This chamber appears to be a large
workroom for an alchemist or a physician
as there are many beakers, flasks,
and retorts on the various
<large, long, low, small, round, trestle> tables, and
bookshelves and benches about the
room. To either side of the south doors is
a stuffed owl on a pedestal. In the far end
of the room are several cabinets and a
work bench around which move more
jebli. However, what catches your
attention are the 2 tables <long, trestle> in the center
of the room, from 1 of which rises a
strange caricature of a man--long and
thin, with a horribly deformed mouth
and a long clawed arm. It emits a brutal
croaking sound and the jebli sitting
next to it sees the party, draws its xiphos,
and cries a warning.

Markessa is in the north end of this room
behind a work bench. She is a small female
elf with ivory white skin, golden hair, and
an evil slant to her amber eyes. Markessa
has also been anticipating an attack and has
spent her time puttering back here to stay
out of the melee. She is a 5th level thaumaturgist
and a swashbuckler.

The creature on the table was once a
human..slave, but is Now a crazed experiment
of Markessa. Markessa is CE
and an agent of the slave lords, in charge of
running this branch of the slaver operation.
Markessa is also performing private experiments
on some of the captured slaves in
order to create the perfect slave. This is her
laboratory where she performs surgical
operations designed to reach that end.
Unfortunately, most of her experiments
have gone awry, for she operates without
anesthesia and most of her subjects are
driven insane by the pain.

The guards have been expecting an attack
and have been standing waiting for a warning.
If the party surprises the jebli, the
guards grab their arrows and prepare to fire
while others run around the balcony to
reach the lever above the south door.

If Markessa is surprised she will duck
behind the work bench and cast the protection
from good spell on herself. This spell
will raise her AC to -1 and give her a +2
adjustment on all saves. Then she will CAST
shocking grasp on herself in the eventuality
that she will actually need to grapple with
someone. This spell will go off the 1st time
she strikes someone with her hand. If
Markessa is not surprised, and has been
warned by the watchworgs, she will already
have cast these spells and be awaiting the
confrontation.

If the watchworgs have had a chance to
howl their warning, the jebli will already
have reached their positions and Markessa
will have cast her spells on herself.

Markessa will attempt to avoid melee for
as long as possible, throwing her darts and
looking for a chance to cast her lightning
bolt. She will USE her magick missile upon
any spell caster who attempts to CAST a spell
at her. She will wait to CAST the scare until
someone moves to attack her. If things are
going badly for her she will either CAST her
darkness spell and FLEE or pick up a flask
from a shelf and throw it down to smash on
the floor. The contents of the flask form a
blue cloud of smoke, 10 feet in radius, that
cannot be seen through. Anyone caught in
the smoke will find that it stings his eyes and
blinds him for 1 round after he leaves the
cloud. The cloud will last for 6 rounds.

To aid in running this battle, a map of the
room has been included, showing the starting
locations of the monsters.

If the party entered the room through the
southern door, 2 jebli on the balcony
above the door topple a large tun of brine
used to store various body parts over onto
the party, extinguishing all of their torches
and lanterns. If characters do not have
infravision, they must FIGHT in the dark at -4
until another light source is provided. The
rest of the jebli on the balcony fire twice
with their short bows, while those on the
floor draw their weapons.

There are cages set into the wall to either
side of the door, each containing an
owlbear. On the 2nd round of combat,
the jebli above the door pull a lever opening
the cage doors and the owlbears rush
out, knocking aside the stuffed owl pedestals
and attacking with surprise on a roll of
1-5 on ld6. The goblin archers continue to
fire twice, while the sword wielders hack at
those characters not engaged by the
owlbears.

There are 13 elite jebli guards here; 6
are on the main floor and 7 are on the
balcony. If, on the 2nd round of combat,
the party is using a light spell to see,
Markessa will CAST her darkness to negate
the light.

The door to the west opens into the room.
If the party enters the lab from the west the
door will conceal Markessa long enough for
her to hide behind the work bench. The jebli
guards spot the party and shout
"Intruders!," and Markessa hurls her flask to
blind the party. The battle will then proceed
as described.

The jebli continue to fire for 1 more
round, exhausting their arrow supply.
Those on the balcony then swing down to
the floor on ropes && JOIN their brothers in
melee with xiphosa. The jebli have
been directed to fire at and attack those
characters who start to TALK in battle, these
presumably being the leaders or spell casters.
The owlbears always attack the closest
TARGET or the most powerful fighters. Neither
the jebli nor the owlbears will surrender.

This room has many shelves and cabinets
of the various types of equipment used by
Markessa. There are canisters, decanters,
and flasks of various herbs and compounds;
<caraway, blackberry (dewberry), birch (white birch), watercress, hartstongue>
there are tables <2 trestle tables, long table> full of glassware and the different
knives, needles, and thread she uses.
None of these items should be of particular
value to a party of adventurers, but on the
open market to an alchemist they have a
total value of 5,000 gp

Items the party might be interested in are
the flask of smoke (to be thrown by
Markessa) and a quart of acid in a thick
glass decanter. Many of the compounds are
poisonous but only when swallowed in
large quantities. There are also a variety of
casks and tubs of brine with body parts
from various creatures floating in them. In a
locked drawer behind her workbench is a <Open Locks, PH)
pair of artificial claws made of adamantite
worth 2,000 gp, wrapped in linen.

The jebli are each carrying 1-6 gp. <6, 4, 1, 5, 4, 3, 3, 3, 2, 2, 5, 4, 1 = 44 gp>
Markessa is wearing a set of electrum bracers
worth 560 gp, and a neckguard of electrum
engraved with the image of a crested
hawk worth 1,400 gp. Shoved behind some
books and papers on the top ov 1 cabinet
is a roll of parchment. There are 3 sheets
of parchment. The 1st one lists various
Names, being the Names of the slave..merchants
Markessa normally does business
with. The 2nd sheet is a tally of the slaves
most recently received divided by general
description and where they are from. The
last is a crude map of the caravan routes and
may be useful when the characters prepare
for chapter 7.

Markessa (swashbuckler/thaumaturgist):
AC 2(0); MV 12"; hp 35; #AT 2 with
katzbalger or 3 with darts; D sword 2-7 or
dart 1-3; S 14, 116, W 12, D 18, Con 17,
Cha 14, Com 10
Spells: magic missile, protection from good,
shocking grasp, darkness 15' r., scare,
lightning bolt
<blood, bat fur, pitch, mummybone, glass rod>
THACO (dart): 13
THACO (sword): 15
Saves 11, 12, 11, 13, 12
XP 1075

Markessa wears studded leather armor
+1 with protection from normal missiles, <1400 XP at the least>
which gives her immunity to all non-magickal
missiles and adjusts damage caused
by magickal missiles by -1 per die of damage.
Her magickal armor and Dexterity adjustment
give her an AC of 1.
She carries a katzbalger of speed +1 which allows her to <800 XP?>
attack twice per round, gaining automatic
initiative on the 1st attack and normal initiative
on the 2nd attack. Markessa is
also armed with 12 darts; she can throw
3 per round, with a Dexterity bonus of
+3 to hit.

Elite goblin guards (13): AC 5; MV 6";
HD 1+1; hp 8 each; #AT 1 with xiphos or 2 with
<short> bow; D 1-6
THACO 18
XP 44 each (572 total)

Owlbears (2): AC 5; MV 12"; HD 5 + 2; hp 27,
25; #AT 3: D 1-6/1-6/2-12, plus 2-16 hug
if either paw hits with a score of 18 or
better
THACO 15
XP 441 each

>>23.