H4 The Throne of Bloodstone.pdf - Free

demon of Type III (80%) or Type IV
(20%)
Special Equipment: ring of protection,
+4 on AC, +2 on saving throws
Klavikus has been ordered to guard
the Witch-King’s citadel by none
other than Orcus himself. The Prince
of the Undead detected in Klavikus
seeds of ambition that caused Orcus
some considerable unease. The solution:
assign him to an important
guard post on the Prime plane, to
serve for 500 years. In that time,
Orcus hopes to decide upon a more
permanent solution.
Klavikus does indeed aspire to rule
in the Abyss, but Orcus tricked him
into this pledge of service. He spends
his time now (measured in centuries)
reading. The thousands of books he
has gathered here are only part of his
library. Though he cannot leave the
citadel, and in fact cannot leave this
room except to attack some enemy of
the Witch-King (and, hence, enemy
of Orcus), he collects new books all
the time. He gates in weaker demons
whenever his supply of unread books
begins to drop, and sends them
throughout the realms, and indeed
the planes, to steal more volumes.
Then, when his room begins to fill
with books he has read, he bullies his
subordinates into taking many of the
tomes to the Abyss to await Klavikus’s
return. He has 112 years to go.
Klavikus has vowed to stand guard
in the citadel of the Witch-King, but
nothing more. Of course, he will attack
and kill any intruders for the simple
amusement of it—other than reading,
that’s the only fun he gets to have.
Knowing this, Orcus didn’t bother to
make him extend the pledge.
However, Klavikus can possibly be
bribed into letting intruders live. The
price, of course, will be books. Spell
books, map books, whatever—
Klavikus will read anything. An offer
of a spell book will always buy passage
for a party of characters. A lesser tome
will have only a chance of success.
Assume a base chance of 50%, modified
up or down for the rareness of the
tome, the quality of its contents and
binding. Increase this chance if the
PCs offer several books.
He might even be persuaded to
allow a single character to teleport off
to get some books—but he will make
sure to keep other PCs, unarmed, as
hostages.
Klavikus does not suggest trading
the characters’ lives for books—the
players have to think of it themselves. If
the demons force them to surrender
(see Tactics of Klavikus) the party is taken
into the room with his books, so
they get this clue as to his interests,
however.
Tactics of Klavikus
If Klavikus becomes aware of
intruders in his part of the citadel, he
will attempt to use his gate ability every
round until he has gathered a force of
20 demons, or is forced into combat.
Keep track of the number of each type.
If Klavikus has the chance to
assemble all 20 of his demons, he will
attack with his full force when the PCs
are in room 8, or if they walk past the
entrance to room 9.
10. Going Up?
The secret door guarding the
entrance to this room looks like a
blank section of wall. It can be
opened by pushing on one of the
stones near the top of the wall, just to
the right of the door.
The large, L-shaped room is empty
and featureless. There seems to be
no dust on the floor, and the air is
cool and dry.
25
The two secret doors in the room
work with the same type of mechanism
as opens the door to the room
itself. The one to the right opens into
a circular chamber containing a spiral
staircase very much like the one
between the throne room and this
level of the castle.
The other secret door opens into a
small closet. Here, Zhengyi has stored
some of his most cherished mementos
of his former life as a mage. However,
this door is protected by a double trap
arrangement. Players must detect the
two traps individually, since one is in
the ceiling and the other is in the
floor.
The areas of effect for the traps are
shown as two semi-circles on the map.
The inner circle is hit by the ceiling
trap: a two-foot-thick slab of stone
falls to the floor when the secret door
is pushed open (not when the catch is
released). Any characters caught
under the slab suffer 12d6 points of
damage. The trap releases with a loud
“clunk,” however, so characters
standing at the very edge of the area
of effect can be given a Dexterity
Check to see if they can jump out of
the way. That brings us to trap #2:
The second trap affects the floor
around the area of effect of the ceiling
trap. The floor around this area
swings freely downward, depositing
any characters standing upon it into a
deep pool of acid. Characters falling
into the pool suffer 12d6 of damage
at first, and another 1d6 per round
until they can be pulled out. The pool
is 10 feet below the surface of the
room. Characters standing at the
edge of the pit might be able to make
a fingertip grab of the edge of the
trap as the floor falls away—give
them a Dexterity Check with a -8
modifier. Oh, and don’t forget to
have them make saving throws for any
items that take the plunge. . . .
If any PCs manage to get a look