By Howard de Wied



THE GARDEN OF NEFARON

Then, since they knew that mortal
flesh — no matter how honorable —was
weak, they sought the services of a
member of the race of ki-rin. The lords
explained the nature of the great evil
which Malakon represented, and asked
if the ki-rin would help. After much deliberation, the rulers of that noble race
agreed to perform certain tasks. At midnight on the last day of each week from
then on, a ki-rin would visit the place to
check all the traps and guardians, making sure that all remained secure. If Malakon was missing, the ki-rin would inform the lords of the land; if any of the
protective spells had been countered,
the ki-rin would repair them as well as
possible.

And so Merithus, Master of Mists, went
to dwell by the forest, and for many years
he prospered. A great castle was built,
but at first few people wished to live so
close to the forest. All was quiet until one
day a wandering seer visited Merithus
and claimed he had seen in a vision that
in later times Merithus’ home would be
destroyed and all those living there
would be killed. To keep his family from
falling victim to this horrible prediction,
Merithus constructed a garden in the
shape of a pentagon —a universally recognized symbol for danger and evil
among his countrymen — to warn people that great peril lurked nearby.

For 200 more years the house of Merithus lived in relative peace and a town,
which was given the name Nefaron by as the descendant of Merithus who presently served as the sentinel, grew up under
the protection of the fortress’s troops.
The story of Malakon was passed from
father to eldest son for seven generations, and no great evil was visited upon
the house of Merithus or the town of Nefaron. But finally the seer’s prophesy
came to pass; catmen attacked and destroyed both castle and town. None of the
house of Merithus remained alive, but
survivors of the town of Nefaron rebuilt
their homes, and Nefaron is once again
prosperous.



Notes for the Dungeon Master: 

The above account should not be read to the
players in its entirety; it gives away far
too much information. Most of the history is for the benefit of the DM only, so
that he can develop a “feel” for the background of the action that is about to take
place.

Certain portions of the text have been
printed in italic type. The premise is that
the adventurers have found an old scroll,
much of which has been ruined by water
and time. Only small sections of it (the
italicized parts) — sometimes mere phrases — are readable. All passages in italic
type may be read to the players, or the
DM might choose to reveal only a portion of the “legal” information. Let the
party make of it what they will. 

A good player will be able to glean a
fair amount of useful information from
the remains of the scroll. Not least, it tells
him the name of the town and its general
location. The name Nefaron might perhaps be recognized as having something
to do with the word “nefarious,” meaning
“flagrantly wicked.” Also, from the obvious age of the place, it can be deduced
that there will likely be few “monsters” in
whatever “dungeon” environment might
be encountered. The Garden of Nefaron,
being a rather distinctive feature of the
local geography, would seem like a good
place to start searching for the stronghold. Characters having access to the talents of sages or Legend Lore spells or
the like will be unable to determine anything further, other than the facts that a
town of the correct name in the general
area still exists, that it is quite famous for
its beautiful garden, and that there is a
“feeling” of strong evil about the place.

Wilderness map details



The Town of Nefaron is situated on
one of the country’s major caravan
routes. The cities of Templor, Fortuna
and Biscandy are on a three-way trade
route. Caravans pass through Nefaron
about once every two weeks, mostly
from one or the other of these cities, but
sometimes from more distant ones. The
town is located at a vertex where a small
patch of terrain is the only passage between a thick forest and impassable (for
caravans) marshes.

The Neverending Marshes is a huge
area of waterways, lakes and marshes,
sparsely inhabited by humans, but with
large populations of troglodytes and Iizardmen, as well as the usual orcs, goblins, hobgoblins, and so forth.



The Great Forest, located to the east
and northeast of Nefaron, is almost
completely uninhabited by humans, and
men seldom visit it. It is home to all sorts
of nasty creatures, especially spiders,
snakes and wolves. Large bands of marauding bugbears and ogres occasionally appear from the forest, so it is thought
that those races may live there, too.

GUARDIANS
FREQUENCY: Very rare
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: 3
MOVE: 6”
HIT DICE: See below
% IN LAIR: Nil
TREASURE TYPE: Nil
NO. OF ATTACKS: See below
DAMAGE/ATTACK: By weapon type
SPECIAL ATTACKS: None
SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: See below
ALIGNMENT: Lawful (good or neutral)
SIZE: M
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil (immune to
psionic attack)
Attack/Defense Modes: Nil

Guardians may only be created by
magic-users of lawful good or lawful
neutral alignment, and the creatures will
always assume the intelligence and precise alignment of their creator. (The
Guardians found inside the dungeon in
this module are lawful good and highly
intelligent.) 

To create one, a full suit of plate mail
(cost 2,000 gp) must first be obtained.
While the spell caster is robed in vestments (minimum cost 5,000 gp) appropriate to the alignment of the character,
the following spells are cast upon the
armor, in this order: Polymorph Any Object, Geas, Protection from Evil/Good,
Strength, and finally a Wish. The Guardian thus created will have an armor class
of 3, a move of 6”, and strength of 18/00.
It will have half as many hit dice as the
magic-user who created it, but these will
be 10-sided hit dice. It will have the average number of hit points (5.5 per die),
rounded up to the nearest whole number. 

A Guardian may use only one weapon,
which is specified in the wording of the
Wish spell. It will wield the weapon as a
fighter of the same level as its hit dice,
having the number of attacks per round
appropriate to that level and type of
character. 

Guardians are able to obey commands
and instructions of a quite complicated
nature. (It is possible to construct and
sell these creatures for profit.) Initial instructions may be stipulated up to 200
words in length, or any lesser amount of
instruction can be programmed into the
creature when it is formed. If the 200-
word limit has not been reached, additional instructions may be imparted to
the Guardian at any time, by anyone of
the same alignment as the Guardian, up
to the maximum —as long as the phrase
“end of instructions” is not included.
Once this is spoken to a Guardian, no
more instructions will be accepted by
that creature. A Guardian will obey its
instructions until it is destroyed. 

Guardians are not affected by the following spells or spell types: sleep, charm,
hold, paralyzation, fear, illusions, death
magic, suggestion, maze or any spells
which affect human sensory organs.
Guardians are unaffected by any psionics or poisons. 

They are vulnerable to spells causing
physical damage, such as Fire Ball, Cone
of Cold, Magic Missile, etc. One spell is
especially useful versus Guardians: A
Forget spell causes a Guardian to ignore 
its programmed instructions and stand
stationary for the number of rounds that
the spell causes a person to forget. A
Guardian makes all saving throws as a
fighter of the same level (hit dice). 

Because of the Protection from Evil/
Good spell cast upon them, attacks
against Guardians are always conducted at -1 to hit, and their saving throws are
made at +1.
When a Guardian reaches zero hit
points, it is destroyed. The spells binding
it are released, leaving only a suit of plate
mail and whatever weapon the Guardian
was wielding.

