Tower of Treasures

This is a vital location for the PCs. The Aboleth store magical items taken from kidnapping victims here. Many are used to pay their servants and kidnappers, but over the years a good store of spare items has accumulated here. In particular, there are some aligned items which the Aboleth cannot use and have not attempted to destroy, since this might be a needless risk. The tower is well guarded, but the PCs need to get in here. The tower has 70%, transmutation resistance and 100% teleportation resistance. Map 30.19 shows the layout, The doors to the tower are locked and barred from the inside. A Glyph of the Slime Curse is inscribed on the floor in the middle of the main chamber beyond.

Two Fomorian Giants lurk in the main entrance chamber (area 19a), and they are reinforced by a Savant Aboleth in area 19b which has two enslaved 5th level human fighters with it. The Savant Aboleth has the powers of an 9th-level priest/11th level wizard and it will always try to cast Haste on the giants and fighters at once, following with as many defensive spells of its own (starting with the Minor Globe of Invulnerability) as possible before it has to take the offensive.

The treasure repositories are on the higher tower level. Each of the three doors here bears a Glyph of Warding cast at 16th level (16d4 points of chill damage plus paralysis for 32 rounds; saving throws vs. spell to halve damage and negate respectively). Each of the three chambers (19c, 19d, and 19e) also contains a single Stone Golem, which attacks anyone entering if unaccompanied by Aboleth.

Each of the bare chambers contains a single very large iron-banded chest. The chests bear Glyphs of Warding identical to those on the doors to the chambers, and each contains a pair of Necrophidii which spring forth to attack anyone opening the chests (unless there is an Aboleth in the room, in which case these guardians remain quiescent).

The chests contain the following items:

• The chest in area 19c has two suits of plate mail +2, two suits of chain mail +2, a shield +4, and a unique suit of human-sized silvered plate mail. This is plate mail +4, with a special function. Upon command, the wearer can cause the armor to shine brilliantly so that it will blind any creature looking at it within 60 feet, and any Undead in the area of effect are affected as per a Sunray spell. This function drains one magical plus from the armor (thus, after one use the armor becomes plate mail +3, then +2, etc.). There is also a lacquered case containing what appear to be six hat pins here. If an Enlarge spell is used, the "hat pins" grow into Javelins of Lightning. Lastly, there is a slim black wood wand, which stores Mass Teleport spells; it currently contains but two charges. It can be recharged by a wizard of 18th level or higher.
• The chest in area 19d contains a bastard sword which is actually a Sun Blade of lawful good alignment (though it will accept a user of neutral good alignment). There is also a nonmagical long sword in a scabbard which radiates magic; here it is the scabbard which is magical. Once per day, if a sword is kept sheathed within this scabbard by a good-aligned fighter or thief, the scabbard will add +1 to the enchantment of the sword for d4+4 hours afterward. Only one sword can be affected in this way, and it must be a sword whose normal enchantment does not exceed a maximum of +3 (thus a long sword +1, flametongue or a "normal" long sword +3 could be affected but a sword +1, +4 vs. reptiles could not be). A beautiful shield, decorated with opals, glows with a pale yellow radiance here. This is a shield +3 with a special protective function; it adds +2 to saving throws vs. spell, vs. death magic, and vs. rods, wands, and staves. Finally, a white robe has been wrapped around a small box. The robe is a Robe of the Archmagi which is innately good-aligned, and the box contains six pearls. One of these is a Pearl of Wisdom, two are Pearls of Power (one affects 4th-level spells, the other 5th-level spells), and the other three pearls are Pearls of Healing. If one of the Pearls of Healing is crushed into a small goblet of wine and drunk, the imbiber is affected as per a Heal spell - and the magic of the pearl is so potent that even a drained life energy level will be restored.
• The chest in area 19e contains several items also. A small pair of fine pigskin boots here will fit an elf, gnome, or halfling; these act as Boots of Striding and Springing with the additional quality of Spider Climbing. A silvered brooch in a wooden box has fancy filigree work around a central motif of a door; this is a Brooch of Shielding (77 points of absorption protection left) which also enables its bearer to cast Dimension Door twice per day. Also here may be found a great bronze Brazier of Commanding Fire Elementals and a fine pair of gilded Bracers of Archery. Finally, a leather-bound book here has a holy symbol upon its front (of Balera). Such is the enchantment of this book that no non-good creature can even bear to look upon it. A priest of Balera gains 75,000 XP for reading this work diligently for a month, but more to the point, given the PCs' circumstances, several pages of the book have spells inscribed in them which may be used as scrolls by priests and wizards of lawful or neutral good alignment. Each spell, however, will only operate if a short blessing invocation is made to Balera before the spell is cast (this takes but a single round). The spells are Goodberry, Cure Critical Wounds (Cause Critical Wounds), Dispel Evil, Heal, Restoration, Resurrection, Stoneskin, Globe of Invulnerability, Serten's Spell Immunity, and Time Stop. A priest of Balera can cast spells from this book as if four levels higher than normal for purposes of range, area of effect, etc., and for the purposes of chances of spell failure if casting a spell of higher level than would normally be possible. If the Resurrection spell is used, the candidate for Resurrection had better be acceptable to Balera !