Monster Maker

Monster Maker

Type	Dungeon
Status	Explored January 918 TA
Location	Old Kingdom
Hex	2829
Campaign	The Old Kingdom Campaign
Adventure #	142

Alfric's Amulet, Part 3: Monster Maker

From Ginger Beddington's Research: It is rumored that one of the stones was stolen by a courtesan of the Overlord - who mistook the piece as a valuable gemstone. My research shows that a woman matching the courtesan's description was processed in the Palace Prison. Being it was never recovered and is an indestructible artifact, the stone should be in the prison somewhere.

Encounter 1: The Prison Entrance

This room is dominated by a large desk in the center of a large square room. The desk is made of plain stone and is wide enough for three clerks to work behind it. A number of benches are in the front of the room. Large metal portcullises are located on the east and west walls - with wide stone hallways leading down in either direction. A large metal-bound door is behind the desk.

Guards here. Nothing in Oblivion.

The two side hallways lead to the "public" viewing areas of the prison.

Down the west hall are a number of cells. Each are 10'x10' and have four metal bunks attached to the walls, buckets for water and waste are near the iron-barred walls of the rooms. There do not appear to be any doors in the wall. The rooms are reasonably clean. The prisoners in these rooms are subdued, mostly looking down unless spoken to. Guard's niches are located periodically down the hallway.

The northern wall of the east hall is a barred set of windows overlooking a long, narrow workshop. The workshop is made of stone and set some 20 feet below the hallway. There are a number of benches set up here, and prisoners are undertaking mundane tasks - weaving cloth, carving simple bowls and utensils, and the like. Guards at the corners of the room appear only mildly interested in what the prisoners are doing.

The metal-bound door behind the desk is highly warded - something like a vault.

Encounter 2: Flickerwasp's Room

Beyond the large-metal bound door is Flickerwasp's Room.

The room is plain stone with cubic dimensions of 60 feet on a side. The door is 30 feet up on the south wall - with a simple iron-rung ladder leading down to the floor. There are four doors in the room. Another door is 30 feet up on the north wall - with a corresponding metal-rung ladder. Two smaller, metal-bound doors are on the ground floor - one on the east and another on the west.

Hovering in the center of the room is a massive beholder. Its eyestalks are trained on the door you entered.

On the ground floor, large ettin-like creatures stand awaiting orders. The creatures, larger than regular ettins, have four heads each. They are dressed in leather armor of a sorts with glowing leather wristbands. Each carries a nasty, long whip.

The door to the east leads to the workshop. The guards there will respond to any cries for help in this room.

The door to the west leads to a long hallway that runs directly below the cells above. The floors of the cells have been ensorcelled with glassee - allowing the jailers to watch what the prisoners are doing.

The ettin's wristbands will allow them to reach up through the glassee to either place new prisoners or remove old ones.

Encounter 3: The Real Cells

The spiral stairs end at a dank maze of hallways. These are lined with small cells. Unlike the cells above, these are filthy - the smells of humanity and fear are strong here.

The cells here are packed with prisoners - men, women and children. They mostly sit with eyes downcast - seemingly resigned to their fate. It is noticeable that there are no gates to the cells. A mechanical whirring sound can be heard coming from the far end of the room.

More four-headed ettin guards are here with glowing leather wristbands.

Periodically, a prisoner will be pulled from a cell and pushed towards another set of downward spiral stairs.

Encounter 4: The Machine

The sound of machinery grows stronger as you descend the spiral stairs.

After descending about 40', the stairs pause for a very short stone landing. Set into the wall here is a metal door.

A portcullis (with no apparent way to raise the bars) halts the way further down the stairs.

Opening the door, you see what appears to be a drop of about 20 feet into a chute of metal. The chute winds out of sight. Blood is smeared on the sides of the chute, and the roar of mechanical gears is deafening.

NOTE: The portcullis requires at least one set of gloves to pass through unnoticed.

A descent of another 60' puts you at the bottom of the stairs, the room beyond is very odd. You are at the bottom of a tall shaft-like room.

The machine in front of you is about 20' x 20' and raises some 40' in the air. It is a dark, grey metal beast with thick sides and a preponderance of levers and gears. Overall, the device resembles a large grain chute - with a wide mouth at the top that extends through the roof of the building. Protruding from the sides of the devices are six giant coils of what looks like copper tubing. Four openings at the base of the machine are piled with human remains - bodies that appear to have been, for a lack of a better word, processed.

At the base of each coil, stands a copper mechanical golem - each has a pointed conical head, but most noticeable is a bulbous glass body made of glass. The bodies of these golems is filled with an unnaturally bright blue liquid.

In the far corner of the room, an elevated glass cage on the wall has a board of flickering lights and levers. Behind the cage, a floating eye is madly working at the board, apparently orchestrating the entire operation.

Finally, a red stone circle in the other corner of the room is currently empty.

Ettins with pitchforks are moving the bodies to the circle in the corner of the room.

The golems move exceedingly quickly in reaction to character movement. They tilt their pointed heads and spew out blue liquid - just a few drops, and the pile of bodies animate - shambling to stop the intruders.

The eye will summon more bottle gnomes and guards from the teleport. The party will need to solve a puzzle in order to gain control of the machine.

After some investigation, the party will come across a small access panel in the machine - basically a place where items that were not destroyed by the Machine are left. This is cleaned out periodically, and all treasure is moved on to the Monster Maker building.

Encounter 5: The Monster Makers

Moving through the teleport, the room you enter is massive - a warehouse of several hundred feet on a side. Unlike the palace, this space is entirely utilitarian - plain stone and large metal beams support an unadorned flat plaster ceiling 40' high. The room is 300 feet long and about 160 feet wide.

This room is filled with rows and rows large wooden tables. Human workers stand at the tables, many dressed in rags. They are doing various jobs, but the overall result is clear - they are stitching together monstrous flesh golems - some 25' high. These misshapen creatures have no semblance of grace - they are creatures of war held together by twine, armor plating and bone.

As you watch, a quick moving bottle gnome moves to a completed monster - lowers its head and squirts a tiny bit of blue liquid on it. The monster raises up, sitting for just a moment before lumbering towards the far end of the building to be outfitted with weapons and more armor.

This operation is clearly creating a monster army. Aside from the workers, bottle gnomes and flesh golems, there appear to be a number of human guards stationed in small groups about the perimeter of the building. In addition, the floating eyes seem to be running the operation - moving quickly as needed. If attacked, one will attempt to flee for help.

Fuzzwort will notice that the building is just outside of White Cliff.

NOTE: The floating eyes live in a "nest" at the top of the building. One will flee here to get their treasure - including the shard. These are in a medium-sized silver and gold chest bound in steel. This is locked by a puzzle:

The chest contains: Alfric's Amulet Shard #3, Arrow Magnet, Judge's Coin