485
As you pass the threshold of the unsealed door, it rolls back into place, and it takes your eyes a moment to adjust to the change in illumination.The walls still glow with the same faint blue light as elsewhere around Z’leth, though here it seems to be struggling to remain lit.
The air is heavy and damp. It carries a nauseating stench that surpasses odor and makes you feel sullied to the core of your being. It reminds you of slimy things and childhood nightmares made real. And though you’re vaguely aware the thought isn’t really your own, you still wonder if you will ever be able to feel clean again.
Beside you, Gigar gags an oath before retching onto the stairs below him. When he rises, he spits from under the handkerchief he’s holding up to his mouth and nose.
“It’s dreadful,” he wheezes. “Makes you wonder if this is all worth it.”
There is only one way to go, and that is down into the dimly lit depths (go to 501).
“We haven’t the time to waste on idle chit-chat,” Gigar says. But he still points to a couple of objects in the room. “That’s an altar. That’s a larger-than-average Z’lethan crystal. What else do you want to know?”
He looks at you and, in the moment it takes you to formulate an answer, he nods as if you just confirmed something for him.
“As I thought,” he says. “We really must catch up to Rija and Z’ka. Who knows what they’re making a mess of down there. That is unless it’s inconvenient to you.”
If you haven’t done so yet, you can examine your surroundings more closely (go to 517) or search for signs of Rija and Z’ka (go to 535).
Or if you’re finished here, you can move on (go to 511).
You realize with crushing finality that you will die a hero. Despite your best efforts, you cannot rise. Instead, you sink lower into the ground to eventually come to rest.
You’re aware of someone else near you, and you manage to open your eyes to see Rija kneeling over you and feel something hard pressed into your hand. It’s a Z’lethan crystal, its glow still bright and strong.
“Well, that was something,” she says. “The world will know what you did here.”
And that is indeed something.
YOU DIED.
“There,” Z’ka says finally, pointing out of the wall of light. Straining to see, your eyes finally adjust enough to the shimmering barrier that you can see beyond it.
Gigar is standing on the precipice facing the beast. He’s using one hand to hold his handkerchief over his mouth against the smell. On the other hand, he has the cord of the obsidian medallion wrapped tightly around his fist. His eyes are fixed on the towering monstrosity before him.
The beast is still scanning the room but has not yet looked down to see the miniscule figure set on a fragment of rock.
“No!” shouts Rija. “Gigar, no! Come back! Do not let that thing see you.”
If he can hear her, he gives no sign.
“Great prisoner of Z’leth!” Gigar yells. “Hear my call!”
The huge heads tilt slightly and they scan back and forth slowly, but it’s unclear if the creature even hears Gigar.
“No!” Gigar screams, a shrill ragged edge starting to creep into his voice. “I will not be ignored! This is my moment! The name Gigar Garantham will live in the history books as the man who tamed the beast of Z’leth.”
Gigar raises the obsidian amulet above his head, and it flickers with violet light.
“And I will not be ignored by a mindless beast! You will do my bidding! I command you! Bend to my will.”
The shimmer of energy seems to catch the undead head’s attention. It turns toward Gigar, slowly followed by the others.
“Gigar, for once don’t be an idiot!” Rija yells. “Come back! Leave that thing alone!”
Gigar’s grin widens and hysteria sparkles in his eyes. He says, “Of course you would say that. You want this power for yourself! You and your lizardfolk servant
came here for the same thing I did. But you lack the will… And this!”
The scholar holds the obsidian amulet aloft again. The heads lean in to examine the tiny being that is making such a noise in its lair.
“No power,” Z’ka roars at Gigar. He turns to Rija and lets loose a sharp string of panicked sounds in his own language. More quietly he tells her, “No power. Teacher.”
Gigar holds the amulet up in a shaking fist. The obsidian talisman shines with the same purple light that you saw on the temple door. The shine expands into a halo of power around the lone figure on the stone platform. All three of the beast’s heads turn toward Gigar, leaning in with bellowing sniffs testing the air for his scent.
“Back! Obey your master!” he cries. The beast rears back and Gigar turns to you, Rija, and Z’ka with a smug grin. “You see?”
But Rija is already on the move (go to 521).
The beast roars and a beam of energy streams through the air toward you. You are fortunate that the beast fired impulsively and a stalactite blocks part of the blast, but a potentially lethal beam is hurtling toward you.
You dive out of the way, using whatever other obstacles you can around you to further deflect the blast.
Roll a Dexterity saving throw. If you get 10 or more, suffer 1 necrotic damage. If you get less than 10, suffer 1d6 necrotic damage.
If you drop to 0 HP, go to 503.
If you survive, Rija calls out to you. “Get back inside the shield! I need your help here!”
You return to the safety of the shield, another blast slicing the air behind you as you dive through the field of light. You can now try to hold the crystals in place (go to 508) or try to drive the magical energies from the panel (go to 504).
You are overwhelmed by the raw power of the panel.
You manage to redistribute most of it into the system, but it violently pushes you out of its flow. You have a sudden splitting headache and stars dance before your eyes momentarily.
Roll an Intelligence saving throw. If you get less than 12, suffer 1d6 psychic damage.
