is now nothing but a broad streak of melted paint, running down the sides. In the background, a blue sky is filled with swirling white clouds and wheeling hawks.
=== Right Wall ===
The fresco shows a street filled with weeping humans, all walking in the same direction. Peasants trudge alongside fine ladies and gentlemen, all faces distorted with the depth of their grief. A few people crawl and some appear to be whipping themselves or other weepers. They are all barefoot and the cobbled road is stained with the bleeding of their feet.
== Brown Room (Location 5) ==
This square 8x8 yard room has plastered walls decorated with abstract swirls in browns and oranges. A velvet divan is placed before a small, ornate wooden table, on which sits a red clay mug. Against the north wall is a stone ledge on which sit two bronze bowls. One of them blazes with fire and other is filled to the brim with water.
==== Treasure ====
Vessel of Undying Flame. The magic bowl of fire is worth only about $200. It is impressive, but a bowl that always blazes can be highly inconvenient. The magic bowl that always fills itself with water is worth $5,000. It is inconvenient, but can also be quite useful. The bowls weigh 2 lbs each.
== Yellow Room (Location 6) ==
This square 8x8 yard room has plastered walls decorated with abstract swirls in yellows and golds. Seven velvet armchairs are loosely arranged around an ornate table, the surface of which is divided by white lines and marked with numbers, apparently at random. On one corner of the table sit six dice stacked together. Along the north wall is a fine set of shelves containing finely cut glasses and unlabelled glass bottles filled with dark liquid.
==== Treasure ====
The drinking set is altogether 4 lbs and worth $3,500 due to the lovely craftsmanship, though it is very fragile. The bottles are filled with the same very fruity wine found in Level 5, Room 11. There are 20 bottles in all, each weighing a lb and fetching up to $1,000 each in the right market.
== Bare Room (Location 7) ==
This square 8x8 yard room has bare stone walls. 8 desiccated corpses stand motionless along the south wall.
=== Monsters ===
==== 8 Grave Attendants ====
The grave attendants are corpses in advanced stages of decomposition, sewn into simple work clothes. They wear white linen long-sleeved shirts sewn to white cotton gloves at the hands and to black linen trousers at the waist. The trousers are stitched directly to black leather boots. The dead have all had their mouths sewn shut and their eyes are yellowed and sunken.
The undead in this room are intelligent but have been undead slaves so long that they have become entirely passive. They will not fight even if attacked but will otherwise obey any order given. They will not communicate, however – they are psychologically incapable of trying to answer back. Any attempt to read their minds will merely cause a Fright Check at -5, involving horrific visions of something the caster won’t be able to recall.
== Green Room (Location 8) ==
This square 8x8 yard room has plastered walls decorated with abstract swirls in greens and oranges. The floor is dominated by a 7x7 square of bare dirt from which sprout three dead trees. A red velvet divan sits against the east wall.
Examination of the dirt will reveal that it is 2 yards deep and contains the remnants of dead roots.
== Curtained Room (Location 9) ==
The walls and ceiling of this 12 yard by 6 yard room are swathed in velvet curtains of dark red and blue and the floor is entirely carpeted by woven rugs. A singled padded velvet chair sits near the entrance, while at the far end of the room can be seen 6 motionless figures, wrapped from head to toe in brightly colored bandages, veils and ribbons. Three of them stand on a sandstone dais and holds instruments; a lyre, a reed flute and a small drum. The other three stand in dance positions the floor below. One of the dancers holds a staff tied with colorful veils, while the other two stand on either side, foot raised in the air to step forward.
=== Monsters ===
The first instinct of the 6 undead performers in this chamber, upon learning of the party’s presence, will be to put on a show for them, with music and dancing. They are unwilling or unable to communicate, but as long as the PCs don’t attempt to damage or remove anything, they will seek only to entertain the intruders as best they can. If the PCs do attempt to damage or remove anything, the undead will attack. Any attempt to read their minds will simply cause a Fright Check at -6, involving visions that the caster cannot afterwards remember.
==== Dancer of the Whirling Steps ====
When dancing, this corpse twirls around clockwise, its veils and ribbons streaming in the air. It sweeps with its feet in wide arcs as it spins and when attacking an intruder, will use this motion to slash with the four steel razors bolted to each foot.
==== Dancer of the Whirling Sleeves ====
When dancing, this corpse twirls around counterclockwise, its veils and ribbons streaming in the air. It sweeps with its arms in wide arcs as it spins, making its long sleeves billow. When attacking, it will use this motion to slash with the four steel razors bolted to each hand.
