Jet Black v2.1 - Jenni Merrifield€¦ · Web viewJet Black by Jenni A. M. Merrifield This is a D&D...

JAMM1 D&D Module for Characters Level 3-7Jet Black

by Jenni A. M. Merrifield

This is a D&D Module for Characters Level 3-7 (Total Party Level between 18 and 28, with at least one Magic User or Elf capable of 3rd level spells or higher). It is based on the Adventure Synopsis "Works of Art" from TSR Gazetteer 11, The Republic Of Darokin, p56. Much of the text in the “Introduction” and in “What’s Going On Here?” is quoted or paraphrased from the Adventure Synopsis, all remaining module details are by Jenni A. M. Merrifield. Alchemical Substance Table adapted from one found in TSR Dungeon Module B1, In Search of the Unknown, p11.

Note on Language

To avoid confusion, “he”, “him”, etc. are used to describe players and PCs, and “she”, “her”, etc. are used to describe the DM and any generic NPCs.

Introduction

The craftsmen of Darokin are among the finest in the Known World. As such, the goods that they produce are greatly valued and highly sought after. Just When world of a new artisan of exceptional talent reaches the market place, there is often a frenzy of speculation about his or her future and a great deal of haggling over the worth of their existing pieces. It is just such and event that brings the characters face to face with a true fiend in this adventure.

A female artisan by the name of Matrissa has suddenly taken the Darokin Art World by surprise. Rumours of her talent and skill for crafting magnificent stone busts has spread throughout the city. She works only in jet and produces pieces of such detail and quality that none like it has been seen in recent history. Exactly four of her works are on display at a local museum/art gallery in the city of Darokin, brought to the city by Simon Treemonsha, an Elf from Akorros, who is well known as an agent of Toney House. No other examples of her work are known to have been sold to private individuals and speculation on the eventual value of her art is high. The works on display are to be auctioned off in a few days time and the success or failure of this auction will partially determine what will happen in the art world.

In this module, the PC’s either decide or are hired to make a voyage to Matrissa’s home (which is known to be south of Akorros) in response to the success of the auction. This journey has one primary purpose: to purchase as much of her work as the characters can for as little as they can. If they’re lucky and play their cards right, they might make a pretty penny from this venture. On the other hand, perhaps there is more to this Artist than meets the eye, and things may not work out at all according to plans…

If you're a player, and not going to DM this Module, you should stop reading at this point or you may spoil the adventure for yourself.

The Set-up

The PC’s happen to be in Darokin just before the auction is to take place and either hear about it from NPC’s they deal with or see posters advertising the date and location of the auction. Depending on their personal inclination, the DM should either encourage them to decide on their own to make a voyage to Matrissa’s home or they should be hired by an independent art dealer, or even a small Darokin Merchant House.

Although Simon Treemonsha is known to be an agent of Toney House of Akorros, it should be easily determined, if the right sources are asked or sent to investigate, that he is, oddly, working directly on behalf of Matrissa and not on behalf of Toney House. However, he does have high hopes of his House becoming the sole distributor of her works, especially if the Auction is successful.

The journey to Matrissa’s home should essentially have two main purposes: to purchase as much of her work as the characters can for as little as they can and, if possible, to entice her to deal only with them (or the merchant(s) whom they represent) rather than Simon and/or Toney house. The PC’s should be advised to wait to see what happens at the auction - if it fails, there is little reason to go rushing off. On the other hand, once the auction has occurred, they will have to move fast if they wish to chat with Matrissa personally before her agent is expected to return to Akorros with the wonderful news.

The Art Work:

The four busts that are to be auctioned are amazingly beautiful and incredibly detailed - it seems as if every individual hair has been meticulously carved. The busts are life-size, the subjects are very beautiful, and the expressions are full of life-like depth. The subjects are two male humans, a male elf and a female human.

1. The first male human has short, wavy hair, and is looking forward with an “expressionless” expression. However, it isn’t a “flat” expression, like many artists achieve, it is more as if he were a soldier remaining at attention while at his post.

2. The second human male has short straight, hair, and his head is turned about 45 degrees towards his right shoulder. His eyes are dropped so that he has a somewhat wistful expression on his face.

3. The male elf is an even more powerful and beautiful example of Matrissa’s art - he has hair which looks as if it may have been waist length on the subject, but Matrissa has carved it to fit the dimensions of the bust, chopping it off just below the shoulder line.

4. The female human is the prize of the exhibit, having full, curly shoulder length hair, and a dreamy, seductive look on her beautiful face.

The art will be constantly guarded, both magically and mechanically, before and during the auction. It is not recommended that thief PC’s be allowed to steal any of the busts.

If anyone examines the busts, they appear to be flawless jet stone, and do not radiate magic if a detect magic spell is cast in their vicinity.

The Auction:

Everyone who is anyone in the art and business world is at the auction, and anticipation is high. The Auction is a smashing success, even though Simon had set the initial bids significantly higher than might be normally expected for a new artist. The first two (the human males) start at 2000gp, and ultimately sell for 2800gp and 3000gp. The male elf starts at a slightly higher initial bid of 2500gp and a more heated series of bidding takes it right up to 5100gp. The female also begins at the same price as the elf (2500gp), but after two or three reasonable bids, someone very important and well connected with Mauntea house (the number one Darokin Merchant House) jumps the bid by a huge amount, taking it well past the selling price of the elf (i.e. 6000gp or 7000gp). This move leads to an intense bidding war between this person and a similarly important representative for Linton House (the number two Merchant House). It is left to the DM’s whim who ultimately wins, but whoever it is, it ends at the astronomically outrageous sum of 10,000gp.

This should put pressure on the PC’s to get to Matrissa before anyone else. With returns like that, how can they go wrong (especially if they are going for themselves or have worked out some kind of “percentage deal” with the Merchants who have hired them.)

What’s Going On Here?

Although Matrissa will be a kind and charming hostess, she hides a dark secret in the cellars beneath her richly appointed manor, which is about a days ride to the south east of Akorros [on the 8 miles to the hex map of Darokin, start at Akorros and go south two hexes and then south east one hex]. Matrissa is a fairly powerful

magic-user, though the manor house in which she lives appears to be rather ordinary, if remote. But behind a secret door or two, lies the heart of her great evil.

In a well-secluded dungeon, protected from intruders or potential escapes by numerous magical and non-magical traps, she keeps a row of cells in which she imprisons those who will serve as “models” for her works of art. In addition, this area contains a pit which is home to a shockingly black cockatrice, which is like a regular Cockatrice in all respect except that its feathers and scales are a dull matte-black and it turns its victims into black jet instead of a more standard stone such as granite. When Matrissa decides to create a new sculpture, she simply arranges to “toss” one of her prisoners into the pit and waits. Once the monster has done its work, she recovers the victim and, usually, cuts the head and shoulders from the jet corpse to make a bust.

Matrissa “creates” her art by the judicious use of various spells such as charm person, sleep, hold person, and telekinesis. She will coerce a subject into the position that she “envisions” and then lifts them by telekinesis into the pit. Sometimes the resulting “art work” is so pain and fear-filled that she keeps it for her “personal viewing pleasure”.

Matrissa charmed Simon and then she talked him into taking her “art” to Darokin on her behalf. Since her victims have all been from Akorros, she decided not to sell them there. She chose to use an “agent” because she didn’t want to deal with the drudgery of it all - besides, she has more masterpieces just waiting to be made. Simon has since broken out of the charm. However, except for representing her on his own and not as an agent of Toney House, her suggestion would have been acceptable anyway and so he is not entirely aware that he was mentally manipulated. Now that things have gone swimmingly he expects he will convince her to give Toney House exclusive rights to handling sales of her work. Simon is not expecting anyone else to try and undermine him (he’s not terribly bright for an elf...) and will spend a minimum of two full days after the Auction dealing with final arrangements before heading back to Akorros. It should also be noted that despite her manipulation, Simon still managed to get the best of the deal, because she agreed to a flat rate for each statue, if he could sell it. And while Simon set these rates quite high (they were masterful pieces of art and he is generally an honest elf), the fact that it was an auction and the unexpected bidding war on the last bust means that Simon pulled in many times the amount he must actually give to Matrissa. In fact, Simon set the minimum bids 500gp higher than what he must give her, so all he owes out of the 20,900gp is 7000gp – that’s 13,900gp in his pocket!

Resolution:

When the PC’s confront Matrissa, they should find her to be a dangerous foe who is almost impossible to overcome. Still, with luck, they should be able to defeat her. A particularly satisfying end would be to hurl her into the cockatrice’s pit where she can experience for herself the frightful death of her victims.

