Although the Isle of the Dead is one of the smallest islands in Kakishon, it was, at one point, the most important, for this was the site of Nex’s first tomb. After he abandoned Kakishon, Nex abandoned this tomb as well, and as a result, the extensive underground crypts he had envisioned were never built.
As with any other island, player curiosity could eventually bring the PCs to visit the Isle of the Dead. Yet as with the Isles of Not and Kakishon, the current “ruler” of this island is more likely to seek out the PCs and lure them here well before they decide to visit on their own.
This “ruler” is, in fact, the spirit of Andrathi, lover of Nefeshti and the wizard who trapped Jhavhul in Kakishon so long ago. Andrathi had hoped to be able to escape Kakishon via a Waypoint, but he swiftly realized that his forcing open of the portal to capture Jhavhul’s army had damaged that escape route. So instead, he spent several months on the run, hopping from island to island as he evaded Jhavhul’s increasingly enraged attempts to catch him and force from him the secret of escaping Kakishon.
He hoped to evade the efreeti long enough for Nefeshti and the Templars of the Five Winds to recover the Scroll of Kakishon and rescue him, but for reasons Andrathi never learned, that day never came. Jhavhul finally caught up with the wizard here, on the Isle of the Dead. Fortunately for Andrathi, by that point Jhavhul’s frustration and rage were so great that he did not capture the wizard alive—Andrathi escaped an eternity of torture and torment when Jhavhul blasted him to cinders on the steps of the Brazen Mausoleum.
Jhavhul turned his attentions elsewhere once Andrathi was slain, but unknown to the efreeti lord, a fragment of Andrathi’s spirit did not move on—it became a haunting presence on the Isle of the Dead, and in time grew capable of interacting with the world via two singular sources—the tomb’s guardian spirit (a wyrmskull named Venema Shodair), and his familiar (a bedraggled cat named Spooky). Both of these points of contact with the living world are limited to the Isle of the Dead physically. Of the two, Andrathi can only speak through the voice of Venema, and it is only with Spooky that he can contact creatures beyond the Isle’s shores, for like many cats, Spooky has a strong connection to the world of dreams. Andrathi’s otherworldly influence has vastly increased Spooky’s lifespan (effectively making the cat immortal as long as he remains in Kakishon), but more importantly, allows Spooky to enter the dreaming minds of non-outsiders.
All of the PCs who sleep on Kakishon (or in the case of elves, meditate) experience the same strange dream. In the dream, the character is wandering on an island covered with dead trees, and is searching for something very important but can’t remember what it might be. Allow a dreaming character to make a DC 15 Spot check—with a success, he spots a small brown cat sitting on a gravestone ahead, and realizes that this cat knows what the PC is looking for, yet if the PC tries to catch the cat, it evades them and runs away only to perch on another gravestone. This chase continues until the cat leads the PC to a large bronze mausoleum at the highest point on the island. The front of the mausoleum seems partially melted, and the cat perches on the highest step, where several humanoid bones have partially melted into the bronze. The cat howls, its screech deafening and pitiful, forcing the character awake.
Andrathi’s capacity to contact dreaming minds is limited—he’s unable to directly communicate, and is limited as well by Spooky’s precocious cat-like nature. Yet the dream has a powerful effect on those who experience it—and every time a PC sleeps until he visits the Isle of the Dead, the dream repeats. Each time a character wakes from the dream, he can attempt a DC 20 Wisdom check (with a cumulative +2 bonus for each time prior he’s experienced the dream).
With a success, the character feels a strong mental pull in the direction of the Isle of the Dead for a few seconds after waking, and the name “Isle of the Dead” comes unbidden to his lips. A PC can use this name to have a Nexian galley travel directly to the Isle of the Dead.
