H4 The Throne of Bloodstone.pdf - Free

and now lie scattered throughout the
passageway. Allow whichever character
is leading the party to check every
round to see if something is discovered.
A roll of 5 or 6 on 1d6 means
that one of the items from the list is
discovered. No item can be discovered
more than once, and if the characters
walk the full circumference of
the tunnel they will find all of the
items. (You can stop checking randomly
if they have killed the worm
and declared or displayed an intent to
walk the full circle).
D10
Roll Treasure
1 12 gems, worth 1000-6000 gp
each, scattered along 50 feet
of the corridor
2 A medallion of ESP
3 A wand of fireballs, with six
charges left
4 A metal bottle containing
four doses of a potion of gaseous
form
5 A ring of contrariness
6 A periapt of proof against
poison
7 A long sword +1, luck blade
with two wishes remaining
8 A shield -1, missile attractor
9 A scattering of 10,000 gp,
spread along 40 feet of the
corridor
10 A small glass vial containing
dust of sneezing and choking
The Castle Exterior
The courtyard within the wall is a
moonscape of blasted dirt, barren
of even a blade of grass or withered
bush of thorns. The castle itself rises,
more like a skeleton than a solid
edifice, high into the air from the
center of this courtyard. Its black
stone walls are streaked with red, as
if countless gallons of blood have
been spilled across them.
Each of the four towers flanking
the castle has a slender and unprotected
stairway climbing from the
tower to the main castle, where it
ends in a door. Doorways also lead
from the stairways into the small
towers.
There is a parapet surrounding
the base of the castle’s high tower.
This is simply a platform of smooth
stone—there are no visible doors
leading into the castle from the
parapet. Below this parapet is
another platform. This one supports
the bases of the many buttresses
that curve upward to
support the midsection of the castle.
This platform also does not
show any signs of doors into the
castle.
If the characters can see the southern
side of the castle, they will see two
huge bronze doors at ground level.
These doors stand side by side, and
are apparently the only ground-level
entrances to the castle.
Show the players the illustration on
page 18 to amplify your description of
the castle, and to aid in their planning.
The area within the castle wall is
apparently devoid of any life. In actuality,
it is guarded by four perytons
that have been made permanently
invisible by the magic of the Witch-
King. One of these creatures perches
atop each of the four towers placed
around the periphery of the castle.
The perytons will not venture outside
of the castle’s outer wall—their
assigned task is to attack and kill
intruders within the courtyard, or any
that fly over the wall into the airspace
around the castle.
In the case of flying characters, the
perytons will wait and see if they land
upon one of the parapets (areas 2). If
any characters become stuck there,
the perytons will then attack. Alter-
17
natively, if it looks like the characters
will remain in the air, the perytons
will attack them there.
Perytons (4): AC 3 (because of
invisibility; MV 12”/21”; HD 4; hp
17 each; #AT 1; Dmg 4d4; SA +2 to
all attack rolls; SD +1 weapon needed
to hit; AL CE; Size M; XP 200 each
Once the perytons attack, or get
attacked by the PCs, they will fight
until they have all been killed.
2. The Outer Parapets
These open, flat platforms might
look like tempting landing zones for
flying characters. They are smooth,
and the stone of their surfaces is light
brown, rather than the black and red
of the rest of the castle’s exterior. Any
attempts to detect magic or detect
invisibility will show nothing wrong
here. A true seeing spell will reveal a
clear glaze, almost like a thin layer of
water or varnish, over the stones.
This glaze is in fact a powerful,
albeit nonmagical, adhesive of
demonic origin. Anything coming
into contact with the adhesive will be
stuck fast—it’s so powerful that even
the tip of a sword or spear used to
probe the platform cannot be pulled
away. The bond cannot be broken by
mortal strength, or magical powers
such as telekinesis, levitate, or fly. A
character could teleport off of it, however.
Also, the adhesive can be dissolved
by oil.
Any character attempting to fight
in melee while stuck to the adhesive
suffers -2 penalties to both his
Armor Class and his attack rolls.
There are no entrances into the castle
from either of these platforms. Pay
attention to the thickness of the stone
walls if a character attempts a passwall
spell—in most cases it will take several
uses of the spell to reach any hollow
area within the castle.