The PC’s will find that the prisoners in the cells are all very beautiful people who fell victim to Matrissa’s magical lures and found themselves suddenly abducted by the evil woman. Their sadistic captor made the manner of their deaths quite clear to them and they have lived in terror that each day would be their last, sometimes while watching Matrissa “create” other “works of art”. Matrissa also brought some of her “guests” up to “play” with her in her personal and very private “fun room” (a Torture Chamber) - after all, she only needed to keep their faces in perfect condition. The intense gratitude that her current prisoners will feel upon their release makes it easy for the DM to introduce one or more of them as a useful contact or romantic interest for the PC’s in future games. (These NPCs have been left for the DM to define as best suits their overall campaign)

In addition to the treasure which they recover from looting Matrissa’s home and dungeon, the PC’s should receive a great deal of publicity for the rescue of the prisoners, the identification of the dead, and the return of any undamaged victims of paralysis. In Akorros, where the victims came from, they were all assumed to have been killed or abducted by some unknown person, but the lack of clues meant that the town guards were wholly unable to find any of them. Rewards from the victims’ families may be provided also, at the DM’s discretion, and should be determined in accordance with the specific level of the campaign.

3

General and Specific Adventure Notes and Events:

Matrissa is a sick, twisted, dark and evil person, who loves to torture animals and people for the fun of it. She is certifiably crazy, and is definitely of Chaotic alignment. She tends to wear clothes that are all black, though she does own a few more colourful outfits. If the PC’s meet Matrissa in a “social setting” she should be described as being petite and incredibly beautiful, with an air of distance and mystery about her. If she is first met in an “encounter setting”, she should be described as having an air of danger and evil about her.

If any PC is “interesting”, either in his level of beauty, or by his uniqueness within Darokin, Matrissa will be very tempted to “acquire” him. Given an opportunity, she might try to charm him, and get him to “help her in the kitchen” so that she may learn more about their group and the people they represent (if they are working on someone else’s behalf). On the other hand, there is a good chance that if the PC’s offer seems very good, it will interest her more than trying to keep one of them – the DM should use her best judgement.

Matrissa carries a key ring on her belt at all times that she is awake. This key ring holds the keys to all the lockable doors in her manor and underground dungeon. On the main floor (level 1), all the interior doors will be unlocked, except that if she is in her Bedroom (area 9) or Bathroom (area 11) these doors will be locked. On all other levels, all interior doors that are not secret will be locked unless otherwise noted. Also, the doors on the same floor of her home or level of her dungeon will all use the same key, unless otherwise noted.

On any given day, if it is between dawn and the time for her to memorize any spells she needs to replace or exchange, (i.e. at 1 turn/level it would take her 6 turns, or 1hr, to memorize two first and one fourth level spell) she will be found in her Meditation Room (area 19). Between the time she finishes studying and 9pm at night there is a 70% chance that Matrissa is “downstairs” in either her Magical Workroom and Laboratory (area 27), Torture Chamber (area 26) or where ever is appropriate for her daily plans. If she is “upstairs” she will be in the Library (area 12) reading an ordinary book or in the Kitchen (area 7) eating a meal. Between 9pm and 10pm she will be in the Bathroom (area 11) soaking in her tub. After 10pm she will be in her Bedroom (area 9), sleeping. Don’t forget that she will occasionally remember to feed her “pets” (both the animal and humanoid ones) as well, but will not spend much time with them unless she is specifically doing something with one of them.

At all times Matrissa’s current spell compliment will depend on what the DM decides she has been doing that day and on the success of failure of earlier interactions with the PC’s. In particular, note that a decision to make some more “art” will be reflected in a high number of physical and mental control spells. Based on what she is doing, determine what spells she still has in her mind at the time the PC’s first encounter her. Suggestions for various events on each day the PC’s are around Matrissa’s Mansion are listed below. These are just suggestions however, and if things transpire to make these events unlikely, modify Matrissa’s actions and plans as necessary.

At Matrissa’s Manor, Day 1:

In the morning of the first day that the PC’s arrive at Matrissa’s glen, Matrissa needs to re-memorize two 1st, one 4th and two 5th level spells, (Floating Disk, Light, Wizard Eye and Telekinesis x 2) and at the end of it she will eventually have the following spells in her mind:

1st Light x 2, Floating Disk

2nd Continual Light x 2, Web

3rd Dispel Magic x 2, Hold Person

4th Dimension Door, Charm Monster, Wizard Eye

5th Telekinesis x 2

Matrissa shouldn’t actually be planning on actually “creating” any art on this day, instead she plans to begin some biology experiments dealing with how some animals (like kittens, puppies, squirrels, small birds, etc.) react to

having light and continual light spells cast on them in various ways (i.e. she’ll cast one version of light or dark on their eyes and wrap their head in a sack (so the spells don’t interact with one another) and leave them that way for a while, or she might cast it on their body and surround the cage in burlap so that it is unable to escape the light, etc. -- go wild, have fun with the concept). She will set these experiments up in her Magical Workroom and Laboratory (area 27).


On the second day after the PC’s arrive at Matrissa’s glen, unless she specifically makes other plans (such as meeting with the PC’s for further negotiations), she should spend time in her Magical Workroom and Laboratory (area 27), conducting Alchemical experiments, which will continue working on for several days, thus the alchemy bench will be covered in bubbling, boiling, hissing equipment for several days (even if she isn’t in the room -- she isn’t very safety conscious.)


On the third day after the PC’s arrive at Matrissa’s glen, she should plan to check on her various experiments, and she might consider playing with some of her captives unless she would have other plans as a result of interactions with the PC’s.


Simon should arrive at Matrissa’s with news of his success on the fourth day after the PC’s arrive at Matrissa’s glen. If Matrissa has previously found out how much the statues actually sold for, and has been given any idea that an artist would usually receive a percentage rate for sale of their art rather than a flat rate she will NOT be happy with Simon, and he is in serious danger of becoming her next victim. When he arrives she will attempt to charm him, and then take him down to the Torture Chamber (area 26) where she will lock him to one of the racks and go to it. There she will alternate between vicious, painful torture, where she tells him all about how she makes her statues and what he can expect to have happen in the next day or so, and sweet caressing touches where she tells him how much she hates to hurt him but that he’s been such a bad boy (you get the general idea). She will continue at this all day, when she will leave him tied up until the next day when she plans to make him into artwork. Note that if this happens, she will ride his horse and wagon out that night, leaving it in a place far from her home, attempting to make it look like bandits had attacked him. Because she will walk back she will be gone until around noon of the next day.

If, on the other hand, Matrissa has no knowledge of how badly she is being ripped off, she will have a glass of wine with him, take the money he owes her, and tell him she has to think about working in conjunction with Toney house in the future. If she hasn’t already made some sort of agreement with the PC’s she’ll ask him to come back in a week when she’ll give him her decision, and let him go back to Akorros.


If she had to take Simon’s wagon and horses out, she’ll return at noon and then go down to “talk” to Simon some more. She won’t bother to prepare him via charm, etc -- instead she’ll just force him into the cage, and see what his fear looks like.

Otherwise, it's up to the DM to figure out what she’ll do today and for any further days. Remember that she has one new “bust” already prepared (although she will only move this bust into her art room or another publicly accessible place if the NPC’s have not seen her ‘fake’ example in the art room or if she believe that they are not around and will not return for sometime). She could also plan on making some more art. If Simon has gone back to Akorros, when he returns in a week, it is up to the DM to decide what Matrissa will do and say.

5

Level 11. Outside the Manor

You see a stately manor, made of carefully hewn granite. There are several multi-paned windows in view. There is a pathway made of some type of black, crushed stone which leads up to a short set of stairs that are 10’ wide. The stairs lead up to a five-foot deep recess in the middle of the building’s facade. There is a set of double doors at the back. To your left, as you face the house, there is a 15’ high, rough stone wall with nasty looking spikes along the top that surrounds a rather large region – possibly a private garden.

The elaborate double doors are made of oak and there is an ornate brass doorknocker in the middle of each door. The doors are well locked and trapped. Anyone attempting to pick the locks without proper precautions will trigger a needle trap for 1d6+1 hp damage and set off a mechanical alarm. Matrissa can hear the alarm throughout level 1 and the front part of level 2. If someone uses the doorknockers, Matrissa will hear them only if she is somewhere on level 1. If she hears them from anywhere but her bath, she will answer the door after three rounds (30 sec). If she is in her bath she will ignore any knocks unless they are extremely persistent – after four distinct knocking sessions she will grab her robe and storm to the door. She will NOT be very pleasant, and will REFUSE to talk with the PC’s at this or any later time.

If the rocks of the path are examined closely, it will be discovered that it is, in fact, made of bits of jet. (Well, what else was she going to do with all that leftover waste material???)

1a. Tell the following to anyone who searches the outside of the grounds to the W of the house:

Close to the ground you see a 7’ long, 2’ high wooden door on the W wall, near the SW corner of the building. It has a thick rusted chain and a large, rusty padlock attached to the front.

