On one level of the dungeon is an enormous ooze that blends various oozes together as it assimilates them. Azalin occasionally throws other ooze nuclei into this level to add to the Dungeon Lord Ooze's power.
The ooze itself was once a mortal wizard and a high ranking official in the University of Il Aluk. The mortal wizard began a series of investigations into Azalin's own personal affairs, and eventually arrived at the conclusion that Azalin was a lich.
Azalin does not have a problem with people guessing at his true nature, as long as they don't disturb the status quo. This wizard did not observe that courtesy. Through subsequent years, the wizard contacted experts in other lands and set about acquiring powerful magicks that would be difficult for a lich to counteract.
Azalin's Kargat reported on the plan before it came to fruition, and Azalin personally interrogated the wizard before reducing him to a sentient ooze. During the interrogation, Azalin learned of various immobilization devices and magical traps that the wizard had created, and he now uses most of those in the Black Vault.
The wizard is now unable to cast most of the spells it knew before, but some that do not require somatic components will still work. Among these are the various spells requiring a Necrotic Cyst.
Shortly before he lost his human form, the wizard was forcibly implanted with a Mother Cyst - a sac of necrotic organic material that served as a negative energy engine. Azalin then left several piddling magical items - mostly wands - in the mass of the ooze, which were capable of casting the various Necrotic Cyst based spells.
The ooze now roams the second level of the Black Crypt, occasionally splitting and reforming. It is protected at most times by about half a dozen characters infected with Cysts, and a large number of Skulking Cyst monsters.
The ooze is one of the few creatures that can use tremorsense, and thus the entire level is shrouded in magical darkness that not even undead can see in.
I'm thinking of the ooze as being part Flesh Jelly (MM2), part Arcane Ooze, maybe with a few spell like abilities and magic items embedded in its mass.
The Black Vault
Hmmm, wands stuck in necrotic tissue . . . .
I like the general drift of this room/encounter/monster but not so much the mechanics. How about a wereooze instead?
This could be the condition of the fellow immediately after Azalin's fell attention or by force of will and perhaps the assistance of the Dark Powers (the man become ooze becomes half-man but only is able to retain the form for a relatively brief time).
I like the general drift of this room/encounter/monster but not so much the mechanics. How about a wereooze instead?
This could be the condition of the fellow immediately after Azalin's fell attention or by force of will and perhaps the assistance of the Dark Powers (the man become ooze becomes half-man but only is able to retain the form for a relatively brief time).
The cure for what ails you
Necro/vitaepylae - the gates of life and death
Being ever-paranoid, Azalin foresaw that a time may come when an undead intruder may try to exploit his Vault. To counteract this, he made the third level a home to a veritable legion of incorporeal undead, and also fashioned a room that is simultaneously deadly to living and unliving creatures alike, by turns.
On the third and lowest level of the Firmament level of the Black Vault is a powerful incorporeal undead that Azalin put here because it was too disruptive to put anywhere else.
There is an advanced Ghost here which controls a whole host of other powerful incorporeal undead in this level. These are put here to assault and to repel any invaders, supported by a series of Quell undead (LM) to repel clerics and stop turning attempts. The Ghost who resides here has no arcane or divine power, however, being the remnant of a powerful monk martial who tried unsuccessfully to lead an armed insurrection in southeastern Darkon many years ago.
Azalin captured the monastic leader and tortured him into revealing the location of his brethren. Azalin then imprisoned him but secretly allowed him to escape. When the monk was some distance gone, Azalin sent Ebb after him, and the dragon snapped his body in two with her jaws - but not before the monk pulled out two of her teeth, a surprise for which Ebb took quite some time to truly forgive Azalin.
The monk manifested as a ghost and Azalin managed, with great trouble, to have the ghost moved to the Black Vault. The monk's body dissolves into misty insubstantiality below the waist, where a jagged wound reveals a hanging stump of a spine and dangling viscera.
The ghost has gone insane in the interim, babbling constantly about having to go back and "warn the temple". It is a fearsome opponent, able to cause considerable damage with its enchanted spiked chain. The third dungeon level is a warehouse like expanse of hulking wrecks and helms, including a Mind Flayer spelljamming helm, and the various chains and loops that hold them together.