Merithus’ Mist Maker
The origin of this unusual item is unknown. Perhaps Merithus himself manufactured it, or perhaps he commissioned
a talented wizard to do it for him; in any
event, there is certainly only one of its
kind. Its present whereabouts, in this day
and age, are also unknown.

The item looks like a hand-bellows,
finely crafted of wood and leather and
inlaid with runes of silver. It can produce
three magical mists: 

Mist of Sleep: This mist cannot be
seen; it is transparent. However, some
muffling of sound and “thickness” of air
where the mist has spread might be noticed. For every round a character is
within the mist he must make a saving
throw vs. spells. If the save fails, he will
instantly fall asleep and will remain in
slumber until removed from the mist. If a
previous saving throw was successful, a
character gains +1 (cumulative) on the
next save attempt one round later, up to
a maximum of +4. Bonuses are only
added following saving throws that succeed, but no bonus previously gained
can be lost by failing to make a particular
throw. For example, if a character who
had earned a +2 bonus on his save
against the mist is affected by the mist,
and then taken away and revived, he can
re-enter the mist and still be able to include the bonus in, his later saving
throws. Elves’ and half-elves’ resistance
to sleep applies here.


A character will awaken after being
away from the mist for 6 turns, or as soon
as 1 turn later if he is briskly shaken. The
mist is only effective when it is breathed.
Characters who hold their breath or have
magical means of breathing do not have
to save against the mist. DMs should roll
saving throws themselves in secret and
only inform players of the results.

Mist of Hypnotism: This mist appears
to be full of flowing colors: reds, blues,
greens, yellows, etc. It has effects similar
to the illusionist spell Hypnotic Pattern.
In each round that a character views the
mist, he must make a saving throw vs.
spells (wisdom bonus applicable) or be
hypnotized (DMs roll in secret). Attempts
may be made to shake a character out of
the trance; these attempts allow further
saving throws at +2 (for the first attempt)
and +4 (for the second). But after two
such attempts, no further saving throws
are allowed, and a victim will fight violently to remain watching the mist. There
is a simple way to get a character out of
the trance: Simply cover his eyes for one
round. A character’s range of vision
while in the mist is only 20 feet. 

Mist of Forgetfulness: This is a thick,
green mist with a sweet smell. For every
round a character smells the mist, he
must make a save vs poison. Failure to
save indicates total loss of memory for
6-60 turns. The character will act as if
Confused (as per the spell of the same
name) and will be unable to use any weapon or spell; victims may only defend
themselves with their bare hands. (They
have forgotten how to do everything
else.) Time spent confused in the mist
does not count as part of the 6-60 turns;
the duration of forgetfulness begins after the victim leaves the direct influence
of the mist. Spell-users will have forgotten all memorized spells when they come
out of the trance. The normal range of
vision is only 10 feet within the mist.

All three mists have these things in
common: They radiate magic strongly.
They are permanent in duration, if generated in a confined space. (They will
always remain in the space.) If formed
outside an enclosed area, they will disperse in 6 turns.

The Mist Maker may be operated once
per day, but not more than twice in a
week. It will pump 1,000 cubic feet of gas
per round, up to a maximum of 50,000
cubic feet per use. If someone attempts
to operate the item more than twice in a
week or more than once in a day, it will
suck into itself everything within a 10-
foot radius of itself — including the user
— and these things will be forever gone. 

To operate the item, the words “Maker
of Mists, in the name of Master Merithus
pour forth...” must be spoken, followed
by the name of whichever mist is desired,
and then the bellows must be pumped to
expel the mist from inside the maker. 

Psychogems



A psychogem appears to be a large,
many-faceted gem, usually blue. Psychogems are used to amplify psionic powers, essentially acting as though they
donate extra psionic strength points. 

Psychogems occur in power “levels”
similar to character class levels. Gems of
levels 1-9 occur naturally. In olden times,
gems of levels as high as 15 were manufactured. For each level of the gem, the
psionic ability of the owner/user may be
boosted by 10%. Gems may have souls
or spirits trapped within them. Gems
may be found in unusual places: at the
heart of a glacier, deep in a mountain, or
at the source of a river.
In order to use a psychogem, a psionic
must “key” it to himself — in effect, set
up a resonance between the stone and
his mind. To key the gem, the character
must look into it and discern the geometrical patterns inside the gem created by
its facets.

There is a 5% chance per level of the
stone that an individual attempting to
key a psychogem will have his mind partially trapped inside the stone. This
chance decreases by 3% for every time
the character has previously keyed a different gem. This chance of being trapped
may also be decreased by 5% for each
additional person, up to a maximum
number equal to the level of the gem,
who adds his psionic strength to the individual keying the gem. In such an arrangement, the person to whom the
stone is being keyed must have the highest psionic strength of all the individuals
involved. 

When a gem has been keyed, a small
blue flame may be seen inside it. 

Should a person’s consciousness be
trapped in the stone, it can be released
by an outside force whenever another
character physically touches the gem —
causing great pain to the being trapped
inside. Touching a gem will always (subject to a saving throw described below)
bring a character out of its imprisonment
(with his consciousness traveling instantaneously back to his physical body), but
it will affect his body like a Symbol of
Pain, causing 2-20 points of damage. To
see if attempts to release him from the
stone are successful, the character
should roll a saving throw on d20. If the
result of the roll is greater than the character’s constitution, he is freed. A new
attempt (touch) and a new saving throw
may be made once per round until it succeeds or until the “toucher” gives up. A
character who is released from a gem
will be in shock for the same number of
hours that he was trapped in rounds.
(However, a system shock roll does not
need to be made.) During this time, the
character can take no action of any sort. 

It is possible to “unkey” a gem, rendering it useless to someone who had already keyed it to himself. This action requires the person trying to unkey the
gem to bring more psionic strength (current totals applicable, not full-strength
totals) to bear on the stone than the person to whom it is keyed. Take the difference between the two totals and roll d%.
A roll of the difference or less indicates
that the stone has been unkeyed. The
psionic to whom the gem is keyed will be
automatically aware of the attempt to
unkey and will almost certainly resist the
attempt. Each round of attempting to
unkey a gem requires an expenditure of
10 strength points. Defending against it
requires only 5 strength points per round.
For a gem to be unkeyed requires that it
be in the possession of the character to
whom it is keyed. 

Because of the severe pain caused to
the “inhabitant” by someone else touching the keyed stone, a psionic possessing one will always wear it on his person.
Usually it is carried in a soft leather
pouch hung around the neck, making
access to it easy in case the need arises
to use it. When in use by its owner, the
gem is held in the hand while the psionic
concentrates his power through it. No
other action may be taken while doing
this. 