This is the opening into the log chute into the Wood Storage (area 14). The padlock is very simple and there are no traps on it, but because of the rust it is difficult to unlock, even with the key – subtract 5% from a thief’s chance of picking it. If the characters try to break it by force, they may do so by hitting it with a blunt weapon (i.e. mace, hammer) and rolling to hit AC 7. Note that the noise they make has a 5% cumulative chance per blow of attracting Matrissa’s attention if she is in the Bedroom (area 9). They may also try to break the chain with leverage by inserting an object between the chain and the door and then rolling successfully against strength. If the roll fails by more than 5, check to see if the stick/staff breaks instead by rolling Percentile dice. There is a 50% chance of breaking a thin lever (i.e. sticks, broom handles, etc.) and a 15% chance of

breaking a thick lever (i.e. a staff, the handle of a war hammer, etc.).

1b. Tell the following to anyone who searches the outside of the grounds to the E of the house:

Here, up against the spike-topped wall, there is a small, stable, which could hold two horses. The stable roof is slightly slanted out from the wall, being about 8’ from the ground against the wall and 7’ from the ground at the opposite side. The stable looks to be a bit on the ramshackle side, in distinct contrast to the immaculate appearance of rest of the manor.

The stable doors are not currently barred, although there is a sturdy wooden bar lying outside on the ground. There is currently only one horse inside, housed in the stall farthest from the door, who appears to be a bit on the mangy side. A perceptive PC might conclude that only exactly the minimum level of maintenance has been done in this area in order to keep the horse alive, sheltered, fed and capable of carrying a passenger. The horse, if examined, is healthy if not well groomed, and will travel at regular rates. She is an incredibly docile steed who is black, with a white star on her forehead and a white ‘sock’ on her front left leg.

The PC’s may try to use this structure as an aid to climbing up over the garden wall. (See the Garden, area 5, for more info about climbing the wall)

2. Foyer and Hallway

The foyer is ornate and quite spacious and there are examples of Matrissa’s work on granite pedestals scattered about the room. There is a very nice crystal chandelier in this room, which appears to be lit without candles. There is also a rather nice abstract tapestry hanging on the W wall. Through an opening in the N wall, a hallway can be seen which has a burgundy rug down the centre.

Matrissa will usually invite visitors into her foyer if she answers a knock on the door and will ask them their business. If they say they are seeking to purchase artwork, she will ask them into the Lounge (area 4).

The art in this area is as tasteful as that which she offered for sale. Against the West wall, there are two busts, flanking the entrance to the Lounge (area 4). On the N side of the entrance the bust is of a very young, beautiful female human (about 13 or 14 years old) who appears to have just dropped off to sleep. On the S side, there is a handsome human male with a calm and mellow look. Against the E wall, to the N of the tapestry, there is an “intricately carved” gruff and craggy faced dwarf.

The tapestry (50gp, 600cn) is 6’x9’ in size and is from the Emirates of Ylaruam.

The hallway provides access to all the other rooms of the top floor and to the stairs that lead down to the “public basement” – the front section of level 2. Anyone in the hallway at night will notice that light always spills into the hallway from the Foyer and the Dinning Room (area 6).

3. Cloak Cupboard

There are hooks on the back wall with two cloaks hanging from them. There are two pairs of boots on the floor to the left of the door. A sturdy oak staff leans against the back wall.

The cloaks are both of good quality and in good repair, and would fetch a fair price if sold. One is a long, heavy, winter cloak (1gp, 15cn if not worn), the other is a shorter, lighter, summer cloak (5sp, 10cn if not worn). One pair of boots is a plain pair of soft leather boots (1gp, 10cn if not worn) and the other is a pair of calf-high hard leather boots (5gp, 15cn if not worn). The staff is a Staff +2. If confronted and forced into hand to hand nearby, Matrissa will attempt to get and use this staff against the party.

4. Lounge

This is a well-appointed lounge, with one couch, a low table, several chairs, a side table, and a luxurious rug in the centre. There is a tiger skin on the floor across from the couch. Opposite from the main entrance into the room there is a deep fireplace. The S wall is mostly a large, paned glass window, but just beneath that there is a row of shelves with a variety of artistic trinkets and nick-knacks on it. Against the N wall there is a cabinet with a roll-up top and two doors on the bottom. In the corner to the S of the fireplace there stands a beautiful full size harp and in the corner to the N there are two pedestals upon which sit examples of Matrissa’s work. There is also a large oil painting on the W wall, just to the N of the main entrance into this room.

Matrissa will be a kind and charming hostess, offering her visitors a drink while she listens to their proposition. If asked to do a commissioned work she will be adamantly against it, instead offering to sell some of her existing work to the players. She should be a hard sell – players should have to bargain hard to get any sort of “deal” from her. If asked, she will take the visitors down to the Art Room (area 16) to show them her current “work in progress”.

The two busts in the corner are just a bit disturbing. Both are human and female, and in each case there is a definite, look of pain or anguish in the expression. In fact, one even appears to be crying (on close inspection a PC will notice that Matrissa has actually managed to “carve” thin rivulets of tears down her face. If questioned, Matrissa will comment on how art has become so plain and stagnant these days, everyone always re-doing the same old emotions - joy, happiness, love, etc. - over and over again. She will then say that she wanted to try

“shaking up the art world” a little, and so she decided to try portraying pain and sadness. She will then make a point of staring directly into the eyes of whoever brought up the subject, and ask him or her how he or she feels when looking at these pieces of art.

There are two bottles of wine (15sp, 35cn each), and three half-quart crystal decanters (15sp, 10cn each) of flavoured liqueurs (20sp, 15cn per half-quart) under the roll-top part of the cabinet. There are eight crystal wine goblets (30sp, 5cn each) and eight crystal liqueur glasses (20sp, 3cn each) behind the lower doors of the cabinet. The trinkets and nick-knacks collectively come to 150gp, and should have approximately 100cn encumbrance (the DM may pick specific items). The rug (300gp, 5500cn) is 18’x27’ in size and is hand knotted wool from the Kingdom of Sind. The tiger skin (10gp, 120cn) is quite old and only in fair shape. The harp (80gp, 500cn) is a luxurious, hand carved instrument with touches of gold filigree and is in excellent condition - Matrissa has taken very good care of it, and it may be possible to sell it for considerably more than its “worth” to the right buyer. The framed oil painting (200gp, 200cn) depicts a rather nasty looking Black Dragon in flight and is 5’x3’ in size.

There is a trap door that leads into the Unfinished Room (area 17) under the NE corner of the rug. The door will be obvious to anyone if the corner of the rug is lifted.

5. Garden

This is a private garden surrounded by a 15’ high wall that is topped with nasty looking spikes. The paths seem to be covered with the same sort of crushed stone that the front path is made of. The garden appears quite lovely and well maintained and there are bushes, flowers, and trees scattered throughout. There is even a small herb and vegetable patch to the N of the stairway into the manor. There are a few benches in sight, and several examples of Matrissa’s work can be seen on pedestals at various places along the edge of the paths

The walls surrounding the garden are actually quite easy to climb, since the style of construction has left many foot and hand holds that even a non-thief characters to exploit. However, the spikes at the top of the wall are actually extremely sharp and anyone attempting to climb over the wall has a 75% chance that they will cut themselves, taking 1 hp of damage, as they pass over the top. This chance drops to 50% if a PC says he is taking ‘extreme caution’ while climbing over. Note that once over the top, the PC’s must still climb down the inside of the 15’ wall.

The door into the house is normally locked but not trapped.

The benches are made of wood, and the pedestals for all the statues appear to be made of granite. The place appears quite idyllic unless the PC’s take a closer look at some of the busts.

7

Each bust is, of course, made of the purest jet, and there is a brass plaque on each occupied pedestal that names the bust in question. The busts are identified below by the letter shown on the map of level 1.

a) Timid: This bust is that of a female Elf, with very short, straight hair. She is glancing downward in a shy, demure manner. It is no more or less remarkable than the specimens that were sold in Darokin.

b) The Sheriff: This bust is that of an older male Hin, with a mop of curly hair and an intricately carved pipe between his teeth. It is only more remarkable than the specimens that were sold in Darokin in that his general appearance seems so completely plain, ordinary, and unassuming.

c) This pedestal is empty

d) Young Fear: This bust is that of a very “pretty” young male human - he would seem to be no more than 12 or 13 years old. The look in his face would be best described as mortal fear.

e) This pedestal is empty

f) This pedestal is empty

g) The Scream: This bust depicts the face of a beautiful young human female, who is quite obviously screaming at the top of her lungs. It is difficult to tell if the scream is from fear or from pain.

h) Determination: This bust depicts the face of an older, battle scared, but still attractive, human with a finely chiselled face, and a look of raw, hate filled determination. It tends to remind one of the old adage “if looks could kill, you’d be dead five times over.”

i) The Lovers: This bust is quite unique in that it is actually a dual bust of two lovers. In fact, it is even more atypical of ordinary single busts, as the arms of both participant are there, wrapped about each other, as they stare deeply into each other’s eyes. Upon close inspection, it will be noticed that each figure appears to be carved from a separate block, yet the way their arms are wrapped about each other, would seem to suggest that they must have been carved from one block, not two.