The ghost is able to merge with intruders' bodies and manifest the spiked chain to swing from platform to platform, so it doesn't lose maneuverability even if it seizes control of a foe.
The main hangar bay of this area has a series of dormant Gates. Most of them do not open anywhere useful - the vast majority open onto either the Negative or the Positive Energy Planes. These are linked to a series of spell turrets which will cast Gate to suck matter in from the relevant planes near-simultaneously.
The end result is similar to being in a starship hangar bay when it's in orbit around a nearby star and it opens its pod bay doors. Unprotected individuals inside will be killed by the radiation sleeting through.
The negative energy Gates will activate if the threat is primarily from living creatures. Likewise, in real emergencies when a horde of undead are assaulting the hangar, the positive energy Gates will open instead, killing off trespassing undead.
This latter step is somewhat drastic because it will also kill off some of the undead guardians too. However, the Ghosts in the area have a dubious form of insurance against this. Because Azalin chose these restless spirits carefully, they will reform in a few days after the confrontation to defend the hangar area again. They cannot be permanently killed unless their unfulfilled quests are completed, and Azalin chose them so that the chances of this ever happening are very slim.
For the Monk Ghost there is little hope of that happening, as the monastery was destroyed long ago. (A kind DM may say that any PC who reunites the lower half of his torso and legs with the uncorrupted upper torso lying in state in the sepulcher will also allow the Ghost to disappear permanently. The legs and torso lie forgotten in a field far from any settlements, and like holy relics, they have been well preserved since separation from the monk's body.)
The more normal wraiths and specters cannot be replaced this way. Once the Gates to the positive energy planes open, they will be annihilated (assuming they weren't already neutralized by whatever undead were invading to begin with). The room will slowly replenish its stocks of lesser incorporeal undead by opening the negative energy gates when living intruders come.
If you are playing a campaign set after the Requiem and Death is investigating the whereabouts of the Black Vault, this room and this level is very likely to give Death's servitors a lot of trouble.
This is the last contiguous level of the Black Vault that exists below the Grim Fastness.
The rest of the Vault is dispersed across Darkon in single cells here and there, with umbilical corridors and portals leading between them that can be collapsed at a moment's notice and locked until Azalin unlocks them. Most of these are accessed through hidden Gate turrets that respond only to very specific triggers.
It's possible that Azalin left some golems and other constructs in this room as well, as they ignore both positive and negative energy attacks.
Being ever-paranoid, Azalin foresaw that a time may come when an undead intruder may try to exploit his Vault. To counteract this, he made the third level a home to a veritable legion of incorporeal undead, and also fashioned a room that is simultaneously deadly to living and unliving creatures alike, by turns.
On the third and lowest level of the Firmament level of the Black Vault is a powerful incorporeal undead that Azalin put here because it was too disruptive to put anywhere else.
There is an advanced Ghost here which controls a whole host of other powerful incorporeal undead in this level. These are put here to assault and to repel any invaders, supported by a series of Quell undead (LM) to repel clerics and stop turning attempts. The Ghost who resides here has no arcane or divine power, however, being the remnant of a powerful monk martial who tried unsuccessfully to lead an armed insurrection in southeastern Darkon many years ago.
Azalin captured the monastic leader and tortured him into revealing the location of his brethren. Azalin then imprisoned him but secretly allowed him to escape. When the monk was some distance gone, Azalin sent Ebb after him, and the dragon snapped his body in two with her jaws - but not before the monk pulled out two of her teeth, a surprise for which Ebb took quite some time to truly forgive Azalin.
The monk manifested as a ghost and Azalin managed, with great trouble, to have the ghost moved to the Black Vault. The monk's body dissolves into misty insubstantiality below the waist, where a jagged wound reveals a hanging stump of a spine and dangling viscera.
The ghost has gone insane in the interim, babbling constantly about having to go back and "warn the temple". It is a fearsome opponent, able to cause considerable damage with its enchanted spiked chain. The third dungeon level is a warehouse like expanse of hulking wrecks and helms, including a Mind Flayer spelljamming helm, and the various chains and loops that hold them together.
The ghost is able to merge with intruders' bodies and manifest the spiked chain to swing from platform to platform, so it doesn't lose maneuverability even if it seizes control of a foe.
