Demon God's Fane.pdf - ZVDK

The demonskull, symbol of Ochremeshk
bility purge spell, but quite tricky without them. Permanently
invisible, a stone sphere about 6 inches across floats silently
about the room, moving randomly but never striking anything.
This stone sphere has a keyhole in it, which is where the smiling
demon’s key is supposed to go. The Spot DC to notice that
something invisible is floating around the room is 30. Once it’s
detected, a character must make an attack roll to grab the
sphere; the sphere has an AC of 25 due to size and its
magically-enhanced mobility (50 percent miss chance if it is
still invisible, plus the character must ascertain the area it is in
—a nearly impossible task, considering that it floats randomly
around the room). Even after someone grasps the sphere, the
spell that allows it to float can lift up to 300 lbs., so it most
likely lifts the character off the floor and carries him or her
about (without striking anything). Opening this lock without
the key requires an Open Locks check with a DC of 35 (add +5
to the DC if the sphere is moving, or an additional +10 if the
lock is invisible). With the key, opening it is automatic.
When the sphere is unlocked, it teleports away for one
minute. During that minute, a 10-foot-square hole appears at
the spot marked “X” on page 15’s map. This is also a magical,
spell-like effect. When the sphere reappears, the hole ceases to
exist, and the statue returns to normal, any pins teleporting back
into the box (which closes). Basically, the room resets.
Using dispel magic or similar effects successfully against the
sphere (treat the sphere as a single magic item, caster level 15),
nullifies its magic for 1d4 rounds. Of course, this means that
the key inserted into the lock accomplishes nothing until the
suppression ends.
In the days when the cult was in power, the demons ignored
this room, simply teleporting where they wanted to go in the
Fane. Residents that could not teleport usually used the exit in
Area 25, now forever sealed.
The Plug
The plug, if it returns to its screwed-in position (as it does 10
minutes after removal) can be unscrewed from the underside,
but without the command phrase (see above), it requires a
Strength check (DC 25).
2. Chamber of Hooks
This chamber’s dark walls are covered in iron hooks,
some of them bearing grisly stains and dried remnants
of things better left unidentified. The floor’s mazelike pattern
is gouged with deep lines that lead to a 6-inch grate
in the center. You can make out the outlines of two stone
doors amid the hooks: one on the west wall and one on
the east.
If characters are coming down from Area 1, they either have
to climb on the hooks (Climb DC 10, but on a roll of 1, the
climber sustains 1d6 points of damage) or provide their own
means.
Characters searching the pattern on the floor (Search DC
20) can see that the pattern leads not only to the drain on the
floor, but to the doors as well. If liquid is poured into the pattern
in such a way that it flows to one of the doors, the door
opens. Otherwise, liquid poured into the pattern flows to the
central drain and accomplishes nothing. This is tricky; it takes
3 rounds minimum and requires at least 2 pints of liquid, but
no actual roll. In its heyday, the Fane’s inhabitants used blood
from sacrifices impaled on the hooks to open the doors.
Without liquid properly applied into the pattern, the doors
are considered arcane locked (DC 25 to force open).When one
is closed, the lock seals again, although either door can be
opened as if it were a normal, unlocked door from the other
side (from Area 3).
A search of the east wall (DC 30) reveals narrow peepholes
for watching into this room.
Getting Back Up
When the hole down from Area 1 disappears (see above), the
only way back up is a gem-studded lever hidden within a fake
hook on the south wall (Search DC 25 to find). This lever
teleports any player character who pulls it to a position in front
of the statue in Area 1.
The ruby on the handle is worth 800 gp, but removing it
destroys the lever’s magic effect.
3. Guard Room
An old, iron-topped table and two benches furnish this
room. An ancient corpse, shriveled and black in its
banded armor, lies atop the table, still clutching a
short sword thrust into its midriff.
Leering, demonic faces peer out from carvings
along the top of the walls, near the ceiling. The east
wall also features a small built-in font, but the grinning
demonskull within it seems to fill the basin with a tiny
trickle of blood, not water.
The banded armor the skeleton wears is masterwork, as is the
sword he killed himself with. When this guard realized he was
trapped here forever, he took his own life.
MAlhavoc Press Demon God’s Fane
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