6. Dinning Room

This is a gorgeous Dinning room lit by a beautiful crystal chandelier that glows without candles. The chandelier hangs above a massive oak table that currently has eleven straight-backed chairs around it. A twelfth chair can be seen in the NE corner of the room, against the N wall. A large, paned glass window dominates the N wall. There is a deep a fireplace against the E wall and beside it, to the N, there is a large, framed oil painting. On the S wall, between the entrances from the hallway, there is a tall cabinet with paned glass doors at the top and drawers along the bottom. There is also a 15’ long shelf along the W wall, and what appears to be a folding wooden screen above it that separates this room and the next one.

The cabinet displays a set of eight china place settings (75sp, 50cn each place) behind the glass. The first drawer holds a set of eight silverware place settings (50sp, 5cn each place) to go with the dishes, and the second drawer holds a table cloth (1gp, 5cn), eight napkins (1sp, 1cn each), and eight cloth place mats (2sp, 1cn each). The framed oil painting (150gp, 200cn) is 5’x3’ in size and is a picture of a hydra attacking a sailing ship during a heavy storm.

7. Kitchen

This appears to be a large, well-stocked kitchen. There is a long counter along the W and part of the S wall, with pots and pans and other utensils on it or hanging on the wall above it, and a basin in the middle of it. There is also a 15’ long shelf along the E wall, with what appears to be a folding wooden screen above it that separates this room and the next one. In the centre of the room, there is a large, thick, well used, wooden “butchers table”, that has a block containing several sharp knives sitting on it. In the centre of the N wall there is a deep fireplace. A table and 4 chairs sit in front of the fireplace. Oddly, there appear to be two metal pipes extending between the W side of the fireplace and the W wall.

Nothing of any real interest here. If the PC’s are interested in the pots, pans, cutlery and stoneware, tell them they find very several examples of plain, serviceable but very ordinary kitchen items. They could probably find just about anything you’d expect in a standard kitchen here.

The two pipes are part of Matrissa’s bath water heating system. A PC who investigates the fireplace will see that the two pipes extend across its back and join on the E side to form a U-shape. There is a shut-off valve just outside the fireplace on the back-most pipe. See the Kitchen Pantry (area 8) for more details.

The basin in the counter has a drain that eventually exits, along with other basins in the manor, into the underground river of level 4.

8. Kitchen Pantry

This 10’x10’ room appears to be a kitchen pantry, with a water pump near the N wall and several shelves on the S wall. Various foodstuffs can be seen on most flat surfaces. What is particularly unusual is a series of metal pipes and basins connected to the water pump. First, the pump is somewhat taller than usual, standing about 3-½’ above the ground instead of the normal 2’. A circular basin surrounds the main upright pipe at about the 3’ level. The basin is currently stopped and is also full of water, although it has a drain with a pipe extending from it and through the kitchen wall. This pipe is just slightly off of horizontal, so that any drained water would flow towards the kitchen. There is another pipe that enters from the kitchen just behind and slightly lower than the drainpipe, which also slopes down, but this time towards the W wall. This second pipe extends right across the N wall and then turns S at the NW corner and ends at a small metal cistern in the SW corner.

Contains standard “everyday” pantry items, such as fresh fruit and vegetables, dried herbs and spices, a couple of eggs, a loaf of bread, etc. There is a bundle of garlic in here with three unused buds still on it.

In the basin around the water pump, there is some fresh meat wrapped in waxed butchers paper and string, and a small earthenware jug containing fresh milk.

The pump produces a fairly fast stream of water, filling the basin in under a minute. However, it takes a full turns of slow pumping to fill the cistern which Matrissa accesses via a spigot in her Bathroom (area 11). The cistern is permanently attached to the S wall.

The pipe set-up through the kitchen fireplace can be used to heat the water going into the cistern by closing the shut off valve for a short time and letting the water heat before letting it continue to the cistern. To get a full tank of hot water takes two turns because of the need to start and stop the flow for heating purposes. Of course, the presence of heated pipes in a cool kitchen pantry defeats part of its purpose – keeping food from spoiling – but that fact didn’t occur to Matrissa when she designed the set-up.

9. Bedroom

This is a well-appointed bedroom. A paned glass window dominates the S wall. On the W wall is a deep fireplace, and in the SW corner is a roughly L-shaped boudoir with a chair sitting in front of it and a double hinged mirror across the back of it. There is a woven cloth rug on the floor, and a large, comfortable bed against the E wall. There are side tables with one drawer each on either side of the bed. Also, in the middle of the ceiling, there is an ornate circle of engraved brass about 2’ in diameter.

The brass circle (indicated on the map with dotted lines) appears to be flush to the ceiling but is actually a gong that is hanging from four supports about ½ an inch below it. Both doors to this room are automatically trapped when locked such that if the trap has not been correctly disarmed/removed before the lock is opened, a striker will begin to hit the gong. The sound will not stop unless the trap is first re-armed with the key and then properly disarmed. Note that the gong is more than 15’ away from both doors so that an active silence 15’ radius at the doors will NOT stop it from going off.

There is a trap door that leads into the Meditation Room (area 19) under the NW corner of the rug. The door will be obvious to anyone if the corner of the rug is lifted.

The bedside tables have a “pendant like” metal handle that dangles from a small vertical metal ring that is attached to a 1” diameter metal disk in the centre of the drawer. The drawers are not locked but are both trapped with a needle trap that does 1d6 damage and the victim must save vs. poison or fall unconscious for 1d4+2 turns. Such a victim can only be woken before this time is up by a neutralize poison spell (or other similar effect). The traps can be avoided by twisting the pendant 90° to left or right before opening the drawer. The drawer of the bedside table on the left of the bed (the W side) contains two daggers +1. The drawer to right of the bed (the E side) contains a belt pouch with 3pp, 7gp, 18sp and 11cp in it.

If Matrissa is in her bath, there is a set of fine clothes and a large key ring tossed on her bed (see Matrissa’s description for more information on the key ring). If she is was in bed, the key ring will be in the same drawer as the belt pouch.

If Matrissa is disturbed while sleeping one of her first instincts will be to get her daggers from the drawer (she will never be caught by her own trap)

The drawer of the boudoir contains 10 sheets of blank parchment (1gp, 5cn each), 2 unused quill pens (5sp, 1cn each), a fresh vial of ink (1gp, 20cn when full) {there is enough ink to write 50 pages of simple text} and an empty 50 page journal (20gp, 30cn). There is a silver and ivory comb & brush set (10gp, 5cn) on top of the desk.

10. Bedroom Cupboard

There are bars along the W and E walls, carrying several articles of clothing on hangers. There are also some shelves up the S wall with some folded clothing on them. Several pairs of shoes and slippers are also on the floor underneath the shelves.

There is nothing of much interest here, except that the clothing is all either very nice quality or very sturdy in make. Most of the clothing is black although two or three items are rich colours such as burgundy and emerald green. There are 9 full sets of fine clothes (20gp, 20cn if not worn), 1 bathrobe

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(2gp, 10cn if not worn), 1 night-gown (2gp, 5cn if not worn), 4 extravagant silk dresses (50+gp, 30cn if not worn), 1 pair of sturdy shoes (5sp, 8cn if not worn), 2 pairs of fancy shoes (1gp, 8cn each if not worn), and 1 pair of soft slippers (2sp, 4cn if not worn). A female PC of approximately the same height and weight as Matrissa could wear any of these items. All are in good condition and it would be possible to sell them for a fair price.

If Matrissa is in her bath, the bathrobe and slippers will not be in the cupboard. If Matrissa was in her bed, there will be another set of fine clothes and another pair of sturdy shoes in the cupboard and the nightgown will not be in the cupboard.

11. Bathroom

This appears to be a bathing room. On the E wall is an indoor latrine, N of it is a small counter with a basin in it. The basin has a hole in the centre of it that can be stopped. The small counter has a drainpipe that goes into the E wall. Against the W wall, in the SW corner is a counter with two cupboard doors underneath it and a mirror on the wall above it. At the N end of the room there is a raised region with three steps leading up to it and a 5’x10’ bathing tub sunk into the middle of it. A spigot comes out of N wall over the bathing tub. There are three wooden pegs on the W wall between the counter and the bathing area.

There are 3 thick, fluffy towels (2sp, 5cn each) in the cupboards under the counter, unless Matrissa is in here, when there will be two in the cupboard and one hanging on one of the wooden pegs, or if Matrissa has gone to bed, when there will be one dropped on the floor somewhere.

The metal basin sunk can be lifted out without difficulty. It can be filled from the spigot, if water has been let into the cistern (see Kitchen Pantry, room 8 for more details). Water from the basin must be used to rinse out the indoor latrine.

