The central island of Kakishon, from which the realm takes its name, is also the location of the largest structure in the realm—the Pleasure Palace of Nex. For many decades the lair of the efreeti warlord Jhavhul, the palace was destroyed when the efreeti and his army surged upward to escape Kakishon after the PCs opened the portal, and now all that remains of the once extensive palace is the partially collapsed central brass dome, along with a small complex of rooms facing the western shore now inhabited by the shaitan Dilix Mahad and a few of her jann and doppleganger servants left behind by a master who had grown tired of them.
If the PCs don’t seek out this ruined building after speaking with Lahapraset in Part Four, they might well come to the region anyway out of curiosity, for the crumbling, still-smoking ruin of the palace can be seen from miles around atop its jungle mountaintop.
Likewise, if the PCs summon a Nexian galley yet fail to give it a destination, the galley automatically returns to the Kakishon Waypoint, which lies just down the mountainside from the ruined palace and is connected to the palace via a road of white marble stones.
Alternatively, the PCs could be summoned to the building by its current master, Dilix Mahad. Unlike her enemy Obherak, Dilix is not distracted by fears of the proteans, plots to rule Kakishon, or other matters, and as such she learns swiftly of the PCs’ arrival in Kakishon after she recovers from being abandoned by Jhavhul and surviving the subsequent collapse of the Pleasure Palace. Through a combination of stone tell and reports from agents out on patrol, she learns that the vortex that allowed Jhavhul to escape also caught new prisoners. Eager to learn more, she sends one of her concubines, a doppelganger named Neshari, out on a Nexian galley to contact the PCs.
You can time this event as you wish. If the PCs seem to be content exploring Kakishon at their own pace, you can wait until they seem to be growing impatient or aimless for the adventure’s plot to move on before having Neshari hail them. And if the PCs are already working for the proteans or Obherek and come to the ruined Pleasure Palace following Lahapraset’s advice, or if they simply happen to visit the ruins on their own, you may have no need of running this encounter at all.
It’s best to have Neshari finally encounter the PCs on the sea, when both she and the PCs are aboard Nexian galleys. In addition to the galley itself, Neshari is accompanied and protected by four jann eunuchs, other servants Jhavhul decided not to take with him when he fled Kakishon and who now serve Dilix. The eunuchs, pasty and silent, let Neshari do all the talking.
In the guise of a beautiful young woman wearing expensive robes and jewelry, Neshari hails the PCs and asks them to come alongside her galley so they may speak. She has an invitation to extend to them: “My Mistress in the Brass Dome would speak to you, if you would hear what she has to say,” she says. “She is curious about you, and suspects you are curious about her and this world you find yourselves in. And if you are willing to help her, she can help you—you will not leave Kakishon without her aid, and should this be your desire, you would do best to accompany me back to the Pleasure Palace of Nex.”
Of course, allying with Dilix is only one route to escaping Kakishon, but as far as the doppelganger knows, it is the only hope of escape open to the PCs. If the PCs turn down the invitation, she nods in disappointment and returns to the Pleasure Palace. You can then have Dilix Mahad seek out the PCs in person, if you wish, to present her case to them rather than have the PCs come to her lair to learn what she has to offer. If the PCs attack, Neshari retreats and allows her jann and the galley itself to defend her while she attempts to flee back to Dilix’s side—if Neshari is slain, then you can instead use Dilix as a villain who vows to track the PCs down and slay them. The vengeful shaitan, in this event, swallows her pride and offers her services to Obherak in return for gaining additional aid in slaying those who murdered her favored consort.
Doppelganger (MM 67)
hp 22
hp 33 each (MM 116)
Colossal animated object (MM 14)
hp 256 (hardness 5)
Speed swim 60 ft. (cannot go underwater)
This encounter assumes that the PCs come to visit Dilix Mahad in the ruins of the Pleasure Palace—if instead she is forced to seek them out, be sure to change the text as necessary.
The ruined Pleasure Palace is now in a shambles. Dilix and her followers (consisting of 5 doppelganger consorts and 8 jann eunuchs) are all that remains of Jhavhul’s forces after the majority fled to the Material Plane. Once Jhavhul’s majordomo, and the only shaitan to remain loyal to the efreeti warlord after Obherak led a revolt not long after their initial imprisonment in Kakishon, Dilix was left behind by Jhavhul after being told by the warlord that she would not suffer any of Dilix’s treacherous race to serve him again in the world beyond Kakishon. Dilix still seethes with shame, anger, and jealousy at being left behind, and now seeks the same goal as the PCs—a way to escape Kakishon so as to strike back at Jhavhul.