Psychogems are almost impossible to
destroy. Usually, only the environment
at the opposite extreme of the place
where they were created will be sufficiently powerful to spoil a gem. For instance, being crushed by the depths of 
the ocean if the gem came from the heart
of a mountain; or being subjected to absolute zero temperature if it was “born”
at the heart of a volcano. 

The Garden of Nefaron
This beautiful place can be reached by
a winding path which runs from the main
road a quarter of a mile into the surrounding forest. The garden is surrounded by the forest, but seems very
quiet and peaceful in contrast to the
ruggedness and threatening mood that
the forest conveys to those who travel
through it. Its foliage consists mainly of
low-lying shrubs and flowers with an occasional tree.
The garden is in the shape of a pentagon with a diameter of roughly 200
feet. The points of the pentagon are
connected by lo-foot-wide paths which
form the outline of a pentagram (fivepointed star) within the pentagon formed
by the shrubbery.

The ground is covered by low-lying
flowering bushes, except for a lo-footradius circle in the very center. Here a
circular stone platform protrudes 1 foot
above ground level. Its top surface is
marked with the signs of the Zodiac, and
it radiates an aura of magic due to a permanent Levitation spell cast on it. 

In the center of the circle is a secret
compartment. It may be discovered by
thieves using their “find traps” ability, by
dwarves or gnomes on a roll of 1-2 on
d10, and by others on a roll of 1 on d10. A
circular piece of stone in the center of
the larger piece may be lifted out to reveal a circular hole 6” deep and 6” wide.
At the bottom of this hole is a small,
mushroom-Iike projection sticking up.
Pushing down on this will cause the
stone platforms to begin to descend. Pulling up will cause the mushroom-like
projection to come away in the person’s
hand, but it may be replaced in its socket
and will operate the descent mechanism
as usual. The platform descends at the
rate of about 20 feet per round. It takes
two rounds to descend to its greatest
possible depth, and the platform will remain 1 foot above the floor when it
reaches the end of its descent. 

DUNGEON LEVEL 1
General
All parts of the dungeon are made of
hewn stone. All floors, unless otherwise
noted, are of flagstone. All ceilings are
plain hewn stone, also unless otherwise
noted, and are 20 feet high. 

The ki-rin acting as the dungeon “caretaker” is described below. The DM decides results of ki-rin encounters with
adventurers, but if the party is evil or
evil-tending neutral, the ki-rin will probably attempt to destroy it. A ki-rin has
supra-genius intelligence, and the
chance of being able to mislead or confuse it is virtually nil. 

Ki-rin




Armor Class: -5
Move: 24”/48”
Hit dice: 12
Hit points: 77
Magic Resistance: 90%
Alignment: Lawful good
Size: L
Spells:
1st level: Shield, Erase, Burning Hands,
Sleep, Magic Missile (x2), Detect Magic,
Hold Portal, Protection from Evil.
2nd level: Wizard Lock, Web, Stinking
Cloud, Ray of Enfeeblement, Mirror lmage, Magic Mouth (x2).
3rd level: Dispel Magic, Explosive
Runes, Fireball, Lightning Bolt, Phantasmal Force, Slow, Suggestion.
4th level: Dimension Door, Fear, Fire
Trap, Ice Storm, Minor Globe of Invulnerability, Remove Curse.
5th level: Bigby’s Interposing Hand,
Conjure Elemental, Passwall, Teleport,
Transmute Rock to Mud.
6th level: Disintegrate, Geas, Invisible
Stalker, Anti-Magic Shell.
7th level: Power Word Stun, Vanish,
Monster Summoning V.
8th level: Symbol, Maze.
9th level: Prismatic Sphere.
Psionic Ability: 200
Minor disciplines: Levitation; Invisibility; Detection of Good and Evil; Cell Adjustment, Clairaudience, Clairvoyance.
Major disciplines: Mass Domination,
Mind Bar, Energy Control, Telekinesis.

(1) As the elevator platform nears the
end of its descent, party members will
find themselves in a dark chamber. A
small amount of illumination coming
through the hole to the surface will enable them to make out a large human figure standing motionless a few feet away
from the platform. If characters approach
close enough to touch the figure, or if a
better source of light is employed by the
party, they will discover the figure to be a
stone statue. (A Detect Magic cast before anyone steps off the platform will
register positive, but will not provide any
details about the magic it detects.)

The elevator will automatically begin
to ascend to surface level 3 rounds after
the first party member steps off the platform, possibly carrying some characters
back to the surface, unless the mushroom-like projection is removed from its
housing while the elevator is in the
“down” position. It takes 1 round for the
platform to make the ascent, and those
on the platform may jump off during the
first half of that round without suffering
damage. The mushroom-like handle will
function normally again once the elevator has returned to the surface.

The statue is located 10’ in front of a
set of double doors visible along the
south wall. It is a statue of a man dressed
in a long, flowing cloak with the hint of
armor underneath. He has his arms 
folded across his chest, and his stern but
handsome face is directed straight at the
platform. As soon as anyone steps off
the platform, the statue will speak the
following warning through the Magic
Mouth spell that has been cast on it:
“Beware! Beware! Turn back, lest you
unleash the evil that is guarded here.”

The concealed door in the southwest
corner can be detected without special
effort, on a 1-3 on d6 for elves and halfelves, or a 1-2 on d6 for others. It is a
one-way door opening out of this room,
normal in appearance with a simple lock.
It will close behind the party after all
members intending to pass through it
have done so, and cannot be opened
normally from the other side (see [3]
below). A Wand of Secret Door Location
will find this door automatically. 

The secret door in the southeast corner
of the chamber may be detected only
when deliberate searching is done. Elves
and half-elves will find it on a roll of 1-2
on d10, others on a roll of 1 on d10, and a
wand will find it on a roll of 1-9. The
secret door (hinged along the top edge)
may be pulled up from the bottom by
anyone with a gripping strength of 18 or
better; there are depressions cut into the
floor below the door for this purpose. 

The double doors are plain oak, iron
bound, and will open without incident.
In the center of the north wall 5 feet
above the floor is a secret compartment
similar to the one in the stone platform.
Opening it will reveal a similar space inside, except that where the mushroomlike projection is in the elevator compartment, here there is an iron spike
driven flush into the wall. (This used to
be a “call button” for the elevator, but it
no longer operates).

(2) This corridor is filled with Mist of
Sleep. A Dispel Magic cast at the mist
will cause it to cease its function for one
round within the area of effect. Should a 
character reach the far end of this corridor 
and succeed in pulling open the false 
doors there, the floor will fall away 
around the doorway, revealing a 30-foot-deep 
pit. All characters within 5 feet of
the false doors will fall, taking 3d6 damage, and there is a 25% chance per individual that the fall will cause unconsciousness. There is nothing at the bottom of the pit.