The tub is 3’ deep but has 1-½’ high, 1’ wide shelf along the S side (i.e. a place to sit). At the bottom, near the SE edge of the tub there is a drain with a stopper in it blocked. How full the tub is depends on when the PC’s enter this room. If it is empty and the cistern is full, it will fill the tub up to about 2” from the top. This takes about 1-½ turns (15 minutes). It will (obviously) be full if Matrissa is having her bath. Matrissa partially fills the cistern with cold water in the early morning, so that she has water for the basin and latrine. In the late afternoon she drains it and then starts to fill it with hot water, so that it will be ready for her evening bath. Once it is filled, Matrissa will light a fire underneath it to heat the water.

The drains from the basin, the latrine and the bathing tub all eventually exit into the underground river of level 4.

If Matrissa is in her bath, there will be a pair of slippers on the floor and a bathrobe hanging on one of the wooden pegs (see Bedroom Cupboard (area 10) for details on this clothing). If Matrissa has not met the PC’s before she will begin by acting indignant and requesting that the interlopers tell her just exactly what they are doing in her bathroom. She will also use a telekinesis spell to grab her bathrobe off the wall. If the PC’s don’t have some plausible and reasonable explanation she will immediately cast hold person, and then act accordingly. If the PC’s manage to escape from this situation and Matrissa is still alive, be assured that she will not quickly forgive them their impudence.

12. Library

This room appears to be a cosy library with bookcases lining most of the walls, a big fireplace on the W wall, and a low table with two soft reading chairs.

This is Matrissa’s library for regular books. The bookcases are not full, although there are a fair number of volumes in here. None of them particularly stand out and each should be worth somewhere between 40 and 200gp to the right buyer. It is left to the DM’s discretion what particular books the PC’s might find here.

Pushing sharply on the E part of the corner bookcase will open the secret door in the NE corner. This will release the catch and cause it to pop into the room, pivoting about the W end of the N side. Pushing it back in and releasing it slowly will cause the catch to fasten, closing it again. It opens into the Secret Stairs (area 13).

13. Secret Stairs

These stairs go down 20’ to the Dungeon Landing (area22) on level 2. The door at the top of the stairs is not secret on this side as it has a metal handle on it. To open the door a person must pull it sharply towards them, releasing the catch, and then allow the door to pop open away from them.

Level 214. Wood Storage

This area is long and narrow, with a smooth, 10’ wide and 10’ long metal ramp at the far end, that leads up to an 7’ long, 2’ high wooden door. At the bottom of the ramp is a large stack of chopped wood.

The doors are locked by a chain and padlock on the outside and can not be opened from inside (unless previously broken by the PC’s). In fact, climbing the ramp to get to the door is difficult: a thief that makes a successful climb walls roll will succeed, anyone else will find it difficult to hold on and will slip and

slide down to the bottom on 4 or less on a d6. They will take no damage, but will look very foolish as they end up in a sprawl atop the woodpile.

15. Wine Cellar

This 15’x15’ room contains three rows of wine racks and two small kegs.

Most of the racks are empty, but there are a few bottles of wine on the first rack. There are five bottles of “Mirlenev Red” a very nice, very expensive wine from the region around Specularum from a wine maker whose family has been established since the days when Specularum was Mirlenev. These particular bottles are all from a “very good year” and, unopened, would sell for about 25sp to 30sp a bottle. If the players drink any tell them that it is one of the nicest, most full bodied, aromatic wines they have ever tasted.

Of the two kegs, one is full of apple cider (55sp untapped, 75cn) which is very nice, and one is full of a light beer (30sp untapped, 75cn). Each keg holds 50 pints.

16. Art Room

This room appears to be an artist’s work room. There is a potter’s wheel and a kiln to the N of the doorway. In the middle of the room, there is a worktable covered in canvas that has a few examples of pottery, in various states of completion, upon it. The NE corner has a plain wooden worktable against the wall with a hammer, some chisels and an partially carved piece of jet on it. There are two stools, one by each worktable, and two painters’ easels near the S wall.

This room is more or less a sham. Matrissa had it created because she liked art and wanted to dabble in it, but discovered she had no real talent for most forms. This was why she hatched her macabre plan – she had already discovered the underground stream and caverns in the area when she carved out the levels of her Dungeon, so she barred of the cavern directly beneath her Work room and then went in search of a Basilisk or Cockatrice or some other monster with a similar capability to finish off her plan. She was incredibly pleased to find the creature that she did.

Particularly observant PC’s may notice that the incomplete bust on the wooden worktable is slightly smaller than the full life-size of her other works. This is because she used a block chopped out of a “leftover” bit, and so couldn’t form a block that would actually result in a life-size piece. If Matrissa is questioned about the disparity in size, she will simply state that she only uses the best, flawless stone and this was the largest piece she could get out of her last shipment. She will say that she is planning to carve a child, since the piece is about the right size for that. If questioned further (i.e. where did she get the stone from, why couldn’t they provide her with the same

size pieces as before...) she will attempt to avoid the question, or divert their attentions. If they still press her, she is likely to respond huffily and ask them to leave if they are going to pester her about unimportant details.

Anther observation is that the detail on what is carved is no where near that of her “finished works” – she will say that it is only in the very roughest of stages. Also, there isn’t anywhere near enough fragments of jet stone on the floor and table for the workroom of a stone worker. (Though that can be easily explained by the presence of crushed jet in the front door path).

The potters wheel has not been used for some time as someone examining it will soon see – the waste clay in the bottom of the splash tray is hard as rock, and there are cobwebs between the wheel and the edge of the tray. The kiln is also stone cold, and looks incredibly clean (i.e. no bits of ceramics or dripped glaze in the bottom). The shelves with the few examples of pottery will again show up a lack of detail. If questioned on this point, Matrissa will claim that clay is a completely different, softer, medium and most artists find it difficult to achieve the same kind of detail with it.

Under the worktable with the canvas cloth covering it (a traditional format for making hand moulded pottery) there are a few bags of dried-up clay which are all hard as rocks. The top of the table has some dried clay smudges on it, but it is otherwise fairly clean.

Despite the painter’s easels, there are no canvases, no paints and no brushes or other painter’s equipment anywhere in the room.

Note that an observant PC may notice that the N wall of this room is made of a stone that has a distinctly redder colour than that used in the rest of the building.

17. Unfinished Room

This room is large and dark and full of dirt and the ground is uneven. There is a completely clean, totally cold fireplace against the far wall.

This room is an unfinished section of Matrissa’s official basement. If she has brought PC’s down to her Art Room (area 16) and they ask what is behind the door leading into the area she will show it to them and explain that when she was having her home constructed, the builders excavated a basement region that covered more area than she really needed. After she had explained to them what rooms she wanted in her basement, the engineers found they had dug out too much space. As a result they chose to leave the area unfinished. Someday she may get builders in to finish it off into something - perhaps an extra bedroom for guests, or a ballroom for having lavish parties in....

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The floor of the room is noticeably sloped upwards towards the SE corner of the room, where the dirt almost touches the ceiling. If the PC’s choose to dig in this corner they should find a large number of bones and skulls belonging to a grand total of twenty humans, elves and dwarves. These are the remains of the original construction crew whom Matrissa “eliminated” after the work was done. She had hired them individually and from several cities far away from Akorros, so the fact that they had all mysteriously disappeared was never noted.

See the section about the Secret Pass Through (area 20) for details on opening the secret door on the N wall.


18. Large Storage Room

This room appears to be a general storage area containing cleaning equipment (brooms, mops, pails, etc.), and other items. There are also shelves on the W wall, and some preserved foodstuffs can be seen there. There are some small barrels at the back end of the room and several full sacks lying on the floor

The door to this room is not locked.

This room contains miscellaneous household items, as well as pantry items that can be stored for long periods of time, such as dried and canned fruit and vegetables, salted meat, grains and legumes (in the barrels), rice and flour (in the sacks), etc. There is probably enough food here to provide the whole party with one more week of “preserved rations” each.


19. Meditation Room

This room is completely draped in thick, richly coloured cloth draperies and there is a woven cloth mat covering most of the floor. There are also a large number of huge pillows in the NE corner. Scattered about the room are several empty wine bottles with half-used candles sticking out of them. In the NW and SW corners are low corner tables, also covered with rich cloth. Both have three pronged candelabras on them and the NW one also has a censer in the middle of it. The candles in the candelabras are almost completely used up.

The censer is made of copper (2sp, 15cn) and contains a fresh 1” cube of pressed incense (2gp, 1cn). There is a shelf under the table, hidden by the cloth drapes. On it there is a tinder box (3gp, 5cn), a plain wooden box (5sp, 5cn) that is 2”x2”x1”

in size and that holds two more incense cubes, 6 candles (1sp, 1cn). The candelabras are silver (6gp, 20cn each).

The pillows are roughly circular and range in size from 1’ to 4’ in diameter. They are soft and comfortable to lounge around on, but are not very valuable and are very bulky.

This is where Matrissa likes to study while memorizing her spells. She hides her spell books in her Special Storage Room (area 21), which she had put in after the house was built. See the description of that room for more details

Note that an observant PC, looking under the hanging wall cloths, may notice that the N wall of this room is made of a stone which has a distinctly redder colour than that used in the rest of the building.

