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The Drow War Book Two. The Dying Of - RoseRed

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186<br />

Many of these ghosts are mindless. <strong>The</strong>y are not hostile,<br />

but they do not acknowledge the Player Characters at<br />

all, instead flying straight through them and keening<br />

mournfully. Some of the more stable ghosts speak to<br />

the Player Characters if approached. <strong>The</strong>y explain (in<br />

slow, empty voices) the history of the land and tell the<br />

Player Characters how they died.<br />

Non-Player Character: <strong>The</strong> Tyrant<br />

<strong>The</strong> Tyrant of Brass is a gigantic figure that looks like<br />

an efreeti in armour. It depends upon heat to function,<br />

as it was crafted on the Elemental Plane of Fire. So<br />

long as its internal workings are kept immensely hot,<br />

it can use all of its abilities. It has an internal furnace<br />

powered by logs or coal, in case it needs to operate in<br />

conditions less broiling than those of its plane of origin.<br />

It cannot generate heat; it can only amplify it.<br />

If they are clever, the Player Characters may work out<br />

the Tyrant’s secret dependency on heat. It quickly<br />

burned up the fuel that the drow had placed in it but was<br />

kept going by the raging forest fires it had created. So<br />

long as the woods burned all around it, it could carry on<br />

burning more. Once the forest was destroyed it began<br />

to cool down. All it could do then was stagger to a<br />

hiding place and conceal itself, waiting for its masters<br />

to return and refuel it.<br />

<strong>The</strong> Tyrant currently has enough fuel to keep going for<br />

long enough to destroy all the remaining oases in the<br />

Desert of Sharn, most of which lie to the north. <strong>The</strong><br />

Player Characters thus do not have the option of sitting<br />

back and waiting for it to fall over again. It must be<br />

stopped.<br />

Extinguishing the Tyrant: <strong>The</strong> Player Characters may<br />

try to open up the hatch on the Tyrant’s back, which<br />

would allow them to expose the internal furnace and<br />

quench it. This is extremely difficult to do, as the hatch<br />

is locked shut to prevent tampering. Smashing the lock<br />

off requires a sunder attempt in which the Tyrant gets a<br />

+10 circumstance bonus to its check. <strong>The</strong> lock has 20<br />

hit points and a hardness of 9. Attempting to pick the<br />

lock is impossible while the Tyrant is moving. If it is<br />

immobilised somehow, a character can attempt to pick<br />

it with an Open Lock check (DC 40).<br />

If the Player Characters do succeed in opening the hatch,<br />

the fire inside should be treated as a separate creature<br />

with an Armour Class of 19. <strong>The</strong> Player Characters will<br />

have to deal a total of 20 points of cold damage to it to<br />

extinguish it, or else douse it with at least five gallons<br />

of water.<br />

Immersing the Tyrant completely in water also shuts it<br />

down, though the Player Characters will be hard pressed<br />

to find enough water to do this in the Desert of Sharn.<br />

<strong>The</strong> Tyrant of Brass: CR 18; Huge construct<br />

(extraplanar); HD 34d10+40; hp 227; Init –2; Spd 20<br />

ft., AC 31, touch 6, flat-footed 31; Base Atk +25; Grp<br />

+48; Atk slam +38 melee (4d8+15 plus 1d6 fire); Full<br />

Atk 2 slams +38 melee (4d8+15 plus 1d6 fire); Space/<br />

Reach 15 ft./15 ft.; SA acid cloud, breath weapon, heat;<br />

SQ construct traits, damage reduction 15/adamantine,<br />

darkvision 60 ft., immunity to magic, low-light vision;<br />

AL N; SV Fort +11, Ref +9, Will +11; Str 41, Dex 7,<br />

Con —, Int —, Wis 11, Cha 1.<br />

Acid Cloud (Su): <strong>The</strong> engineers of the Tyrant designed<br />

it as a weapon of terror to deploy against the Material<br />

Plane, during the reign of an efreeti sultan who had<br />

aspirations (never fulfilled) to conquer that realm. In<br />

addition to its fiery powers, the Tyrant was given the<br />

power to corrode and dissolve objects and creatures, so<br />

that where it had been there would be scorched earth<br />

and utter desolation. It has vents in its back that produce<br />

thick orange vapour with highly acidic properties. <strong>The</strong><br />

Tyrant can fill any square through which it moves with<br />

acid fog without having to take an action to do so. It<br />

does this while moving, leaving the fog behind it in its<br />

wake. It may activate or suppress this ability at will.<br />

It cannot sustain fog emission while running, nor is<br />

it immune to the effects of its own fog. <strong>The</strong> acid fog<br />

functions as if produced as if by an 18 th level sorcerer.<br />

Breath Weapon (Su): Once every 1d4+1 rounds, as a<br />

free action, the tyrant may breathe out a 30-foot cone<br />

of flame that deals 6d8 fire damage. A Reflex saving<br />

throw (DC 27) is allowed for half damage. <strong>The</strong> save<br />

DC is Constitution-based.<br />

Heat (Ex): <strong>The</strong> Tyrant’s red-hot body deals 1d6 points<br />

of extra fire damage whenever it hits in melee, or in<br />

each round it maintains a hold when grappling.<br />

Immunity to Magic (Ex): <strong>The</strong> Tyrant is immune to any<br />

spell or spell-like ability that allows spell resistance. In<br />

addition, certain spells and effects function differently<br />

against the creature, as noted below. A magical attack<br />

that deals cold damage slows it (as the slow spell) for<br />

three rounds with no saving throw. A magical attack that<br />

deals fire damage breaks any slow effect on the Tyrant<br />

and heals one point of damage for each three points of<br />

damage the attack would otherwise deal. If the amount<br />

of healing would cause the Tyrant to exceed its full<br />

normal hit points, it gains any excess as temporary hit<br />

points. <strong>The</strong> Tyrant is not affected by rust attacks, such<br />

as that of a rust monster or a rusting grasp spell.<br />

Ibon Presno Gonzalez (order #73006) 8

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