The main hangar bay of this area has a series of dormant Gates. Most of them do not open anywhere useful - the vast majority open onto either the Negative or the Positive Energy Planes. These are linked to a series of spell turrets which will cast Gate to suck matter in from the relevant planes near-simultaneously.
The end result is similar to being in a starship hangar bay when it's in orbit around a nearby star and it opens its pod bay doors. Unprotected individuals inside will be killed by the radiation sleeting through.
The negative energy Gates will activate if the threat is primarily from living creatures. Likewise, in real emergencies when a horde of undead are assaulting the hangar, the positive energy Gates will open instead, killing off trespassing undead.
This latter step is somewhat drastic because it will also kill off some of the undead guardians too. However, the Ghosts in the area have a dubious form of insurance against this. Because Azalin chose these restless spirits carefully, they will reform in a few days after the confrontation to defend the hangar area again. They cannot be permanently killed unless their unfulfilled quests are completed, and Azalin chose them so that the chances of this ever happening are very slim.
For the Monk Ghost there is little hope of that happening, as the monastery was destroyed long ago. (A kind DM may say that any PC who reunites the lower half of his torso and legs with the uncorrupted upper torso lying in state in the sepulcher will also allow the Ghost to disappear permanently. The legs and torso lie forgotten in a field far from any settlements, and like holy relics, they have been well preserved since separation from the monk's body.)
The more normal wraiths and specters cannot be replaced this way. Once the Gates to the positive energy planes open, they will be annihilated (assuming they weren't already neutralized by whatever undead were invading to begin with). The room will slowly replenish its stocks of lesser incorporeal undead by opening the negative energy gates when living intruders come.
If you are playing a campaign set after the Requiem and Death is investigating the whereabouts of the Black Vault, this room and this level is very likely to give Death's servitors a lot of trouble.
This is the last contiguous level of the Black Vault that exists below the Grim Fastness.
The rest of the Vault is dispersed across Darkon in single cells here and there, with umbilical corridors and portals leading between them that can be collapsed at a moment's notice and locked until Azalin unlocks them. Most of these are accessed through hidden Gate turrets that respond only to very specific triggers.
It's possible that Azalin left some golems and other constructs in this room as well, as they ignore both positive and negative energy attacks.
oh yeah, what about a level that specializes in baleful polymorphing creatures that walk into it? it's not that it's that effective or anything. It's just that, the idea of azalin accidentally turning himself into a rat during construction (and therefore making him into a lich rat) is too funny to pass up.
Liches are immune to polymorph, unless they specifically want to submit to it.
Last edited by HuManBing on Tue Aug 28, 2007 11:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
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The Giamarga
- Evil Genius
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Drow fiction from FR included a golem that was hacked to piece only for the pieces to animate as miniature versions of the golem.
A baleful polymorph room that target everything living save familiar and/or animal companions might be amusing. A party could find themselves turned into rats and hunted by the previous group's cat familiar.
A baleful polymorph room that target everything living save familiar and/or animal companions might be amusing. A party could find themselves turned into rats and hunted by the previous group's cat familiar.
The cure for what ails you
well, when I say mini-golem, really what is being suggested is just robotics in a smaller scale. This way, instead of having to construct a 100,000 GP iron golem to flip a damn switch, you might get away with just constructing a 400 GP iron arm that does the same thing, but takes up less space.
Also, smaller/cheaper golems means that we can also perform more intricate and more finesseable things within this dungeon without making Azalin a Ravenloft equivalent of Bill Gates.
Also, smaller/cheaper golems means that we can also perform more intricate and more finesseable things within this dungeon without making Azalin a Ravenloft equivalent of Bill Gates.
That's a possibility, though I'd personally suspect that the smaller golems would be designed more for tactical flexibility than for any actual cost savings.
Don't forget that Azalin is about as close to any Bill Gates character you'd expect to meet in Ravenloft. He has the resources of the largest and wealthiest domain behind him, and he is able to weave magic spells that very few others can even hope to equal. (Meredoth being one of the few who canonically equal or surpass him in power.)
What's a few Iron Golems between dictators?
