The Lost Library of Q'Sh - 13

The Lost Library of Q'Sh - 13

14). The southern door is locked and constructed out of thick wood reinforced with iron bands. There is an iron grill over a small opening about 5ft up from the door and at its center. The opening is only about 1ft square and an iron plate which can be slid aside is latched in place on the other side of the door in Location (8.1).

The hall is very dusty and cobwebs line the ceiling arched about 15ft overhead. A Little Green Man riding a Machine-Spider will be lurking in the small air duct that opens onto this hall from the air-shaft which connects the halls and rooms in this Location. These ventilation tunnels run near the ceiling and are connected with all Locations which mention ventilation shafts unless otherwise noted.

See Location (13.) for the Little Green Man's actions if discovered. (Note: This is will be the same Little Green Man from Location (13.) unless something has happened to him.). If something has happened a second Little Green Man and his Machine Spider will be dispatched to investigate but he will be very wary and will deploy a set of tiny remote sensors that appear to be normal houseflys but are instead devices which the Little Green Man can direct and which allow him to see and hear (in dark or light) everything within an unobstructed 60ft radius. The Servo-Flys can be self-destructed on command by the Little Green Man (he wears the device that sends the command on the wrist of his silver gauntlet.). The Servo-Fly has no hp or attack capabilities. The can be easily destroyed but they are tiny, fast and agile.

The northern opening is a portal blocked by iron bars. The mechanism for lifting the bars is not in this Location, but the gate can be lifted with a combined strength of 40 and the bars bent normally.

14a). The door is slightly recessed into the wall. It's composed of iron and is extremely heavy. There is a hinged opening at the bottom but only big enough to slide a bowl inside. A grilled opening is set at face level in the door and is covered by a metal plate that can be pushed aside and latched open or when shut latched closed. If the grill is opened and a light shined inside it will reveal a small room with two cots but only one is occupied; a withered body in a robe lying atop one of the beds.

If the door is opened (it is locked by a normal lock and can be picked but trying to break open the door will create a great deal of noise) the body on the bed will open its mouth and begin to moan, its mouth will continue to open till its lower jaw cracks and falls off. At this point the body will attempt to rise. First one leg which lifts will shatter, then both arms, and its other leg, and its head will fall to the floor and explode in small puff of dust. The chest and lower will body will all tip over and collapse inward. Nothing will be left but dust. Examination of the room will reveal shackles attached to both beds but no keys to release. There are 4 sets of shackles with only a 1ft and 1/2 chain between the cuffs. There is no key but if opened they will lock automatically if shut.

14b). This room is almost identical to Location (14a) except that instead of a body on the bed, the beds are both overturned and broken. Beneath the rubble is a pile of left arms (9 of them). They have long ago withered and been stripped of almost all flesh. There is a rathole in the east wall, but if examined it reveals that it is clogged with spiderwebs. Someone or thing small enough could enter this passage but they could be no larger than a normal rat. (The tunnel leads through a small warren of dead-ended and collapsed passages for about 30ft then it drops down at a steep angle before emerging into a room in Dungeon Level 1 Location (13.).

One of the arms has a ring on its pinkie finger. The rotted flesh survived the depredations of the rodents because it was under a piece of broken bed-frame and the ring remained firmly lodged on the otherwise denuded digit. The ring is gold and has a small diamond at its center. It allows the wearer to sense the type of card within a 10ft radius, either in a deck, face-down on a table or held in someone's hand. This function is usable 3 times per day and last for 60 seconds.

14c). The door to this room is the same as the door at Location (14a). Inside the room is the body of a man curled on his side. If it is quiet enough he can be heard snoring and his chest rises and falls. If there is a loud noise he will awaken, roll over and rub his head. If questioned he will say that his name is Ogon and he has no idea how he got in the cell. He was travelling with a small group, investigating the entrance to some kind of building carved into a mountain. He is from a settlement about 50 miles distant and served as a caravan guard till joining with a few companions to search out wealth, glory and adventure. There is a large bruise on his temple and he wears normal boots, trousers and a padded shirt that normally is worn under chainmail. Ogon can give little information on the Library and has no idea what happened to his companions. His last memory is pulling open a large wooden door and shining a torch into the black passage it revealed, and then nothing.

Ogon will gladly join the party if asked, and if not he will ask if can join. If rebuffed he will ask to accompany them out of the Library and in the end will simply walk away in the direction of Location (8.1). if attacked he is a Ftr 1, 8hp, AC10, 1 attack, barehanded Dmg 1hp. If killed he has no loot but the clothes on his back. If the characters revisit the cell after at least 24hours have passed they will find Ogon still sleeping in his cell. Unkown to Ogon he was killed some time ago, decades, perhaps longer. He will act as a normal NPC for days, even weeks, or can even be run by as a Player Character, gaining experience and levels like a living human. He will bleed, suffer from wounds and be affected by spells in a normal way, but will have terrible dreams and a very hard time sleeping. Eventually he will stop sleeping altogether and start seeing movement in his peripheral vision, hear voices, then begin seeing ghostly figures.

After some time his wounds will not close properly though he will regain all his hp, His pallor will change to a greenish-black, all his thick brown hair will fall out. A desire to consume flesh will grow, and even if he is able to hide this, he will turn slowly and irrevocably into a ghoul. If at any point he is killed his form will reappear 24 hours later as the human Ogon sleeping on the bed in his prison cell.

14d). This room is lined with manicals bolted into the stone wall. In the center of the room is a pile of bodies that decomposed from the top down. Each has had its left arm removed at the shoulder. The top 5 bodies are skeletal, the next 4 are withered hHusks and the bottom body is somehow still covered in a damp and stinking flesh.

5 (one armed) Skeletons 1 HD 6hp each, AC7, 1 attack, 1hp Dmg

3 (one armed) Husks 2 HD 9hp each, AC5, 2(3) attacks, Claw 1d6 /Bite 1d10 Dmg

Husk

Frequency: Rare

No. Appearing: 1-10

Armor Class: 5

Move: 12"

Hit Dice: 2

% in Lair: N/A

Treasure Type: N/A

No. Attacks: 3

Damage/Attack: Claw/Claw/Bite 1d6/1d6/1d10

Special Attack: None

Special Defenses: None

Magic Resistance: Nil

Intelligence: Low

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Size: M

Language: None

Description:  Husks appear as dry and withered bodies. They are no more than a skeleton wrapped in an armor of flesh turned to a leathery consistency with some fragment of an animating spirit trapped within.

Ecology: Husks are the bodies of humanoids which have been slain in a ritualistic slaughter. Their spirits are chained to the focal point of the ritual be it an item, location, deity, or person. They are the rejected offerings of this ritual; contemptibly weak and ineffectual in comparison with the desired result of the ceremony. Each sacrifice was meant to hold a fragment of some greater power but the Husks are the discarded shells that could not contain the stronger entity. They are abandoned malignant creatures with the desire to kill their only emotion.

The last body absorbed all the blood and effluvia of the other 9 sacrifices but this was the executioner and not meant to be a sacrifice himself. Something struck him down before the ceremony was completed and he had the bodies of the sacrifices unceremoniously piled on top of him.

 He wears a rusted human-sized chain shirt (serviceable if cleaned) and a crystal medallion around his neck. He has otherwise been stripped of valuables (three fingers have been removed which will be noticed if he is searched. The finger bones can be found scattered on the floor of the cell.). The medallion is in the form of an eye with a red stone at its center. It is not magical but acts as key to Dungeon Level 2 Location (3.).