(3) Characters opening the concealed door and entering will see nothing unusual until they turn the second
corner of the maze and are facing north.
Then they will see that the air is rather
misty. This mist is harmless and merely
serves to obstruct vision in the maze. By
the time point “X” is reached, the range
of vision is only five feet, and it will remain at that figure for as long as characters remain in the maze. There is nothing
threatening — in fact, nothing at all — in
the maze; it only serves as a means of
delaying intruders in hopes that they will
remain confused until the ki-rin makes
its rounds. The door leading to (1) will
not open normally from this side. It can
be smashed open with blunt weapons or
axes (it will absorb 50 points of damage
before breaking open) or opened with a
Knock spell. Due to the poor visibility, it
is impossible to accurately map the maze.
lnfravision will function at its normal
range in the mist for purposes of locating 
other characters in it. 

(4) The secret door along the north
wall of this passage cannot be seen
without careful searching. The chance
of finding the door is the same as in (1):
elves 1-2, wand 1-9, others 1 on d10. This
secret door slides to the east. Anyone
with a gripping strength of 18 or better
may slide it open; there are depressions
along the west edge of the doorway for
this purpose. The door leading to (5) is a
normal wooden, iron bound enclosure.

(5) 



This room has a conical, downward-sloping 
floor, leading to a 20-foot-diameter 
circular platform at the bottom 
of the curvature in the center of the 
chamber. The ceiling is covered with 
mirrors, making it appear that the ceiling 
is also conical .As soon as a character 
steps on the floor in this room, it will start 
to carry him around the room as if he is in
a whirlpool. The floor makes one revolution per round. Jumping onto the moving floor from outside the doorway is
possible; characters doing so will land
without harm at a percentage chance
equal to dexterity x 5%; i.e., a character
with 15 dexterity has a 75% chance of
landing unhurt, and one with a dexterity
of 10 has a 50% chance. Failing to make
this roll will result in the character taking
2-8 points of damage from the minor fall.
It takes 3 rounds of spinning and falling
toward the center for a character to
reach the central area. When the first
character arrives here, the trap door will
open and the character will fall 30 feet,
taking 3d6 damage, with a 25% chance of
unconsciousness. If a character happens
to look at the mirrored ceiling as he falls
(25% chance), the ceiling above the pit
will act Iike a Mirror of Opposition. A
duplicate of the character will appear in
the bottom of the pit and battle will be
joined.

The same thing will happen to each
character who is on the rotating floor,
possibly making the pit quite crowded
with characters and magical duplicates.
Each duplicate will only attack the character it resembles, but may be affected
by attacks from other characters who did
not look at the ceiling on the way down
and thus do not have a duplicate of their
own to contend with.

When all of the characters and objects
on the spinning floor have been drawn
into the pit, the chamber will stop rotating and the trap door will close over the
struggle below. The floor will not move 
again until the battle is over and the survivors (if any) have escaped from the pit.
Weights of less than 50 pounds will not
open the trap door from the outside, and
it cannot be opened from below except
by a Knock spell. At the bottom of the pit
is the skeleton of a dead fighter in plate
mail with a x1 battle axe at his side.

(6) There is nothing unusual about
this passage.

(7) The iron door leading from (6) to
this room is locked with a device of such
intricacy that a thief’s attempt to pick it is
made at -10% to the normal chance.
Standing with its back against the door
in the southeast corner is a 7½-foot-tall
man-shaped figure whose body seems
to have been sewn together. This is a
flesh golem. (AC 9, MV 8”, HD 9, hp 40,
#AT 2, D 2-16/2-16. See the AD&D™
Monster Manual for more details.) It is
equipped with Bracers of Defense AC 2
and has a Magic Mouth spell cast on it.
As soon as someone steps through the
doorway from (6), the flesh golem will
say, “You have been warned once. Turn
back or I shall be forced to defend this
passage for the cause of good.”

If anyone steps further toward the golem, it will assume a fighting stance and
will charge and attack the first character
to come within 10 feet of the south door.

The door on the south wall is also
made of iron and is intricately locked,
the same as the west door. 

(8) There is a 10-foot-square pressure plate concealed in the floor halfway
down this corridor. Each character walking past this point has a 50% chance,
regardless of his weight, of triggering
the trap. (Weights of less than 50 pounds
will have no effect.) When it is triggered,
a stone block will fall from the ceiling,
causing 2-24 points of damage (save vs.
petrification for half damage) to the character who set it off. Armor and dexterity
bonuses to the saving throw are applicable. The door at the south end of the
corridor is wooden and iron bound.

(9) This room is filled with Mist of
Hypnotism.


(10) The door from (9) is made of
iron and is locked normally. A Symbol of
Hopelessness has been inscribed on it.
Opening the door triggers the symbol. 
Once it is triggered, a Magic Mouth will
speak the following: “Turn back! Turn
back! Leave and never return to this
place!” Wisdom bonuses count for saving throw purposes. The door leading
west is wooden and iron bound with an
intricate lock like the mechanisms in the
doors of (7).

(11) The concealed door at the west
end is detectable normally (1-3 on d6 for
elves/half-elves, 1-2 for others). However, it has been Wizard Locked at 18th
level of ability. 

(12) There is an illusionary wall running north and south through the center
of this 50-foot-long chamber. If someone touches the door in disbelief, it will
be dispelled. Otherwise, it will appear to
be solid and featureless. If someone
leans against the wall or pushes on it,
that character will fall through it, seeming to disappear from view to the characters on the other side.

(13) through (16) These rooms are
all in identical states of disrepair, with
only a couple of distinctive features in
particular rooms (see below). The rooms
are apparently devoid of contents apart
from a pile of rubble in the center of each
floor which is recognizable as broken
and burnt pieces of what was once usable furniture.

(14) A careful search of the pile of
furnishings in this room will reveal an
undamaged Carpet of Flying, large
enough to carry 2 people at 36” flying
speed. Its command word is “Luck.” It
appears to be a rug of Oriental design
with a pattern of four dragons in blue at
the corners facing a green world in the
center. The background color is cream
with a green border.

(15) A careful search of the wall in this
room will reveal (1-2 on d6 for elves/halfelves, 1 on d6 for others) that on the
north wall in the west corner there is a
secret compartment. It is locked and a
Leomund’s Trap has been cast on it. Inside is a hollow bone cylinder about 1
foot long and 3 inches in diameter. This
contains a Scroll of Protection From
Possession, of the variety that lasts 10-
60 rounds. There is also a small leather
sack containing 7 gems: a 10 gp turquoise, a 100 gp pearl, a 10 gp azurite, a
1,200 gp emerald, a 500 gp garnet (violet), a 200 gp topaz and a 500 gp
amethyst.