====Dancer of the Whirling Staff====
When dancing, this corpse spins its staff in the air, making the colored veils swirl. The veils hide the fact that the staff is set with steel razors. The corpse will use the spinning motion of the dance to slash at intruders.
Whirling dancer with razor flag pole
==== Player of the Lyre ====
The lyre player will not normally fight physically. Instead, it will defend itself by playing the Song of Dementation on the lyre. Anyone who hears the song must win a quick contest of Will against the musician’s skill of 15 or suffer disorientation and confusion for as long as the music plays, causing them to use all stats and skills at -2.
====Player of Pipes====
The pipe player will not normally fight physically. Instead, it will defend itself by playing the Song of Mania on the pipes. For as long as the piper plays, all dancers and musicians involved in melee can attack twice per turn.
==== Player of Drums ====
The drum player will not normally fight physically. Instead, it will defend itself by playing the Song of Despair on the drums. Anyone who hears the song must win a quick contest of Will against the musician’s skill of 15 or be unable to attack when the drumbeat sounds – every second turn. This effect will last for as long as the drummer keeps playing.
==== Treasure ====
Staff: The strange bladed staff is impossible for a normal person to use effectively as a weapon and it is thus worthless.
Reed flute: The flute is very simple. It weighs 1 lb and is worth only $40.
Small drums: Beautifully carved and painted with pictures of elephants on parade. $800, 2 lbs.
Lyre: The Lyre is beautifully crafted and is set with elegant lapis lazuli inlay. $2,500, 3 lbs.
The curtains are 200 square feet of velvet altogether, weighing 10 lbs and worth $200.
Rugs: There are 100 square feet of thick and excellently-woven rugs in all, weighing 150 lbs and worth $10,000.
== Temple (Location 10) ==
This round room is 10 yards in diameter the walls are bare, roughly-carved stone. Standing in the very middle is a 15 foot high statue of a tree with a skull at the end of every branch, carved in basalt. Some of the skulls look to be human or humanoid while others are animal skulls. A pile of real human skulls lie a foot deep around the basalt roots.
12 naked and skeletal corpses, little more than dry skin stretched over bone, slump against the bars of cages set in the stone wall, cages just large enough to keep them standing upright.
The room is an area of Very Low Sanctity for all clerics, regardless of deity. Consider the tree to have 1,000 DR, with 200 Hit Points for the trunk and 50 for a branch. The tree may be damaged in accordance with the rules for Structural Damage in Campaigns p.558. Oddly, though it is made of stone, the statue bleeds red blood.
=== Monsters ===
==== 3 Remnants ====
3 of the skeletons are more than they seem. Numbers 3, 7, and 11 (counting from left to right) are sentient and magically powerful undead, although they can no longer move their physical remains. They remain in psychic communication, so anything one knows, all the others know as well and they are able to coordinate their efforts.
These undead are far too alien and insane to communicate or negotiate with the party. However, they are at least as interested in playing with the PCs heads as they are in defending the room.
They will begin by gathering intelligence. The Slave of Eternal Desire (number 3) will cast See Invisible (dropping to 38 Fatigue), The Slave of Eternal Hunger (number 7) will subject the PCs to Mage Sight (dropping to 39 Fatigue) and the Slave of Eternal Madness (number 11) will cast Know Illusion (for free).
If the characters are in the temple, but not doing any harm, they might be subjected to a Touch on the shoulder from the Slave of Eternal Desire, followed by a Tickle, and when that gets dull, Rooted Feet. If the party is still not a threat by this point, the Slave of Eternal Hunger will cast Drunkenness. When the dead no longer find this funny, the Slave of Eternal Hunger will cast Steal Youth (without growing any younger himself, see below). Anyone who tries to leave while the game is still fun is likely to get Paralyze Limb cast on their leg by the Slave of Eternal Desire, perhaps followed by Roundabout.
If the PCs look like they are going to actually cause some damage, things will get more serious. The Slave of Eternal Desire is likely to cast Strike Dumb on spell-users, Strike Blind on missile combatants and Total Paralysis on melee threats, in that order. The Slave of Eternal Hunger is likely to cast Steal Energy on spell-users and Steal Youth on anyone else. The Slave of Eternal Madness will tend to cast Terror followed by Madness, possibly using Mass Daze for crowd control. All three undead will be ready to use Dispel Magic if the opportunity presents itself. They are liable to finish the fight by using their power of telekinesis for damage. This telekinesis may also be used just to throw a particularly annoying foe out of the room.
