There are certainly a lot of monsters in the Darklands, but any seasoned traveler of the nighted tunnels deep below can tell you that there are more ways to die down there than on the teeth or claws of a beast, or upon the poisoned blade of a dark elf. There's poisonous fungi, devastating floods of water and magma, poisonous gas, tremors, bad air, and even radioactive minerals. Pictured here are one of those deadly crystals—blightburn.
Blightburn is highly radioactive and emanates a nonmagical aura that provides a dim illumination equal to a candle. This emanation can be blocked by stone of at least 1-foot thickness or lead sheathing, as well as by force effects. Contact with blightburn causes immediate pain, blistering of skin, and 2d6 points of fire damage per round. In addition, the radiation poisons anyone within 60 feet with blightburn, a deadly disease (Fort DC 22, Incubation instantaneous, 1d6 Con/1d6 Cha); victims of this sickness grow increasingly frail as sores erupt on their bodies, hair falls out, and bones grow shockingly brittle.
Teleportation spells function poorly in areas where blightburn is present—in order to successfully cast such a spell in a cavern that has blightburn crystals in its walls or to teleport to such a location, a spellcaster must succeed on a DC 30 caster level check.