If you drop to 0 HP, go to 524.
“Let’s change,” Rija says. “Share the burden in the home stretch.”
Too dazed to put up much resistance, you agree. You can either physically hold the broken crystal together (go to 502) or try to distract the beast from outside the shield (go to 532).
As the energies released by the broken crystal slam into you, your fingers slip from its surface. Your vision swims and the ground rushes up to meet you.
“You all right?” you hear Rija call, but her voice is suddenly coming from a long way away. “Hey. Hey! Get up!”
And in the far distance, you hear the reverberating and triumphant roar of the beast beneath Z’leth. It is the last thing you hear.
YOU DIED.
You confront your former companions with their betrayal of tying you up and leaving you for dead in the halls above.
Rija looks genuinely confused, passing a look over you, Gigar, and Z’ka before saying, “But, didn’t Gigar tell you? Of course he didn’t.”
You realize that Gigar is standing directly behind you, putting you between him and Rija.
“You deserve the truth then,” Rija says. “The whole truth.”
Though Z’ka narrows his eyes at the orc trying to disappear behind you, Rija looks you in the eye as she offers an explanation (go to 499).
Each movement the beast makes is slower than the last, but its aggression has increased. It is now slamming its heads against the shield, screaming its rage in bellowing, gurgling cries.
You grasp the two halves of the crystal and press together. It resists, so you grit your teeth and set your shoulders.
“Ready?” Rija calls. You let her know that you are, and then she goes into a trance state at the panel. As she does so, you feel power slam into the crystal and it tries to jerk apart. Its glow intensifies, a blinding line of light emanating from the crack between the two sections. It pushes painfully against your straining hands.
Roll a Strength (Athletics) or Constitution check. If you get 15 or more, go to 500. If you get under 15, go to 534.
Rija works with the panel at the center of the platform, taking command of its magical energies. She is obviously in pain but does not let go.
“There’s not enough power,” she says in a faraway voice that is momentarily drowned out in another outburst of rage from the beast. As it quiets, she continues. “But I’ve added the crystals. There’s no more power. The enchantment is failing.”
“I make power,” Z’ka says. “The plan. Always the plan.”
Z’ka bobs his head at you, performs a deeper bow to Rija, and returns down the staircase below.
“Let him go,” Rija says. “He knows what he’s doing and I need you here.”
She starts speaking but the beast shrieks and a beam passes over the shield leaving a ringing in your ears and a purple after-image burned into your eyes. Rija flinches as sparks jump from the panel, but she collects herself quickly when she is unhurt.
“This is a two-person job,” she says. “One of us needs to operate the panel. It was designed to be intuitive over great expanses of time, but it still requires a guide for the magical energies being channeled. By all accounts it will become clear when you grip the panel, but that you’ll have to see for yourself.”
She then points at a pair of crystals seemingly made from a single stone but now split down the middle. They are set into the side of the machine. “At some time in the machine’s millenia of use, this crystal cracked. Now whenever the panel powers up, they repel each other and it takes a feat of strength to keep them whole until the charge is sufficient. Z’ka was to hold these, but now we need to do it.”
Then Rija points up at the wildly crisscrossing beams overhead. The beast obliges her with another roar as it splashes in its festering pool below.
“And I can do both of course,” she says. “But not with the beast flailing around like that. And certainly not if it overloads the panel again with a direct hit to the shield. But if you could distract it just for a few minutes, I could get the panel charged and the beast should go back to sleep. Of course that would require stepping out of the shield, but you can pass through it safely.”
You’re both distracted by another outburst from the beast, and another beam rakes the shield. But it’s smaller and weaker than previous blasts, so it seems that the beast doesn’t have infinite power.
“So what’s it going to be, adventurer?”
Hold the crystal halves together with brute force until the magic can take effect (go to 508), distract the beast with your agility until the machine can take effect (go to 496), or assist the magical energies within the machine using the force of your will (go to 504).
You ask Gigar what he makes of the chamber.
“It seems to me a waste of time,” Gigar says. “It would be much better to simply move on.”
You’ll have to coax information out of him.
Roll a Charisma (Deception, Intimidation, or Persuasion) check. If you get 12 or more, go to 513. If you get less than 12, go to 486.
With a deep breath to steady your nerves, you step out of the protective embrace of the shield. It tingles slightly, but leaves you otherwise unaffected.
You can still see Rija within, gripping the broken crystal with one hand, the panel with the other and gritting her teeth with the pain of her burns, but she still spares you a nod.
Out of the corner of your eye, you see the heads slowly turn toward you. One of the heads that still has skin opens its mouth.
Make a Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. If you get 10 or more, go to 515. If you get less than 10, go to 489.
You handily avoid the beast as its massive head grates and crunches against the stone. It snaps at you clumsily, but it’s so ponderous and bulky that it isn’t too difficult to avoid. One massive glowing eye catches your gaze. It burns with rage that is either completely mindless or transcends your idea of thought.
As it retracts slowly toward the main bulk of the creature, you dash through the space it has flattened to make for the safety of the shield before the beast readies another blow.
“That was closer than I would have liked,” Rija says. “But you’re keeping the thing off of me. Keep it up just a little while longer!”