(17) The door at the end is made of
iron and locked with a complex lock as in
(7). A trap is triggered if the lock is
picked: Iron bars crash down in front of
the door and 10 feet back down the passageway. The walls then start to move
together at the rate of 1 foot per round.
Anything remaining between them until
the middle of the 5th round thereafter
will be crushed.





(18) In this room is a skeleton of a fire
giant. (AC 4 [AC 7, with +3 Ring of Pro
tection,, MV 12”, HD 11 x 5, hp 67, #AT 1,
D 5-30.) It is immune to Sleep, Charm,
and Hold spells, and is unaffected by any
attacks using cold or fire. Edged wea
pons do half damage. Unholy water will
cause 2-8 points of damage per vial-full
that hits. The giant skeleton will surprise
opponents on 1-4 on d6 and will attack
anything coming through the door. It
wields a giant-sized club. For attempts to
turn, treat the skeleton as a spectre.
Note: Good-aligned clerics cannot af
fect this creature in any manner with an
attempt to turn.


The iron door in the southwest corner
of the room has an even more complex
lock than the other doors encountered
so far; attempts by a thief to pick it are
made at -15%.

(19) A Continual Darkness spell has
been placed here, covering the last 50
feet of the north-south passage and the
10 feet running east-west up to the double doors. Inscribed on these wooden
doors is a Glyph of Warding which will
cause 36 points electrical damage (save
for half damage) if passed. The doors
also contain a carving of a man with goat
hooves and horns covered with shaggy
fur from the waist down. But this image
has been severely mutilated, apparently
by savage hacking with sharp blades. 

(20) The main feature of this room is
a large black obsidian altar against the
east wall, with a five-foot-high, five-footwide platform running around the front
and sides. The top of the altar is 5 feet
above the level of the platform. There are
steps leading up to the platform.
In the center of the room is a low
bench, also made of obsidian. The floor,
walls, and ceiling are all painted black.

It seems that there were once many
paintings on the walls and ceiling, done
in bright fluorescent colors, mostly of
various animals: toads, scorpions, bats,
basilisks and others. The image on the
ceiling appears to be a painting of a huge
black dragon with a skeleton-like rider.
All of the paintings have been mostly
obscured and defaced by the scribing of
many signs and glyphs in white on top of
the original paint. In the southwest corner is a pile of burnt wood. In the northeast and southeast corners are small collections of rubble which appear to be the
broken and twisted parts of a pair of
candelabras. On the altar are two small
crystal vials and a small metallic box.

This room is a shrine, constructed by
Malakon as a tribute to his evil god. The
paintings were defaced by the champions who imprisoned Malakon. The 
shrine is now useless as a place of worship. The glyphs and signs which mar
the paintings are blessings of good and
signs of warding of evil, designed to
keep prayer here from reaching its desired destination.

Although much of its evilness has
been neutralized by the signs scribed in
white, the shrine is not without power. If
any good or neutral character touches
the altar, the toucher will receive 3-30 (if
good) or 3-18 (if neutral) points of damage. Cure spells will not heal this damage; lost hit points can only be regained
by rest and time. Evil characters will not
take damage from touching the altar, but
there is a 2% chance per level for any
character touching the altar to unintentionally summon a Type II demon. (AC
-2, MV 6”//12”, HD 9, hp 49, #AT 3, D
1-3/1-3/4-16; see Monster Manual for
more details.)

The pile of burnt wood in the southwest corner was once a font. The basin,
made of electrum and worth 10,000 gp, is
still intact underneath all the ash. It
weighs 250 pounds. The broken candelabras were made of lead and are worthless. The two crystal vials are full of unholy water.

The small metallic box is made of
steel. It is locked, and has an ordinary
stone inside to make it heavy. It is not the
box in which Malakon’s consciousness
is imprisoned. The lock may be picked
by a thief quite easily.

The secret door in the platform cannot
be detected by a Wand of Secret Door
Location, although it may be seen by
True Sight or a Gem of Seeing. It may be
found by elves and half-elves on a roll of
1-3 on d10 or by others on 1-3 on d20. It
opens by pulling up, like the door in (1),
and also cannot be moved by a gripping
strength of less than 18.

(21) Beneath the secret door is a 10-
foot-deep tunnel leading straight down
with a one-person ladder along the side.
A flicker of reddish light may be seen at
the other end of the tunnel when a character reaches the bottom of the ladder.
There is a 40-foot horizontal tunnel ending at a set of stairs leading 10 feet up. At
the far end of the staircase is an illusionary wall of fire. Behind that is a door
made of lead.

The wall of fire illusion has audible and
olfactory components. No character is
allowed a saving throw unless he specifically states that he does not believe the
wall exists, in which case he gets a saving throw vs. spells as normal, with wisdom bonus applicable. Any character
who fails to disbelieve the illusion and
passes through it anyway will take 20-30
points of damage (2d6 + 18), or half
damage if a save vs. spells is made. 

(22) A large table and five chairs are
n the center of the room. On the table is
a small metallic box. On either side of the
table stand two “men” dressed in full
plate mail, carrying halberds. Their faces
are hidden by visors. The door on the
south wall is also made of lead — in fact,
the walls and ceiling of the room as well
are covered by a thick plating of lead.

The two “men” in plate mail are Guardians. (AC 1, MV 9”, HD 9, hp 50 each, #AT
3/2 with +3 to hit, D by weapon with +6
bonus to damage on each hit. See foregoing description for more details.) They
have been constructed of +2 plate mail
and they wield magical halberds. Due to
their magic armor, saving throws vs.
spells causing physical damage are made
at +2.

The guardians have been instructed to
guard the metallic box, letting no one
leave the room with it. If someone succeeds in escaping with it, the guardians
will pursue them and attempt to return
the box to this room.

As noted above, this room is shielded
by lead. No detection devices or spells
will work here, and psionics cannot penetrate the lead covering. It is impossible to
enter or leave this room by going astral
or ethereal or out of phase. The secret
door on the east wall is of the same nature as the one at the altar.

Within the metallic box is Malakon’s
psychogem and, within the gem, the
consciousness of Malakon himself. The
box is made of adamantite lined with
lead to prevent Malakon from using his
psionic powers to get free. The box itself
is worth 2,000 gp without its contents.

Malakon’s consciousness possesses
the following abilities and characteristics: alignment, chaotic evil; age, venerable; intelligence, 19; wisdom, 18; charisma, 16 (see below); strength, constitution, and dexterity not applicable; hit
points not applicable; psionic strength,
142; psionic ability, 284; attack/defense
modes A,B,D,E/F,G,I,J; minor disciplines
of Invisibility, Domination, and ESP. 