The Waypoint on the Isle of the Dead is unusual in that it has no accompanying hostel—it was never intended as a place of rest but rather of quiet reflection and repose. The small island comprises a single hill with a gentle, grassy slope on one side and a high, cliff-backed scarp at its eastern end, surmounted by a massive edifice of verdigris-encrusted brass: the Brass Mausoleum of Nex. Two small woodlands of dead trees cover much of the island’s eastern half, while the west is a gentle slope of dry grass covered with tombstones.
There are no graves on the island, though—Nex had the tombstones erected simply as decoration. He never intended anyone but himself to lie in rest under the Isle of the Dead.
Two stone quays protrude from a small plaza at the lowest point of the small island. A flight of marble stairs leads up a gentle slope to the island interior to the north.
This plaza is meant to exude a sense of welcome and serenity, and any creature touching the stones of the plaza is affected as by a calm emotions spell (Will DC 22 negates).
A massive stairway forty feet across, its treads and risers seemingly unscarred by the erosive hand of time and pristinely free of mark or debris, climbs the modest slope of the island toward the fields above. To either side of the stairs runs a row of columns of the same white stone, each column surmounted with a statue of golden marble that bears a mask of polished brass. All the statues bear the face of the archwizard Nex, but each displays him in the trappings of a different role: astrologer, explorer, scholar, teacher, poet, scribe, ruler, hunter, and warlord.
Passing between the statues of the archwizard conveys a sense of inspiration, hope, and possibility for the future. Any character who walks all the way up these stairs gains the benefits of a false life spell (CL 20th)—a character may only gain this benefit once per day.
When the PCs first arrive on the Isle of the Dead, a familiar brown cat sits on the top step—Spooky. As soon as he’s spotted, he turns and runs inland toward area B4.
A semicircle of four marble platforms stands here, each surmounted by a colonnaded dome inlaid with pearlescent tiles that catch the sun’s rays in a multihued fire. Just beyond these shelters is a low limestone platform inscribed with bas-relief of gods, spirits, animals, and all manner of mythological creatures of ancient Katapesh, surmounted at intervals by plinths of stone bearing statues of winged humanoids, male and female, each comforting the other but with a hand extended to beckon. Hovering a foot above the platform’s center is a slowly rippling sphere of blue water.
The shelters are elegantly furnished with carved stone benches and inlaid with mosaic scenes representative of scenes of the four elements, with air to the north, earth and fire in the center, and water to the south.
The floating sphere of water itself is dark and cool, redolent with memory and loss, the voices of the past but also the voices of regret. Any character staring into the water for 1 full round begins to hear the voices of those long dead echoing in his mind. These lost spirits will call out to the character, asking questions and offering advice, granting the PC the benefit of a divination spell (CL 20th) about any question or task the PC chooses. However, the residue of longing, sadness, and loss these ancient memories carry with them can be overwhelming, and the PC must succeed at a DC 22 Will save or be affected as if by an extended crushing despair spell (CL 20th).
Creature: The Well of Tears is not unguarded—before anyone can look into the water and use its powers, its guardians must be defeated. These guardians are four elementals, each of which is bound into the four marble platforms. When anyone approaches within 15 feet of the Well of Tears, a vortex of wind surrounds the north pillar as a Huge air elemental surges out of it to attack.
As soon as the air elemental is defeated, the second pillar to the south suddenly seems to shed a shell of earth and stone that transforms into a Huge earth elemental. Next comes as a blast of fire from the third pillar, and finally a geyser of water that creates a Huge water elemental, each triggering when the previous elemental is slain.
They do not pursue foes more than 50 feet, and if they’re attacked at ranges beyond this, they simply vanish back into their pillars. If all four are not defeated, the entire series “resets” and must be attempted anew the next time the well is approached.
hp 136 (MM 96)
hp 152 (MM 97)
hp 136 (MM 99)
hp 152 (MM 100)
An open wood of dead, leafless myrtle and olive trees gives the island here an ominious cast. The sound of rasping wood in the wind is all around, and the dry branches seem to twitch when viewed out of the corner of the eye.