You can see the three heads of the beast staring balefully down at the shield protecting you. You stretch and limber up for one more attempt at keeping the beast occupied while Rija finishes activating the panel (go to 526).
The power within the panel surges just as the beast strikes the shield with another energy blast. You feel your control slip for a moment and you forget yourself.
Roll a Wisdom saving throw. If you get 10 or more, take 1 psychic damage. If you get less than 10, suffer 1d6 psychic damage.
If you drop to 0 HP, go to 524.
If you survive, your awareness returns with Rija’s voice echoing in your head. “Get off the panel! Let me take it!”
You release the Z’lethan machine and drop out of the flow of energy. You can now either hold the crystal in place (go to 508) or leave the protection of the shield to distract the beast (go to 496).
Rija explains to you that she was recruited by an ancient order that goes by many names. The Knights of Z’leth. The Feathered Shield. The Scaled Cult. Operating in secret, they are tasked with maintaining the prison for the beast trapped here in the cavern.
“We collect Z’lethan crystals that make it out of the city,” Rija says as she pats her belt, “so that we may return every hundred years to maintain the enchantment and keep an ageless evil entombed. We return the crystals, empower enchantments, and make sure that Z’leth continues to fulfil its purpose.”
The beast’s name is lost to the passage of time, if it even had a name to begin with. According to the legends passed down to Rija, it is older than even the greatest dragons and possibly as old as the world itself. It is a force of pure destruction, mindless in its aim.
“Such power,” Gigar breathes. “And Z’lethans have shown they had even greater power than anyone had imagined to harness such a primal force.”
The room trembles and rumbles, cascades of loose dust falling from the ceiling and stinging your eyes.
“And I Z’leth,” Z’ka says, laying a clawed hand on his chest then making an expansive gesture to the walls around him. “This my people.”
Between Z’ka’s fractured common and Rija’s knowledge, you’re able to piece together that the lizardfolk still living in the jungles above, the descendants of those Z’lethans that escaped the city’s downfall, now act as caretakers of the city, driving off explorers and treasure hunters.
“There wasn’t enough power to sustain the city and the prison,” Rija says. “And the corruption continued to contaminate the city above. So the people left their home to protect the world.”
“Z’ka lucky one,” the warrior says. “Z’ka come home.”
“So I hope you can understand,” Rija says. “We left you above because this is our mission. It’s not yours, though we could never have made it without you. So we really did leave you above for your own protection, to spare you from the most dangerous leg of the journey, and to release you on our way back.”
You notice Rija and Z’ka’s preparations. Rija’s belt loops each have a crystal in them. Any loose crystals are neatly laid out, and other equipment is stacked and ready for use.
“A plan,” Z’ka says. “We know.”
Rija nods. “Those that came before us provided us with a detailed list of what needs to be done to maintain the integrity of this place and place the beast back into its slumber for another hundred years. There is little margin for error.”
Z’ka hisses suddenly and another tremor rumbles through the room. He looks around and says, “Gigar.”
Rija looks around, eyes widening in fear. Your own scan of the room tells you the same thing. Gigar is gone.
“We need to get up there,” Rija says. She hastily gathers up her crystals and gear, all semblance of organization gone. Z’ka simply hefts his spear and follows after her.
Rija and Z’ka look at each other and in some unspoken agreement sprint for the stairs. You follow after them. The stairs aren’t nearly as high as you’d expected, and you see light up above. Just before you crest the staircase, Rija turns back to you.
“Remember: follow the plan and it will all be ok. We’ve got this.” She gives you a nod and a crooked half smile before pushing you up the last few steps (go to 533).
The Z’lethan writing on the panel flares to bright life and the light of the shield brightens to an almost painful level. You approach Rija at the panel, shielding your eyes against the blinding light around you.
And then you see something shining in the near distance. In a patch of soot or dust that may once have been an ill-fated orcish scholar, you see the obsidian amulet sparkling against the ground. It feels like you have to wade through the light to reach it, but you get there.
You can add Z’lethan ritual amulet to your inventory.
And as your eyes begin to adjust to the light, you look out on the cavern and the beast it contains (go to 542).
At the base of the stairs, you and Gigar emerge into a round chamber with four large Z’lethan crystals evenly spaced throughout the room. Their glow is muted, even flickering between a faint shimmer and darkness, casting strange patterns on the smooth stone walls.
Here the lines that normally decorate the walls are instead set into the floor and all of them radiate out from a large, circular altar in a sunken area in the center of the room. Deep grooves adorn the altar itself in the same angular line motif you’ve seen throughout the city.
A single exit is on the opposite side of the chamber from you.
Gigar shows little interest in the surroundings, though he does seem to be looking to the exit with what could be either anxiety or excitement.
You can examine the chamber (go to 517), check for signs of passage (go to 535), or confer with Gigar on next steps (go to 495).
Though you can’t sense any difference in the air itself, you can see that the tempo of the beast’s attacks has slowed. You take a steady grip of the broken crystal and nod to Rija. She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes.
Power fills the crystal in your hands and it’s pressing outwards. You squeeze tighter, ignoring your tired muscles.
