G3 - Level Two

Level Two Wandering Monsters

Encounter occurs 1 in 10; check each turn. 

  1. Fire Giant Guards [3] and Fire Giantesses [2] out for a romantic stroll
  2. Trolls [2] escorting Hill Giants [3], Stone Giants [2] and Frost Giants [2]
  3. Trolls [4] with Gnolls [4 – 16]
  4. Istorvir the Drow with Wererats [2 – 8]

Level Two Rooms and Areas

1 · Hall of the Dead Kings

This dark hall contains 20 huge sarcophagi (lettered A-T) standing upright along the walls, and four even larger ones (lettered U-X) laying upon the floor. Those upon the floor are of stone, and U and V have stone likenesses of fire giants carved upon their lids, while W and X are blank. Those that line the walls are stone (A, B, C, F, G, H, J, O, P, Q), iron (D, E), bronze (I, K, L, M, N, R), and brass (S, T). All of them bear likenesses of fire giant kings and queens (13 kings and 11 queens respectively). Examination will reveal that these burial vaults contain only the remains of the king or queen, moldering garments, a few corroded weapons, and similar things. (Wererat grave robbers have taken anything of value long ago.) The secret tunnel in the southeast corner is about 2 feet in diameter. It twists and turns so that any person using it will lose all sense of direction. It exits on level #3 at area 2.

2 · Ettin Guards’ Chamber

The four ettins here are not on duty but generally serve as guards at level 1, area 2. Two are asleep and the other two are quite alert. Each is armed with a spear and morning star +1, although those sleeping have their weapons to the side. The chamber has a rude table, a bench, two stools and four cots. Torches light up the place. There are nine pegs holding clothing and six bags. In the far corner is a hamper with six sacks of coppers, each sack holding 5,100 to 5,800. This is the ettins’ accumulated pay.

Encounter: Ettins [4]

3 · Visitors’ Chamber

This room houses four stone giants who have been working for the King as engineers. Each has a club, and there are also 11 boulders in the place. The room is torchlit and contains four cots, four stools, four lockers, a table, a big barrel of beer, and pegs holding clothing and four sacks. A haunch of meat is on the table along with various mugs and platters of tin. Each giant has 1,000 – 4,000 gp and 3 – 12 gems worth 100 gp each.

Encounter: Stone Giants [4]

4 · Storage Room

This area has been cleaned out to serve as quarters for either five hill giants (armed with clubs) or Chief Nosnra of the Hill Giants, his wife Solka, and their cave bears Throatripper and Snookums. The latter are here if they survived the party’s visit (Chapter 3). 

In the former case the room will have five heaps of skins for bedding, a table, two benches, and two chests. In the later case the place will have two cots, two trunks, a chair, two stools, a table, and a coffer. Usual hill giants will have only 200 – 1,200 gp each. The Chief will have brought along whatever he could salvage and carry here. In any case the room is illuminated by four torches set in wall cressets.

Encounter: Hill Giants [5]

5 · Community Quarters

In this large area are housed one leader (sergeant), three other males, six females, and eight young. There are two large beds, five cots, seven bunks, two large cabinets, two tables, four chairs, four stools, three buckets, four chests, six hampers, a crate, and three small boxes here and there. There are torches on the walls as well as pegs holding clothing and seven bags. Miscellaneous gear, eating utensils, and odds and ends are scattered about the place, too. Each male has 200 – 400 gp in his bag, and the females each have 100 – 300 gp hidden in their personal areas. All are armed with various weapons, even the young, and there are 20 throwing rocks in the chamber.

Encounter:
Fire Giant Sergeants [4]
Fire Giantesses [6]
Young Fire Giants [8]

6 · Smithy

The sound of hammering, obviously of metal, occasionally is heard in this area. The hall outside this place is tinged a bloody red with the light from the lava bed and gas jets in the smithy. A knotty-limbed, burly fire giant is working here. He is the weapon and iron smith. His exceptional strength gives him +2 to hit and +4 damage. The molten lava is used to heat the items he works. With him are two trolls who serve as his assistants. About him are three giant swords, some various pieces of armor and several axe and spear heads. He is doing a bit of repair work on a special giant-sized mace of black metal which is a +4 magical weapon (Dmg 5−16÷5−12). If he is attacked, there is a 2 in 6 chance per melee round that he will toss the mace into the lava bed and destroy it if the encounter is going against him.