20. Secret Pass Through

These two secret pass through regions provide Matrissa with additional ways of moving between the front and back parts of level 2. Trap doors in the pass through also provide access down to level 3 via ladders. Matrissa rarely uses these access points – she put them in to ensure that her dungeon areas were provided with more than one escape route if ever she needed one.

The doors on either end of the pass through are secret from the outside, opened by using the foot to press a small stone on the wall near the floor. From the inside, the doors are clearly apparent and are opened by pressing a thumb latch just above the handle. When these doors open, they pivot about their centre, forming two 2’ wide passages on either side. It would not be possible for anyone in armour or carrying a lot of equipment to pass through. Taking the armour/and or equipment off and pushing/pulling it through in bits and pieces will work, but should take several rounds to accomplish.

21. Special Storage Room

This is a 20’x20’ square room that appears to be lit by a continual light spell centred on the middle of the ceiling. It has a bookshelf along the E wall and a glass display cabinet in the NE corner. A deep fireplace dominates the W wall, and two small trunks sit on the floor just S of it. There are also no obvious exits other than the one you used to come in.

This room is where Matrissa stores her Spell Books, and other treasures, including some of her favourite magical items which she has picked up over time. Note that the walls, ceilings and floors surrounding it are all approximately 10’ thick and it has no physical entrance. Note also that the walls are made of a stone that is a distinctly redder colour than the rest of the building. (This is because Matrissa had the 10’ thick wall that separates level 2 into a front and back section put in after the building had been built).

Normally, Matrissa enters this room from within her MeditationRoom (area 19) by using the power of her Passwall ring (which she made expressly for this purpose) to make a hole in the wall between the two rooms. She will generally use the second daily use of the Passwall ring to put things back when she is finished with them.

This room is also protected by a contingency spell. (Matrissa purchased the necessary scroll from an obliging Mage for an outrageous sum.) The contingency is:

If any creature or creatures enters this room and Matrissa is not one of them, wait ½ a minute or until someone attempts to exit the room and then cast the wall of fire spell in such a way that it completely surrounds all the individuals in the room and blocks access to any furniture, objects or exits from the room.

The effect of this contingency will usually be to cause a wall of fire to roughly encircle the edges of the room while folding around the display cabinet, bookshelf, treasure chests and the fireplace. The full area of such a wall of fire should easily be accommodated here – a wall of fire flush against the walls of the room would cover 800 square feet and every additional 1 foot of vertical fold adds 10 square feet, and adding 40 feet of vertical folds is simple. Note also that the wall of fire spell is normally maintained through concentration, so assuming that the contingency spell effectively has an infinitely long concentration span the wall of fire will remain active forever or until dispelled.

The Glass Display Cabinet: This cabinet is permanently attached to the wall and does not have any obvious means of opening it. A special magical latch that opens only with the correct command word (known only to Matrissa) seals it. Casting Dispel Magic on the cabinet may also open the latch. If the cabinet is forced open in any way it will cause a poison gas to billow into the room. It is possible for a thief to detect this trap, but they will not be able to disarm it (there is no access to the trap mechanism from outside the case).

Poison Gas: Save vs. Poison or collapse into unconsciousness. Each character surrounded by the gas will take 1d8 in damage each round, regardless of their state of consciousness. If some opening into the room is maintained, the gas will disperse completely in two hours. As it disperses, the damage it does is reduced: after every fifteen minutes of dispersion, subtract an additional 1hp from rolled damage, although damage is always at least 1hp. (I.e. after a quarter of an hour of dispersion, the gas will do 1d8-1 in damage. After three-quarters of an hour: 1d8-3)

Inside the display cabinet are three shelves with the following items on them (See the Appendix for a description of magic items):

Top A diamond tiara (2,000pp) and a matching necklace (1,000pp), both on a black velvet display stand.

Middle Five red velvet ring display stands, of which two are empty. The three that are there appear to be a simple silver ring with an amethyst (Ring of Claraudience), a gold band with a ruby (Ring of Fashion), and a gold ring with a matt finish (Ring of Range Extension).

Bottom A brass balance scale (Balance of Conversion)

The Treasure Chests: The two chests contain some additional treasures that Matrissa picked up during her adventuring years. Each chest is locked and trapped with a poison dart trap. There are six darts that will shoot out in a semicircle, each causing 2d6+1 points of damage to anyone who is hit. (Save vs. poison to take half damage).

Inside one chest are 1000pp, 4455gp, 2400sp, 4 pearls (500gp each), and 2 rubies (800gp each).

Inside the other chest is a Scroll of Mapping, two vials – one potion of healing (yellow), one potion of super healing (bright red) – and a 4” diameter quartz “crystal ball” (50gp, 10cn). Note that the “crystal ball” is not magical, but is a perfect specimen for enchantment.

Matrissa’s Spell books: Matrissa normally keeps her spell books on the bookshelf against the E wall. Although the DM is free to make changes to the following information, depending on the level of her campaign, it is provided as an indication of just how powerful Matrissa is.

These are the Magic Spells that are currently available in Matrissa’s spell books:

1st Charm Person, Floating Disk, Hold Portal, Light*, Magic Missile, Read Magic, Shield, Sleep

2nd Continual Light*, Detect Invisible, Knock, Mirror Image, Phantasmal Force, Web

3rd Create Air, Dispel Magic, Fly, Hold Person*, Lightning Bolt, Water Breathing

4th Charm Monster, Dimension Door, Confusion, Wall of Fire, Wizard Eye

5th Passwall, Telekinesis, Woodform

She has organized these spells into the following tomes:

Vol. 1 1st / 2nd levelVol. 2 3rd levelVol. 3 4th levelVol. 4 5th level

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Each volume could hold up to a maximum of 25 spell levels, but obviously none are quite complete.

She used to be fastidious about putting her spell books away immediately, but after a couple of situations occurred where she wished to swap an unused spell but couldn’t get at her spell books because she had used both daily Passwall charges, she occasionally leaves the book(s) she has just used out until just before she goes for her evening bath. Sometimes, if she’s really feeling lazy, she won’t put them away at all, especially if the only book that is out is the one containing her first and second level spells. It is up to the DM to decide whether any of Matrissa’s spell books are somewhere around the manor or not.

Note that if the PC’s come upon Matrissa while she is studying, it is GUARANTEED that the book(s) she is using that morning will be on hand rather than here in the storage room.

22. Dungeon Landing

This landing is on level 2 and connects the stairs between level 1 and level 3. Going up leads to the top of the Secret Stairs (area 13), going down leads to the Torture Chamber (area 26).

23. Mutex Rooms

Each of doors into or out of these rooms uses a different key. They are also “Mutually Exclusive” (hence “Mut-Ex”) in that only one may be unlocked and opened at any given time. Thus the PC’s must close each door behind them before attempting to open the next door. Each door is also trapped with needle traps that use the same substance found on bedside table in Matrissa’s Bedroom (area 9). This is part of Matrissa’s defence against any of her prisoners escaping.

Each door will (obviously) be locked when first encountered and automatically re-locks once it is shut unless it has been forced open in some manner (which breaks the locking mechanism). Note, however, that if the locking mechanism on one door is broken, none of the other, currently unbroken doors can be opened by key or by picking the lock and will have to be forced open. It takes 25 strength points of successful “hits” to force a door open. This is determined by having each character willing to slam themselves or something else into the door make a roll vs. strength. For each successful hit, add the difference + 1 to the count. If they use a suitable magic weapon (i.e. a hammer or mace), each plus of the weapon is also added to the count.

The last door has a piece of clear glass in the middle of it, giving it a window into the Dungeon (area 24).

Note also that observant PCs may notice that any wall of these passages which also surrounds Matrissa’s Special Storage Room (area 23) or separates the front from the back of level 2 is made

of a stone which is a distinctly redder colour than the rest of the building.

24. Dungeon

This room is very large, and has several barred cells scattered around the walls. Four of the cells appear to be occupied. There are two fireplaces, which are dead cold now but appear to have been used fairly recently.

There are eight cells, four are empty, although one of these will appear to have been occupied more recently than the others (the poor young lady whose head and body are in the Magical Workroom and Laboratory (area 27) was in one of the empty cells until yesterday). The four people are miserable, defenceless human “soon-to-be-artwork”, with little more than the clothes on their backs (and not necessarily much of that either) at the moment. All four of the prisoners are very beautiful (i.e., CM 16 or higher). All four are from Akorros, and, as mentioned in the “What’s Going On Here” section, they will be very, very happy to be rescued. Other than that, details about the gender, age, height, colouring, and other statistics of these four prisoners are left to the DM’s discretion.

Note also that observant PC’s may notice that the S wall of this room is made of a stone that is a distinctly redder colour than the rest of the building.

25. Cells

Each cell is 10’ by 10’ with a door to one side facing into the Dungeon (area 24). Each one has a filthy, rough mattress lying on the floor, and whether they are occupied or not, there is a littering of old food remains and other undesirables lying about. The cells are all locked with very basic padlocks – add 10% to a thief’s chances to pick. Each padlock requires its own key.