==== Slave of Eternal Desire ====
==== Slave of Eternal Hunger ====
==== Slave of Eternal Madness ====
== Antechamber (Location 11) ==
This 6 yard high, 6 yard broad and 12 yard long room has walls of rough granite, pockmarked as if soaked in acid. Six sandstone columns line the path to wide granite stairs leading up to an arched doorway barred by oaken doors and an iron grille. Along the east and west walls stand a row of three basalt altars, making 6 in all, and upon each altar lies a human skeleton, bound to the stone by an iron collar around the neck and two inches of chain.
The great oaken doors are not just locked (-5 to Lockpicking, Construction: Vault (see DF 2, p.18)), but trapped.
== Final Resting Place of the Forgotten King (Location 12) ==
This is a cubic room, 7 yards to a side, with walls of smooth unadorned granite. The stench of rotting flesh in here is shocking.
An eight foot open stone sarcophagus stands in the center of the chamber. It is filled almost to the brim with a lumpy, light brown liquid, about equally reminiscent of vomit and dung. This filth is the Forgotten King. He will attack all intruders if his massive liquid body is touched, damaged or magically manipulated.
=== Monsters ===
==== The Forgotten King ====
Fountain of Filth: Once every three seconds, the king can cause himself to erupt, spewing a rain of filth for 40’ in all directions. Anyone caught in the rain takes 1d of toxic damage (may be Blocked, but not Dodged or Parried). The smell is unbelievable. Whether they are hit or not, PCs must roll successfully against HT or be violently ill for seconds equal to their margin of failure.
Summon Pudding Zombies. Once per day, the king can instantly summon seven Pudding Zombies, liquefied undead like himself, though only human-sized. The zombies ooze through the walls in only one second.
==== 7 Pudding Zombies ====
Pudding Zombies are 250 pounds or so of liquid undead that come in various shades of brown and dark green. They are composed of lumpy, rotting, liquefied flesh and their stench is indescribable.
==== Treasure ====
At the bottom of the sarcophagus, under the filthy brown liquid that is the king’s body, lies a platinum crown.
Crown of the Unknown King
This heavy (wt. 3lbs) platinum crown is covered in twisting spires of metal of different lengths and thickness, arranged in no discernible pattern. Engraved around the band are the letters of the alphabet in order, each written simply, with no flourish or decoration. Connoisseurs of fine jewelry are likely to find the crown ugly. Others are just likely to think that it looks weird.
Information spells will reveal no information about the crown and it does not appear to be magical, psionic or (un)holy. Viewed through mystic means, such as by Magesight, it appears to be perfectly mundane.
Inexplicably, anyone wearing the crown is at +4 to Charisma. This effect does not register as magic, or (un)holy, or psionic, or as supernatural in any way.
While 31 lbs of platinum is worth a lot of money on its own, the crown is priceless due to the difficulty of detecting and countering its effects. However,
# There is no way to tell what the crown does without someone putting it on
# Beyond a certain sum, it is easier for NPCs to steal the crown or take it by force than to pay for it
If the PCs just want to get the thing out of their hands, it should be possible to fence it through appropriate known contacts or through role-playing and the use of appropriate skills. Given a reasonably competent and professional system of loot disposal, $250,000 might be an appropriate price. GMs should feel free to raise or lower this price as they wish. Give the PCs whatever sort of reward you think is appropriate for having hacked all the way through the dungeons beneath Castle Everglory.
At the GMs discretion, PCs can sell the crown for significantly greater rewards by making an adventure of questing for the right buyer. This should not be easy. Not everyone would want the crown, an item that is a little disturbing to say the least. Of those who want the crown, not everyone has the money to pay for it, and among those who want the crown and have the money, not everyone wants to honor their deals, particularly when the price rises high enough. When word gets out about this item, it likely to attract the attention of conmen, gangsters, thieves and assassins.
Use of the crown is highly addictive, but not supernaturally so, and the nature of the addiction, if any, depends on the user’s personality. Some people really like to be liked. For others, it is less important. The effect on PCs who wear the crown should be a role-playing matter for the player to decide. A truly humble, anti-social or selfless individual may suffer no effects at all, while someone who feels undervalued, or is a glory hound, or is simply ambitious may find themselves obsessed by the love and respect they may potentially gain. In short, the crown is a plot hook. Have fun with it in whatever way works best!
==Other Dungeon Levels==
*Castle Everglory, Level 1: Lair of the Cutnose Orcs
*Castle Everglory, Level 2: Vault of the Scribes
*Castle Everglory, Level 3: Vault of the Servants
*Castle Everglory, Level 4: The Garden
*Castle Everglory, Level 5: The Palace
*Castle Everglory, Level 6: The Prison