Encounter:
Fire Giant
Trolls [2]

7 · Torture Chamber

The steps lead down to this cluttered room with a 50-foot ceiling (which enables even very tall victims to be hung in chains well above the floor). Vision range is 15 feet in these murky depths. The King’s Torturer and the Royal Headsman are playing knucklebones with stakes of seven pieces of jewelry (worth 1,000 – 4,000 gp each) and two piles of gems (68 worth 10 gp and 39 worth 50 gp each). The Headsman has his gigantic axe at hand, gaining +2 to hit and damage (but only when wielded by a creature as strong and massive as he). If he hits with a natural 20, roll 1d6; he severs an arm (1 or 2), a leg (3), or a head (4, 5, or 6). Damage from the weapon is 12 – 42 (10d4+2). The Torturer has a sword nearby. 

If both Headsman and Torturer are engaged in melee, they react as follows. The Torturer will grab his opponent and attempt to throw him or her into the iron maiden (position shown by a circle A) and slam it shut (inflicting 10 – 100 points of damage and trapping the victim therein until released). This requires a hit score success (which indicates that the grab and hurl score were successful plus another successful hit score, this time at +4, to slam the device shut). 

If closely pressed, the Headsman will grab and toss his opponent down the well (position shown by a circled letter B), thus inflicting 9d6 of damage (but modified by discarding any 6 rolled, as the water 90 feet below breaks the fall, so actual damage will range from 0 to 45) and trapping the victim, possibly to drown. The Headsman does this on any hit. The Torturer will likewise follow his course of attacking, tossing as many victims as possible down the well until the room is cleared of opponents. The Headsman will generally use his axe. 

The stairway and the torture chamber are lit by torches. The chamber contains a large rack, a smaller one, and five other pieces of appropriate equipment, in addition to the iron maiden and well. Various chains, bats, irons, whips, ropes, wires, and the like are festooned about it. A table, two chairs, a stool, and a large barrel of ale complete the picture.

Encounter:
Fire Giant Headsman
Fire Giant Torturer

Cells

All cells are indicated by a C, and G is the guardroom for the cell complex. Cells have rings set in the walls, chains, buckets, and straw heaps. 

Encounter: Elves

Encounter: Centaurs [2]

Encounter: Enraged Troll

Encounter: Gnolls [7]

Encounter: Gareth Human Level 11 Thief

Encounter: Boldo, the Fire Giant

Encounter: Kendar, the Titan

Encounter:
Fire Giant
Wererats [3]

8 · Secret Room

This place is pitch dark and the lair of seven wererats armed in the same manner as those in the guardroom above. The strongest has poison on his dagger, and #3 and #7 use poison on their swords. They will gain either surprise (1−3) or complete surprise (4−6) unless the darkness is countered (light, detect invisibility, etc.). If the encounter goes badly, survivors will flee down the stairway to level #3, area 15, and warn the drow. 

In the secret room are three very heavy iron chests, all locked, and each has a poisoned needle in the latch which hits on a 12 or better. Chest #1 holds 3,200 gp, seven pieces of jewelry worth 1,000 – 4,000 gp each, and nine pieces worth 1,000 – 10,000 gp each. Chest #2 contains 8,000 gp, a potion of poison, and a scroll of protection from lycanthropes. Chest #3 fires two poisoned darts upwards when the lid is opened (THACO 16, save at – 1). The chest is empty, but an invisible inscription is written inside the lid, and it shows where a stone in the stairs down can be removed to reveal a ring of shooting stars, a rod of cancellation, a scroll of seven cleric spells (determine at random), and six potions (diminution, healing, and four randomly determined). A very well-hidden compartment in the lid of the box holding the potions holds pipes of the sewers.