Although sinister, the dead trees are a powerful ward against death. A character who enters the woods feels a compulsion to spend a few minutes contemplating death at the base of one of the trees—a character who chooses to do so gains the benefit of a death ward (CL 20th), but only the first time he contemplates death in the grove. Future visits bring no benefit.
As the PCs enter this area, they catch glimpses of Spooky the cat scurrying ahead of them, up toward area B5.
This hilltop is covered with landscaped dirt and gravel, smoothswept earthen pathways winding among graveled expanses raked in curves, whorls, and intricate patterns, studded with larger boulders and artfully trimmed dwarf trees placed sparsely throughout. Surrounding all is a rim of naked rock, roughly hewn and surmounted by thick, imposing limestone columns carved in relief, each capped with a stone griffon, dragon, lammasu, shedu, or similar winged beast. To the southeast rises a towering brass mausoleum, its facade depicting scenes of a powerful wizard working strange magic upon the world, although the carvings appear partially melted. A pair of large brass doors stand ajar in the mausoleum’s northwest side, and embedded in the bronze are blasted and blackened fragments of a human skeleton.
A DC 20 Knowledge (nobility and royalty or history) check discerns that the figure depicted on the carvings of the mausoleum’s facade are of the Wizard-King Nex.
The first time the PCs arrive, Spooky the cat sits before the doors, and as they notice him he slips quietly through the doors into the mausoleum’s unseen interior—an instant later, the doors close.
As soon as anything other than Spooky approaches within 30 feet of the mausoleum, a sudden wave of anger and menace seems to wash out over the entire party. An instant later, a vision of a strange, half-formed humanoid composed of air, earth, fire, and water manifests before the mausoleum. In a booming voice, it bellows demands at the PCs.
“Why do you come here? What do you seek? This place was made for those who are dead. Why do the living trouble the endless sleep, the final dream?”
Although the figure itself is in nothing more than a programmed image (CL 20th), the answers to its questions have implications. The actual answers do not matter as much as the use of specific key words do, and certain key words can trigger dangerous magical effects. Allow the PCs a minute to answer the demand, and pay attention to the words they use. When the minute has passed, use the following to resolve the effects of their answer.
• If a PC uses the words “power” or “glory,” a magic mouth upon the right statue shouts, “Fools seek power and are destroyed by it!” All characters who used those words are immediately targeted with a disintegrate spell (CL 12th, +10 ranged touch attack, Fortitude DC 19 partial).
• If a PC uses the words “knowledge” or “secret,” a magic mouth upon the left statue declaims, “Some knowledge is dangerous, and deeper knowledge is more dangerous still!” Those characters are then targeted with insanity spells (CL 14th, Will DC 20 negates).
• If a PCs uses the words “wisdom,” “truth,” “enlightenment,” “advice,” or “counsel,” the leftward carving repeats the word uttered and then states, “A worthy goal, but elusive. Sometimes you find it best looking inside yourself. Other times your own counsel is the last you should heed.” Each use of one of these key words prevents a disintegrate or insanity from being activated (determine which effects are not activated randomly if there are multiple targets).
No matter what the reply (including no reply at all—perhaps the safest solution to the puzzle), once all the effects above resolve, the carving on the right wall states:
“Truth is the most terrifying thing in the world, and the most enchanting. Dare you face it? Dare you use it? Answer truthfully and enter.”
Nex, an admirer of classic riddles and trickery, has sealed the 1-foot-thick gates of enchanted brass (Hardness 20, hp 200, Break DC 38) with a customized arcane lock (CL 20th) that opens to anyone who speaks the password “truthfully.”
If PCs speak this word, the brazen portals sweep inward on silent hinges, allowing access to the mausoleum interior. The skeleton embedded in the brass before the door is the mortal remains of Andrathi, magically preserved by the powerful and strange magics that blasted the front of the mausoleum during his final battle against Jhavhul.