Don't forget that Azalin is about as close to any Bill Gates character you'd expect to meet in Ravenloft. He has the resources of the largest and wealthiest domain behind him, and he is able to weave magic spells that very few others can even hope to equal. (Meredoth being one of the few who canonically equal or surpass him in power.)
What's a few Iron Golems between dictators?
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Rotipher of the FoS
- Thieving Crow
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I think that might actually have been a specific construct-type, that was published in Dragon a few years ago. (Don't recall what it was called.) It was basically a golem-ish version of Voltron, with several smaller golems fitted together to make a big one.cure wrote:Drow fiction from FR included a golem that was hacked to piece only for the pieces to animate as miniature versions of the golem.
Heh heh. FWIW, it might interest you to know that Meredoth and Azalin have really, really gotten on each others' nerves, on the few occasions when they've had cause to communicate ... and for reasons which (given the Alphatian's cultural and political prejudices) I didn't have to stretch all that far, to come up with.HuManBing wrote:(Meredoth being one of the few who canonically equal or surpass him in power.)
"Who [u]cares[/u] what the Dark Powers are? They're [i]bastards![/i] That's all I need to know of them." -- Crow
After some more discussion with the other half of my brain (elliott20) I'm going in a slightly different direction with this.
The Black Vault is going to feature the original dead religion in a big way. This backstory goes that Azalin eliminated a religion that had found its way into Ravenloft, and that the Darkonian outshoot was the very last remnant of that god's followers throughout the multiverse.
He would have stripped the religion of all its relics and artifacts and left those in the Vault. Azalin also committed a certain form of heresy by using the fallen religion's holdings and central temple as centers for the Eternal Order.
[In the original 2nd ed., the Eternal Order is introduced in the Grim Harvest trilogy of adventures, and it arises in a short period of time - say about five years or so. I always thought it would be cooler if it was a more gradual and careful transition, instead. So the Black Vault would show the various evidence that Azalin had to carefully undermine a preexisting religion and keep track of their meeting places and all their clergy... and then one night of treachery, his Kargat struck at every single temple and hideout nationwide and successfully killed almost every single priest. The mopping up operations took just a few more weeks and the religion was essentially dead and buried.]
The relics and artifacts used to have potent powers, but they will be very weak now, and will generally only activate in the presence of the Fallen One's statue, or in special locations like the Final Refuge (the dead religion's last temple). However, the relics will have great power when brought together (a little like the magical item sets in MIC). Most of the relics have been tainted because the dead religion was perverted to become the Eternal Order. Most notable among this is the Deliverer's Mace.
Also, throughout the Vault, Azalin has positive energy portals, ostensibly to threaten and destroy any intruding sentient undead. These portals also will serve as a means of purifying the relics temporarily, suppressing their evil powers and allowing their beneficial powers to come to the fore, for a few hours at least.
High Priest's Veil:
They include things like the silk eye-veil that the High Priest wore over his eyes (because he was blind, and the veil gave him a mystical True Seeing ability). This relic does not quite function properly now - instead, it magnifies the horror and frightening nature of creatures it sees, with increased Fear/Horror/Madness checks for the wearer. If the veil is placed in an area with positive energy, it reverts back to its True Seeing ability. Without the veil, it is very hard to even see the Atropal Scion, which otherwise floats about as though Greater Invisibility has been cast on it.
Guardian's Armor:
This used to be the main suit of armor worn by the temple's champion, but since the subversion of the Fallen One's faith, it has taken on dreadful qualities. I'm thinking of making this the "Dead Man's Armor" which you see in the 2nd ed. "Forged of Darkness" book. Among that suit of armor's qualities is that it will basically kill anything that the wearer grapples, because it's suffused with death magic. Also, the armor functions as a powerful suit of Full Plate +5, but every so often it intentionally betrays its wearer by giving way to an incoming attack.
If purified, this suit of armor instead has Ghost Touch and Death Ward powers (the former protects against ethereal/incorporeal attacks, and the latter is important because it prevents energy drain and death attacks, like the Atropal Scion's powers).
Deliverer's Mace:
When Azalin struck at the religious order and eliminated its clergy, the Fallen One sent a Deva Angel to avenge it. Greater punishment was made impossible by the Ravenloft Dark Powers, who hold supreme sway in their own domain. The Deva Angel, Phirazaldea, arrived and attacked Azalin with surprising speed, and even managed to destroy his corporeal body.
