Westlake Subway Station
Design
Area 1: Main Subway Platform
This subway stop serves a major downtown business and retail area. It is unremarkable as subway platforms go. The floor and walls are done in tile laid over concrete, and the ceiling is about 40 feet high. Passengers can board trains all along the north side. The main power to the platform has been shut off, but emergency lighting illuminates the chamber dimly. The heroes can see normally, but there are plenty of deep shadows, where almost anything could hide. The main access to the platform is via two escalators on the west side. The more southern escalator goes down, and the more northern one generally carries people up. Both are currently shut down, but heroes can simply walk down either one. The station lies about 70 feet below the surface, so a trip up a stationary escalator is quite a hike. Elevators in area 1A are normally in operation 24 hours a day, but they too are shout down now. The nearest service entrance to the station lies about a quarter mile to the west. The party can take a service elevator down to the tracks and trudge along the south tunnel, eventually emerging at area 1E.1A: Elevators
These two cramped elevators normally give access to the street above. They are currently shut down, and the cars are at street level.1B: Newsstand
This niche is stuffed with newspapers, magazines, candy, and tobacco. Both the cash register and a small safe have been forced open and emptied.1C: Food Stand
This area is similar to area 1B, but slightly larger. The food stand features a microwave, a warming self, and two big glass-fronted coolers, all of which have been shut down. The cash register and safe here have also been rifled, but plenty of junk food remains, all at about room temperature.1D: Crossover
This raised bridge allows passengers to cross from the main platform to area 1F to switch trains. The main potion of the bridge is 20 feet above the platforms and about 25 feet above the tracks. Ramps at each end provide access to the bridge. The bridge and ramps have sides about 3 feet high, equipped with handrails.1E: West Tunnel
Two subway lines run from here to the rest of the city. The north and south tracks follow separate tunnels. As noted earlier, there is a service entrance about a quarter mile to the west along this tunnel. If the heroes use it, they enter the station at this point, along the south track.1E: West Tunnel
Two subway lines run from here to the rest of the city. The north and south tracks follow separate tunnels. As noted earlier, there is a service entrance about a quarter mile to the west along this tunnel. If the heroes use it, they enter the station at this point, along the south track.1G: Tracks and Wrecked Train
This area is about 5 feet lower than the two subway platforms. It has two sets of tracks running east and west, each with three rails. The two outer rails of each track carry trains, and the center rail carries electrical power for them. When the line is in operation, the center rail could deal anyone who touches it a lethal shock, but the power has been shut off from a control station several miles away. The derailed subway train has three cars, each about 40 feet long. The front and rear cars are equipped with control cabs and power plants. A quick search of the cars (Search DC 5) reveals several doors and broken windows that could provide access to the train’s interior. All three cars lie well off the tracks, and all look badly crumpled. (The train wasn’t going very fast when it derailed, but the cars are built light for efficiency and safety, and they buckled like cardboard during the accident. Most of the damage, however, occurred in designated “crumple zones,” so no one was seriously hurt during the accident.) A look through the passenger sections reveals much broken safety glass and all manner of small personal items, such as umbrellas, shopping bags, raincoats, and sunglasses. Anyone who spends at least 10 minutes looking around can make an investigation check (DC 15) to note that there are no high value items (such as wallets, cellular phones, or notebook computers) in evidence. The two control cabs are mostly intact, and all the controls are set to their “off” positions. (The operator shut everything down before leaving the train.) Each control console has a hole that apparently once held some sort of electronic device. Loose wires with quick-release connectors are plainly visible. (These openings once held small computers and recorders that controlled and monitored the train. Accident investigators have already removed all such devices.) There are no obvious clues about what made the train derail. A character with the engineering skill can examine the wheels and note with a successful check (DC 20) that the train’s emergency brakes are clamped tight, and several show scorch marks, as though they had been slammed on while there still was power to the drive wheels. This fact supports the theory that the derailment was caused by a failure of the automatic braking system.1H: Mysterious Hole
Maut’on had his umber hulk servant dig this hole, which leads down about 60 feet to a deep storm sewer. The mind flayer has imprisoned six emergency workers, three station workers, and six passengers from the train down here, after first stunning them with his mind blast. He and the ogre mage ferried the people down into the hole with their telekinetic abilities, but let them drop the last few feet into some stagnant water at the bottom the sewer. Thus, all fifteen people have taken some nonlethal damage. The only immediately visible exit from the sewer is through the hole. Some of the more intrepid among the prisoners have explored the sewer, but they have found no other exits. Since none of them can climb the sewer’s smooth concrete walls, they have been waiting, with varying degrees of patience, for a rescue. If they see or hear anyone at the top of the hole, they shout loudly for help, and they’re not above pointing out details of their situation. (“There’s water down here! We’re very cold, and we’re hurt!”) If rescued, the people are grateful, but they can’t provide much useful information. The train passengers among them can, however, describe the derailment. A typical story goes as follows.“We were slowing down as we came into the station, like normal, when the lights flickered and the brakes slammed on. We all shot out of our seats, like when someone slams on the brakes in a car, you know? Before we landed, the cars slid off the tracks, and it was like being in a blender! The last thing I remember is crawling out of the wreckage and then suddenly feeling really dizzy and falling down, unable to move a muscle. Some of the people around me were gasping or screaming. Then someone blinded me with a blanket or a bag or something, and the next thing I knew I was falling through darkness, only to splash into water.”The workers tell similar stories of capture, though they weren’t present for the derailment.
