The Heart of Al Rakim - C5

This is an adventure for characters of levels 6-8. The PCs are contacted by agents of lhe Sultan of Zeif. When the Palace of the Sultan was raided by thieves several years ago, the crown jewels and many important relics went missing. Among them was an enormous ruby hnown as the Heart of Al Rakim-a symbol for many centuries of the Sultan's authority and power. The Sultan's agents have spent many years tracking down the missing jewels and have recently discovered that the Heart of Al Rakim is here in Greyhawk. They offer to pay the PCs a substantial sum if they recover it for them.

Involving the PCs

The PCs will be contacted at their lodgings or usual place of entertainment by three swarthy-looking gentlemen in fine robes and turbans who will introduce themselves as agents of the Sultan of Zeif and inform them that they have need of a party of adventurers with their excellent reputations. They will explain how the fabulous gemstone, the Heart of Al Rakim, was stolen from their lord, the Sultan of Zeif, and how after many years of searching they have finally tracked the stone down to the Free City of Greyhawk.

They discovered the actuaJ whereabouts of the stone quite by accident, overhearing a conversation between two of the city's guildsmen, and through the liberal application of gold coin, have pinpointed the location of the stone as one of the great vaults beneath the Guildhall of the Jewelers' and Gemcutters' Guild. The Sultan's agents will offer each of the PCs 1,500 gp, and the eternal gratitude of the Sultan and his people, if they will break into the Guildhall and recover the gem.

The Guildhall of the Jewelers and Gemcutters has a reputation in the city as being thief-proof. This, say the Sultan's agents, should not deter the PCs, because they have established a valuable contact within the guild who has supplied them with information that the PCs will find useful on their mission and will make sure he will do everything he can to make the PCs' job easier. The only time the Guildhall is deserted and physically unguarded is between the hours of midnight and about an hour before dawn (four hours all told). The contact will leave the tradesmen's entrance at the rear of the building unlocked and will provide the PCs with a map from there to the entrance of the vault. Unfortunately, the contact cannot provide the PCs with any details of the defenses in the vault. since he has never been allowed to enter that area. From here, it is all up to the PCs.

In fact, things are not quite what they seem. The Sultan's agents are merely actors (albeit very good ones) employed by the Jewelers' and Gemcutters' Guild. There is no contact within the guild-the guild itself will leave the back door unlocked and untrapped and allow the PCs to gain access to the vault entrance. The guild merely wants to test its defenses in this particular vault, and the PCs are going to do the testing-although they will not be aware of that until the very end.

If the PCs think to verify the Sultan's agents' story, they will discover that the crown jewels of Zeif were indeed stolen from the palace many years ago (Haarkon Diardra of the Beggars' Union was just one of the many thieves involved in the operation). At the Guildhall, members of the guild will (guiltily) deny they have the stone and will mutter suspiciously among themselves as the PCs depart. The guild has meticulously prepared this scam, and the OM should make sure that all the evi dence the PCs uncover should indicate that the stolen Heart of Al Rakim has been clandestinely coveted by the guild.

Concluding the Adventure

If the PCs succeed in retrieving the gem, they will find a reception committee waiting for them at the back door composed of the Guildmaster and several senior members of the Jewelers' and Gemcutters' Guild, two senior mages from the Guild of Wizardry, and two patrols of Nightwatchmen. They will congratulate the PCs, ask them for the gem back and pay them the agreed fee (1,500 gp apiece). The senior guildmembers will then explain the whole plot and invite the PCs back the next day to help improve the defenses (for which they will pay extremely well).

If the PCs fail or give up at any stage the guild and attendent retinue will once again be on hand. They will congratulate any surviving PCs and pay them their fee just as if they had succeeded.

In all cases, the guild will fund any magical healing that is required and will even go so far as to pay for a resurrection spell. The important part is that the PCs are not aware that this whole mission is but a test, and that they can effectively pull out at any time.

Ultimately, the PCs will gain the gratitude of the Guild of Jewelers and Gemcutters and can expect further employment from this extremely wealthy and influential guild in the future.

Into the Guildhall

On the night the PCs intend to perform the mission, they should contact the Sultan's agents so that they can arrange for their contact to leave the back door open. The PCs will find the door unlocked and should follow the contact's map to the entrance to the treasure vaults. The rooms and chambers they pass through en route are mundane meeting and business rooms with nothing of interest in them for the PCs.

