Hamish's Crypts-Narthex
Entering this room presents a challenge in and of itself, as there is a one-ton steel ball rolling back and forth just inside the door.Read the following aloud, if you wish
This room is an enigma. Firstly, there is what looks to be a ball of steel weighing a full-on ton, and bristling with sharpened spikes, whipping back and forth just inside the door. Upon investigation, it is not rolling on the floor, but hovering a good two inches above the bone tiles, like a giant magnetic children's toy. Beyond the deadly ball lies a room much like the one you are trying to leave...the walls are constructed of bones and bone fragments, expertly mortared together for the most dramatic artistic effect. A matching set of decorative columns marches down the length of the room. To the left, a treasure chest made of bone panels much like the tiles of the floor snugs up against the wall, just past a stone table with a couple of skulls and other random small bones on it. There is a simple pattern, a rectangle, of green-veined marble tiles filling the center of the room's floor. It is quite striking, like something out of an emperor's palace, as opposed to a crypt. Against the wall across the way, there is an intricate altar built of bone and bone fragments, upon which is set an even more intricate throne, which is also constructed of bone. Protruding ribs from around the base of the throne crown the altar like some Tolmec emperor's intricate headdress. Behind the altar and throne, obvious doorway arches march down a hallway. However, a wall of some type of magical force blocks your way, even if you could move this altar...Getting past the spiked ball should be relatively easy; a DC13 Dexterity check out to do the trick. Fail the save for 6d6 Piercing damage, and 3d6 Bludgeoning damage; or, take half as much on a successful saving throw.
Hamish, however, was much more devious than that. The spiked ball is a honeypot...meant to draw a prospective thief into running headlong into the room. The middle of the room is, in reality, a massive acid pool covered with only a very thin marble screen... The real trap, here, is the acid pit beyond the spiked ball. What looks to be a solid floor, of veined marble, gives way at any more than fifteen pounds being placed on it. This will cause the floor to collapse, causing a fall into an eight-foot-deep pit of acid without a DC20 Dexterity check. The first time they hit the acid, they will take 6d8 points of acid damage, and 3d8 points of acid damage on each of their subsequent turns starting in the acid bath.
The throne at the back of the room is very obviously blocking a Wall of Force, and the way forward. A DC15 Investigation check will reveal the fact that the protruding ribs at the base of the Bone Throne are the keys to a pipe organ built into the base of the throne. See the SECRET in the sidebar for the solution to the Throne Puzzle.
Purpose / Function
To honor the fallen elves of Paxander.
Design
The room has six bone columns marching the fifty five foot length of this room, which is walled with mortared bones and bone fragments. The floor is covered with bone tiles around the perimeter of the room, which surround a rectangle of rare, green veined marble. An ornamental chest made of bone and rare shell sits snug against the wall to the left as one enters. Stone tables, graced with bones and fragments of the same, sit on either side of the room as well. On the opposite side of the room, an intricate bone altar supports an immense throne, also constructed of bones.
Sensory & Appearance
The protruding ribs of the Bone Throne have an actual purpose, in that the throne's base is a musical arcane lock that will both move aside the altar, and deactivate the wall of force, leaving the way forward open.
Contents & Furnishings
There are two stone tables littered with bones and bone fragments, and a bone-panel treasure chest on the left as one enters from the stairway.
Valuables
Within the Chest of Bones, is a parchment that reads, simply, "C A B B A G E", under which is a small bag of silver coins, stamped with an unfamiliar Elven king's profile.
Hazards & Traps
The spiked ball is almost too obvious...which turns out to be true, because the floor in the middle of the room is a pool of acid.
Architecture
The room's walls are constructed of bones and bone fragments, that have been expertly mortared together for greatest artistic effect.
Defenses
There is a one-ton steel ball caught in a rotating magnetic field just inside the door, and the floor is built to collapse under any kind of pressure. There is a Wall of Force preventing access to the rest of the crypts without solving the Riddle of the Throne.
Type
Room, Special, Crypt
Parent Location
Environmental Effects
The Bone Throne is the key to deactivating the Wall of Force, and allowing the adventurers forward. It has a pipe organ built into the base, connected to pipes hidden in the fluted columns of the room. See the secret in the sidebar for the Key to this musical puzzle, and the way forward out of the Narthex.
Connected Rooms
The Narthex in Hamish's Crypts
Another View of the Narthex
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