1G: East Tunnel
This area is just like area 1E, except that the twin tunnels run west. Anyone who comes this far east can see the tunnel at area 2. This area is well within range of the creature’s gaze attack.1I: Vantage Point
Anyone standing in this area can see partway into the tunnel at area 2. It is dark inside the tunnel, but anyone who shines a light inside or can see in the dark has a chance to spot the umber hulk hiding inside if noise in area 1 has not caused it to back farther down the tunnel. (See area 2 for the umber hulk’s Hide bonus.)Area 2: Guardpost
Maut’on ordered his charmed umber hulk servant to dig out this crude tunnel entrance and stand guard just west of it. If the heroes used any firearms or explosives (or made any other loud noises) while fighting the ogre mage in area 1, the umber hulk has backed up the tunnel to the north until it isn’t in line of sight from area 1I. It remains there and counts on its tremor sense ability to notice approaching foes. The following read-aloud text assumes that the umber hulk is not in sight. If it is, adjust it accordingly.The smooth concrete of the subway tunnel’s north wall has a hole in it—a ragged, irregular cavity with a strangely organic look about it, like a termite tunnel in a wooden beam. Stone shards and rock dust litter the opening like sawdust. An equally irregular tunnel leads away from the opening, into the wall.The rock litter is debris that the umber hulk left behind when digging out its hiding niche.
Area 3: Umber Hulk Tunnels
The umber hulk dug these tunnels at Maut’on’s behest. The areas of rubble on the map indicate sections that the umber hulk has blocked by piling up stone shards from its digging. These barriers look like dead ends. Read or paraphrase the following when the heroes see one.A near vertical pile of stone shards and rocks blocks the way here. It’s hard to tell what might lie behind the pile.The stone is packed well enough that the heroes can tap on it and discern with a successful perception check (DC 15) that there’s some empty space behind it. Digging for 10 minutes clears away the pile, but a character can simply knock it down with a successful Strength check (DC 15).
Development
This area serves mostly to delay the party’s entry into area 4. It is likely that Maut’on will hear them approaching as they knock down the rock barriers.Area 4: Old Subbasement
Maut’on has made his lair in this abandoned chamber. This sub-basement was supposed to be completely filled in when the subway was built, but one corner still remains intact. Currently, the mind flayer has some unfortunate passengers from the derailed train chained up in this room. Read or paraphrase the following when the heroes enter.This chamber is shaped like a crude right triangle. Ahead, a wall of packed, rocky earth forms the hypotenuse of the triangle, and damp concrete walls form the two shorter sides. Lying against the dirt wall is a row of utterly miserable and terrified civilians, all bound with chains and manacles. An old, rusty steel ladder stands in the corner where the concrete walls meet.
Captives
Maut’on’s captives are all passengers that he took from the wrecked train (an assortment of office workers and shoppers). They are all but helpless in their chains and somewhat muzzy-headed from the mind flayer's mind blast power. When the heroes arrive, eleven of the prisoners lie chained here. The twelfth captive is in area 4A, which lies above the ladder. Maut’on himself lurks at the top of the ladder, waiting to attack the heroes (see below). He has been taking his captives, one by one, up to area 4A to interrogate them. The mind flayer wants to get the passwords and pin numbers for the credit and debit cards, laptop computers, PDAs, and other items of value that he and the ogre mage stole from the train before he extracts the captives’ brains.Development
If freed, five of the captives bolt out of the chamber, and the others stand around in a near-catatonic state. If a fight is in progress in area 4, they manage to be in the heroes’ way.4A: Maut’on’s Chamber
This cubbyhole at the top of the ladder that leads up from area 4 was once part of an old storage area. Maut’on has installed a bed and a desktop computer in here, as well as some shelves that hold a variety of books and manuscripts dealing with the occult. This material is all part of the mind flayer's efforts to understand the nature of Shadow and exactly how he came to be here, as well as the loss of his plane shift ability. The computer contains file after file filled with notes and formulas that deal with interdimensional travel. Most of it is sheer rubbish, but if you wish to let the heroes pursue this angle, it could also contain some genuine insights. This chamber also contains all the cellular phones, notebook computers, credit cards, debit cards, PDAs, and other items of value that Maut’on and Fek-Jiim took from the derailed train. A second shaft leads upward from the back of this room. As noted earlier, this passage is an old utility shaft that Maut’on can use as an escape route. Another chamber piled deep with old construction debris lies 20 feet above this one. If pursued, Maut’on flees there and then dumps debris down the shaft to discourage pursuit.
Parent Location
Owning Organization
Related Report (Primary Locations)
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