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Monday, February 20, 2023

Lost Galmagia: Under the Mage's Ward

The Mage’s ward is the most mysterious of the wards, given that the magical amber in which Sregor Viridian bound the place can only be bypassed with a Knock spell. The PCs have learned via rumors that the amber needs a touch of arcane magic to open, but not specifically what. Turns out this is the space in the dungeon that most interests at least a couple of the players, and that makes getting in an intriguing challenge (there’s a knock spell in the spellbook of T’tam the Bird, back in 1.29, but casting it before a M-U hits 3rd level and can copy it into their book means losing the spell. Challenges, challenges. This space is just the barest part of what’s under the Mage’s Ward – if the players do get regular access to a Knock spell they’ll be able to enter others from above (or below from the 3rd level), but Sregor’s is the only one that is still connected to the custom’s house road.

2.13: Bindings
Entry to this room from the Customs House Road has a portcullis that unlocks from the tower side from an obvious lever. Attempts to toss something around the lever are hindered by a bound Unseen Servant, which will interfere with basic attempts to pull the lever via ropes, etc. Inside the room proper is a table bearing thread, large sheets of paper, and other bookbinding equipment; bookshelves that contain 5,000 cp in blank books, and a large, halfling-sized hourglass that takes 8 hours to run. If the hourglass is tipped over it summons and Unseen Servant which, if not given other instruction will start putting together a book with the materials in the room; it can make one book every 8 hours if not interrupted.

2.14: globes, blades, and blood.

Approaching from the west the portcullis is twisted and easily navigable due to ceiling damage, and the door has fallen into the room. The room is covered in a layer of dust and debris, but the ceiling held up due to the very strong cross beams; this was the victim of the Giant’s first strike before Stregor put up the amber. Dangling from those crossbeams are 6 globes that appear to be mud and earth construction but are actually magical globes holding 6 stirges each in suspended animation, but the globes would have to be VERY carefully cleaned to learn that. Hanging on the walls of this room are ‘blanks’ for 8 elfcraft swords – bronze blades that have not yet had runes carved on them – that can still be sold for 50gp each if you can find an elf who wants to buy and finish them. Attempting to remove the swords without first looking for traps will mean missing the thin cables under the mud that connect the swords to the globes; take any sword and the globes fall, one by one. 6 of the Stirges will attack the PCs as they flutter around in a mad rush, but the bulk of them will take off through the portcullis and plague the dungeon for years. Players can, if they ask, make saves vs. Traps to catch the globes (11 STR minimum) to stop any one from falling.

2.15: Alchemy Lab
This room contains an alchemy lab that holds 3 crates worth of glasswear (200 gp each; and the crates are broken down and re-assemble-able) set up in brewing potions. There are two completed potions in the glasswork (which contains dozens of partially evaporated, cooked down, or clogged components) but unless great care is taken by a magic-user to extricate them the glasswear will collapse and release a toxic plume. Everyone has 1 round to exit the room or save vs. Poison or die. The toxins take 1 hour to settle to the ground. Also in the room are a half dozen lead or cedar boxes holding among them 300 gp of gold, silver, mercury, and platinum. The herbs and other reagents have dried up or evaporated.

2.16: Pixietown
This room is full of terra cotta pots that are either full of plants on the ground or stacked, suspended, or shelved sideys on shelves made from animal horns lashed together with vines from the plants. In theory there’s 300 gp of fine terra cotta and 44 gp of animal horns in this mess. The mess is home to a band of 5 pixies, who are invisible the moment the PCs enter. They are highly capricious (ok, they can be murderous brats) but react well to being spoken to in faespeak. If violence breaks out they will flee (these pixies can ‘blink’ which lets them get back to the surface past the wards), but if any are dropped to 0 HP they are sore wounded but salvageable, and will try to ransom themselves with the 1000 sp hidden about the room.

2.17: The Sitting Room
This space has a central stair that runs up to the amber boundary, and down to the 2nd level. It is apportioned as a sitting room with three comfortable chairs, a humidor, a wooden carry case holding art supplies, and a coatrack against the west wall containing a finely made oilskin slicker and an equally finely made heavy fur coat. The humidor, if checked, contains several well past expired cigars and other tobacco products, along with a pouch containing a single large black sapphire of 1000 gp value. It is also the key to the portals that make up half the doors of this room – the archway of each of the portal doors as a notch in it the size of the sapphire. If inserted, the door acts as a portal. If not inserted, it opens on a bare wall. Door d actually has two notches, one on the left and one overhead. The one on the left leads to a tiny rocky ocean island, overhead to a snowy mountain cliff; both spots have stone sitting benches at them.

2.18: Triangle/Circle/Square
This circular room has a protective triangle cut into the stone, and a summoning circle cut into that (the first etched in platinum, the second silver). Inside circle is a summoned gelatinous cube, bound these last 25 years. Insude the cube are two ambiguous gemstones (created by the undigestible things that the bound cube kept schlorking in) that are worth 50 gp as curiosities, a spear, and a suit of chain mail. Both the items are of +1 enchantment. Of the PCs enter the circle, or break it by laying anything across it, the cube will have free reign in the protective triangle. The players can reach things over the circle and might find a way to fish things out of the cube, or kill it without risking reprisal.

2.19: Oceanside Guest Bedroom
This circular bedroom exists somewhere out west. The room is well furnished and comfortable, with a dresser, table, chairs, and a bed whose linens desperately need turning, and a magical chamber pot underneath it that teleports away anything left in it a moment after it is put down (100gp value). The skylight is the main attraction to the room, as it shows the sky over the ocean coast and if the center pane is opened (there is a 10’ pole in the room for that purpose) it lets in sea breezes. The window can be opened sufficiently for a halfling to get through into an ocean rainforest. Once the PCs have been in the room for a few minutes another pane of the skylight opens in and lets in the illusion of a parrot-headed winged monkey that screeches at them, flaps around avoiding blows, speaks magical curses, and definitely forces a morale check on any retainers. It can’t actually harm them and goes away for this visit if they say “I’m a guest of Sregor” or something similar. The runes for this are etched around the skylight.



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