Malakon’s ESP is much more powerful
than the norm. He is able to look deep
inside a person’s mind, revealing to himself all of the victim’s strengths and weaknesses. It takes but one round to do
this, and using the ESP power costs 5
strength points per round. One person
may be surveyed at a time.
Malakon’s Domination is also more
powerful than the usual discipline. It is
possible for Malakon to completely transfer his mind to another body in a process
somewhat similar to a Magic Jar spell.
However, the victim’s soul is destroyed
since there is no vessel to contain it. Using this form of Domination successfully
costs 70 strength points. Intended victims receive a saving throw vs. death
magic, made at -2 (wisdom bonus applicable). If the attempt fails, only 20 psionic strength points are deducted.

Malakon’s original physical body was
that of a half-elf, and operated as a 17th-level magic-user/7th-level fighter. He has
no spells presently in his memory; they
were all disrupted when he was drawn
into the gem.

The box is Wizard Locked (18th level)
and trapped with a Symbol of Death.
Should someone succeed in opening it,
Malakon will immediately begin using
the extra-strong version of ESP on each
character, starting with the fighters in
the party. He will look for the best combination of hit points, strength, constitution and dexterity in a certain individual,
and as soon as he made his selection he
will use his extra-strong Domination
power to transfer his soul to that body.
The victim’s physical characteristics (appearance, hit points, strength, constitution, dexterity) will stay the same, but
Malakon’s abilities as described above
will take precedence in other cases. 

Immediately thereafter he will turn invisible, grab his gem and head down to
the second level as fast as possible.
Once on the lower level, he will attempt
to gather his spell books, magical items,
and the sack of gems in his study and
leave for distant lands.

Malakon is cunning, greedy and thoroughly evil. If detained or prevented
from going alone to the second level, he
will use his cunning and persuasiveness
to lead the party away from his lair and
will himself return later. He will attempt
to give the party the slip at the first possible opportunity after transferring his
mind to a character’s body.

Malakon’s psychogem is a 6th-level
stone. It has two special powers which
have, in fact, already been described.
The stone is responsible for the extrastrength ESP and Domination powers
which Malakon possesses. Other characters, should they gain hold of the gem,
will not be able to use these special powers unless they already have the disciplines of ESP and/or Domination. (Anyone else intending to use it will also have
to “unkey” it.) Touching the stone while
Malakon is inside it will have no effect on
Malakon. Touching the stone when Malakon is outside it will have the usual
effect. 

(23) This is a false representation of
Malakon’s quarters. All that is left of it is a
pile of burnt wood in the center of the
room. There is nothing of value here.

(24) This is another false representation, this time of a magic-user’s workroom. In the center of the room is a pentagram inscribed on the floor. Careful
measurement would reveal that it has
not been scribed correctly. There are
many smashed cabinets, tables and
shelves around the room and a great
deal of broken glass on the floor. Even
careful searching will reveal nothing of
value.

DUNGEON LEVEL 2




(25) This room appears at first to be
entirely empty. Careful searching of the
floor is 25% likely to reveal the existence
of a barely visible crack, in the shape of a
20-foot-diameter circle, each turn that a
10-foot-square section containing part
of the crack is searched.


In addition, there is a secret compartment in the center of the circle, similar to
the one in the elevator at the entrance.
Also, like the entrance, the circular piece
in the floor radiates magic. The secret
compartment may be found just as at the
entrance and will come away to reveal a
same-sized hole. This time, however,
there is nothing but another hole in the
bottom surface of this hole.

This mechanism, also an elevator, will
not operate unless the mushroom-like
projection from the entrance elevator is
brought here and pushed all the way
down into the small hole. When this is
done, the elevator will begin to descend
at 20 feet per round, taking 4 rounds to
reach the bottom of its trip. It will automatically ascend after 3 rounds just like
the first elevator, but this does not present a great problem here, because the
call button (in the south wall on the lower
level of room 25) is operating normally,
and can be used to bring the elevator
back down to the lower level if needed.

(26) The illusionary wall directly opposite the door is as in (12) above. The
doors to (27) are wooden, iron bound.

(27) 



These rooms are traps. The
doors opposite the entrances are false.
Over each 5-foot-square section of the
floor (shown by dotted lines on map) is a
spear set in a tube in the ceiling. When
one of the 5-by-5-foot squares is pressed
upon by any weight of more than 30
pounds, the spear will fire down at the
source of the disturbance. Rolls for the
spears to hit are made against the character’s armor class as if the spear were
being wielded by a 5th-level fighter. A
shield will have no effect on a character’s
effective armor class unless the character states that the shield is being held
overhead. These spears do 2-5 points of
damage each. They are 4 feet long and
were once poisoned, but the poison has
long since decayed and is harmless.
Should a character reach the false
door at the end of either room and open
it, a 10-foot-square pit will open beneath
him. The pit is 30 feet deep and will cause
3d6 damage to someone who falls in.

(28) There is nothing unusual about
this passageway. The door (wooden,
iron bound) at the far end is locked with a
complex lock (-15% for thieves) and is
also Wizard Locked (17th level).

(29) In the center of this room is a 
grotesque statue. It is an 8-foot-tall humanoid shape with four arms and two
legs. The arms end in hands tipped with
long claws. The most horrible aspect of
this statue-creature is the face. It is oval
with a single red eye, and from its mouth
protrude long fangs.

This statue is decidely magical. As
soon as anyone besides Malakon steps
through the door to this chamber, it will
become animate and move to attack. It
has AC 0, MV 6”, HD 10, hp 56, #AT 5, D
2-12/2-8(x4). Special attack, heat ray;
Special defenses, see below; Magic resistance, standard; Alignment, neutral;
Size: L (8’ tall). The eye is a ruby through
which is focused a heat ray which does
4d8 damage (save vs. breath weapons
for half damage) to anyone the statue
looks at. It will always gaze upon the
character closest to it. It can use the heat
ray once per round in place of its physical attacks, and can gaze upon a different character every round. 

The statue is mindless and cannot be
affected by any mind-related spells or
psionics. It is not affected by Sleep,
Charm, Hold or Paralysis spells or attacks, and is immune to poison. It is
made of stone, so spells like Stone to
Flesh and Rock to Mud are extremely
effective. 

The ruby in its forehead is worth 5,000
gp if detached from its socket, but will
not retain the heat-ray properties if it is
taken out.

(30)



This room apparently was once
sumptuously furnished. There are many
wall hangings. In the center of the south
wall is a large four-poster bed. Directly
south of the doorway is a large cupboard. On the north wall is a large chest
of drawers with a mirror above it. In the
northwest corner is a marble washbasin
with an urn below it.

