Exemplars of Evil

FEATURES OF THE AREA
The room has the following features.
Illumination: Because of the debilitating nature of the
plane, everburning torches in the corners of the chamber containing
the corrupt circle give off only 10 feet of bright light and
20 feet of shadowy light.
Floors and Walls: The floors and walls are covered in
ebony ice. It costs 2 squares of movement to enter a square
containing ebony ice, and the DC of Balance and Tumble
checks increases by 5 in such a square. A successful DC 10
Balance check is required to run or charge across the ice.
Undead creatures in an area of ebony ice gain a +2 profane
bonus on attack rolls and saves and a +4 profane bonus to
turn resistance.
Blood Rock: If a creature is standing in a blood rock square
and makes an attack that threatens a critical hit, the critical
hit is automatically confirmed—no roll is necessary.
Negative Energy: Each round that a living creature remains
in a square containing negative energy, it must succeed on a DC
25 Fortitude save or gain one negative level. If the creature’s
negative levels equal its Hit Dice, the creature is slain and instantly
rises as a wraith.
Corrupt Circle: Evil creatures that stand even partly
within the area of the corrupt circle receive a +2 profane
bonus to Armor Class, and their effective caster level is increased
by 1.
Absolute Darkness: Squares containing absolute darkness
greedily devour light, reducing the range of bright light to 5
feet, the range of shadowy illumination to 0 feet, and the range
of darkvision to 5 feet.
ENCOUNTER 8-2
Iliss also tries to protect Kastya’s body. At the start of
the encounter, she is invisible, and when her master casts
magic jar, she moves near his body to keep it safe. If a PC
threatens the lich’s body or comes with reach of Iliss, she
lashes out with her +1 flaming silver sword, dealing an extra
2d6 points of sneak attack damage. If possible, she fights
while standing in blood rock squares so that she is more
likely to make critical hits. If that proves difficult, Iliss
uses dimension door to cut across the battlefield and engage
weaker foes.
Against a warrior or a similar character, Iliss starts by
making a 5-point Power Attack in conjunction with smite
good. If that does not work, she becomes a bit more conservative,
making a 3-point or a 1-point Power Attack depending
on the opponent. She works with Kastya (or whichever PC
he possesses) to get a flanking bonus, which she uses to
increase her Power Attack.
If the necromancer takes a significant amount of damage
from a single opponent’s melee attack, Iliss uses Improved
Sunder in an attempt to destroy the offending weapon. She
and the PC make opposed attack rolls; Iliss has a +22 bonus
against Medium PCs and a +26 bonus against Small PCs. If
her result beats the PC’s result, her attack deals 2d6+12 points
of damage to the targeted weapon. For the hardness and hit
points of common weapons, see PH 158; remember that each
+1 enhancement bonus adds 2 to a weapon’s hardness and 10
to its hit points. If Iliss fails to destroy the weapon, she does
not try again.
CONCLUSION
If the PCs reduce Kastya to 10 or fewer hit points, he casts
greater teleport and appears in the landing (area 1), where
Albrathax waits to block the intruders from leaving. The lich
flies off into the Negative Energy Plane to repair his wounds
and plot revenge.
If Iliss is reduced to 50 or fewer hit points, she uses plane
shift to flee to the Astral Plane.
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