Roll a Strength (Athletics) or a Constitution check. If you get 12 or more, go to 522. If you get under 12, go to 518.
Though just a glancing blow, the force of the beast’s energy slams you into the ground. You’re sure you’re fine, but when you try to stand the world slips out from under you. Your face connects with the cool, smooth stone beneath you in a flare of pain.
But the throbbing pain soon begins to recede into the distance, and a velvety smooth darkness engulfs you. You sigh but find you no longer have the strength to draw breath back in. A pinprick of fear blooms in your mind before it is overwhelmed by the darkness. In the nearly forgotten distance, a trapped beast roars.
YOU DIED.
You reach out and gingerly grip the panel. As soon as you touch it, you feel its arcane power engulf you, but you’re also gripped with an instinctive knowledge of what to do. It’s like Gigar’s amulet, but deeper. You don’t just see but know what to do next.
With your newfound skill, you cast your mind out to wrestle with the complex arcane energies swirling around you as Rija grips the crystal and indicates her readiness with a nod.
Make an ability check using your choice of Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma.
If you get 10 or more, go to 509. If you get less than 10, go to 498.
You rush to Rija’s side along with Z’ka. You examine her wounds quickly, and you can see that she has been badly burned all over her body. Her clothing and gear is all intact, however, so it almost looks like she burned from the inside out.
At your touch, however, she groans and tries to sit up. Realizing she can’t, she reaches out a hand each to you and Z’ka.
“This is embarrassing,” she growls through her teeth. “Bring me back over to the panel.”
You and Z’ka help her over together and she grips the edges of the device to steady herself. She takes a deep breath and seems about to say something when the beast lets out a shrieking, gurgling roar.
As you watch, the creature’s three heads flail around the cavern, raking it with more of the purple-white energy blasts.
“We need to put a stop to this,” Rija says. She pulls a vial from her pouch, pulls the cork out with her teeth, and swallows the contents of a healing potion (go to 494).
Your sprint away from the head results in just a glancing blow instead of instant death under tons of slimy flesh, but that’s enough to send you sprawling with considerable force.
Roll a Dexterity saving throw. If you get 12 or more, take 1 bludgeoning damage. If you get less than 12, suffer 1d6 bludgeoning damage.
If you drop to 0 HP, go to 512.
As the beast’s head retracts, you use the space to sprint back towards the shield where you dive in to avoid any follow-up attack. None comes, but you still slam into the stone.
“Oh good, you’re back,” Rija says. “I could use some help with this.” Her half smile shows that she also realizes that this may not be the time for sarcasm.
You can take over at the panel for Rija (go to 538) or hold the broken crystal in place (go to 502).
Your investigation reveals more about the chamber.
The altar has all the hallmarks of a sacrificial altar, so the grooves are most likely there to drain blood away from a ritual sacrifice. There are no obvious drains below the altar, however, so it’s unclear where any liquids would go.
The crystals in the corners of the room are arranged in such a way to suggest the cardinal directions of the compass, and each is inscribed with a unique symbol. You think you identify north, but given how much you’ve been turned around since beginning your underground journey, there is no way to be certain.
Upon inspecting the crystals, you see that their light is failing and there are what appear to be dark voids floating through them. The blue glow flickers and stutters, though at its brightest you can see the familiar Z’lethan line patterns flare to life on the floor.
The corruption here is palpable, a dark weight that permeates the air around you ebbing and flowing. And though the crystals are flickering constantly, there is a deeper rhythm to their dimming and brightening, almost like the long breath of some huge beast.
“Are you quite finished?” Gigar asks, sidling towards the exit. “Or is there somewhere else you’d like to dawdle?”
If you haven’t done so yet, you could still search for signs of Rija and Z’ka (go to 535) or ask Gigar about what he thinks (go to 495).
Or if you’re ready to move on, you can leave the altar chamber (go to 511).
Rija nods to you and she grips the panel in front of her. She is immediately outlined with blue light similar to the shield protecting you. You grip the broken crystal and squeeze as tightly as you can. The beast is raging, and every time it roars or stamps a massive foot, the crystals in your hands jump.
It isn’t long before they start to vibrate with the power that Rija is directing into the machine.
Roll a Strength (Athletics) check. If you get 10 or more, go to 540. If you get under 10, go to 523.
You feel the power being channeled in the Z’lethan machine respond to your will. You successfully divert power into unseen devices scattered through the cavern. You feel them buzz to life with a deep satisfaction, as if the energies here are alive.
“The crystal is charging!” Rija says where she’s holding the split together. “Keep going!”
You release the panel for a moment to take a deep breath and clear your mind before you proceed (go to 538).
You feel a deep terror rising up in you, but you manage to choke it off before it overwhelms your reason. The fear settles into the back of your mind, though, constantly reminding you of your own insignificance in the face of the beast’s power.
You strain to see through the shimmering light where Gigar may be (go to 488).
You and Gigar step through the exit deeper into the tunnel. The air is thick with corruption, leaving you on the edge of gagging the entire time.
As you step over the threshold into the next passage, the floor rumbles and shakes. Moments later, a deep bellowing roar rushes down the passage with enough force that you feel your clothes ripple and see Gigar’s facial hair dance in the breeze. The air carries a fetid stink of things that long ago rotted away, decomposing into something far less wholesome.