If the PCs are being led by Neshari, she escorts them to a crumbled plaza that once sat before the palace. Now, all that remains is the partially collapsed brass dome and a large balcony on the dome’s side that protrudes precariously over a cliff dropping into the jungle below. This balcony, and the few surviving rooms that open just off of it, are now Dilix’s domain. Neshari leads the PCs up to the balcony and bows as Dilix steps up to the edge to greet them.
In her true form (as depicted on the cover of this volume), Dilix Mahad is a graceful shaitan with flesh of pale violet stone, who moves with a cat-like grace and speaks in a rolling, musical voice. Knowing that the PCs might respond better to her requsts for aid if they don’t suspect her of being a genie, she uses veil to disguise herself as a beautiful human woman dressed in extravagant robes and jewels during their initial meeting, revealing her true form only if combat breaks out. She hides her anger and shame at recent events well, showering the PCs with compliments and proclaiming a grand feast will be held in their honor (said feast provided by several of the jann eunuchs using create food and water) and that they will be her honored guests.
The tone of the meeting with Dilix depends on why the PCs have come to her. Dilix is, like the PCs, caught between two opposing factions. Like Obherak, she wouldn’t mind ruling Kakishon, but like the proteans, she also wouldn’t mind escaping to the real world. Pride in her race compels her to stand with Obherak against the proteans, while personal hatred of Obherak and the urge to escape to seek revenge against Jhavhul compel her to ally with the proteans to find an escape from Kakishon. In short, Dilix seeks someone to make her decision for her. If they are able to ally with her, appeal to her pride, and treat her with respect, she’ll befriend them. If they annoy her, disrespect her, or attack her, she’ll ally against them. And if the PCs don’t ever interact with her at all, she’ll ally against them in the end out of sheer suspicion about outlanders who don’t bother to seek her advice and aid.
During the feast with Dilix, the shaitan tries to determine, without influencing them, what side of the conflict the PCs seek to be on. You can use her to help the PCs make informed decisions. If they seem to be blindly following the proteans, she might point out the truth—that the proteans are chaotic and shouldn’t be trusted, and that their main goal is to destroy Kakishon first. If the PCs are convinced that the proteans are enemies and want to serve Obherak, Dilix points out that Obherak is a cruel shaitan whose personal vices and hubris make him a dangerous ally, and that if he would betray a fellow genie, what would keep him from betraying a mortal?
She’ll also point out that she’s not sure Obherak really can engineer a way out of Kakishon, and that unless the PCs want to stay here forever, allying with him might be a foolish choice. For her own part, Dilix’s initial attitude is indifferent. Unless the PCs can at least make her friendly during the course of their meal with her (such as with a DC 15 Diplomacy check, or by offering her a gift of at least 2,000 gp in value), Dilix, in the end, allies against the PCs, even if their parting of ways after this feast is amiable. Even if the PCs are unable to adjust her attitude, however, she remains very open to discussion with the PCs about Kakishon and its islands during the feast. She can give them most of the general information on the various islands noted on pages 10–12, though unless made at least friendly, she won’t mention much about Andakami or Khandelwal, or make any mention of Obherak, Andrathi, Jhavhul, or the proteans.
If made friendly, Dilix promises to aid the PCs in whatever way she can once they come to their final battle, be it against the proteans or Obherak. She gives the PC with the highest Charisma score her bracelet of friends, telling the PCs that they can call upon her aid, once, with the bracelet. Furthermore, Dilix offers some advice on how the PCs might prepare for their goal, as indicated in the sidebar. Finally, she grants the PCs a small golden lamp—a galley charm that the PCs can use to summon a Nexian galley at any Waypoint.
If PCs can make her helpful (such as with a DC 30 Diplomacy check, with charm monster, or by giving her a gift worth at least 12,000 gp), Dilix gives them the information above but also tells them of Jhavhul, warning that the efreeti warlord is doubtless raining havoc upon the world without and that many of those the PCs left behind might even blame them for releasing Jhavhul. Worse, Dilix is certain that Jhavhul has claimed the Scroll of Kakishon as his own (as the scroll would, doubtless, be lying where the PCs left it when they were drawn in, and it would be one of the first things Jhavhul saw upon emerging into the real world), so that even if the PCs do emerge from Kakishon, they should be ready for anything. Certainly, the scroll no longer remains where the PCs left it. Dilix can warn the PCs that Jhavhul is a dangerous foe, and that before he was imprisoned in Kakishon, he was seeking to awaken a powerful monstrosity called Xotani the Firebleeder.