Level 326. Torture Chamber

This room is very obviously some kind of Torture Chamber. There are a row of manacles on the N wall, two “racks” with manacles for arms and legs in the middle of the room, and an iron maiden in the SW corner of the room. Also on the walls hang several implements of torture, such as whips, pinchers, etc. There is a deep fireplace on the W wall that has several metal pokers and branding irons lying half inside it. There is also a ladder near the E corner of the S wall that goes up to the ceiling.

The ladder goes up to a trap door in the ceiling that grants access to one of the Secret Pass Through (area 20) that leads between the Large Storage Room (area 18) and the last of the Mutex Rooms (area 23).

The DM should feel free to be creative when describing just exactly what Matrissa is up to if she is in here.

27. Magical Workroom and Laboratory

This is a large room with stone floor. It appears to be some kind of workroom or laboratory. It contains two deep fireplaces, one in the N and one in the E wall.

On the W side of the room, there are two sets of tall, deep cupboards with doors right against the W wall, on either side of a door. In front of the cupboards are two 25’ long, 5’ wide counters with more cupboard space underneath.

One of these counters is set up as an Alchemist’s station, where numerous concoctions may be warmed by candles and oil burners and then bubble, steam, boil and drip through glass and crystal tubing, and into crystal containers. The other counter is covered with miscellaneous papers, blank or half written scrolls, animal bones, notebooks, other junk, etc.

On the E side of the room, there is another 25’ x 5’ counter, with a 25’ x 10’ bank of cages to the S of it.

Each counter has a few stools scattered about it. One stool by the second counter even has an animal skull with a candle stuck on top of it sitting on top of it. There is also a stepladder at one end of this counter.

On the N side of the room, there is a water pump with a basin surrounding it to the W of the fireplace, and a large black cauldron sitting on the floor to the E of the fireplace. In the centre of the N wall, there is a low railing surrounding a 10’ square region. On the wall to the W of this region are two metal levers. E of this region is a workbench with several items on it, most notably one of Matrissa’s busts and two long, thin, curved pieces of jet sitting next to it. Beside the bench there stands what appears to be a headless statue, also made of jet, and a jumbled pile of irregular blocks and large fragments of jet stone.

On the S side of the room, there is a 25’ long bookshelf near the W side of the S wall. There is also a metal ladder bolted against the middle of the S wall that extends up to the ceiling.

The large cupboards and the cupboards under the Alchemy stations contain Alchemical equipment and supplies of no particular value - the cupboards under the counters contain extra glass and metal tubing, flasks, etc., while the tall cupboards against the W wall have a collection of glass, stone and earthen ware jars with a selection of chemical compounds in them. There are 40 such containers and if the PC’s choose to open and examine the contents of any particular container, roll d20 to determine the contents on Table 1, below.

The closer to the cages the PC’s get the more they will notice a foul stench. Each cage contains one or more sickly, abused and malnourished animals (what kind is left up to the DM’s choice). They are sleeping on rags that are sodden with their own urine and faeces. None of the animals currently in residence has the strength to put up any kind of fight. Some of them will probably die in a few days unless they are treated appropriately by a cleric or someone with the veterinary skill. Even so, some have been treated so badly, and suffered so much from Matrissa’s “experiments” that they will never recover.

If the DM wishes, the PC’s may be able to rescue one or two animals to keep as pets. It should take a while for these abused animals to respond well to humans, but with patience and effort they might come around. It should be easier for someone with the appropriate animal training skill or an Elf with the animal empathy skill.

Under the counter next to the bank of cages there is a macabre collection of devices and implements for experimenting on animals, including those required for doing dissections. It is obvious, on inspection, that this counter has been used for just such a purpose.

The fireplaces will only be lit if Matrissa is currently working in this room. The cauldron is currently empty and the pump is similar to the one found in the Kitchen Pantry (area 8)

Pushing the left hand lever next to the railed off area up one notch will cause a set of pit doors in the middle of the railed area to open, and up a second notch will bring a 10’ x 10’ cage up into the room. This cage has a door with a simple latch. Looking down through the cage, there is a dark view down to the floor of the Cockatrice Pit (area) 30’ below this one. Without sending a light down nothing can be seen except by infravision, and then only the fact that the pit is damp, and that there is something alive and moving down there. Even with a light, because the “floor” between these two areas is 5’ thick, it is difficult to see much, although it might be possible to get a clear glimpse of the Cockatrice. Pushing the lever back down will first lower the cage and then close the pit doors again. Pushing the right hand lever down causes the bottom of the cage to drop open, and lifting it up will close it again.

The workbench against the N wall has a hammer, a saw and two chisels on it as well as the pieces of jet. This is the area where Matrissa “finalizes” her jet “masterpieces” by chopping their “busts” off after telekinetically lifting the petrified body out of the Cockatrice Pit (area 29) below. (She may also use wizard eye to see what she is doing if the “statue” is not visible from the open pit.) The two long, thin, curved pieces of jet are in fact the arms of the poor woman who the statue once was. The bust is of a human female with shorter, curly hair. She has a pleading look on her face and also appears to have been crying. The “headless statue” is the rest of her, as can be determined if the parts are held up in their respective locations. (If this is

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done, it should become obvious that the girl was pleading for mercy).

The pile of jet blocks in the corner, if investigated, will produce four bodies and eight arms. If explored fully, it should be possible for the PC’s to determine, from body physique, that there are three males and one female. One of the male bodies was obviously an elf with waist length hair. These are the “leftovers” from the busts that were sold at the auction of the

The books in the bookshelf are alchemical and biological in nature, appearing to be of the sort someone doing this type of research might have collected. The papers and whatnot on the second counter table are generally a complete mess. There are half-finished spell scrolls with scribbles and crossed off mistakes, there are badly kept research journals which are so confusing that anyone who tries to figure out what she’s been up to won’t have a hope, etc. If anyone does more than a cursory search they will find one complete spell scroll containing the spell dispel magic.

The ladder goes up to a trap door in the ceiling that grants access to a Secret Pass Through (area 20) that leads between the Unfinished Room (area 17) and t the Dungeon (area 24).

The secret door in the SE corner is opened on this side by sliding a slight protrusion on the door in a downward direction. It is not “secret” on the other side and has a metal handle with a latch that will release the catch. It leads to the Secret Escape Route (area 28) and level 4.

If Matrissa is in here working, she will be concentrating on whatever she is working on - either her Alchemical or Animal experiments. If she is working with the animals, she will likely have one of them in hand or tied down on the counter next to the cages. If she sees anyone entering this room she will defend herself immediately.

Table 1: Alchemical Substance Table

Roll Contents Possible Types Roll Contents Possible Types

1 Sand white, brown black 11 Metal Filings iron, tin, copper, brass2 Water pure, brackish, holy 12 Blood human, orcish, dwarfin,

elfin, dragon, hin3 Salt common, mineral 13 Dung (hardened) human, canine, feline,

dragon4 Sulphur - 14 Alcohol white wine, red wine,

grain alcohol, fruit wine5 Wood Chips hickory, pine, oak, ash,

maple, walnut15 Fungus Powder edible mushroom,

poisonous mushroom, other fungus

6 Herbs dill, garlic, chives, basil, catnip, parsley, thyme

16 Oil vegetable, animal, mineral, petroleum

7 Vinegar red, white, malt, apple 17 Insect Bodies bees, flies, beetles, ants, wasps

8 Tree Sap (Hard) pine, maple, oak 18 Bone Powder human, humanoid, animal, dragon

9 Carbon coal, ash graphite 19 Spice pepper, cinnamon, clove, paprika, nutmeg

10 Crushed Stone quartz, granite, marble, jet, shale, pumice, obsidian

20 Empty -

Level 428. Secret Escape Route

Read the following if the PC’s travel down through the secret door from the Magical Workroom and Laboratory (area 27)

This passage is roughly hewn out of stone and has stairs that descend approximately 30’. It appears to end at a dead end.

The secret door into the Magical Workroom and Laboratory (area 27) isn’t a “secret” on this side, as it has an obvious latch for opening it. However the door into the river cavern is secret on both sides. To open it, a particular spot on the door must be pressed inwards.

Read the following if the PC’s find the Secret door at the bottom of the passageway and figure out how to open it:

The secret doorway exits onto an irregularly shaped shallow beach. To the N is an underground river that flows from the E to the W. To the SW there is a curved rock wall and an entrance into a deep cavern that has been blocked by bars. There is a locked gateway at the W-most end of the bars.

This is a special “back door” that Matrissa could use in an ultimate emergency. Carved into the curved wall to the SW are is a deep shelf with two vials on it. These vials contain a potion of water breathing (blue) and a potion of invisibility (clear). From here, Matrissa could escape by travelling Upstream (area 31). The potions are to ensure that she can escape even if it is Spring and the river waters are high due to rain.

