The Drow War Book Two. The Dying Of - RoseRed

some kind of script. A Decipher Script skill check
(DC 30) gleans that these are hymns of praise to the
kraken-gods. The craters were temple-pools, where
Lost Athul’s living gods could receive sacrifices
and adoration from their hysterical followers.
Each crater has a walkway leading into the centre.
This is the point where the high priest would stand in
order to petition the kraken. The pools are currently
empty, though at the Games Master’s discretion, one
of the chihulli might have been caught in one and
spared the fate of its unfortunate fellows.
Location: The Tower of Scollub
This tower is as bulbous and twisted as a root ripped
from the earth. At its top it widens out like the bell of
a crocus. Incongruously, a hempen rope dangles down
from it.
This ugly structure is the first part of Lost Athul to break
the surface. The Stone of Melvek is caught on top of it,
leaning against the tower railing, with the rope trailing
down beside it. A character can easily climb this rope
to reach the tower top. Player Characters who hatch
plans to send Lost Athul back to the ocean floor may
try to reach the Stone of Melvek to destroy it or shut
it down somehow. Currently the stone is keeping Lost
Athul floating 1,000 feet above the seabed.
Sending Lost Athul back down below is a worthy
goal, but if the Player Characters do so before they
have fetched the soul-stones, they leave themselves
with no way to rid Crom Calamar of Omorogg. Both
Archimandrus and Azbeth urge the Player Characters
to find the stones, both to prevent the Sea Harriers from
getting them first and to give themselves a bargaining
tool with the kraken.
Archimandrus adds the following additional note of
caution: if Omorogg finds out that the Player Characters
have interfered and denied him the stones he craves,
then he will have a personal reason to oppose them. He
might do a lot worse than simply blockading the portal.
An angry kraken of his size and power could devastate a
coastal town on his own if he chose – and he is bound to
have allies, fellow kraken who also remember the days
of being gods in Lost Athul.
Location: The Sanctuary of Souls
The Sanctuary of Souls is the vaguely egg-shaped
building that Sunspite is making for. In this vault,
the Myrrik wizards transferred the souls of the most
important members of the race into enchanted stone
receptacles. They expected that one day their kraken
masters would return and free them. To that end they
prepared stores of magical treasures, which they could
claim and wield when their souls had entered new
bodies.
As an additional failsafe, they prepared cunning magical
traps that would render comatose any treasure-seeker
who came poking around in the ruins, preparing him for
the entry of the soul of a Myrrik wizard into his body.
This fate is almost certain to befall Sunspite’s crew and
may well afflict one of the Player Characters, too, if
they are not cautious...
1. Entrance
The opening in the side of the structure is 30 feet up and
has no platform, ramp or stairs. Instead, there is a line
of stone protrusions, around a foot long, which lead up
to it like rungs on a ladder. You can see from here that
the gateway has evidently been barricaded from the
inside. Clumps of some material like coral with bone
fragments in it, or possibly compacted flesh, fill up the
opening.
If Sunspite has beaten the Player Characters here, the
Games Master should add the following:
A hole has been smashed in this barricade. Judging
from the scattered debris, this happened recently.
The corridors inside the Sanctuary all seem to be made
from the same unpleasant coral-like substance. It is a
suspiciously deep blood-red in colour and occasionally
has pieces of white material in it that almost (but not
quite) resemble bones and teeth. If that is what they are,
then they have been severely deformed.
1a: At this point the Myrrik placed a powerful magical
trap that would freeze any intruder in place. Myrrik and
kraken are exempt from this effect. Simultaneously, the
trap sends a signal to the Animus Operative in Area 3
to tell it that there are living beings in Lost Athul once
again. When the trap is triggered, the Animus Operative
hastens to the area (taking double moves each round)
and examines the held creatures. If the souls it is
carrying recognise any of them as worthy of occupancy,
then it incapacitates them with its feeblemind ray. The
foremost soul then attempts to possess the creature
while the Animus Operative destroys its unneeded
companions.
Mass hold monster trap: CR 10; magic device;
proximity trigger (alarm); automatic reset; spell effect
(mass hold monster, 17 th level wizard, Will saving
throw (DC 23) negates); multiple targets (one or more
Ibon Presno Gonzalez (order #73006) 8
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