Editing Beneath Castle Everglory: LEVEL 7: The Tomb (section)

=12.  Final Resting Place of the Forgotten King=

This is a cubic room, 7 yards to a side, with walls of smooth unadorned granite.  The stench of rotting flesh in here is shocking.

An eight foot open stone sarcophagus stands in the center of the chamber.  It is filled almost to the brim with a lumpy, light brown liquid, about equally reminiscent of vomit and dung.  This filth is the Forgotten King.  He will attack all intruders if his massive liquid body is touched, damaged or magically manipulated.


'''Monsters'''

'''The Forgotten King'''

ST: 40 HP: 60 Speed: 8

DX: 15 Will: 25 Move: 8

IQ: 20 Per: 20

HT: 13 FP: 50 SM: 2

Dodge: N/A Parry: N/A DR: 2

Engulfment (15): 4D.  May not be Blocked or Parried.  Engulfed characters cannot breathe.  Once a character has been engulfed, they stay engulfed and automatically take damage each turn unless they break free with a successful ST-2 roll.  Breaking free takes an entire second and allows for no other action.  The king can engulf up to 40 ST worth of characters.

Spray of Corruption (15): 2d(5) toxic + follow-up 1d toxic (3 one-second cycles). (Jet, Range 10/20).  Characters who fail to roll against DX+2 are blinded for seconds equal to their margin of failure.

Traits: Amphibious; Combat Reflexes; Dark Vision, Detect (Supernatural), Doesn’t Breathe; Doesn’t Eat or Drink; Doesn’t Sleep; High Pain Threshold; Immunity to Metabolic Hazards; Immunize to Non-Magical Weapons; Injury Tolerance (Diffuse); Infiltration, Can ooze under barriers and through tiny holes); Invertebrate; No Legs (Slithers).

Class: Undead.

Notes:  Too insane to communicate or negotiate.

Fountain of Filth:  Once every three seconds, the king can cause himself to erupt, spewing a rain of filth for 40’ in all directions.  Anyone caught in the rain takes 1d of toxic damage (may be Blocked, but not Dodged or Parried).  The smell is unbelievable.  Whether they are hit or not, PCs must roll successfully against HT or be violently ill for seconds equal to their margin of failure.

Summon Pudding Zombies.  Once per day, the king can instantly summon seven Pudding Zombies, liquefied undead like himself, though only human-sized.  The zombies ooze through the walls in only one second.


'''7 Pudding Zombies'''

Pudding Zombies are 250 pounds or so of liquid undead that come in various shades of brown and dark green.  They are composed of lumpy, rotting, liquefied flesh and their stench is indescribable.

ST: 14 HP: 18 Speed: 5

DX: 12 Will: 11 Move: 5

IQ: 1 Per: 10

HT: 12 FP: N/A SM: 0

Dodge: 10Parry N/A DR: 2

Kiss (15): Pudding Zombies attack the face at no penalty.  If they succeed, they attach themselves, blinding and deafening their host as well as making it impossible for them to breathe.  They may be removed through a successful contest of ST but will otherwise remain until either they or the host are killed.  If there are no faces around to attack, one Pudding Zombie may temporarily merge with another who has already laid claim to a face – creating a zombie with twice as much ST and twice as many hit points.  Merged zombies may separate again at will.

Traits: Amphibious; Dark Vision, Doesn’t Breathe; Doesn’t Eat or Drink; Doesn’t Sleep; High Pain Threshold; Immunity to Metabolic Hazards; Injury Tolerance (Diffuse; Infiltration, Can ooze under barriers and through tiny holes); Invertebrate; No Legs (Slithers).

Class: Undead.

Notes:  Too insane to communicate or negotiate.


'''Treasure'''

At the bottom of the sarcophagus, under the filthy brown liquid that is the king’s body, lies a platinum crown.

''Crown of the Unknown King''

This heavy (wt. 3lbs) platinum crown is covered in twisting spires of metal of different lengths and thickness, arranged in no discernible pattern.  Engraved around the band are the letters of the alphabet in order, each written simply, with no flourish or decoration.  Connoisseurs of fine jewelry are likely to find the crown ugly.  Others are just likely to think that it looks weird.

Information spells will reveal no information about the crown and it does not appear to be magical, psionic or (un)holy.  Viewed through mystic means, such as by Magesight, it appears to be perfectly mundane.

Inexplicably, anyone wearing the crown is at +4 to Charisma.  This effect does not register as magic, or (un)holy, or psionic, or as supernatural in any way.

While 31 lbs of platinum is worth a lot of money on its own, the crown is priceless due to the difficulty of detecting and countering its effects.  However,

1.  There is no way to tell what the crown does without someone putting it on.
2.  Beyond a certain sum, it is easier for NPCs to steal the crown or take it by force than to pay for it.

If the PCs just want to get the thing out of their hands, it should be possible to fence it through appropriate known contacts or through role-playing and the use of appropriate skills.  Given a reasonably competent and professional system of loot disposal, $250,000 might be an appropriate price.  GMs should feel free to raise or lower this price as they wish.  Give the PCs whatever sort of reward you think is appropriate for having hacked all the way through the dungeons beneath Castle Everglory.

At the GMs discretion, PCs can sell the crown for significantly greater rewards by making an adventure of questing for the right buyer.  This should not be easy.  Not everyone would want the crown, an item that is a little disturbing to say the least.  Of those who want the crown, not everyone has the money to pay for it, and among those who want the crown and have the money, not everyone wants to honor their deals, particularly when the price rises high enough.  When word gets out about this item, it likely to attract the attention of conmen, gangsters, thieves and assassins.

Use of the crown is highly addictive, but not supernaturally so, and the nature of the addiction, if any, depends on the user’s personality.  Some people really like to be liked.  For others, it is less important.  The effect on PCs who wear the crown should be a role-playing matter for the player to decide.  A truly humble, anti-social or selfless individual may suffer no effects at all, while someone who feels undervalued, or is a glory hound, or is simply ambitious may find themselves obsessed by the love and respect they may potentially gain.  In short, the crown is a plot hook.  Have fun with it in whatever way works best!

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