Encounter: Wererats [7]

9 – 11 · Temple of the Eye

Illusionary walls screen this area. This place is illuminated by a strange swirling light which seems to be part of the very air of the place. Eddies of luminosity drift and swirl here and there, causing the whole scene to be strange and uncertain. Distances and dimensions are tricky to determine in the shifting light of rusty purple motes and lavender rays. Globs of mauve and violet seem to seep and slide around. The ceiling of the Temple is out of visual range, 50 feet at the lowest, and well over 65 feet where it vaults upward.

9 · Giants’ Worship Area

Each pillar radiates a sense of unease and insecurity (simulate this by making players uneasy in whatever way you find best) in a 5’ radius. The wall to the west is a mural showing giants bowing to a cairn of black offering sacrifices, giving gifts, etc. The floor on this side of the column in the center is of porphyry, the pillars of serpentine, and their well-polished surfaces clash with each other and the strange light as well. The scenes on the west wall grow more horrific, showing human and giant sacrifice near the altar (north) end.

10 · Servants’ & Thralls’ Worship Area

The polished floor of red and black hornblende seems to flow between the obsidian pillars which close off this area. Each of these pillars radiates mild fear in a 2’ radius, and if one is touched, the creature contacting it must actually save versus fear or run away in absolute panic. Anyone passing between two pillars takes 2 – 8 points of electrical damage, or double that if wearing metal armor. The wall to the east shows a scene of various creatures crawling, and then creeping up to huge, vaguely squid-like creatures with 10 hairy tentacles. In the forefront of this mass self-sacrifice are elves and men, but there are also dwarves, gnolls, ores, trolls, halflings, ogres, goblins, etc. amongst the crowd. Those near the monsters are being torn apart and eaten as dainty morsels. There are 3 of these ghastly things, mottled in various shades and tints of purple and violet.

11 · Priest’s Area

The north wall of cloudy purple stone shows an amber-like inlay of a huge inverted triangle with a Y enclosed in it and touching the sides of the triangle. Beneath this, hanging on chains from the ceiling, is a black metal triangle and cylinder. The first tier of the area is of black stone shot through with veins of violet. The second tier is of dark gray stone, with specks of lilac and orange and purple. The third tier is dull black stone with whorls of plum and lavender and splotches of red. There is a great drum of blackened skin and chitinous material on the western third of the first tier. On the eastern third of this tier stands a rack from which depend nine silver cylinders (these chime tubes are hollow and are worth 1,000 gp each). 

On the second tier is a huge stone altar block of dull, porous-looking, somewhat rusty black mineral. To either side of it are ranked large bronze braziers whose corroded green coloration is particularly nauseating in this setting. To the left and right of these braziers, set in triangular form with the point to the south, are two sets of three candelabra, each candelabrum having three branches. These are made of bronze green with age, and each branch holds a fat black candle which burns with a flame of leaping lavender and deep glowing purple but never grows smaller. 

Nothing save the metal triangle stands upon the third tier. 

If the altar stone is touched by living flesh or hit, it will begin to fade in color, and in 3 rounds it will become a translucent amethyst color with a black, amorphous center. Any further touch when the altar is thus transformed will paralyze a creature touching it for 5 to 20 turns. If the drum is beaten, the chimes rung, and the triangle struck while the altar is changed, a glowing golden eye will swim into view from the stone’s writhing center. Roll 1d12 to determine the fate of each creature seeing the eye: 

1d12 Effect
1 Death
2 Insanity*
3 Rage* (attack own party)
4 Fright and weakness* (50% strength loss)
5 Age 1 – 20 years
6 – 12 No effect (looked away in time)

* Curable by a remove curse spell 

If the three tentacle rods (see area 12 hereafter) are present when the eye appears, however, and the braziers are lit, the alter becomes transparent heliotrope in color, the black mass at the center grows larger and shows swollen veins of purple, and the eye is a fiery red-orange. A tentacle will come out of the altar and grab the nearest living creature, draw it into the stone, and whatever it was will be totally gone, destroyed. The altar will return to its dead state, and atop of it will be the thing most wished for by the party — or something which will enable them to attain the end or state they most desire (that is, help in locating and fighting drow who follow Lolth). If a second summoning of this Elder Elemental God is made within the same day, it will act as follows: 

