The second level serves as the primary living quarters, stores, and religious center for the citadel’s garrison. The soldiers’ shrine is now the lair of a tribe of xenophobic lizardfolk. The level also contains the lower floors of the guest wing, now inhabited by the members of a guild of thieves and assassins called the Flickering Candle.
An open-air balcony protrudes from the side of the palace, overlooking a great city plaza some thirty feet below. The view from the balcony is of an impossibly immense city of towering spires and lava-filled canals.
This terrace is covered by the base of the minaret above, supported by thick brass columns. Stairs descend to area B15 below.
Short couches and divans line the walls of this chamber, while multiple rough pallets cover the floors.
Creatures: Currently occupying this chamber are three kobold slaves that are too injured to perform their duties. They lie listlessly on the rough pallets, with only meager bowls of meal and half-evaporated cups of water provided by the other kobold slaves.
If confronted, they tell what they know of the Flickering Candle, including details of areas B15–B18 below and D12–D15 above. They will not accompany the PCs under any circumstances, so afraid are they of their masters’ ire. If Kabaness (see area C3) hears the kobolds talking or fighting and comes in the room, he immediately attempts to kill all of the craven creatures before turning his attention on the PCs.
hp 4 each (currently at 0) (MM 161)
This chamber is simply furnished with an assortment of whips, tongs, and various torture implements hung from the walls.
Creature: The Flickering Candle employs a barbed devil named Kabaness as its slavemaster. The devil enjoys his job, and sees to the kobold slaves and any other captives taken by the guild. He swiftly investigates any strange or suspicious noises he hears in area C2.
Barbed devil (MM 51)
hp 126
Treasure: A chest under the bed holds 225 sp, 32 gp, and a key to the lock in area C4.
The east side of this room is separated by a wall of closely set bars of brass. A stoutly locked door stands at the southern end.
Newly acquired slaves were once locked in here until the house slavemaster could break them to their new duties. The Flickering Candle now uses the cell to house victims of its kidnappings and extortion scams. Members of the guild still at large in the City of Brass periodically bring new victims here for safekeeping until a ransom is paid. The guild is aware that these prisoners are unable to leave due to the citadel’s curse, but don’t bother to inform their marks of such until after the ransom is paid, knowing that there’s little these marks can do to retaliate unless they want to enter the palace and become trapped as well. Without the key (kept in area C3), the lock to this cage can be opened with a DC 30 Open Lock check.
Creatures: Only one prisoner languishes within the cell currently—Iavesk, a despondent djinni who had been captured by the Flickering Candle not long before they entered Bayt al-Bazan, robbed of his wits by a feeblemind spell. The Flickering Candle had been considering ransoming Iavesk back to his kin on the Plane of Air —now that they’re trapped, his captors have left the genie to languish here, where his wailing and sobbing take up all of his hours, even though he lacks the wits to understand the source of his sadness.
If the PCs can cure Iavesk of his feebleminded condition, the djinni immediately recovers his composure and wits, bows deeply to the PCs, and promises to serve the one who cured him for a year and a day in return for the kindness.
While the djinni knows nothing about Bayt al-Bazan, he can certainly be a great boon for PCs who need a source of food or other materials, as the genie can create whatever tools they need once he’s regained his mind, and once the Vizier’s Curse is lifted, his plane shift ability can give the PCs a route back to the Material Plane.
Djinni (MM 114)
hp 45
Ad Hoc XP Award: Award the PCs experience for a CR 8 creature if they manage to heal Iavesk and retain him as an ally.
A large brass table occupies the center of this room next to an equally large chair. Racks on the walls hold a number of shears, knives, pliers, and assorted other brass instruments of a sinister nature. Tables against the north wall hold a complete alchemy lab where numerous alembics simmer over brass burners.