“Was— Was that it?” Gigar asks from under a hand covering his mouth and nose.
The trembling caused by the reverberating roar continues long after it’s gone silent, its rage and malevolence lingering in your mind. You have no answer to give Gigar.
Instead, you simply continue on with him following uncomfortably close on your heels. The way ahead leads down a long corridor dimly lit with flickering and fading Z’lethan patterns (go to 525).
As you tumble to the ground under the beast’s great weight, your head smacks into the unyielding stone under you. Everything lurches nauseatingly to one side, which is not helped by the wretched stink of the nearby creature.
The massive glowing eye of the beast sees your prone form and you see a semblance of joy spark in the malevolent orb. The head rears back, inhales like a bellows, and opens its mouth to emit a beam of purple-white light.
When you’re engulfed by the beam, it doesn’t even hurt. You simply float away into bright nothingness, as if you never were.
YOU DIED.
Gigar sighs and looks to the exit, before turning his attention to his surroundings.
“If you truly feel this is necessary,” Gigar says as he looks around. Finally, he gestures at the altar. “Well, that’s clearly a sacrificial altar. Given this is a temple for the ancient Z’lethans—a carnivorous and aggressive people—I’d have to guess blood sacrifice.”
Then he gestures at the surrounding crystals that are flickering. “These are clearly placed in positions of power, though why or what they do I have no idea. And it does not seem especially important right now.”
He turns to you and adjusts his spectacles. “I trust that is sufficient to move on? We really should be going.”
If you haven’t done so yet, you can examine your surroundings more closely (go to 517) or search for signs of Rija and Z’ka (go to 535).
Or if you’re finished here, you can move on (go to 511).
You feel the machine drawing more power from the crystals Rija added, and it flows smoothly through the cracked apparatus that she is holding together for you. There is an awakening in the cavern around you, a network of devices that are playing a song that you can only hear while awash in the power around you.
It is soft and sweet, clearly a lullaby, and the beast hates it. It redoubles its rage, beams flashing around it and several slamming into the shield. Your protection holds, but your concentration is broken momentarily.
“Once more should do it!” Rija says. You look at her and see that the hands gripping the crystal are blistered and blackened. She shakes her head. “It’s nothing I can’t handle. Do it!”
You recenter yourself to dive back into the magic energies of the cavern one last time (go to 520).
You dive out of the way of several beams slicing through the air. The sensation around them isn’t hot or cold, but an emptiness that hungers for light or warmth. You don’t want to find out what it feels like to be caught in one’s path.
You jump into the protective embrace of the shield to catch your breath for a moment. Though Rija is still straining between the broken crystal and the panel, she looks up and meets your eyes.
“Keep it up,” she says. “We’re not quite there yet.”
You loosen up and get ready to emerge again into the open (go to 532).
You struggle to stay at least on your knees even if you can’t get to your feet. But the ground keeps trying to slip away from you and send you tumbling down. You think this is the end.
But then Rija is there, pressing something small and hard into your hand. Darkness rushes in from the edges of your vision.
Suddenly, you are awake and in your hand you see the dull blue stone of a spent Z’lethan crystal.
Gain the benefits of a short rest.
“That’s better, right?” Rija says and you agree.
And she helps you to your feet to witness what you have accomplished (go to 500).
You examine your surroundings for any clue as to the chamber’s role in the temple complex and how it might function. You start with the altar and move outwards.
“Explore if you must,” Gigar says, “but be quick about it. We have more important things to do.”
Roll an Intelligence (Arcana, History, or Investigation) check. If you get 12 or more, go to 507. If you get less than 12, go to 527.
The crystals you’re trying to hold together vibrate as the two halves fill with power. Little wisps of blue energy leak out from the crack and your hands start
to tremble more than can be blamed on the device’s vibrations.
The beast lashes out physically against your shield, and the loud boom startles you. Your hands slip and the crystal separates by a fraction of an inch. Before you can clamp it shut, magical force snaps out with a fiery heat.
Roll a Constitution saving throw. If you get 12 or more, you take 1 fire damage. If you get less than 12, suffer 1d6 fire damage.
If you drop to 0 HP, go to 491.
“Give yourself a break,” Rija says. “Let’s switch it up.”
She motions you away from the broken crystal, and your hands at least are grateful. You can now take Rija’s place at the panel (go to 538) or step out into the open to distract the beast while Rija handles both the panel and the broken crystal (go to 532).
Though faint, you do find some signs that Rija and Z’ka passed through the chamber. You find areas where dust or debris was disturbed on the floor and there are scratches in the wall where one of them bumped into the stonework with a weapon or item, probably drawn and at the ready.
Interestingly, one of the places where the dust is disturbed is the top of the altar. It’s as if someone had cleared the dust to read some meaning in the patterns there. Or a hand was reverently passed over the surface of the ritual object.
Based on the signs, the other two passed this way a matter of hours ahead of you, so they have a head start, but not as much as you would have expected.
“Did you learn anything?” Gigar asks, but he doesn’t wait for a reply. “Because we really must continue onward.”