Unfortunately, you can't kill a lich for long, and Azalin had no sense of humor about this confrontation at all. He returned with an overwhelming number of magic items and allies and captured the Deva. He subjected her to continued torture in the Black Vault, and then left her as a rotting Angel of Decay.
Her mace (as is the case for all Devas' maces) is a powerful tool against undead, possessing the disruption ability, and made all the more powerful because of her status as the Fallen One's final deliverer. [That also explains why she was able to discorporate Azalin's mortal shell in their battle - she hit him until he failed a Fort save and crumbled to dust.] Azalin stored it very safely away in the Vault, and it has since picked up a series of unpleasant evil powers, such as bleeding the enemy and bestowing a berserk fury on the wielder. If purified, the Mace will act as a Mace of Disruption with a hefty attack and defense bonus, as well as applying various bonuses to the save DC against its disrupting ability.
The Mace may be the only thing that can truly destroy Phirazaldea, the Angel of Decay, and Xenoregnus, the Atropal Scion.
In front of the two-level gate that allows access to Phirazaldea's and Xenoregnus' resting places, there is a statue of a large (16' tall) man whose finely muscled lean body is covered in welts and bruises and injuries. His eyes have been blinded and a veil covers his eyes and temples. His arms hold his chest together - he has taken a blow to the chest that would kill any mortal, cutting him open from throat to navel.
If anybody uses the Veil of True Seeing on him, the statue appears to turn startlingly to look directly at the viewer, its empty eye sockets gazing into the viewer's eyes, and it opens its chest to reveal a beating heart, pleading "Help me... kill me..."
If anybody cuts the heart out, it will create a pool of divine blood, as the deity's spirit is allowed to leave at last. The blood is good for purifying the magical items on a long-term basis and for activating their resonance powers.
The items will allow intruders a chance to destroy Xenoregnus and Phirazaldea. However, if the items are not themselves destroyed, they will slowly become corrupt again. (In a matter of hours if the PCs only exposed them to positive energy power - in a matter of weeks and months if the PCs bathed them in the dead god's blood.)
The Black Vault is going to feature the original dead religion in a big way. This backstory goes that Azalin eliminated a religion that had found its way into Ravenloft, and that the Darkonian outshoot was the very last remnant of that god's followers throughout the multiverse.
He would have stripped the religion of all its relics and artifacts and left those in the Vault. Azalin also committed a certain form of heresy by using the fallen religion's holdings and central temple as centers for the Eternal Order.
[In the original 2nd ed., the Eternal Order is introduced in the Grim Harvest trilogy of adventures, and it arises in a short period of time - say about five years or so. I always thought it would be cooler if it was a more gradual and careful transition, instead. So the Black Vault would show the various evidence that Azalin had to carefully undermine a preexisting religion and keep track of their meeting places and all their clergy... and then one night of treachery, his Kargat struck at every single temple and hideout nationwide and successfully killed almost every single priest. The mopping up operations took just a few more weeks and the religion was essentially dead and buried.]
The relics and artifacts used to have potent powers, but they will be very weak now, and will generally only activate in the presence of the Fallen One's statue, or in special locations like the Final Refuge (the dead religion's last temple). However, the relics will have great power when brought together (a little like the magical item sets in MIC). Most of the relics have been tainted because the dead religion was perverted to become the Eternal Order. Most notable among this is the Deliverer's Mace.
Also, throughout the Vault, Azalin has positive energy portals, ostensibly to threaten and destroy any intruding sentient undead. These portals also will serve as a means of purifying the relics temporarily, suppressing their evil powers and allowing their beneficial powers to come to the fore, for a few hours at least.
High Priest's Veil:
They include things like the silk eye-veil that the High Priest wore over his eyes (because he was blind, and the veil gave him a mystical True Seeing ability). This relic does not quite function properly now - instead, it magnifies the horror and frightening nature of creatures it sees, with increased Fear/Horror/Madness checks for the wearer. If the veil is placed in an area with positive energy, it reverts back to its True Seeing ability. Without the veil, it is very hard to even see the Atropal Scion, which otherwise floats about as though Greater Invisibility has been cast on it.