Creature: This chamber originally served as the operating theater for Bayt al-Bazan’s resident barber and surgeon, but now it serves as the laboratory of a noble salamander known only as the Bursar, who serves as accountant and alchemist to Grandfather Musalla. He immediately attacks intruders in eerie silence; even if badly injured he utters no sound and actually smiles quite genuinely if slain. He carries the key to area B18.
Noble salamander (MM 219)
hp 112
Based on the composite bows and quivers hanging next to its arrowslits, this chamber must be a guardroom. Against the east wall are four brass cages, no more than three feet high, covered by dark linen shrouds.
Beneath the shrouds are simple brass cages, two of which are empty.
Creatures: The remaining two cages each hold a pair of pyrolisks—hideous creatures who combine the shapes of a lizard and a rooster, similar to a cockatrice. Smoke and tiny tendrils of flame rise from the creatures’ feathers, for unlike a typical cockatrice, a pyrolisk’s gaze causes any who meet it to spontaneously burst into searing flames. The pyrolisks cannot leave their cages without help, but their gaze attack functions fine through the bars of the cages. The efreet are fond of fighting these dangerous birds against each other for sport.
Tome of Horrors Revised 299
NE Small magical beast
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Listen +6, Spot +7
Defense
AC 14, touch 14, flat-footed 11 (+3 Dex, +1 size)
hp 22 (4d10)
Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +4
Immune fire
Offense
Spd 20 ft., fly 60 ft. (poor)
Melee bite +8 (1d4–2)
Special Attacks conflagration gaze, pyrotechnics
Tactics
During Combat Pyrolisks open with their pyrotechnics and then use their gaze attack on any who are not blinded.
Morale The pyrolisks fight to the death.
Statistics
Str 6, Dex 17, Con 11, Int 4, Wis 13, Cha 9
Base Atk +4; Grp –2
Feats Alertness, Iron Will, Weapon Finesse
Skills Listen +6, Spot +7
Special Abilities
Conflagration Gaze (Su) A creature within 30 feet that meets a pyrolisk’s gaze bursts into flames, taking 6 points of damage (Might Defense check for half damage). The flames immediately burn out, so there is no continuing damage or effect. A creature that successfully saves cannot be affected again by that pyrolisk’s gaze for 24 hours.
Pyrotechnics (Su) Once per round, a pyrolisk can use pyrotechnics as the spell (CL 4th) but only the fireworks version of the spell (Will DC 12 negates). The save DC is Constitution-based.
Stacked at the end of this corridor where the walls widen out into a room is a collection of crates, boxes, and barrels. They appear to have been recently placed here.
Treasure: The items stored here include all sorts of valuable goods such as art objects and jewels (worth a combined total of 4,500 gp), as well as items illegal in the City of Brass, including 15 flasks of holy water and a decanter of endless water. The Flickering Candle, which had hoped to use the abandoned palace as a place to hide its contraband, stashed these objects here soon after they arrived in Bayt al-Bazan.
Four alcoves branch off the walls of this otherwise empty chamber.
The secret doors that allow entrance into this room can be located with Level 8 Perception checks.
Traps: As soon as anyone moves beyond one of the alcoves to enter the central portion of the room, a trap is triggered. The only safe way to travel across the room is by using teleportation to travel directly to another alcove. One round after anyone enters the main chamber, the living brass ceiling sags and melts, and molten brass rains throughout the room. This is a special function of the living brass here and cannot be dispelled. The rain continues as long as anyone remains in the room.
These drops of molten brass deal both fire damage as well as negative energy damage from the portions of mortal souls imprisoned within them. They disappear an instant after they land, and the ceiling produces an endless supply of them. The trap resets as soon as every creature leaves the room.
Type mechanical; Search DC 25; Disable Device DC 29
Effects
Trigger proximity; Reset automatic
Effect molten brass infused with negative energy rains from the ceiling (8d6 fire damage and 1 negative level per round, DC 15 Fort to remove); Reflex DC 20 halves fire damage and negates negative level; multiple targets (all targets in the room); onset delay 1 round
This oddly shaped chamber is dominated at its center by a large stone statue of a crouching lion with dragon-like wings and a jackal’s head. A bloodstained stone cup nestles between its front paws. The face has been partially broken off, leaving a network of jagged cracks throughout the head and neck.
