Karameikos - Vaults of Pandius

Mirror of the Eternal NightLevel SEVEN,SIGNS OF THE UNIVERSEThis level was the Taymoran city ofKosmoteiros, that the Church of Nyx herselfpartially destroyed to prevent from fallinginto the hands of Thanatos’ followers. Theholiest room is the great cave containing theStarlake, a great pool that mysteriously reflectstars and constellations. The artifact, being asmall lake, cannot be obviously removedfrom here. “Night is truth, Light is lie” says thesilver engraved inscription, in old Taymoran,on the walls of the cave.Here resides The Last One, a vampirefollower of Thanatos, immensely powerful,last surviving member of The Death Hand, agroup of vampires that terrorized oldTraladara 2500 years ago. He has magic andundead minions in large supply and only verypowerful PCs, or PCs with very powerfulallies, should be able to defeat him. Even ifthey can, he will not die but will escape tolevel TEN.The secret: The Last One has defiled theStarlake. The waters will now slowly (3-12years) kill any living being touching them andslowly corrupt any undead creature. Theeffect is so slow that it cannot be easilydetected and indeed Nyx herself isn’t yetaware of it.If several spells are cast on the lake during aparticular cosmic alignment happening onceevery 936 years, a permanent gate to Nyx’shome plane will be opened, the Sun will beextinguished, and the True Life of Nyx(Undeath for all) will triumph. Her followerscould not complete the ritual in 1777 BCbecause the city was assaulted by Thanatos’followers. Neither could they in 841 BC asgnolls had occupied the city and could not bedefeated. In 95 AC the Darkers almostsucceeded, but were killed at the lastmoment by priests of Ixion. The nextalignment is in 1031 AC, and they will notmiss it. Obviously Ixion will do almostanything to avoid this and Thanatos will doalmost anything to use the event for his ownends. If the defilement of The Last One is notdiscovered in time, the rite will open apermanent gate to the home plane ofThanatos, and not to the one of Nyx asintended.The Darkers will think, wrongly, to havedestroyed The Last One along with hisminions and will transform the level into themain headquarters of the Sons of Night inKarameikos. At least a hundred people willlive here permanently, with more comingand going. Among them there will be severalpowerful wizards and priests, like Mogren,the Grand Darker and most powerfulwizard, and the Grand Daughter of theNight, Lady Sonya, the most powerfulpriestess of Nyx. The followers of Nyx will behere studying the place day and night.In the year 1031 AC at the very last, everyplan should come to fruition and if any sidemanages to use the artifact, the fate ofKarameikos could change forever. The PC’sactions should decide the outcome of themillennia old fight for Koskatep.Level EIGHT, SERPENT EYELizardmen and troglodytes lived here for acentury in ancient times, and they madescaly decorations, serpent heads, and eyesdrawn and sculpted on the walls, giving thislevel a slightly disquieting look. Gems wereinlaid everywhere, but were long agoplundered by Taymorans and only emptysockets remains now. Just for fun, The Last152THRESHOLD: The Mystara Magazine Issue #1