Guardian's Armor:
This used to be the main suit of armor worn by the temple's champion, but since the subversion of the Fallen One's faith, it has taken on dreadful qualities. I'm thinking of making this the "Dead Man's Armor" which you see in the 2nd ed. "Forged of Darkness" book. Among that suit of armor's qualities is that it will basically kill anything that the wearer grapples, because it's suffused with death magic. Also, the armor functions as a powerful suit of Full Plate +5, but every so often it intentionally betrays its wearer by giving way to an incoming attack.
If purified, this suit of armor instead has Ghost Touch and Death Ward powers (the former protects against ethereal/incorporeal attacks, and the latter is important because it prevents energy drain and death attacks, like the Atropal Scion's powers).
Deliverer's Mace:
When Azalin struck at the religious order and eliminated its clergy, the Fallen One sent a Deva Angel to avenge it. Greater punishment was made impossible by the Ravenloft Dark Powers, who hold supreme sway in their own domain. The Deva Angel, Phirazaldea, arrived and attacked Azalin with surprising speed, and even managed to destroy his corporeal body.
Unfortunately, you can't kill a lich for long, and Azalin had no sense of humor about this confrontation at all. He returned with an overwhelming number of magic items and allies and captured the Deva. He subjected her to continued torture in the Black Vault, and then left her as a rotting Angel of Decay.
Her mace (as is the case for all Devas' maces) is a powerful tool against undead, possessing the disruption ability, and made all the more powerful because of her status as the Fallen One's final deliverer. [That also explains why she was able to discorporate Azalin's mortal shell in their battle - she hit him until he failed a Fort save and crumbled to dust.] Azalin stored it very safely away in the Vault, and it has since picked up a series of unpleasant evil powers, such as bleeding the enemy and bestowing a berserk fury on the wielder. If purified, the Mace will act as a Mace of Disruption with a hefty attack and defense bonus, as well as applying various bonuses to the save DC against its disrupting ability.
The Mace may be the only thing that can truly destroy Phirazaldea, the Angel of Decay, and Xenoregnus, the Atropal Scion.
In front of the two-level gate that allows access to Phirazaldea's and Xenoregnus' resting places, there is a statue of a large (16' tall) man whose finely muscled lean body is covered in welts and bruises and injuries. His eyes have been blinded and a veil covers his eyes and temples. His arms hold his chest together - he has taken a blow to the chest that would kill any mortal, cutting him open from throat to navel.
If anybody uses the Veil of True Seeing on him, the statue appears to turn startlingly to look directly at the viewer, its empty eye sockets gazing into the viewer's eyes, and it opens its chest to reveal a beating heart, pleading "Help me... kill me..."
If anybody cuts the heart out, it will create a pool of divine blood, as the deity's spirit is allowed to leave at last. The blood is good for purifying the magical items on a long-term basis and for activating their resonance powers.
The items will allow intruders a chance to destroy Xenoregnus and Phirazaldea. However, if the items are not themselves destroyed, they will slowly become corrupt again. (In a matter of hours if the PCs only exposed them to positive energy power - in a matter of weeks and months if the PCs bathed them in the dead god's blood.)
Associating the positive plane with purfication makes good thematic sense but must be qualified. The plane is neutral. It is neither good nor evil. It is, however, perfect for countering or weakening any negative energy effects. Unless of course Ravenloft perverts and aligns conduits with the energy planes.
The cure for what ails you
Good point, and one that I'd thought of myself.
Note that the PCs will find it incredibly dangerous to even bring the items near the Positive Planar Gates. Positive planar energy will help living creatures by healing them, but there's a chance each turn that the energy overloads in their systems and causes them to die.
Canny PCs may be able to find a way to force a construct or something similar to help them out.
Note that the PCs will find it incredibly dangerous to even bring the items near the Positive Planar Gates. Positive planar energy will help living creatures by healing them, but there's a chance each turn that the energy overloads in their systems and causes them to die.
Canny PCs may be able to find a way to force a construct or something similar to help them out.
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NykylaiHellray
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- Joined: Tue Apr 18, 2006 10:32 am