Beyond her knowledge that Xotani is one of the Spawn of Rovagug, though, Dilix doesn’t know much more—but she’s certain that Jhavhul will go right back to work trying to awaken the monster once he’s recovered from his imprisonment in Kakishon. Dilix spent most of her servitude to Jhavhul on the Material Plane as a lowly guard in the upper levels of the House of the Beast, but she can tell the PCs a fair amount about how Jhavhul was captured by the Templars of the Five Winds and that his true lair lies somewhere deeper under Pale Mountain, in a place Dilix never visited, yet knows as “Xotani’s Grave.”
Feel free to use Dilix to fill the PCs in on as much of the Legacy of Fire backstory as you wish; they’ll get a chance to learn more in the next adventure, but this is a great point to start to build Jhavhul up as the final enemy. In any event, the PCs should be worried about what Jhavhul might do upon finding a healthy village like Kelmarane thriving in such close proximity to his lair.
Female shaitan rogue 4
LN Large outsider (earth, extraplanar)
Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 60 ft.; Listen +18,
Spot +18
Defense
AC 25, touch 13, flat-footed 22
(+2 armor, +1 deflection, +3 Dex, +10 natural, –1 size)
hp 106 (13 HD; 9d8+4d6+52)
Fort +11, Ref +13, Will +11
Defensive Abilities evasion, trap sense +1, uncanny dodge; Immune electricity
Offense
Spd 20 ft., burrow 60 ft., climb 20 ft.
Melee +1 keen scimitar +17/+12/+7 (1d8+8/15–20) and mwk dagger +17 (1d6+3/19–20)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks metalmorph, plane shift, sneak attack +2d6, stone curse
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 12th)
At will—meld into stone, soften earth and stone, stone shape, veil (self only)
3/day—quickened glitterdust (DC 16), stoneskin, wall of stone
1/day—stone tell, transmute mud to rock, transmute rock to mud
Tactics
During Combat Dilix uses stoneskin on herself and a quickened glitterdust on the first round of combat. She’s fond of using transmute rock to mud to slow her enemies and wall of stone to split up teammates from aiding each other, but in battle generally relies on her allies to set up flanking opportunities so she can sneak attack.
Morale If reduced below 20 hit points, Dilix begs for her life.
Statistics
Str 24, Dex 16, Con 18, Int 16, Wis 15, Cha 19
Base Atk +12; Grp +23
Feats Combat Casting, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Quicken Spell-Like Ability (glitterdust), Two-Weapon Fighting, Two-Weapon Fighting
Skills Appraise +19 (+24 against gems, metal, and stone), Bluff +18, Concentration +16, Craft (gemcutting) +19, Knowledge (architecture and engineering) +20, Listen +18, Profession (miner) +18, Search +19 (+24 in stonework), Sense Motive +18, Spot +18, Tumble +19
Languages Celestial, Common, Ignan, Protean, Terran
SQ earth mastery, stone glide, trapfinding
Gear bracers of armor +2, +1 keen scimitar, masterwork dagger, ring of protection +1, bracelet of friends (1 charm), Nexian galley charm
Ad Hoc Experience Award: If the PCs get Dilix to ally with them, award them experience as if they had defeated her in combat.
If made at least friendly, Dilix suggests to the PCs that they seek out the azer smith Artel on the island of Salenax, as the azer was no friend of Jhavhul and, if the PCs can secure his friendship (perhaps by bringing the dwarf a piece of flint from the top of the Black Spire in Khosravi), the azer might offer them advice or a gift in their inevitable conflict with Jhavhul.
Dilix Mahad also suggests visiting the Isle of the Dead, for it was here that Jhavhul finally confronted and slew Andrathi. Dilix has heard persistent rumors that Andrathi’s spirit haunts the island now, and if the PCs can establish communication with him, they might be able to learn even more about how to escape Kakishon, if they aren’t convinced that siding with the proteans or Obherak is the best plan and want to find a way to escape from Kakishon on their own.
Very little is left of the Pleasure Palace of Nex after Jhavhul’s explosive exodus from Kakishon; still, the lure of what strange treasures might lie buried in the ruins or perhaps hidden in underground chambers below could well be too strong for some parties to resist. There are great treasures and dangers hidden in the now-sealed lower chambers, but these treasures are beyond the scope of this adventure to present. Still, if the PCs insist, use the following brief notes to develop the palace ruins as you see fit.
Every possible creature comfort, every pleasure of the flesh or the mind, can be satisfied on Kakishon. The palace once contained magically equipped kitchens, elaborate illusory reproductions of the finest bards, minstrels, dancers, acrobatic troupes, fire-eaters, and every form of performance art from the salacious to the sublime, and in the chambers deep below lie prisons that might still hold powerful outsiders and undead long since gone insane over the crawl of centuries.