This sphinx statue was once a powerful magical entity with oracular powers, and was originally housed in area B6. One of the prior efreeti pashas smashed the statue in a fit of pique after a particularly unfavorable prediction, and it lost all mystical abilities thereafter.
A dim red glow emanates from a grate in the ceiling high overhead, while the floor slopes toward a ten-foot-wide chute built into the northeast corner and surrounded by odd bits of debris.
The grate in the ceiling can be opened with a Level 6 Might check and opens into the outer court (area D2).
Garbage and debris are routinely dumped into this room, which serves as a collection point where servants can then empty the refuse into the chute for disposal. The chute is extremely smooth brass and requires a Level 8 Climb check to safely descend—failure indicates a climber slides down the chute into area B8 in a single round, crashing through the secret door at the base of the slide (which swings shut immediately thereafter).
This large, dark chamber possesses multiple deep alcoves, each nondescript with the bits of only a few rough furnishings and rude bedding strewn about.
This chamber once housed the slaves that served Bayt al-Bazan. When the house fell, those that were unable to escape were ultimately slain and devoured by the citadel’s denizens. The stairs lead up to area D5.
A wall composed of crudely shaped lumps of rough, black stone blocks the corridor ahead to the height of twenty feet. Beyond the wall looms an immense siege engine that looks like a ballista made of brass.
This intersection marks the edge of the territory claimed by the Cult of the Incarnate Flame. A wall composed of cooled magma raised from area B8 partially blocks the corridors from the west and north—the wall can be scaled with a Level 3 Climb check. The lizardfolk of the fire cult have constructed a 15-foot-high platform behind it that is accessed by a brass ladder. Mounted on the platform is a masterwork brass ballista that the lizardfolk discovered in the lower armory. While this cunning ballista requires two Medium creatures to aim the device and operate the windlass, the process of reloading is mostly automatic, similar to the technology of a repeating crossbow. It can fire at a rate of once per round, up to 12 times before its magazine is exhausted and must be reloaded by hand (this process takes a full minute).
Creatures: Manning this guard post are four fire cult lizardfolk—deep red creatures with smoking breath and glowing eyes native to the Plane of Fire. They attack anyone they see. If someone manages to reach the top of the wall, the lizardfolk bray a warning that brings reinforcements from both areas marked C13 in 3 rounds.
The iron longbows they wield are composite bows (Heavy Range) that serve to transfer their heat damage to arrows shot from the bows.
Fire-infused lizardfolk ranger 2 (MM 169, Advanced Bestiary 111)
N Medium humanoid (fire, reptilian)
Init +1; Senses Listen +0, Spot –2
Defense
AC 23, touch 14, flat-footed 23 (+4 armor, +3 deflection, +1 Dex, +5 natural)
hp 26 each (4d8+8); fire healing
Fort +5, Ref +9, Will –2
Defensive Abilities elemental body; Immune fire
Weakness vulnerability to cold
Offense
Spd 30 ft., firewalk
Melee mwk heavy mace +6 (1d8 plus 1d6 fire) and claws +3 (1d4 plus 1d6 fire) and bite +3 (1d4 plus 1d6 fire)
Ranged mwk iron longbow +8 (1d8+2/×3 plus 1d6 fire)
Special Attacks breath weapon, heat, favored enemy (fire outsider +2)
Tactics
Before Combat The lizardfolk drink their potions of shield of faith as soon as they notice anyone approaching from the north or east. Two operate the ballista, while the other two use longbows against attackers. They use their breath weapon on the first round of melee combat.
Morale These lizardfolk fight to the death.
