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Flip-Mat: Haunted Dungeon
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Acolytes of the demon lord Abraxas crave forbidden lore and dark magic—the scholars of Scrivenbough in Nex are no exception. For Sub-Riddler Vorresh, temple librarian and expert on arcane theory, the Mana Wastes’ magical corruption represents a source of power just waiting to be harnessed. Six years ago, Vorresh led a group of Scrivenbough researchers into the spell-blasted desert and established a concealed subterranean laboratory in order to study the region's unstable magic. The complex is located in a narrow, sheltered ravine approximately 50 miles south of Ecanus, near the trade route to Graydirge.
Recently, the laboratory received unwelcome visitors: a merchant and her bodyguards. Off course after an attack by mutant bandits and seeking shelter from a freak storm, they stumbled into the ravine and uncovered the laboratory’s entrance. The laboratory’s denizens slaughtered most of the intruders, but captured the merchant and two bodyguards alive for questioning… and experimentation.
Riala Sorn, the ostensible merchant and current prisoner, is actually a Nexian spy carrying encrypted documents procured in Geb. When Riala didn’t arrive on schedule, Dunn Palovar, the leader of Ecanus, grew worried. It would be simple to send a large force out to search for her, but he didn’t want to alert agents of Geb or his rivals among the Council of Three and Nine. The mission required a small team capable of tracking down the missing spy, retrieving the critical documents, and returning with both. So Palovar, via a series of intermediaries and using a smokescreen objective (rescuing a beloved writer and her priceless manuscript), employed the PCs.
After an arduous trek through the Mana Wastes, the PCs locate the mutants’ ambush site near the trade route. Then, using tracking skills or the coerced assistance of an injured bandit, the PCs follow Riala’s trail to the laboratory’s entrance: a set of weathered doors set into the cliff face. Little natural light reaches this section of the ravine due to its steep, narrow sides and a rocky overhang. Unless they carry a light source, by the time the PCs reach the entry chamber (forty feet beyond) darkness surrounds them.
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The map is oriented with north at the top and the map scale is one square = 5 feet. PCs enter from the north, through the 10-foot-wide hall opening into the chamber with stairs. There are no light sources in the entrance chamber, nor in the areas directly to the east and west.
Entrance chamber walls—and walls throughout the complex unless otherwise noted—are made of hewn stone. The thinner section of western wall, however, is masonry and contains an arrow slit approximately halfway down its length. Additionally, the eastern room’s walls are riddled with Diminutive tunnels leading to snake warrens closer to the surface. The holes make excellent handholds; it takes only a DC 15 Climb check to scale these walls. Floors are smooth stone. The ceilings in the entrance chamber and eastern room lie 30 feet above the floor, but the western hall’s ceiling is only 10 feet high. The first staircase landing is 10 feet high and the second landing is 5 feet higher.
Since the researchers have not left the complex for several days, snakeskin has accumulated on the floor in the entrance chamber and eastern room. The crackling husks impose a -5 penalty on Stealth checks; creatures that do not walk on the floor, and those moving at less than half speed, do not suffer this penalty. A DC 10 Perception check reveals that most foot traffic leads from the stairs to the entrance chamber’s northern exit. A DC 12 Knowledge (nature) check indicates that the molted skins come primarily from venomous snakes, though a DC 18 Knowledge (planes) reveals that many of these snakes are also fiendish. Furthermore, if the PCs succeed on this Knowledge (planes) check by 5 or more, they also realize that minuscule markings covering the skins form Abraxas’ demonic glyph. Though sound echoes slightly in the entrance chamber, it is obvious that the sibilance and rustling are coming from the eastern room.
Creatures: Turlik, a dwarven cleric of Abraxas, is fervently devoted to the laboratory’s efforts yet often serves as a source of ridicule from other Scrivenbough scholars due to his dim intellect. The researchers post him to guard duty to keep him away from their precious experiments. Turlik currently stands watch, grudgingly, next to the arrow slit in the hall to the west of the entrance chamber.
A single undead shadow—the result of an experiment gone horribly awry—waits inside the first staircase landing. The researcher responsible for the shadow’s creation used a command undead spell to control the creature, gaining another guard for the entrance chamber. The fact that its presence disturbs Turlik is an added bonus.
The area’s main guardians wait 10 feet inside the eastern room: an enhanced skinstitch and a swarm of fiendish vipers. Vorresh himself created the towering monstrosity known as a skinstitch, using the flayed skins of disloyal or failed Scrivenbough scholars to make the creature’s shell and stuffing it with the crumpled remnants of those scholars’ discredited theories and poorly-researched essays. Over time, the construct integrated coils of snakeskin into its form; these wisps trail from the creature like dirty bandages or decayed grave-wrappings. The human skins that remain still bear fragments of arcane formulae marked into their surface—Scrivenbough scholars often record spells or secrets onto their own skin—and a meticulous search might uncover a snippet of value. Inside the skinstitch writhes a mass of fiendish vipers sent by Abraxas to reward the efforts of his disciples. Over the years, these vile serpents have interbred with local snakes, though the nearby environment has not been drastically affected since the Wastes create their own dangerous mutations.
Since Turlik and the monsters in this encounter area possess darkvision, they rely primarily on intruders’ use of light to alert them. If PCs are stealthy and do not carry a light source, they could surprise the guards.
Hazard: One of Vorresh’s early successes was controlling a small area of warped magic similar to a dweomersink. This magic-dampening field fills the northern half of the entrance chamber (including portions of the stairs) from floor to ceiling. Worshipers of Abraxas, and those carrying unholy symbols of the demon lord, are immune to the effects of this hazard.
Enhanced Skinstitch CR 6
XP 2,400
hp 52 (Bestiary 4 246)
Tactics The skinstitch moves to attack PCs in melee, pursuing enemies and fighting until destroyed unless commanded otherwise. Selected members of the laboratory staff are able to command the skinstitch (Turlik is not one of them), though the creature will not attack the shadow, serpents, or any worshiper of Abraxas unless they attack it first.
Fiendish Snake Swarm, Venomous CR 5
XP 1,600
hp 37 (Bestiary 294, Bestiary 3 249)
Tactics The swarm spills out of the skinstitch as it approaches the PCs; the swarm fights to the death. The snakes remain near the skinstitch to benefit from the construct’s nest ability.
Shadow CR 3
XP 800
hp 19 (Bestiary 245)
Tactics The shadow focuses its attacks on divine casters and fights until destroyed.
Turlik, War Priest CR 1
XP 400
hp 21 (NPC Codex 44)
Domain & Gear Replace Destruction domain with Magic domain and greatsword with warhammer.
Tactics If he has time, Turlik casts magic weapon on his warhammer, then uses hand of the acolyte to attack PCs. When brought to 7 hit points or less, he attempts to flee and warn the laboratory researchers.
Minor Dweomersink CR 4
XP 1,200
Effect As a dweomersink (Game Mastery Guide 244), except the caster level for the dispel magic effect is 5th and magical energy is not released in destructive bursts.
Development: If Turlik escapes, the complex goes on the alert and PCs can expect to face waves of angry researchers (primarily clerics, rogues, wizards) and experiment-warped creatures. Vorresh remains deeper in the laboratory, extracting information from Riala by torturing her with a new and particularly-unpleasant manipulation of warped magic.