41. Wisdom Falls (Northern Hex)
The Whitewater River, which begins
in the mountains to the north, falls precipitously 120’ here to a deep pool
before roaring downstream toward the forest to the west. The place is
frequented by shaggy mountain goats and occasionally the Griffons who dwell in
hex 26 hunt here.
While the
falls are very difficult to access, Shiralla (from Hope Cross to the West),
Geryon (Hex 7, before he became ensorcelled) and the Abbot of the Monastery of
St. Albaran (Hex 28) occasionally make a pilgrimage to the pool of the falls to
seek out answers to deep, perplexing questions.
The “magic” of
Wisdom Falls works thusly: on the night before a new moon, one must come to the
pool and make a suitable sacrifice. The sacrifice simply has to be valuable to
the petitioner (monetary value is secondary). The sacrifice is thrown into the
pool at the base of the waterfall. The petitioner waits vigil through that
night and throughout the next night (the new moon). Sometime during the night
of the new moon, Pylarian (see below) will slip into the pool and retrieve the
sacrifice/offering.
Pylarian, a
Fristborn Exile (see new creatures for full description) is able to answer questions
per Contact Higher Plane spell based on the value he perceives in the
offering/sacrifice made (DM discretion) or he may choose to not answer at all.
The answers, if any, come as a haunting voice that howls across the pool at
dawn the morning after the new moon.
Behind the
waterfall, 80’ above the pool, is a deep cave where Pylarian lairs. Like most
of the Firstborn, long ago Pylarian withdrew from the world, entered into a
state of eternal slumber in his hidden water palace. When Hargeth attempted to
settle this region, however, his court wizard stumbled upon Pylarian’s lair and
attempted to enslave the Firstborn to draw on his power. Part of the plan
worked, in that Pylarian was greatly weakened by the mage, blinding him
(permanently) and impeding a number of his other abilities. Even in such a
weakened state, however, Pylarian easily dispatched the mage which, in a very
real way, sealed the doom of Hargeth’s fledgling kingdom as the mage could not
help defend the kingdom against the ravages of the goblin invasion. Pylarian feels that he cost the lives of
thousands of innocent people in the goblin invasion that decimated Hargeth’s
kingdom and uses his wisdom and knowledge and ability to “see far” to make eternal
atonement for his failure in the past.
41.1 Entry: Two Caryatid Columns guard the
entrance to Pylarian’s lair who will attack anyone not accompanied by the
Firstborn, even invisible creatures. The 12’ tall door is locked and Wizard
Locked (dispel at 14th level), the password for the Wizard Lock is Kuzmarian.
The 12” thick doors are bronze and depict in bas relief angelic beings locked
in struggle with demonic beings on nine separate panels, and at the top (which
is arched) is a stylized sun.
41.2 Grand Hall: The doors from the entry swing
inward to a balcony overlooking a huge hall, 200’ in length, 80’ in width.
Mortal beings who step through the doors have to save vs. spells (bonus +1 per
WIS over 12) or be awed by the sight of the Grand Hall. Awed characters will
stand dumbfounded, staring, eternally unless forced out of the room.
The ceiling
rises 20’ above, the floor drops 30’ below with steps spiraling downward from
the balcony to the floor below. The walls are covered in long, luxurious
tapestries depicting the same eternal angelic/demonic struggle as the panels of
the door. The ceiling appears to be painted (if daytime) as a sky with a bright
sun in the center (or if nighttime) as a star-filled sky with a full moon in
the center. The floor is carpeted, though there is little furniture scattered
about, mostly soft chairs and couches, but so little that the floor really
looks empty. The far wall has a smaller
door at each corner and a large double door at the center atop a raised dais.
There is only
a 10% chance that Pylarian will be in the Grand Hall.
The ceiling
here is not painted, but is actually the sky above the Water Palace (without
depicting the weather, however) whatever time of day a person enters the Grand
Hall. The carpets, tapestries and furniture in this hall are ancient and
invaluable; however they are under an enchantment that has preserved them for
the past 3,500 years. Removing them from the Water Palace will hasten their
demise, causing them to begin to rot within hours of their removal and within
one month of their removal from the Water Palace they will become worthless
piles of moldered fibers.
Those who step
on the carpets unaccompanied by Pylarian find the carpet transforms into a
carpet version of quicksand after traveling 20’ from the spiral staircases.
Characters caught by the carpet quicksand must make a DEX check (dexterity of
lower on d20) each round or sink 1’ into the carpet. Those who make their save
do not sink, but cannot rise higher without assistance from off the carpet
somehow (flying characters, somehow grappling the balcony, grasping furniture
perhaps). Once submerged, characters lose 1d8 CON points per round. When CON
reaches 0, they die. Triggering the carpet quicksand is 70% likely to draw
Pylarian to the chamber. With a word Pylarian can command the carpet in every
way – to pause, to sink faster, to return to carpet instantly.