1d12 Result
1 Seize and devour 1 – 4 more creatures and not grant any desires
2 Strike everyone present totally blind and not grant any desires
3 Raise the ability score of each person present by 1 in each category and take no sacrifice
4 – 12 Ignore the whole thing

The large pillar in the east on the first tier is of malachite and is covered with graven signs and sigils. If the correct pair is touched, the creature touching them will be transported to level 3, area 18. You should devise the 24 glyphs upon this pillar and select which two are the trigger mechanisms.

12 · Drow Clerics’ Area

The entrance to this area is protected by a powerful magic spell, a wall of tentacles, through which drow can freely pass. It appears as rough brown-purple stone. The wall can only be harmed by magic weapons or the following spells: dispel magic (removes 50 hp), disintegrate (destroys 100 hp), or symbol of persuasion (which allows all those of the same alignment as the caster to pass through unharmed). The wall has 20 tentacles (able to use up to four against a single opponent) and two beaks. If any non-drow touches the wall, it grasps the victim and sets off a hissing and champing noise to alert the occupants of the chamber beyond it. If the thing is forceably attacked and damaged, it then uses its tentacle attacks for damage. If attacked by any spell or spell-like magic (e.g. wand), or if reduced to 99 or fewer hit points, the wall creates darkness 20’ radius and starts biting with its beaks if any creature comes or is brought close enough. (Note that the darkness is only produced on the intruders’ side of the wall.

Encounter: Wall of Tentacles

The inner chamber is lit by sconces with the same non-self-consuming black candles as are in the Temple, so the illumination is dim and eerie. The walls are hung with purple cloth, and the floor is thickly carpeted in black. The inner room is screened off from the other by a brocaded hanging of black with the floor thickly carpeted in black. The inner room is screened off from the other by a brocaded hanging of black with orange, gold, lilac, and mauve. There are three drow herein. 

The antechamber is the quarters of two lesser priests. In it are two low black couches, each inlaid with silver. To one side are a round table and two arm chairs. At the foot of each couch is a low table with a basin and ewer of jasper (the set worth 3,000 gp). There are small stools and enameled coffers also. Two chests hold personal effects. A huge wardrobe of ebony contains the clerics’ vestments — two black under robes, two mauve cassocks, and caps and sashes of black with mauve embroidering. Coffer #1 holds a scroll with a cleric spell (word of recall) and three bars of black metal (adamantium, worth 3,500 gold pieces each) which weigh 100 gp apiece. Coffer #2 contains 100 of each type of coin, each type in its own black leather pouch, and a pouch of 100 gems worth 50 gp each. A copper brazier near the door gives off an incense smoke which is sweet, cloying, decaying-smelling, disgusting and euphoric all at once. 

The inner room is the sanctuary of the priestess. It is candle-illuminated, although two small braziers of black and silver are burning also. The walls here have certain tapestries of suggestive nature. The furnishings include a large bed, two small tables, three coffers, a buffet, a cabinet, a large wardrobe, two divans with a low chest between them, a dressing table and chair, a large silver mirror (worth 500 gp), two hampers and two chests. All furnishings are of ebony or black stone. Silver inlay is typical. 

The wardrobe holds various garments and the priestess’ vestments of mauve, black and plum, stitched with gold. This garment is set with 10 violet garnets (500 gp each), 10 topaz (500 gp each), 10 black opals (1,000 gp each), and 10 oriental amethysts (1,000 gp each). It is covered with a plain black wrapper to protect it. On the dressing table are two combs, a brush, four pins, and 10 unguent and cosmetic jars. These items are of onyx and silver, set with tiny gems. Each is worth 200 – 800 gp. 

The chests and hampers hold the priestess’ personal effects. The buffet and cabinet hold eating utensils, jars of spiritous liquors, tableware, etc. 