If you haven’t done so yet, you can investigate the rest of the chamber to figure out its purpose (go to 517) or speak to Gigar to get his insights (go to 495).
Or if you’re ready to move on, you can continue forward after Rija and Z’ka (go to 511).
You reach out to the panel for what you hope will be the last time you or Rija will need to do so.
As soon as you grip it, you feel the white-hot energies of the room slam into you while at the same time a choir of soothing melodies hums in the air around you. An urge rises up from the depths of the machine itself to conduct these melodies in an orchestra, and you follow the ancient enchantment’s guidance.
You are dimly aware that the beast out in the cavern is bellowing wet gurgling roars into the air, but even the echoes of the beast’s frustration seem lethargic and slow.
Make an ability check using your choice of Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma.
If you get 15 or more, go to 500. If you get less than 15, go to 531.
The beast hasn’t moved from its risen position, not even in its facial expression, but the air is suddenly charged with menace.
Rija darts for the panel of glowing runes and gazes at it in frustration. “Z’ka! Can you read this? We need to push the shield out to cover Gigar.”
Z’ka bounds over, staring at the panel but shakes his head.
“I have to try,” Rija says through gritted teeth. Then she addresses you. “Keep an eye on Gigar! Make sure he doesn’t do anything else stupid.”
Rija drops to her knees beside the panel and starts slotting the crystals from her belt into depressions on the base. She’s shaking her head and muttering about needing more power. Z’ka is pacing the perimeter of the shield near Gigar, cutting glances between the scholar and the now eerily still monster.
However, Gigar seems oblivious to the urgency around him. He has started to laugh. “You are mine! You will be my vengeance against a cruel world that denied me the respect I am due.”
Gigar points at you all and the beast starts to move. The skeletal head rears back and fixes the orbs of light in its eye sockets on the platform. Gigar looks up at it in a state of rapture.
The head’s jaw swings open and a soundless purple-white beam of light engulfs Gigar. His form is briefly outlined as a shadow, then a stunned skeleton, and then in the afterimage of the light.
The stone is left smooth and clear as if never touched. Gigar is obliterated without a trace.
Rija pauses her work for a moment and Z’ka ceases his pacing. A horrifying stillness hangs in the air for a moment.
“That was not part of the plan,” Rija says.
Then all three heads unleash their beams across the cavern. Though the beams themselves are silent, they crackle and roar where they meet the walls and the shield protecting you. Z’ka jumps back from the barrier as it flickers, and arcs of energy rush up and down the wall. But it holds.
However, the feedback proves too much for the panel. The crystals Rija has placed flare to violent life, and she is caught in a whirl of blue energy blasts. She is blown free from the panel, sliding up to the edge of the shield where she lies still and smoking.
Z’ka is stunned into immobility. He looks to you for guidance. You can tell Z’ka to rush to Rija while you work on the panel (go to 528) or you can go check on her yourself (go to 505).
Though the crystal tries again to jerk out of your hands and separate, you manage to keep it together. You feel a little heat starting to scorch your palms, but it’s nothing that you can’t handle and it hardly even registers.
“You may have to dig deep on this last one,” Rija says. “The entire system will start back up, and there may be some blowback energies hitting the panel. Are you ready?”
You rub your hands together and let Rija know you’re ready (go to 493).
You aren’t able to hold the crystals in place and they split apart. A discharge of magical energy leaps from the space between them and slams into you.
Roll a Constitution saving throw. If you get more than 10, suffer 1 force damage. If you get less than 10, suffer 1d6 force damage.
If the damage reduces you to 0 HP, go to 491.
Otherwise, Rija turns to you and yells, “It’s not working! Try something else! I’ll take over here!”
You can take over from Rija at the panel (go to 504) or step outside the shield and try to distract the beast (go to 496).
The melody of the magical energies around you distort with a wail that you quickly realize is you. Your mind crackles with the terrible, rushing power that you tried and failed to control.
As your mind scatters into the dissonant waves of power, you realize suddenly that you are not alone. A multi-headed shadow of silence looms out of the noise, growing larger and larger until it consumes you in its darkness. It’s possible that you scream, but you’ll never know.
YOU DIED.
You and Gigar proceed down the corridor as carefully and quietly as you both can, allowing you to hear voices up ahead. You signal to Gigar to keep quiet as you both continue to creep forward.
This corridor eventually opens up into a square chamber. Its walls bear the glowing Z’lethan motifs you’ve seen everywhere else, but here they are denser and more elaborate. Though not very large, this space resonates with a sense of finality. At the opposite end of the room, a staircase leads up, though you can’t see where it goes.
Rija and Z’ka are speaking at the base of the stairs, tension obvious in their stances and voices.
“So the wall panels here and here need to be primed,” Rija says, and Z’ka nods as she continues. “And that should be the last of it here before going up into the cavern and placing the crystals in the panel there.”
“Yes,” Z’ka says. “Power here for shield. Power there for sleep. Then I—”
Rija holds up a hand for quiet. She closes her eyes and whispers an incantation, and you feel a probing sensation brush against your mind.
“You can come out,” she calls down the hall to you. “You’re not supposed to be here, but that can’t be helped now.”
