| This room is locked. The lock must be <Open
Locks, PH>
picked or shattered (1 turn smashing with weapons) before entering. The room is 130 feet long, 100 feet wide, and 30 to 40 feet tall. There are 4 rows of pillars, 2 on each side of the room, with a long space between them occupied by a large reptilian creature. The creature has a heavy shell and a tail that looks like a giant mace. At the far end of the room is a throne. Sitting there is a tall, emaciated gnoll-like figure whose evil eyes glow amber. The creature bears a 7-foot-long flail with three massive heads. To the right of the great marble throne are 6 tall gnolls with halberds, and to the left are 6 leering ghouls. A loud bellow breaks from the reptile as it charges. |
All of the illusions in this room are actually
spectral
forces and cannot be dispelled <can a spectral force be disbelieved?>
simply by disbelieving them. If the gem
of seeing
is used, the actual nature of the illusions
will be revealed. Otherwise each illusion
is maintained until a character
successfully strikes at it, at which time
that
illusion disappears.
There is a glass wall in front of the throne
so that Wimpell may cast his spells (see
below) without fear
of being struck by missiles.
This wall is impervious to physical
missiles, though certain spells (like lightning
bolt)
may shatter it, subject to saving
throws,
of course. The wall will not provide
protection from missile
attacks from the
sides of the hall if the firer is beyond
the
3rd set of pillars.
While the "ankylosaurus"
delays the
party, the illusionary ghouls
and gnolls
advance (if a cleric
attempts to TURN the
ghouls they TURN away, cower, and do not
attack). The illusions strike for real
damage
until they themselves are hit, at which
point
they disappear.
The rust
monster fights until slain or distracted
(by a large amount of iron spikes
--
at least 7). Note that any weapon
striking
the rust monster is subject to rust (unless
the weapon is made of wood, like the bats
(clubs)
found in the storoper).
The real gnolls who
are protecting Wimpell FIGHT to the death.
Wimpell, on the other
hand, casts the following
spells and then flees (note that the
powerful throne doubles spell ranges
but
not areas
of effect).
1. As soon as possible (when most of the
characters are fighting the rust
monster)
Wimpell uses fear,
immediately following
with paralyzation.
2. blur on
himself.
3. emotion
(hopelessness)
4. blindness
on a party spellcaster
5. repeat 4
6. color
spray
7. color
spray
8. darkness,
in which he tries to escape.
If Wimpell is ever seriously threatened,
he
casts the darkness
spell and tries to escape
through the secret
door in the northeastern
corner of the room. As he leaves the room
he reverts to his true form -- a wizened
old
man in tattered clothing.
<belt, gloves, slippers, cape>
After passing
through the secret door he activates a
special
lock that prevents the door from being
opened for 10 turns, then makes his escape.
He has bracers
of defense AC 4, and a dagger
+2. The throne has a hidden panel in the
rear which can be detected by tapping or
by
a similar method. After searching for 1
turn the party discovers how to open the
panel, which conceals a duplicate key to
the
secret door.
If captured, Wimpell certainly lives up
to
his name. As far as slave
lords go, he is the
weakest, most snivelling one the PCs have
met to date.
He has been
continually abused by his fellow slave
lords
and is in great fear of them. If
he does TALK,
the PCs get little of USE from
him. Apparently he was not trusted
or
respected with knowledge of the inner council's
plans nor does he know much about the
overall operation. He does know the names
of the Nine of the Inner Council and can
give a brief description of the character
of
each.
Rust monster:
AC 2; MV 18"; HD 5; hp 27:
#AT 2: D rust only
THACO 15
XP 320
Wimpell Frump <(Apparitionist)>:
AC 0; MV 12"; hp 33;
#AT 1; D 3-6
THACO 19
XP 1696
5 Gnolls:
AC 4; MV 9"; HD 3; hp 20; #AT 1;
D 1-6 arrow <(great
bow)>, 2-9 <(long sword)>
THACO 16
XP 110 each