Statistics
Str 14, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 6, Cha 12
Base Atk +3; Grp +4
Feats Multiattack, Quick Draw, Rapid Shot, Track, Weapon Focus (longbow)
Skills Balance +11, Jump +10, Listen +4, Spot +4, Survival +4, Swim +12
Languages Draconic, Ignan
SQ elemental body, hold breath, wild empathy +3
Combat Gear potion of cure moderate wounds, potion of shield of faith +3; Other Gear masterwork chain shirt, masterwork heavy mace, masterwork iron longbow
Specia l Abilities
Breath Weapon (Su) 30-ft. cone once every 1d4 rounds, damage 2d6 fire, Reflex DC 13 half.
Elemental Body (Ex) A fire cult lizardfolk has a 25% chance to ignore the effects of poison, paralysis, sleep, stunning, or additional damage caused by sneak attacks and critical hits.
Fire Healing (Ex) A fire cult lizardfolk heals 1 hit point for each full round it is in contact with fire. When struck by a magical fire effect, it heals a point of damage per 10 points of damage the fire effect would have otherwise dealt.
Firewalk (Su) A fire cult lizardfolk can climb an object on fire as though it had a 40-foot climb speed. It can fly at a speed of 40 feet with perfect maneuverability so long as it’s in contact with fire. It can walk on top of fire as if walking on air with an air walk spell.
Heat (Su) A fire-infused lizardfolk’s natural attacks and metallic weapon melee attacks (as well as attacks made with iron bows) deal an extra 3 points of fire damage.
This simple room is crudely decorated with fetishistic designs of a huge burning demon. Rough prayer mats made of tattooed leather line the floor.
Creatures: Each of these chambers contains three meditating fire cult lizardfolk. While offering prayers to Flauros, the Burning Maw (identifiable as the demon lord of fire with a DC 25 Knowledge [the planes] check). They listen for any alarms from area C12 and call an alarm themselves if they encounter the PCs.
hp 26 each (see page 30)
A number of crude wire cages have been set in this room, within which flutter several small, burning creatures. A portion of the floor has been cleared to create an open space, now stained with old blood, around which are scattered a number of butchering tools. Stacked near these are the dismembered remains of some large, recently butchered red-skinned creature.
The fire cult uses this as their larder, storing the elemental fire bats, rats, and other vermin that wander into the palace via the sewage tunnel in area B8 only to be caught by lizardfolk hunters. The recently butchered remains on the floor are easily identifiable as an efreeti—one of Jhavhul’s servants that returned to Bayt al-Bazan after he was freed from Kakishon.
This massive chamber is dominated by a huge statue of an efreeti seated in the lotus position upon a dais. The statue holds a six-foot-high basin filled with roaring flames in its lap. This pyre gives the statue’s snarling visage an eerie red glow and causes the flickering light to glint malignly off the jewels mounted in its eye sockets. Tall brass braziers flank the statue, and several crates and chests have been stacked in the western half of the room.
At one time, the servants of Bayt al-Bazan were devout followers of the cult that worshiped the grand sultan of the efreet as a deity, one of the major religions of the City of Brass. The house’s main mosque was built into the palace, but this temple was provided for the use of the citadel’s garrison. The idol is a stylized image of the efreeti grand sultan, and both its basin and the braziers continually burn with magical flames that cannot be extinguished. Though these flames are hot and damage creatures normally, any object thrown into the basin is unharmed and instantly teleports to area A1a while giving the appearance of having been consumed in the flames. In this way, the prince of the house could discreetly collect in his own treasury the sacrifices made by the garrison to the grand sultan.
Behind the huge idol is a secret door that can be located with a Level 7 Perception check.