The smaller
doors at the corners of the room are not locked and open easily. The central
double doors atop the dais are locked and Wizard Locked at 14th level (the
password for the Wizard Lock is Kuzmalian). The dais contains three overstuffed
chairs and a plain wooden chair. If Pylarian “holds court” in this room, he
will indicate that three of his guests should sit in the overstuffed chairs and
he will sit in the plain wooden chair.
41.3 Pylarian’s Chamber: The simple wooden door
swings outward revealing a small bed chamber filled with a random collection of
items. Pylarian is 90% likely to be in this chamber at any given time (and if
not in the Grand Hall, he will be here). Pylarian keeps the sacrifices that
people make to him here in this chamber, occasionally holding them, reliving
the petitioner’s need.
The room
contains very little furniture: a small cot, a three legged table, a wooden
chair and a small chest. But shelves
line the walls and the shelves are heavy with a motley assortment of items
including: A scroll case holding ship captain's navigational charts cluttered
with hand-written notes, a water-damaged sheet of parchment inscribed with the
name and address of a hostel in Daamasport, a bow richly engraved with a motif
of ravens and bare branches, the pointed half of a broken knife, a tiny (2’
long) oak coffin, thankfully empty, an ages-old 8-by-12-foot tapestry depicting
the burial of St. Garalias, and likely of some value (300 sp), a golden key
marked with odd magister's symbols, an ancient axe with a pommel in the shape
of a wolf's head, a bit of bone inscribed with the image of a sword and shield,
a bronze talisman marked with the image of Halasham the Righteous, a 4-foot
iron torch staff with a fistful of charcoal in the cage, a human skull wrapped
in pigskin strips onto which have been inscribed, in exacting hand, passages
from 'The Book of the Righteous Pilgrim’, a quarter staff wrapped with leather
into which a collection of wolves' and bears' teeth have been embedded, 13 sp
stuck to the bottom of a filthy rawhide pouch, a massive, uncut ruby on a hemp
cord necklace. It must be exceedingly valuable (worth 5,000 gp), an unreliable
map of the Old World in a waterproof bone scroll tube, a wooden reliquary box
holding the skull of Gallian the Fair, who defended his village's shrine
against a clan of 60 goblins and almost succeeded. The box has a worn leather
handle for ease of carrying, a broadsword and scabbard, a soldier's
identification papers in a bronze tube, a half-pound jar etched with the image
of a raven, full of beeswax, a white wool shirt with a fashionable wide
buttoned-back collar, a small golden box richly engraved with a motif of skulls
and roses (worth 40 sp) inside, set in deep red velvet, are several sticks of
gold sealing wax, a pouch of gold dust (worth 10 sp), and a gold signet ring
bearing the seal of none other than the King of Hamlin himself (worth 100 sp
for the gold, but invaluable to the Kingdom of Hamlin and worth thousands to
forgers and other less scrupulous people), a lead pot, a 10-gallon cask with a
pig’s head painted in red on the side full of good ale, a folded page of
parchment on which is written a notice that all freight and personal trappings
will be thoroughly inspected at the gates which is inscribed with the Caranta
city seal (this parchment, however, is twenty years old), a leather sack
containing a hunter's bow, leather wrist-guards, a flask of wood oils and
bowstrings, and a quiver with 20 arrows, including a pouch of extra feathers
and needle and thread for repairing arrows, a serrated dagger engraved with a
sacred oath in a leather sheath, an officer's sword etched with the Kingdom of
Hamlin coat of arms, with a fine pigskin scabbard festooned with blessed prayer
ribbons, a rusty iron key embossed with the Harrian city seal, a quarter staff
festooned with colorful ribbons, a warm, wolf-hide cloak, and a set of oak
cooking utensils, a longsword (Gyrashian, a sword +3 which legends say was once
used by the king of the Netherworld to assail the Heavens in his bid to sit on
the Throne of Life – it bears runes of Cause Light Wounds 2x/day and Confusion
2x/day and is usable by Chaotic beings – when grasped the first time, save vs.
spells or become evil), a plumed helmet (the Visor of the Heavens – a helmet
that allows the wearer to see in darkness as if in full sunlight, also cast
Light 2x/day).
41.4 Empty
Chamber: The wooden right door is unlocked and opens into a dusty, empty room.
A single candle perpetually burns on a small shelf here.
41.5 False
Treasure Chamber: The locked central doors open to a long hallway. The hallway
stretches back 80’ and opens to a large room beyond and smells of carrion. The
room beyond is filled with illusory treasure: gold and gems piled to the
ceiling. 40’ down the corridor, the floor is illusory. The first character
stepping on the “floor” falls 100’, to a small natural cave littered with bones
and the bloated bodies of a dozen goblins who got caught in the quicksand
carpet a week ago. Falling into the pit breaks the illusion of the floor. The
gap in the floor is 35’.
Entering the
“treasure chamber” (crossing the threshold of the room) destroys the illusion
of the treasure and causes a massive stone block to fall and block the
corridor, sealing it off.
Pylarian (the Blind Seer)
STATS?
TO FINISH: Map, Image
STATS?
TO FINISH: Map, Image