1. Entrance to the vaults. Stairs lead down into this large circular chamber. There are eight sturdy iron doors set into the walls. All have neither locks nor handles. The door indicated on the map given to the PCs by the Sultan's agents is wizard locked but not trapped.

2. Empty Chamber. This room is completely (and disturbingly for the PCs) empty. The door to the north is locked and a Nystul's magic aura has been placed on the lock.

3. Paralyzing Gas Chamber. There is a small metal grille in the ceiling in the center of this room. In a small niche above the grille is suspended a small sealed glass vial of clear liquid. This liquid, if exposed to air, creates a powerful paralyzing gas which will paralyze all per sons within the room for 1d4 + 1 hours unless a successful save vs. paralyzation is made. The door on the northern wall of this room is locked and if anyone but a gnome opens the lock or the door, a magic mouth spell cast on the eastern wall will emit a high-pitched monotone wail which will shatter the glass vial and release the paralyzing gas. A neutralize poison spell will negate the effects of the gas if cast in time.

4. Revolving Floor Trap. This corri dor is filled with mist which limits visibil ity to about 5 feet. The central 20-foot section of the corridor here is hinged along its central axis so that unless equal weight is placed on either side of the corridor, the floor effectively flips over, dumping whatever was on its surface into the 20-foot-deep pit beneath (2d6 damage), and sealing those unfortunate individuals in the pit. The walls of the pit are lined with obliviax (the equivalent of 10 fully grown individuals) which will at tempt to steal spells from any trapped spellcasters. Unless attacked, the obliviax will not use the spells; rather, the unfortunate PC will discover at a later stage that he has forgotten a particular spell.

Obliviax

AC 10; MV 0: HD 1-2 hp: hp2; #AT nil; Dmg nil; Int Average; SZ S; SA steals spells; SD uses stolen spells; AL NE.

5. Chamber of Fear. In the center of this otherwise plain chamber there is a raised podium bearing a small demonic statue upon which a permanent fear spell has been cast. PCs who fail their save vs. spell will flee screaming back down the corridor (and hopefully straight back into the revolving floor trap).

6. Chamber of Elementals. When the southern door to this chamber is opened, the action breaks a vial of oil which flows down a groove in the floor to ward the center of the room. As the oil pours into the groove it is lit by a slow burning candle, and the stream of oil flows toward a bronze bowl sunk into the floor. The bowl is a censer of summoning hostile air elementals, and the burning oil will ignite the incense within it and summon one enraged 8 HD air elemental, which will immediately attack the PCs.

Air Elemental

AC 2; MV 36; HD 8; hp 52; THAC0 12; #AT 1; Dmg 2-20; THAC0 12; Int Low; SZ L; SA whirlwind; SD +2 or better weapons to hit; AL N.

7. The Cloud and The Pit. This chamber is filled with a permanent stinking cloud (save vs. poison or be incapacitated). The floor of the central square 15 feet of the chamber is illusory and conceals a deep 40-foot pit. However, 20 feet down the pit, a permanent web spell has been cast to trap falling people. The web can support the weight of three people before collapsing. The resultant fall to the sandy bottom of the pit will only inflict 1d6 damage, but the sandling who lives down there will attack immediately.

Sandling

AC3; MV 12; HD4; hp 18; THAC0 17; #AT 1 ; Dmg2d8; Int Non-; SZ L; SD immune to sleep, charm, hold and other mind-influencing spells; AL N.

8. Fake Treasure Chamber. In the center of this room there is a large 4-foot wide raised cylindrical podium upon which rests, to all appearances, the Heart of AJ Rakim. However, this is just a cut-glass replica-but a very good one, and it is unlikely that the PCs will realize this fact. The capstone of the podium can be removed with a combined strength of 24 to reveal a 3-foot-wide chute that leads down 30 feet into chamber 9.

9. The Real Treasure Chamber. In the center of the room lies the real Heart of Al Rakim (well, not really, it's just an enormous ruby). The ruby is guarded by a stone golem which has been bound to the chamber. (The guild uses telekinesis to remove whatever is stored in this chamber.) The golem will attack anyone entering the chamber or trying to remove the stone.

Stone Golem

AC 5; MV 6; HD 14; hp 60; THAC0 7; #AT 1; Dmg 3d8; SA slow spell every 2 rounds; SD +2 or better weapon to hit; Int Non-; AL N.

If the PCs are having too easy a time defeating the traps, the DM should feel free to add a few of his own and extend the adventure.