Exemplars of Evil

FEATURES OF THE AREA
The main chamber and the connected rooms have the following
features.
Illumination: Windows provide bright illumination during
the day, and torches and braziers provide shadowy illumination
at night. When the harem slaves sleep, the guards extinguish
all sources of light; the Al-Iborak prefer to use their darkvision.
Characters who enter or leave the harem late at night find it
almost completely dark.
Ceilings: The ceilings in the chambers are 12 feet high.
Doors: The main door into the harem chamber is made of
bronze-bound wood and has hardness 5, 12 hit points, and a
break DC of 25. The doorways into the other chambers lack
doors but have beaded curtains, which provide concealment but
no cover.
Pool: The bathing pool in the main chamber is 3 feet deep
at the edges and 4 feet deep in the middle. Magically warmed
and cleansed water fills the pool, and a tiled step runs around
the inside of the basin at half its depth.
ENCOUNTER 9-2
Six Sons of the Dragon guard the harem, including two
standing watch outside the entrance from the corridor.
They remain alert for signs of rebellion, plotting, or general
trouble among the slaves. Since such disruptions rarely
occur, the Al-Iborak consider guarding the harem to be
soft duty and just take 10 on Listen checks, Spot checks,
and the like.
Borak’s harem consists of human males and females,
mostly low-level commoners or experts with an occasional
aristocrat. They have no weapons, and they fight only if
absolutely necessary. Currently, fourteen slaves make up
the harem, including a purported ex-noblewoman named
Hegira (see the sidebar).
TACTICS
Unless the characters storm the harem to clear out the Al-
Iborak guards and free the prisoners by force, this encounter
is a test of their stealth and cunning. They can learn useful
information from the slaves, including the layout of the
palace, how often Borak sleeps, the truth about her ring of
djinn calling, and so on. Of course, if they take “Hegira” into
their confidence, they might inadvertently give away their
plans to the Thunder Tyrant.
CONCLUSION
If the PCs have been consigned to the harem, they must
acquire weapons before trying to escape. They might be
able to take the guards by surprise and steal their whips or
scimitars. Failing that, they could try to smuggle weapons
into the palace somehow, or rely on extreme stealth to escape
while unarmed.
Treasure: In addition to the equipment carried by the
guards, the harem contains a few luxuries that are permitted
to the slaves. These items include a gold and opal
necklace (1,500 gp), a dozen gold rings (150 gp each), a gold
ring set with a ruby (2,000 gp), five pairs of earrings set
with precious stones (200 gp each), a dozen gold bangles
and bracelets (200 gp each), a silver chain headdress set
with precious stones (1,000 gp), a belt of gold-chased silver
disks (300 gp), assorted perfumes and incenses (2,000 gp
total), and rugs and tapestries worth 1,000 gp total to the
right buyer.
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