H4 The Throne of Bloodstone.pdf - Free

The Moat
The liquid in the moat is burning
lava that spews forth blasts of extremely
poisonous gas. Merely touching the
surface of the lava means instant and
irrevocable death for any creature from
the Prime plane.
The moat itself is a steep-walled
canyon, nearly 5,000 feet deep. Its
sides have many jagged ledges and
steep ravines. They do not, inherently,
present a great obstacle to the
climber—but the sheer height of the
walls is generally deterrent enough.
Also, characters within the canyon
must save vs. poison each turn,
because of the lethal effects of the
gas. This saving throw is made normally
in the upper reaches of the canyon
(the top 1,000 feet). However, for
every 1,000 feet of depth in the canyon,
the saving throw vs. poison suffers
a -2 modifier.
Additionally, characters not resistant
to heat suffer 1d6 of damage for
every 1,000 feet of depth in the canyon
from the intense heat. This damage
is calculated every round.
The width of the moat at the top
appears to be anywhere from 300 to
500 feet. In actuality, however, the
moat is 6,000-10,000 feet wide—just
another example of the distance and
space distortion so common around
the Abyssian Fortress.
III. The Castle of
Orcus—Area Keys
1. Bridge
The two skulls mounted to either
side of the bridge move to focus upon
any characters moving toward them.
They will magically identify the
strongest fighter in the party—or the
one with the best hand-to-hand combat
abilities, if no fighters are
present. When the characters come
within 30 feet of the bridge, the skulls
magically duplicate this fighter, creating
a figure who stands between them
at the entrance to the bridge.
The duplicated fighter will match
the PC in appearance and abilities.
He will function in every way as that
individual. However, he places no
weight upon the bridge—he effectively
levitates at ground level.
The bridge will collapse if more than
one character stands upon it. It will also
collapse if a destructive magical spell is
cast so that the area of effect includes
the bridge or anything on it—
including the mirrored fighter.
Although it appears to be a mere 200
feet or so across, it is really a full mile
long. Characters who have crossed will
seem to be only 200 feet away from
those who have not—they can even
shout back and forth to each other.
However, it takes a long time for a character
to cover its length (176” game
scale), and if two characters are on the
span at any time, it falls.
The skulls will warn any who
approach with the following phrases:
“Let the strongest among you
best the champion, ere you may
cross!”
“And no cheating, now! This is a
contest of strength!”
If one skull is destroyed, the other
will continue to speak. If both are
destroyed, the apparition of the
fighter vanishes. Each skull has an AC
of 8, with 6 hp.
The champion will remain on the
bridge, very near to the end where the
PCs are. He will fight with the mirrored
PC’s best weapon, except that
he will not use a missile weapon. He
will fight the PC who matches him,
and if that PC alone participates in
the combat (even if he uses a missile
weapon), the skulls will rule it a fair
fight. If any other PC helps, the skulls
will declare, loudly:
“Cheater! Cheater!”
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If the champion is destroyed in a
fair fight, the skulls will say: “Have
a care, now—one at a time!”
If the skulls have called cheating,
they will not voice this final (and useful)
warning. If the bridge has been
destroyed, because of magic or too
many characters moving onto it, the
skulls smile smugly and say nothing.
2. The First Maze
There are five areas marked on the
map as containing mazes. When the
PCs reach one of these areas, read the
following:
The dark and swirling mists seem
to rise from the ground before you.
But slowly they part, forming a
tunnel of black smoke. At the far
end, you can see an oddly shaped
room.
Because of the shifting space of the
castle, a maze that exists in one place
can suddenly move somewhere else.
Likewise, an area that contained a
hexagonal maze the first time the party
passes through it might offer a
maze of octagons the second time.
Thus, whenever the players reach
one of the five mazes, roll 1d4 to determine
what they find this time. If the
inhabitant of a maze was killed during
a previous encounter, no matter—he’s
there again. In fact, each subsequent
encounter with one of these inhabitants
entails an increase in 50% of his
original hit points. Thus, the second
time through, the creature has 150%
of his listed hp, the third time, 200%,
and so on.
The maze encountered is determined
as follows:
D4 Roll Maze
1 Squares
2 Octagons
3 Pentagons
4 Hexagons
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