A coffer on the low chest between the divans has a poison gas trap (fills the whole area) and contains a scroll of three spells (gate, unholy word, restoration). A coffer near her bed contains six potions (fire giant control, human control, philter of love, philter of persuasiveness, poison, polymorph (self)). Beside her bed on a small table is an ewer, basin, and goblet made from lapis-lazuli (each is worth 5,000 gp). A small screen of ebony, inlaid with amber (worth 1,500 gp) sets off a dressing area in the southeast corner near the wardrobe, where a low backed chair stands with a gown thrown over it. This effectively hides the use of the secret door. 

The drow clerics in this inner chamber are as follows. They speak all of the giant tongues, and troll and gnoll as well. Each wields a tentacle rod, fully detailed in Appendix B. 

Amalica, a male drow cleric, is clad in black with violet trim. He is armed with a lesser purple tentacle rod (4 feet long with three rubbery purple tentacles). The rod is activated by the ring he wears, which is of hematite with a rune carved on it (500 gp value). 

Orgoloth, the second male drow cleric, wears a black robe with pale green trim. He has a ring similar to Amalica’s, and wields a lesser russet tentacle rod. Though of the House Eilserv, he is secretly in vassalage to Neldyne (area 16 of level 3), and has orders together information on Eclavdra’s actions. 

Eclavdra is a strangely attractive female drow dressed in silver-embroidered black garments, with a small black metal cap which allows her silver hair to float free. She is the primary motivating force behind the entire giant uprising. She has a mace on her belt, and wears a ring of amber set with an amethyst (worth 2,500 gp) to control her greater purple tentacle rod with six violet arms.

Encounter:
Amalica, Drow of House Eilserv — Cleric 4
Orgoloth, of House Eilserv — Cleric 4
Eclavdra, Drow Ruler of House Eilserv — Cleric 10 / Fighter 10

13 · Guest Chamber

If the Jarl of the frost giants survived the party’s visit, he is here with his wife and two guards (posted by the door). The room is otherwise occupied by six frost giant messengers from the Jarl. The place is only dimly lit by a few torches. There are eight cots, a long table, two benches, two chairs, three stools, two buckets, six chests, a large box, and a cabinet in the room. There are hides on the floors and pelts on the cots. Pegs hold clothing and several bags (2−5). Each giant has 100 – 400 gp. The Jarl has whatever loot he managed to salvage from his former stronghold.

Encounter: Frost Giants [6]

14 · Guest Chamber

Two cloud giants, a noble and his lady (?) from the Sulhaut Mountains, have come to hear King Snurre tell why his warfare will profit them, and make them powerful. The giants have two spotted lions as watch-animals at the door. The male has a ring coat (AC 1) and both have great morningstars and throwing boulders nearby. The female wears a thick fur garment which makes her AC 2. The chamber contains two very large beds, two wardrobes, two small tables, a large table, two chairs, two stools, two buckets, a cabinet, a bench, and four chests. There are tapestries on the walls, rugs and hides on the floor, and furs on the beds. The place is torchlit. On the small table near the bed to the south is a platinum box set with moonstones and sunstones (value 5,000 gp). It holds 78 gems of various kinds (100 gp each), a present to them from the king.

Encounter:
Cloud Giants [2]
Spotted Lions [2]

15 · Trolls’ Chamber

Eighteen troll guards nest here. Four of their numbers stay in the north passage, and four stay in the passage south. Each of their positions is shown by an X. The other 10 monsters remain in the large room. Each has a heap of sticks, bones, hide and skin scraps, and other nauseous material. Each has 10 to 100 gp hidden in their nest. There are dozens of various pole arms, morning stars, and swords heaped in the middle of the room. These may be used to arm the gnolls.

Encounter: Trolls [18]

16 · Thrall Pen

Forty-two unarmed gnolls dwell here. Each has a heap of straw and a hide cover. Though not free, they will never help humans for any reason. They will gladly arm to fight intruders if given the chance.

Encounter: Gnolls [42]

17 · Thrall Pen

Twenty-eight unarmed gnolls dwell here. Their attitudes are as those in area 16.

Encounter: Gnolls [28]

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