Creatures: Of course, physical damage and spells like knock or dispel magic can also cause the doors to open, but doing so triggers one final defense. As soon as such methods are attempted, the carvings seem to sigh in disappointment—in actuality, they are each releasing an invisible stalker to attack the PCs. These invisible stalkers fight to the death, pursuing the PCs throughout all of Kakishon if required.
hp 52 each (MM 160)
The interior of the mausoleum dazzles the eye, almost overwhelming in its intricacy. The floor and ceiling are of polished golden marble tiles, each white-veined tile set off with a framing inlay of lapis lazuli. The cornices and joints of wall, ceiling, and floor inlaid with burnished brass glow in the light of heatless crystal lamps that hang from empty air. Within these brazen borders, each wall holds an enormous mosaic of enchanted tile that moves and flows like a living thing, replaying the triumphs and tragedies of Nex in an endless refrain.
In the center of the vast, silent chamber sits a bier of plain white limestone, simply carved, its lid unadorned but for a single rune. At the bier’s head is a large marble pedestal on which stands a curious statue of a man toppled over. The statue’s head is carved of gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly of bronze, its thighs of iron, and its shattered feet of clay. At the bier’s foot is a smaller platform upon which rests an equally strange trophy: a large reptilian skull as large as a grown man, crested and glinting golden in the lamplight.
This grand tomb is the unused mausoleum of Nex the archwizard. The true fate of Nex after his final confrontation with Geb is unknown even to this day, but if dead he is, his resting place is far from here. The simple bier Nex prepared in the midst of his opulent mausoleum stands empty.
Creatures: If the PCs have been following Spooky, the cat sits atop the sarcophagus, idly cleaning itself and ignoring the PCs until they speak or enter the room, at which point he glances up at them, eyes wide and bright. The reptilian skull is Venema Shodair, who in life was Nex’s brass dragon companion until she fell in battle against the Eater of Magic (see page 34). Distraught at her death, Nex restored her to a semblance of life as a wyrmskull guardian, and the undead dragon has watched and waited patiently for the day Nex returns here to rest. Venema silently observes the party as they enter the room, waiting at least a minute before initiating contact.
As long as PCs are respectful and do not appear interested in mayhem or destruction, and as long as they treat Spooky kindly, her attitude shifts to friendly, as she has long been pining for someone to talk to her. If instead the PCs immediately set to looting the place or attack or otherwise try to harm Spooky, she instead flares with fire and rises up to attack.
If the PCs are respectful and do not attack, or if the PCs realize that the dragon skull is an undead creature and make to attack out of misunderstanding, Venema rises from the ground with trails of fire and introduces herself, asking the PCs to stay their hands and saying that they, like Andrathi before them, are prisoners here and that she knows how they might escape. If the PCs persist in attacking, of course, Venema fights them with all her strength.
If the PCs resist the urge to attack, though, Venema speaks to them in a strange, hollow voice as she floats above the sarcophagus.
“I have waited for Nex to come to rest here for more centuries than I care to count, yet this is no concern to me. I shall continue to wait. Yet not all who have come before me have shown the same respect as you. Certainly, the one whose spirit suffuses this place respected it—he was known as Andrathi in his day, and he came to this tomb pursued by the warlord Jhavhul. For many days, Andrathi hid here and we shared many conversations, but in the end, Jhavhul found him. It is to Andrathi’s credit that he did not drag the fight in here, that he confronted Jhavhul on the steps outside. It is there that he died, and in his rage to be gone from this place, Jhavhul did not linger, and thus I survive to continue my duties. And Andrathi lingers here as well—he is but a memory and a shade, though, his soul having long passed on from here. Yet enough lingers to advise me, and what lingers is curious—as am I. How is it you have come to be in Kakishon?”
If the PCs tell Venema how they came to be here, she flares momentarily with anger at the discovery that Jhavhul has escaped. She tells the PCs that he does not deserve freedom, that he was a cruel and destructive element in Kakishon, and that she shudders to think of what he may be doing now that he has escaped to reality. Use Venema to impress upon the PCs the need to defeat Jhavhul—as with Dilix in Part Three, you can use Venema (speaking from what she’s learned of the matter from Andrathi) to fill in the PCs on much of the Legacy of Fire background, including Jhavhul’s plan to awaken Xotani the Firebleeder (although like Dilix, Venema does not know Jhavhul’s reasons for wishing to do so).