The hangings and the covers on the
bed are threadbare and colorless. There 
is a lot of moth-eaten and useless clothing in the closet and the chest of drawers. The only useful item in the room is
the mirror. It measures 4 feet by 3 feet
and is a Mirror of Mental Prowess. 

(31) This is obviously a magic-user’s
workroom. Cabinets and shelving line
the walls. There is a large workbench in
the center of the floor toward the western half of the room. On top of this bench
is a bewildering assortment of glassware
which all seems to be connected. The
eastern half of the room is empty except
for a pentagram (correctly) inscribed on
the floor. On the east end of the workbench is a large brazier.

The cabinets and shelving are filled
with more glassware and a huge selection of magic-user spell components
and parts of various creatures. The glassware on the workbench is all useless, as
a close inspection will quickly reveal. It is
full of dried and hardened substances
stuck to virtually all surfaces.

However, there are the following useful items of glassware and metalware,
mostly found in the cabinets: 6 alembics,
1 balance and weights, 12 beakers, 1
brazier (already noted), 3 crucibles, 1
decanter, 4 flasks, 2 funnels, 1 kettle, 1
concave lens and 1 convex lens, 2 mortarand-pestle sets, 12 phials,, 2 retorts, 2
dozen mixing rods, 2 spatulas, 1 set of
measuring spoons, 1 pair of tongs, 2
tripods, and 6 yards of glass tubing in
foot-long sections. 

Components for virtually all spells
found in Malakon’s spell books (see [32]
below) may be found here in varying
quantities. There will be only 1 or 2
spells’ worth of components that are difficult to come by, and no gems will be
found here. These components are all
labeled in magic-user’s runes appropriate to the level of the spell the component is used for. Thus, a magic-user able
to use 1st through 4th level spells will be 
able to read the labels of all components
dealing with spells of up to 4th level.
Read Magic would be required for the
character to comprehend the labels of
components for spells of 5th level and
above.

The following significant items may be
found in specimen jars: 1 pint of troll’s
blood (dehydrated, appears as black
powder); 1 pint of nixie blood (dehydrated, appears as green powder); 2 square
feet (in 6-inch squares) of mimic skin;
and 1 jar containing 20 salamander
scales. These jars are labeled, but cannot be read automatically and will always require Read Magic to comprehend. To use the dehydrated blood,
characters simply have to add 1 pint of
water to the powder.

There are also many jars which are
empty or full of worthless bones and decomposed organisms.

it is assumed that characters will
search thoroughly here so that they will
find all the useful labeled jars. A complete search will take a maximum of 6
turns, decreased by 1 turn for every
character beyond the fourth one who is
taking part in the search; i.e., 5 characters can search the room in 5 turns, 6
characters in 4 turns, etc. If characters
don’t search carefully, there is only a 1%
chance per round (cumulative) of finding even one of the four special jars. 

The secret door in the northeast corner
may be found by elves and half-elves on
a roll of 1-2 on d10, or a roll of 1 on d10 by
others. it slides east, again with a gripping strength of 18 or better needed to
move it. 

(32) Shelves line the walls of this
room, and a large desk with a single
chair behind it is in the approximate center of the room toward the south wall. On
the desk are various objects. (Note: All
the magical items listed below will be
gone if Malakon got here first.)

Immediately obvious are 2 bottles and
a heap of scrolls. Closer inspection will
reveal that a 1½-foot-long slender piece
of ivory, tipped with platinum and with
many runes and glyphs inscribed upon
it, lies in the center of the desk. There is
also an inkwell and several quills, 4 pieces of unused vellum, and a large book
on the desk. The shelves around the
room are filled with scrolls. Here and
there is a book or a tome.

The bottles on the desk are potions:
One is of Extra Healing,the other of Polymorph Self. The heap of scrolls are all
non-magical and will crumble to dust if
anyone touches them. The ivory object
is a Wand of Conjuration. The book lying
on the desk is Malek’s 4-6th level spell
book. It is protected by an Explosive
Runes spelI.

The desk has 2 sets of drawers, a pair
on each side of the desk. The top right
drawer contains a sack of gems. (This is
the sack referred to earlier as the one
which Malakon will attempt to grab before making his departure.) The sack
holds 50 gems valued at 10 gp apiece, 20
gems of 50 gp value, 10 gems of 100 gp, 3
gems of 500 gp, and 1 gem valued at
1,000 gp.

The lower drawer on the right side
contains Malakon’s other two spell
books: one for spells of 1st-3rd level and
one for spells of 7th-9th level. The lowerlevel book, like the one on the desk, is
protected by Explosive Runes. The highest-level spell book is protected by a Fire
Trap spell. Note again that all spell books
will have been taken away, as well as all
magical scrolls, if Malakon got here first.
The top left drawer of the desk contains a variety of drawing and measuring
instruments of high precision, worth a
total of about 500 gp.

The lower drawer on the left side contains 2 magical scrolls. This drawer is
protected with a Fire Trap. One of the
scrolls contains 4 m-u spells: Fly (3rd
level), Polymorph Other (4th level), Ice
Storm (4th level), and Hold Monster (5th
level). The other one has 6 spells: Write
(1st level), Shatter (2nd level), Polymorph Self (4th level), Wall of Force (5th
level), Legend Lore (6th level), and Control Weather (6th level).

There are 17 six-foot-long sections of
shelving, each with four shelves therein.
All except three of these shelf sections
contain between 10-100 scrolls each.
These scrolls, like the ones on the desk
top, will crumble into dust if touched. Of
the other three shelves, two of them contain 3 and 9 books respectively. These
books are still readable and usable, if
they are handled with extreme caution.
Book topics include: 1. Anthropological report on inferiority of kobolds to
gnomes (sale value 100 gp); 2. Herbal,
lists plants local to one area and their
supposed properties (500 gp); 3. Bestiary, lists animals local to one area (500
gp); 4. History of Cranshaw Castle, written by a notable scholar (1,000 gp); 5.
Religious book containing prayers for an
evil god (100 gp); 6. Anthropological report on the superiority of men to everything (200 gp); 7. History of Castle Dorvin, extremely notable work (5,000 gp);
8. Herbal, listing plant life of a different
area than the other similar book (500
gp); 9. History of East Point Castle, author unknown (100 gp); 10. Alchemist’s
notebook, writing unreadable; 11. Malakon’s old diary, might be very interesting, but handwriting difficult to decipher
(2,000 gp); 12. Another alchemist’s notebook, also unreadable.

The last shelf holds a +2 Long Sword
with no special powers. Malakon will
have taken this item if he arrived here
ahead of the party.

The secret door in the west wall is hidden behind one of the scroll shelves. The
shelving may be moved aside easily. The
secret door is detectable by elves and
half-elves on a roll of 1-2 on d6, by others
on a roll of 1. It is Wizard Locked (17th
level).

