The Lost Library of Q'Sh - 7

The Lost Library of Q'Sh - 7

9). The door to this room is a normal wooden door with no lock. It opens toward Location (8.) and has a pull ring on its outer side.

There is an iron stove, cold and overturned in the south-east corner of the room. The ventilation pipe hangs from the roof (inside the stove is a solid clump of ash which, if smashed apart, reveals a piece of parchment 3/4 burned revealing 1/4 of the 1st level of the dungeon below).

Against the north wall (marked with a boxed X on the map) is a short but long cabinet. Inside can be found the ancient remains of the rations that the men, now skeletons, ate in life. Once it was home to a nest of rats, now a score of these giant creatures are also nothing but skeletons themselves. They are animated and with the same vicious desire to kill as their once human counterparts. With a wordless squeak they will spring out from the cabinet if opened and, in a flow of bony feet, attack those in the room. They are 1hd-4 creatures with 2hp each and AC of 7 and 1 bite attack that will do 1hp of damage. If the nest of rotted bones and rations is examined 200 cp can be sifted from the debris. But if this is done a trap door beneath the base of the wormridden boards of the cabinet will be discovered dropping down to dungeon level 1.

The room is lined with 10 beds against the east and 10 against the west walls. These 20 beds are simple bunks with a wooden chest at the end of them. Each has a pillow made of chicken feathers, a thin mattress made of straw on what were once nets of hide straps. These straps have all been gnawed to pieces and the simple mattresses have collapsed through them to the floor. If searched the rag pillows will reveal several items.

A). A small glass container with a tarry black sludge at the bottom. This sludge is actually a powerful drug. If smoked it will alleviate pain and cause minor hallucinations. There is enough for 5 doses. A pair of normal sheathed throwing daggers and a tinderbox is also in this pillow. The daggers are lightly blackened and have a hard burnt substance on their blades.

B). This pillow contains a silver locket with an inscription inside saying "Love Potion Loves Her Owlbear." It is a cheap locket with silver plate and is worth only 1sp.

C). A small flute carved from wood. Value 5cp

D). A chipped cube of glass. Looking through it will make anything seen through it appear larger. Value 5sp.

E). This appears to be a small book, an adventure story set in an alternate world, but slipped into the spine is a note in code. If deciphered by mundane or magical means it will say, "Moonset, lower stacks".

The blankets and rag pillows are moth eaten and torn by small claws with a rank smell of must and decay.

The 20 trunks at the feet of these beds are all locked with cheap simple locks. +2 bonus modifier to open. They can easily be smashed open with a sharp strike or even kicked off the chest with a bootheel to the hasp. Inside are mostly rotted clothing, belts, boots, but each has some personal gear and a coin pouch. These pouches will contain 3d12cp, 2d10sp, 1d8gp, 25% chance of a ring, locket or pin valued at 3d10gp,

Some have noteworthy items.

a). The bottom of this trunk has a trapped (poison needle but the virulence of the poison has diminished with age and not only causes 1d6 damage (rather than death) save for 1/2 damage) secret compartment. Inside this compartment is a shirt and pants of light black cloth, soft black shoes whose soles will an abraded surface that allows the wearer to grip surfaces better (adds a + 5% to attempts at climbing walls or moving across slick surfaces). There is a dried stick of black face paint, a bottle of a dried greenish substance (once a gummy poison that could be coated on blades. It is still faintly poisonous and eating a quantity of it will cause 3d6 damage, save for 1/2 damage), and a sheaf of thin paper with a small dried bottle of ink and a quill pen.

There are three weapons in the case.

A set of 12 small throwing knives. These have no grip, just a heavy tang to balance the blade weight. These small knives are a nonmagical +2 to hit and do 1d4 damage.

A long curved double-edged dagger. The blade is blackened with a runnel down its length (where a gummy poison could be coated without risk of rubbing off when sheathed). It is a non-magical +2 to hit and does 1d6 damage.

A pair of black gloves with a set of iron spikes at the top and base of the palm. This device makes it easier to climb (+20% bonus) and can be used in weaponless combat to add 1 HP of damage per attack.

There is also a roll of 4 glass tubes. Each is filled with small grayish glass pellets (5 per vial). If the glass is broken they explode in a 10x10 ft cloud of harmless but opaque grey smoke that will dissipate after 3 combat rounds.

b). This chest has a smaller box filled with scrolls of an erotic nature. There are 37 scrolls that run in value to the right 'collector' for between 5sp to 10gp each.

c). Inside this chest there is a small wooden box. It is very old but solidly made. It seems to be filled with very small bones, each with a mark carved upon them (if the writing can be seen at all so minute are the letters). If they bones are removed upon the case the will vibrate slightly and if several are removed near each other they will begin to join together. If the entire box is dumped out they will pull themselves in a set of 6 skeletal mice with a seventh that holds a stringed instrument made of bones. A thin and high music will come from the instrument. The six mouse skeletons will begin to dance around the player. Tiny squeaks will be heard above the music. Slowly the music will grow louder and after another minute or two the dancers will begin to bow to the ground as they dance. They will grovel upon their bony bellies before the music. Any characters within hearing of the music must first save versus charm or begin to dance themselves. Those who succeed in their save must then save versus fear or become paralyzed. This dance will go on for 5 minutes till the charmed characters find themselves groveling on their own stomachs. Then the music will stop and the skeletal mice will search for the box, open its lid, climb inside and fall to pieces. The box and bones are immune to ordinary damage and if the bones are scattered they will return (somehow) to the box by the next rising of the moon. The character which opened the box will find it returned to his possession no matter how he tries to get rid of it. At the waning of the moon he must save versus charm or he will open the box again and dance.