If the PCs express an interest in opposing Jhavhul, Venema tells them they should seek the azer Artel Norrin.
She explains that, before Andrathi came to her, he had sheltered for a time with the azer, and during that time learned that Artel resented the incursion of Jhavhul and his army into Kakishon and was secretly working on a weapon to be used against him, but whether he finished the weapon or even still survives, Venema does not know.
If the PCs ask Venema for her advice on how to escape Kakishon, she sadly admits she lacks that power, and even Andrathi wasn’t sure on how best to escape. Yet Andrathi remained convinced to the end that there was a method—and that method, he said, lies with the proteans who built this realm in the beginning. Venema suggests the PCs seek out the proteans for answers, yet warns them that they are creatures of primal chaos and one should take care in trusting them.
Venema is willing to answer other questions the PCs might have, such as the following.
How can the proteans help us escape? “You are not natives to Kakishon, and as such you are impurities to the chaos they desire. If they have their way, I suspect they will unmake Kakishon and return it to the chaos from which it formed, but as long as creatures not native to Kakishon are found within, they cannot fully unmake what they have created. I suspect they seek to slay the shaitans, and would do the same to you if you weren’t so eager to leave. Obherak and his followers seek to rule here—they have no wish to leave, and thus the proteans wish them slain. Or at least reduced in strength and number to a point where they can finish them off without undue risk.”
Wouldn’t they need to destroy you too? “No, for I was created here. If this place is to be taken apart, I welcome the bliss of oblivion, and if Nex returns, I trust he can remake me to serve him again. It is of no consequence to me… although I doubt that the other denizens of these isles would share my sentiment.”
Obherak says he can get us out too. Is he lying? “Partially, yes. The genies lack the power to escape by themselves, otherwise Jhavhul would have escaped himself long ago. If the proteans are defeated, the mysteries of their lair beyond the end of eternity will no longer be guarded. The fundamental realities of Kakishon were damaged when Andrathi first captured Jhavhul, and now, with his escape and your arrival, that damage has increased—perhaps to a point where a shaitan, or even yourselves, could engineer an escape. I do not know how this might work, but the shaitans are inventive—if Obherak believes he knows a way to effect an exit from Kakishon now, I suspect he can…although I suspect as well that his method would not be without risk.”
There was rumored to be a great weapon called Flameblood hidden in Kakishon; do you know anything about it? “Alas, I believe the concept of a weapon called Flameblood may merely be a metaphor for Jhavhul. After all, he sought to resurrect and tame the Spawn of Rovagug known as Xotani the Firebleeder—I suppose that is the “Flameblood” of your legend. I know of no potent weapon hidden here—unless, of course, the azer smith Artel finished the one Andrathi believes he was working on.”
Venema will not leave the mausoleum and memorial grounds, but is very grateful to PCs for conversing with her, and she grants them leave to rest on the island as long as they wish. With her blessing, the traps and guardians of the Isle of the Dead no longer trouble the PCs. Furthermore, once she has spoken to the PCs, and should the PCs vow to defeat Jhavhul, Andrathi’s spirit can rest. Spooky approaches the PC that was the kindest to him and rubs against his leg.
Although now nothing more than an ordinary cat in most regards, as long as he lives and accompanies his chosen PC, that character gains a +1 luck bonus on all attack rolls, skill checks, saving throws, and level checks. Spooky can serve as a familiar or animal companion, in which case his statistics change as appropriate.
Female mature adult brass dragon wyrmskull
hp 143 (see page 89)
Lucky male cat (ex-familiar)
hp 2 (MM 270)
Ad Hoc Experience Award: If the PCs ally with Venema and learn what she has to tell them, award them experience as if they had defeated her in combat.