Contents of Malakon’s spell books
First level spells: Sleep, Shield, Write,
Read Magic, Unseen Servant, Magic
Missile, Protection from Good, Light,
Comprehend Languages, Feather Fall.

Second level spells: Darkness 15’ radius, Detect Invisibility, Knock, Levitate,
Ray of Enfeeblement, Strength, Wizard
Lock.

Third level spells: Explosive Runes,
Fireball, Fly, Monster Summoning I,
Slow, Water Breathing.

Fourth level spells: Dimension Door,
Fear, Fire Trap, Ice Storm, Globe of Invulnerability, Plant Growth.

Fifth level spells: Bigby’s Interposing
Hand, Conjure Elemental, Cone of Cold,
Monster Summoning Ill, Passwall.

Sixth level spells: Enchant an Item,
Legend Lore, Monster Summoning IV,
Spiritwrack.

Seventh level spells: Phase Door, Reverse Gravity.
Eighth level spells: Permanency, Trap
the Soul.

(33) This room contains two large
chests, each having a complex lock and
a poison-needle trap, but the poison has
long since decayed. Each chest contains
5,000 sp and 5,000 gp.


(34) Visibility in this maze is good,
but the ceiling height is only 3 feet. The
letters on the map indicate where various traps are placed:


a: 30-foot-deep pit, does 3d6 damage.

b: Vent in ceiling drops oil equivalent.
to one flask, followed by a burning cinder which ignites oil; 1-12 points of <[fire]> damage, 1-3 if save made vs. breath weapon.

c: Stone block drops from ceiling; 2-24
damage, blocks passage.

d: Scything blade triggered by pressure plate; 4d6 damage.

e: 20-foot-deep pit with 6 spikes (1-6
points of damage each) at bottom; to
determine number of spikes which strike
character, roll d6, with result of 1,2, or 3
indicating that many spikes, and result
of 4, 5, or 6 indicating no damage from
spikes. Fall into pit does 2d6 points of
damage whether spikes hit or not. 


f:: Wall comes down out of ceiling, closing off exit and trapping those inside
within a 20-by-10-foot area. Wall cannot
be moved physically and will not open
again for 20 turns.

g: Walls come down from ceiling in
front and behind characters, closing off
passage. The 10-foot-square space will
then start to slowly fill with sand, taking 6
turns to fill to capacity. Either wall can be
broken down if it takes 60 points of damage. Characters will suffocate within 1
round after sand fills chamber to capacity if they are still trapped inside.

h: Same as (d).
i: Same as (a).
j: Same as (b).
k: Same as (c).

l: Glyph of Warding, causes 18 points
of fire damage (half damage if save
made).

m: Same as (e). 
n: Same as (f).

In the last 10 feet of the passageway in
front of the first secret door, the ceiling is
normal height (10 feet). Both secret doors
are normal, with a 10-foot ceiling also in
the area between them, but only one of
the doors may be opened at one time.
Thus, the second secret door will resist
all attempts to be opened unless and until the first door is closed.

(35) 



Characters looking into this passageway will be quite unnerved, because
all of the surfaces seem to be made of
flesh. This spiral passageway was created by Malakon from instructions he found
in an ancient tome, which vanished as
soon as the construction was complete.
Anyone stepping into this passage or
prodding the walls will find themselves,
or the instrument they used to prod with,
stuck fast to the fleshy substance. Characters have the same chance as their
bend bars/lift gates percentage of being
able to break free, and may try to pull
free once per round. In the meantime,
the fleshy wall will start to climb up whatever is stuck to it, gradually coating the
object with a thin layer of the fleshy substance. It will take 5-10 (d6 + 4) rounds
for a victim to be completely coated with
the substance.

Any character or creature entirely covered by the flesh will be suffocated within two rounds after being covered, and
immediately after that the fleshy substance and its new victim will begin to
draw back into the floor or ceiling of the
passage. This process of reabsorption 
takes a total of five rounds for a humansized creature, correspondingly more or
less time for those of larger or smaller
size. Once a creature has been absorbed
into the wall or ceiling, its body cannot
be recovered or resurrected.

Blows upon the fleshy substance with
blunt weapons will simply cause the
weapon to stick at the spot it made contact, doing no damage. Weapons can be
pulled free by making a bend bars/lift
gates roll as described above, but must
be extricated in the round after they are
stuck, or they will be coated with flesh
and forever lost. 

Edged weapons will pierce the flesh,
but the wound so caused will instantly
heal and the weapon will be stuck fast if it
is not pulled back immediately. Fire applied to a place where the flesh is covering a person or thing will cause it to retreat, but will cause no damage. A magical cold attack will cause the fleshy substance to go dormant for one turn within
the attack’s area of effect.

There is nothing that can permanently
damage the fleshy substance; a Disintegrate spell will render the substance inert in a 10-foot-square area around the
spell caster for a duration of 6 turns; at
the end of that time, the fleshy substance
will have receded back into the wall or
ceiling at that location, perhaps dropping a character or object which had
previously been entrapped. A Flesh to
Stone spell will simply be absorbed with
no effect.

There is one obviously safe way to get 
through this passage: by flying. At the
center of the fleshy spiral is a circular
stone room 20 feet in diameter with a
normal secret door on the north edge.
Inside this room is a pedestal. On top of
the pedestal is a velvet cushion, and on
the velvet cushion is a small necklace
with a single tiny gem —not a psychogem — set in it.

This gem, the existence of which was
unknown to the group who defeated Malakon, is why the champions were unable to completely dispose of Malakon:
The gem carries inside it a small portion
of Malakon’s soul —a “spark” which Malakon can use to rekindle his consciousness. (Characters must use detection
and divination spells to learn this or other information about the gem.)

Destroying this gem will not directly
harm Malakon while he is in his present
physical form, nor will it damage the part
of his soul in his newly acquired body.
However, Malakon fears the opposite —
that if the gem is destroyed, the act will
do him immense harm. Therefore, he will
bargain to prevent characters from harming the gem, freely giving up any of his
possessions except his spell books, in
exchange for the. gem. (If characters 
agree to such a deal, Malakon will depart
with the gem — but only temporarily —
and will then trail the characters as they
make their way out of the dungeon, waiting for a good opportunity to attempt to
regain his possessions.

The only way to dispose of Malakon
entirely is to first kill the physical body
he occupies. When the death of the body
occurs, Malakon’s soul is transferred entirely into the small gem, and for two 
rounds thereafter his soul/ consciousness will be powerless to resist or prevent the destruction of the gem. If the
gem is destroyed during this two-round
span, all traces of Malakon’s soul will be
destroyed along with it. After the two
rounds have passed, though, Malakon’s
soul will regain the ability to transfer into
another body — and that body will then
have to be killed in order for the process
to be begun again.