The gate through the bars is locked and the key may be found on Matrissa’s key ring. It provides access to this area via the Cockatrice Pit (area 29), although Matrissa is highly unlikely to try such a risky move unless she could be sure of neutralizing the Cockatrice first.

29. Cockatrice Pit

This pit is approximately 25’ high and is oddly shaped, with two narrow necks to the N and the NE. Metal bars block both necks. The bars to the NE have a gate in them.

Unless the PC’s have been in the Magical Workroom and Laboratory (area 27) and fiddled with the cage controls, tell the PCs the following:

A 10’ cubed cage hangs 10’ from the ground, suspended beneath a 10’ square hole in the ceiling by four cables. The bottom of the cage is open.

If the cage is up in the Magical Workroom and Laboratory (area 27) tell them the following.

There is a 10’ square hole in the ceiling of the cavern.

There is a 10’ square marked on the map to show you where the cage is located in space.

This is where Matrissa’s Cockatrice “lives”. It is a “shockingly black Cockatrice” which is like a regular Cockatrice in all respect except that its feathers and scales are a dull matte-black and it turns its victims into black jet instead of a more standard stone such as granite. It will attack any living being that enters the pit.

(Cockatrice AC 6. HD 5**, hp 28, MV 90’(30’) {flying 180’(60’)}, #AT 1 beak, D 1d6 + petrifaction, SV F5, ML 7, XP 425.)

The sides of the cavern are curved and smooth and were obviously created by water action – this was once part of the underground river, before the course changed due to erosion of the walls. The floor is sandy and slightly damp. The bars were put in by Matrissa to stop her Cockatrice and any of her potential “artwork” escaping this way.

30. Downstream

If the PC’s choose to investigate in this direction, tell them that they eventually discover several pipes exiting from the cavern wall after a short distance. These are the various drainpipes from her indoor plumbing. There should be some refuse still dripping out of the pipes and the smell should be described as pungent.

If the PC’s explore any farther in this direction tell them that the corridor starts to get steeper and steeper the further they go. If the water is at its normal levels, they may successfully explore for a short distance, however, if they insist on going further, mention that as the angle of descent is getting steeper the speed of the water is increasing. If they still persist after several warnings, have one or two of them loose their balance but recover. The river cavern falls away in an abrupt lip some distance beyond this area and the water falls down a wet, slippery chute to an unknown depth. Any character who is foolish enough to continue and looses his balance near this point should fail to regain his feet and be swept away, never to be heard from again.

31. Upstream

If the PC’s choose to explore in this direction, they should be able to make it all the way to the ravine where the stream first dips underground which is some distance away from Matrissa’s manor. Normally, the river is shallow enough between here and the ravine for the PC’s to travel without difficulty (except for being in the dark). Even if spring rains have made the water higher, the DM should make it just possible for someone to escape this way without needing to be able to breath water.

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AppendixNPC’sEditors Note:“CM” stands for the 1st Ed. AD&D Statistic Comeliness. While this is not even a standard AD&D Statistic, let alone a standard OD&D Statistic, it is used in my campaigns and so is included in these NPC descriptions. Think of Comeliness as a measure of physical beauty, versus Charisma that is a measure of persuasiveness and personal magnetism.

Matrissa:

10th Level Magic UserST 10, IN 17, WS 11, DX 13, CN 12, CH 16, CM* 17AL: Chaotic, AC 9, MV 120’ (40’); hp 27; #AT 1; Dmg By Spell or Weapon;

Physical description:age: 34 years oldheight: 5’2”weight: 115#hair: wavy, black, waist length haireyes: blackskin: fair, creamy white

Known Languages:Darokin,Thyatian,Galantrian

Weapon Proficiencies:Skilled in StaffExpert in Dagger

Skills:Acting (CH)Alchemy +1 (IN)Alternate Magic (IN)Music [Plucked Strings (i.e. Harp, Zither)] (IN)Science [Biology] (IN)

Magic Spells Known:1st Charm Person, Floating Disk, Hold Portal, Light*, Magic Missile, Read Magic, Shield, Sleep2nd Continual Light*, Detect Invisible, Knock, Mirror Image, Phantasmal Force, Web3rd Create Air, Dispel Magic, Fly, Hold Person*, Lightning Bolt, Water Breathing4th Charm Monster, Dimension Door, Confusion, Wall of Fire, Wizard Eye5th Conjure Elemental, Passwall, Telekinesis, Woodform

Magic Items Normally on Person: Ring of Protection +2,Ring of Passwall (usable twice per day, the command word, in Galantrian, is engraved inside)

Simon Treemonsha:

3 Level ElfST 12, IN 16, WS 11, DX 10, CN 12, CH 12, CM 12*AL: Lawful, AC 9, MV 120’ (40’); hp 12; #AT 1; Dmg By Spell or Weapon;

Physical description:age: 235 years oldheight: 5’4”weight: 120#hair: straight, light brown, short cropped haireyes: grey blueskin: fair white

Known Languages:ElvenDarokin,Thyatian,Galantrian

Weapons of Choice:StaffDaggerLong Bow

Skills:Bargaining + 2 (CH)Knowledge [Art History (Darokin)] + 1 (IN)Persuasion (IN)Profession [Art Dealer] (IN)

Magic Spells Known:1st Analyse, Floating Disk, Protection From Evil, Read Languages, Read Magic, Sleep2nd Locate Object, Knock, Wizard Lock

Magic Items Normally on Person: None

New Magic ItemsBalance of Conversion

Balance scale, with 6” diameter trays. Placing coin (up to 500cn if in a bag) on the left side and saying the correct command word gets a gem of approximately equal value on right side. Placing a gem on the right side and saying the correct command word gets coin of approximately equal value on left.

Command word to get gems: Be-schu (“Bijou”). Command word to get coin: Ar-zjon (“Argent”)

The gems are usually of a type that has an average value appropriate for the original value in coin. Coin produced is usually gold pieces from a particular location (i.e., Thyatian Royals). However, if the PC using it concentrates, he can attempt to select the gem type and quality or the coin denomination and origin. The user must be familiar with the type of gem or coin they are requesting for this to work. There is a 5% chance of failure for each request that is different from the default (i.e., requesting platinum has a 5% chance of failure, platinum from a different country (i.e., Sind) has a 10% chance). If the user requests something that is, for all practical purposes, ‘impossible’ (i.e. platinum from Darokin, or a 500gp piece of quartz) the scale will revert to producing its regular default.

True value of generated coin or gems (role d10)1 to 5 value is worth 2d4% less6 to 8 value is equal. 9 or 10 value is worth 2d4% more

The Balance of Conversion can be used as an ordinary scale if desired, but the PC needs to own a set of merchant’s weights in order to do so.

Ring of Claraudience

This ring has an amethyst on it that may be easily separated from the ring by a simple twist. If the PC wearing the ring places the stone somewhere, he will be able to hear anything said within 60’ of the stone, assuming that a normal human sitting at the stone’s location would have heard it (i.e., whispers must be near by or they will be unclear or even undetected). The effective range between the ring and the stone is 1 mile.

The stone by itself is worth 100gp.

Ring of Fashion

This ring allows the wearer to swap out current clothing for any outfit they can imagine. All outfits created by the ring have AC9. Simple concentration for one round will bring original clothing back from the dimension it was swapped into. Note that large pieces of metal (i.e. chain or plate mail or studded leather armour) will negate the power of the ring.

Small magical items (rings, bracers and jewellery) will remain on the ring’s user; larger items (such as magical leather armour) will swap out with normal clothing.

There is no limit on the number of times the user may use the power of this ring in a given day. However, there is a 1% chance each use of producing a random set of clothing (instead of that desired by the user). This set of clothing will last for 1d6 turns before fading and the ring’s user will not be able to retrieve their real clothing until it comes back on its own.

The Command word for this ring: Sha-nel (“Chanel”)

Ring of Range Extension

This ring extends the spell ranges for any spell caster (Paladin, Cleric or Magic User). It originally contained 25 charges, although Matrissa has used three charges, so it only has 22 charges left. It is not rechargeable. The power is activated by directed thought of the wearer.

Charge use is cumulative – i.e., one charge doubles range, two will triple the range, etc. Will not extend spells with a range of 0” or touch and does not extend the spell’s area of effect. The ring’s power can be used for spells cast from scroll or other device but can’t be used to cast a spell into a plane other than that which the wearer currently occupies.

Scroll of Mapping:

(From Rules Cyclopedia, p235) Appears to be a blank scroll. When held and commanded to write this scroll will draw a map of an area chosen. The area must be completely within 100’ of the scroll, and it may be up to 10,000 square feet in size. The scroll has 1 chance in 6 to detect secret doors, but it will not draw what lies beyond them. The scroll functions once per day.

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Map of Level 1

Map of Levels 2 & 3

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Map of Level 4

Jet Black v2.1 - Jenni Merrifield€¦ · Web viewJet Black by Jenni A. M. Merrifield This is a D&D...

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