Lost Galmagia Week 8: Under the Moon Ward

The surviving piece of architecture directly under the Moon Ward is the vault of the great cathedral. That has been taken over by Brother Blade and his cult, and they have already liberated some of the treasures of the cathedral – before they riled up a lot of disquiet dead that they now don’t dare go into the crypts to deal with. When it stood the cathedral appeared as a caduceus, and the lower passages that made up the serpents still exist, and have special properties. If the PCs ever excavate all of the entrances they can do an approximation of the Naeddre (the walk through the snakes) and earn a +1 to their Divine Favor stat (offer only open on the first days trips through). 

2.20 The final, or first, challenge:
This is the entry from M26, but once the block is cleared and the PCs can enter, they find circular stairs leading down to a round room with a 6” high lip at partially blocking the passage out. That well holds 5 Spitting Cobras which will only bite if attacked, but will spit at people entering. The pilgrims should be wearing blindfolds (or casting Snake Charm). These snakes reappear on each new moon, but you only get XP for outwitting them once. 

2.21 a & b: The Wet Wings
Both of these spaces were library/recordkeeping/artifact keeping for the cathedral. The artifacts have been stolen by the Brotherhood, and water damage from leaks above left the books as sludge. Other than the stairs down to the tombs these rooms hold but bitter disappointment.

2.22: The Abbess Sitting Room
This tastefully appointed space did not have its water wards fail and avoided the damage in the wings: the furniture, carpets, tapestries and inset hardwood paneling and floor are intact. Brother Blade lives here now, but he’s not present, the first time the PCs enter, as he is disposing of the inert naga he stripped from the true caduceus. The Abbess’ secret study can be found under the carpet under the hardwood, doubly concealed and secret. 

2.23: The Great Vault
This long hall is now home to unruly members of Brother Blade’s cult; there are always 12 present (1d12 acolytes, the remainder berserkers), while the rest are out Under the Giant’s Shadow or lower in the dungeon. The room is crossed repeatedly by raised mosaic trails that are part of the Naeddre – those walking them are invisible to the room, and cannot see the room – that the brotherhood ignores… but can never bring themselves to defile. Amongst their stuff is a sack with 1000 sp (the cash the acolytes have collected to purchase things from Turnip Hill, the settlement to the north and of Amethyst Spire where they have cultivated a reputation as harmless eccentrics), and a fist sized dodecahedron with runes on each surface which is the stone of controlling earth elementals Lily HazelsDottor from 1.15 is looking for. 

2.24: Entry to the Crypts:
This space once held the public entry to the crypts, but the Giant’s attack shattered the pillars holding up this section of the vaults, so there’s a 5’ lip around the outside of the room and an open space to below. The entire room reeks of ordure, because the cultists have been reliving themselves over the lip. Down below are 20 skeletons of the disquiet dead type who dead type who desperately want to get up here and kill the intruders; they can be seen scrambling through the rubble, and there’s a 1 in 10 chance each time the players are here that this is the time they figure out how to make a bridge of themselves from the highest shattered pillar to get up to this level. 

2.25: Snakes at the Midway:
This is halfway through the Naeddre, and therefore there are two snakes here identical to the ones in 2.20; there should be 5, but the Brotherhood killed 3, and has hidden another bag of 2000 sp. here. 

2.26: The Door of the Moon:
A concealed door in 2.23 leads to this maintenance room (full of cleaning supplies), but at its end is a secret door identifiable by a hemisphere of colored stone near the ceiling; if it is rotated to the current moon phase and depressed the door will open to the secret passage leading to 1.17b. The lock is repeated on the other side. The door closes and rock spins after 1 turn unless SERIOUSLY blocked.