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THE TOMB OF URUM-SHARA lair for five 27th-level adventurersUrum-Shar is one of the most infamous membersof the surviving bloodline of Nefermandias the ForsakenPharaoh (see page 240). The ancient browndragon is said to possess an emperor’s ransom in treasuresand ancient lore—and to have surrounded thehoard with an array of traps and fiendish devices tomake even epic adventurers think twice.HistoryUnlike her father, who ruled Maru-Qet with ambitionand religious zealotry, Urum-Shar and her siblingssought only the luxuries that came with power. Traditiondictated that each draconic ruler dwell in herown tomb so that she would have the same comfortsin life and in death, and Urum-Shar spent uncountedgold—and the lives of whole villages of slaves—in theconstruction of her abode.When Maru-Qet fell in Nefermandias’s war withthe catastrophic dragons, his youngest daughter wasone of the few who survived. Today, she sulks in hertomb, venturing out on occasion to steal treasures,slaves, and taste sensations from the desert’s nomadictribes, and even from various communities beyondMaru-Qet’s borders. Urum-Shar is a fallen demigod,but she refuses to lie quietly.EnvironmentMaru-Qet is a burning desert, swept by vicioussandstorms and savaged by horrific extremes of temperature.By day, the heat is stifling, baking the lifefrom all but the hardiest of travelers. The cold at nightis less severe but still biting enough to hinder andharm. To withstand the temperatures, the PCs mustmake DC 26 Endurance checks by day and DC 22Endurance checks by night (see “Environmental Dangers,”Dungeon Master’s Guide, page 158).A LARGER TOMBAs written, this lair is not an adventure location on itsown. It represents the innermost sanctum of a largercomplex, reached only after the PCs have survived a hostof other death traps, guardians, and curses. Regardless ofhow you use the tomb, the lair is set underground, accessibleonly through a deep hole or tunnel. The PCs mustdescend by using the existing ladder, their own ropes,or—perhaps more likely at this level—magic.Stone ruins of the old empire protrude from thedesert’s sands. Most are empty shells, the bones ofMaru-Qet’s dead skeleton, but some serve as shelterfor the region’s nomadic tribes or as homes to farmore monstrous inhabitants.The tomb is protected by a variant of the Forbiddanceritual. No teleportation effects can carrysomeone into or out of any level of the tomb (with theexception of area 9). Inside the tomb, short-range teleportationwithin line of sight functions normally, butteleportation beyond line of sight fails, even a simpletrip from one side of a wall to the other.Approaching the TombWhen the PCs enter the hole or tunnel thatleads to the tomb, read:The passage seems to fall away into infinity as you descend.The walls are of rough rock, chipped and sharp, as thoughsomeone broke away a portion of the earth through bruteforce.Even stranger, however, is the sound. The great pitsubtly vibrates, and the air is filled with a dull, grindingrush. It’s as if a great torrent of water were flowing throughpipes and passages in the surrounding earth.When the PCs reach the end of the hole, read:The passage opens up into a square chamber—thoughperhaps “cavern” might be a more apt description, given itsenormous size.The strange reverberations you heard now have an obviouscause. A few yards north of you, a second hole in theceiling releases a torrent of sand, a waterfall of grit pouringinto the center of the chamber. There it sprays over the topof a massive ziggurat of black stone, a basalt monstrositythat dominates the cavern.In areas 1 through 4, the sound of rushing sandimposes a –5 penalty to Perception checks to detectanything more than 1 square distant.Area 1: The CrownIf nothing else, this great underground zigguratserves as evidence of Urum-Shar’s twisted sense ofgrandeur.If the PCs reach the top of the ziggurat, read:To the south descends an impossibly steep staircase. On theother three sides, steep channels cut into the ziggurat directthe falling sand into veritable rivers that flow out into thecavern. The sand has accumulated alongside those channelsand on the ziggurat’s various ledges.142CHAPTER 3 | Dragon Lairs