Gigar steps out first, his face darkened with anger, and you follow close behind.
You can confront them about leaving you behind (go to 492), or demand to know what is happening (go to 539).
You emerge into view of the beast, and all three heads spot you immediately. The huge creature is moving sluggishly, and you hear a low, melodic hum hanging in the air. The skeletal head is beginning to droop and the others are blinking milky membranes over their eyes.
But all three heads are focused just on you. With monumental effort, all three open their mouths and release ragged but whip-fast energy blasts at you. The beams crisscross their way toward you.
Make a Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. If you get 15 or more, go to 500. If you get less than 15, go to 536.
You don’t get any meaningful insight from the chamber except that the crystals around the room are definitely failing. They flicker between brightness and dimness at regular intervals of nearly a minute.
The altar is clearly important to whatever happens in this room, but it’s not clear exactly what it does. It likely has some ritual significance, possibly for sacrifices or some other form of offering, but you can’t figure it out.
“I hope that was worth the wait,” Gigar says. “If there’s nothing else too pressing, can we continue?”
If you haven’t done so yet, you could still search for signs of Rija and Z’ka (go to 535) or ask Gigar about what he thinks (go to 495).
Or if you’re ready to move on, you can leave the altar chamber (go to 511).
Gain Inspiration.
Z’ka darts to where Rija is lying smoking on the ground. He gingerly turns her over, and she groans. They confer quietly while you look over the panel.
It’s still throbbing with the overload that hurt Rija, but it seems to be working correctly now. However, you can’t make any sense of it. Gigar’s amulet may have contained a vision explaining the controls, but the codex is now vaporized along with him.
“Step aside,” Rija says weakly as she approaches. Z’ka is propping her up as she limps toward the mechanism. She’s covered with burns and trembling with the pain, but she manages to disengage from Z’ka and hold herself up at the panel.
She seems to be about to speak when an energy beam sweeps across the shield with another crackle of energy. Rija flinches and the beast roars out in the cavern.
“This will not do,” she says (go to 494).
The panel begins emanating bright blue light from its intricate Z’lethan writing as the shield around you brightens to a blinding intensity.
Hurt and exhausted, you stumble and nearly fall. Luckily, Rija slips next to you and supports you enough to keep you on your feet. Unsteadily, you thank her and let your eyes adjust to the light so that you can watch the scene in the cavern unfold (go to 542).
You drop to your knees, the weight of the world on your shoulders. Everything slows down and grows quiet. The beast’s roars elongate into a long, low groan that shakes you to your core.
Then, as if from deep underwater, you hear Rija’s voice crying out to you.
“Get up!” she yells. “You’re not done yet! Get up, damn it!”
Roll a death save. If you get 10 or more, go to 516. If you get less than 10, go to 487.
The melody layers and aligns into a siren’s song that tries to draw you into its depths with the promise of rest and safety from all harm. Part of your psyche is being shredded into ragged strips by the power of the magic you are directing.
But with a final wrench, you tear your mind out of the seductive trap.
Roll a Charisma saving throw. If you get 15 or more, take 1d6 psychic damage. If you get less than 15, suffer 2d6 psychic damage.
If you drop to 0 HP, go to 530. If you survive, go to 529.
You step out into the open again. The beast is starting to slow, but at least one of its heads seems to be watching you. It’s one of the ones that still has its flesh, but that doesn’t make you feel any better.
As soon as you’re clear of the shield, the head that’s aware of your presence stretches forward in a lumbering strike. It’s not especially fast, but it covers so much ground that you need to move quickly to get out of the way.
Make a Dexterity (Acrobatics) or Strength (Athletics) check. If you get 12 or more, go to 497. If you get less than 12, go to 506.
You emerge onto a worked stone platform in an enormous natural cavern that stretches off so far into the distance that you can’t be sure where it actually ends.
Rija and Z’ka are standing on the platform side by side, gazing out through a glowing blue field of energy. Rising up out of the ground in front of them is a plinth of stone criss-crossed with the Z’lethan symbols you’ve seen throughout your journey. Tense and obviously afraid, they are captivated by the cavern and its inhabitant.
Looming out of the darkness is a massive, multi-headed beast taller than most towers. It gives off a pestilent stench that roils your stomach and actually feels heavy on your shoulders. Its skin is slick, a rancid purplish gray, and dripping with slime as it moves its three heads back and forth searching for something. Anything. Maybe you.
But as you collect yourself enough to take in the entirety of the creature, you note that it is not entirely covered with skin and slime. Bare bones glisten with water and other fluids in a leg and in patches across the building-sized body. Even an entire head and neck is rising up in a hideous place between life and death, its little remaining flesh dripping off it in putrid streamers that you can smell in your imagination.
As your own gaze rises up the beast, you feel you meet its ancient eyes for a moment as they continue their slow scan of the cavern. You’re nearly overcome by the level of hatred and rage contained in those eyes. The core of your being vibrates with the knowledge this is a force of destruction as old as creation itself.
The cruelty of the beast worms its way into your mind despite it not even knowing you are there. The weight of its malevolence feels like it is pushing you to the brink of madness.
Roll a Wisdom saving throw. If you get 20 or more, go to 510. If you get less than 20, go to 541.
The monster in the cavern lets out a long, rumbling wail as the crystal you’re holding shrieks like a boiling kettle. You manage to hold onto it, but only barely. A plume of pure energy bursts from the crack just as it snaps into place.
Roll a Constitution saving throw. If you get 15 or more, suffer 1d6 lightning damage. If you get less than 15, suffer 2d6 lightning damage.
If you drop to 0 HP, go to 530. If you survive, go to 529.
Though you know you’re unlikely to find any sort of trail in the stone tunnels of the underground temple, you still look for signs of Rija and Z’ka. Any hint of what they’re planning could be helpful.
“They’re clearly just up ahead,” Gigar says as you start looking around the room. “But if you feel it’s a good use of your time, go ahead.”
Roll a Wisdom (Perception or Survival) check. If you get 15 or more, go to 519. If you get less than 15, go to 537.
You avoid most of the beams, though you stumble at the end. One of the beams catches you across the body, and you do your best to twist away from the sharp, sucking pain it causes.
Roll a Dexterity saving throw. If you get 15 or more, take 1d6 necrotic damage. If you get less than 15, suffer 2d6 necrotic damage.
If you drop to 0 HP, go to 530. If you survive, go to 529.
Among the worked stone of the underground temple, you can’t find any evidence of Rija and Z’ka’s passage. You know that they must have come this way as there’s no other way through, but they left no signs that you can see.
“We have no time to waste,” Gigar says. “Can we proceed?”
If you haven’t done so yet, you can investigate the rest of the chamber to figure out its purpose (go to 517) or speak to Gigar to get his insights (go to 495).
Or if you’re ready to move on, you can continue forward after Rija and Z’ka (go to 511).
You grasp the panel rising up out of the floor. Your grip on the machine feels strong. There is some semblance of order to the magical energies flowing through it, but they still need guidance. Luckily, the font of knowledge already installed in the panel shows you the way.
In a wash of power, you see without seeing and reach into the matrix of arcane energies to bring the enchantment to life. You are only distantly aware of the thrashing of the beast beyond the shield, despite the fact that its snarls and roars make the ground tremble.
Make an ability check using your choice of Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma.
If you get 12 or more, go to 514. If you get less than 12, go to 490.
You demand to know what is happening. This is related to the couatl’s mission, but how?
“Up those stairs is the reason we came,” Rija says. “The real reason. It’s why I’m here in the first place, and why Z’ka left his home above. We were on this path long before we ever came to Z’leth.”
Z’ka nods and gestures at the tablet on his back. Then he points at the stairs.
“It is the under the under,” he says. “It must sleep.”
“I know it’s a lot, but we need to explain,” Rija says (go to 499).
The broken crystal pushes back against you, but you manage to keep it together as Rija channels power through the machine. Both halves glow as it’s infused with energy, with a hard bright line along the perfectly straight crack.
You release the crystal for a moment to shake the tension out of your arms before indicating to Rija that she can continue (go to 502).
Terror overwhelms your senses and you’re rooted to the spot, staring up at the towering creature that could end you without a thought.
You are now frightened (you have disadvantage on ability checks and attacks). You will continue to be frightened until you roll a successful saving throw. Whenever you go to a new section, you can roll a Wisdom saving throw against DC 15 to overcome your fear and remove the frightened condition.
Despite your terror, however, you stay the course alongside Rija and Z’ka (go to 488).
Either the light of the shield is beginning to fade or your eyes are adjusting to the glare, but you can clearly see what’s happening in the rest of the cavern.
The beast in the pool is straining against some unseen force. The waters around its body and legs are roiling, and at first they look as if they are boiling but they are actually coming alive to restrain the beast and pull it down.
As the glow of the shield subsides, the water takes on its own blue light. Then you hear a hum in the air that resolves into low, dulcet tones echoing through the chamber like a heavenly choir. As the tempo speeds up, the beast’s thrashing becomes increasingly sluggish and labored.
As you watch, what you had thought were stalactites hanging from the cavern ceiling also begin to glow with the same blue as any other Z’lethan crystal. These are just of a size you haven’t seen since the roofs of the city above. The blue glow fills the cavern with calm, muted light. The beast hisses at them, but cannot help but lie down in the roiling waters.
The three heads eventually fall one by one with huge splashes that spray your face with the disgusting water. The skeletal head is the last to succumb, as it fights the urge to sleep for perhaps another hundred years.
Rija is standing next to you, watching alongside as the beast finally stills, the music of the crystals fades, and the light eventually returns to normal. In the gloom, you could mistake the beast for just another mound of glistening stone, its deep and guttural snore the sound of waves breaking on some unseen shore.
Rija sits down on the ground with a sigh, gazing out at the cavern. She stays long enough that you eventually join her, sitting in silence for what seems like an eternity as your heartbeat slows back to normal and your adrenaline stops pumping. With the lapping of the pool far below and the blue gleam of the crystals, the space has become peaceful despite the guttural snore of the beast in the distance.
“All according to plan,” Rija says, dusting off her hands and standing up. “Now where’s Z’ka?”