Creatures: Since the efreet managed to make their way into this room recently, the fire cult lizardfolk make sure this chamber is guarded at all times by five of their number, along with a pet pyrohydra that sees the lizardfolk as part of its family. They do not respond to alarms elsewhere, but sounds of battle quickly draw their leader Bassadoum from area C20 in 1d4 rounds.
hp 26 each (see page 30)
hp 87 (MM 157)
Treasure: The crates and boxes hold general supplies and equipment scavenged by the lizardfolk from the surrounding rooms. Some are spare parts for the ballista, and several hold more bronze bolts for that weapon, which the lizardfolk use as javelins. There are also a dozen more masterwork chain shirts (some still bearing bloodstains), seven masterwork heavy maces, and four masterwork iron longbows. The idol’s eyes are massive rubies, each worth 10,000 gp. Once, a potent magical trap protected them from looting, but with the reconsecration of this altar to Flauros, the trap has faded.
Lodged in the hydra’s gut is a single greater bracer of archery; its mate is hidden in the creature’s nest in area C17.
This nondescript hallway hides a secret door that can be found with a Level 6 Perception check—the fire cult lizardfolk have not yet discovered it. Beyond, a flight of stairs leads down to area B13.
This filthy chamber is cluttered with bones, mounds of rubble, broken furniture, and other garbage, most of which has been heaped up in a circular nest in the room’s center. A cloying reptilian stink lingers in the air.
Treasure: A Level 5 Search check of the nest uncovers a skeletal arm that sill wears a blue crystalline greater bracer of archery—its lost mate now lingering in the hydra’s belly.
Mattresses composed of hides and rough fibers are scattered about the floor, and bits of furniture cobbled together from whatever odds and ends were available add to the décor. Steel spikes driven into seams in the brass walls support fetishes and crude emblems, which are further enhanced by charcoal drawings and handprints rendered in rough dyes.
Creatures: Occupying this chamber are eight fire cult lizardfolk. They fight to the death to protect the temple, responding to an alarm in area C15 in 1d4+3 rounds.
hp 26 each (see page 30)
The air in here is hotter than elsewhere, and humid. The cloying stench of compost and unwashed bodies makes it even less pleasant. The floor is mostly covered in a layer of black, granular soil containing odd shards of metal and debris. Several brown ovoids emerge from the soil in the center of the chamber. Across the room, one such ovoid is partially buried beneath a wire stand, which holds a metal flask upended above it. A thin filament of brass extends from the flask’s stopper to the top of the ovoid.
The lizardfolk have converted this room into a hatchery by creating a compost floor from garbage and wastes gathered from elsewhere in the palace. Eleven leathery eggs are currently incubating in the center of the room.
One large egg that has been selected by Bassadoum to become the next chief of the tribe is being drip-irrigated with a potion of heroism in hopes of mutating the embryo within into a second babbler.
Creatures: Two fire cult lizardfolk fanatically guard this chamber and fight to the death to prevent any of the eggs from being damaged.
hp 26 each (see page 30)
Treasure: Were one so inclined, the eggs could be sold in the City of Brass for 25 gp each. The potion of heroism is still mostly full, and a Level 3 Search check reveals two more stored behind the irrigation stand. Two other empty flasks held potions already used that have not yet yielded results.
Hooks mounted on the wall hold giant red robes decorated with flame motifs. Some also hold bronze masks that resemble ferocious efreet. Many of robes have been removed from their hooks and piled onto the floor to make a large sleeping pallet.
This vestry has been taken over by the chief and prophet of the lizardfolk’s Cult of the Incarnate Flame. A secret door on the west wall is easily located from this side with a Level 3 Perception check.
Creature: Dwelling in here is the fire cult’s prophet and chieftain, a delusional mutant lizardfolk (known as a babbler) named Bassadoum. Bassadoum resembles a cross between a lizardfolk and a predatory dinosaur, with scales of flaming orange. He prefers to move about on all fours but rises bipedally to attack. He wears one of the cult’s ceremonial robes, though it fits oddly on his unusually proportioned frame, and has draped himself in all manner of bronze pendants and jewelry. Bassadoum gained control of the fire cult by being the most powerful of the slaves to escape, and has maintained his rule with a religious fervor and devotion to Flauros, whose image haunts his dreams. His latest pronouncement is that he should create a new babbler from one of the lizardfolk eggs, since he has been unable to sire an heir himself. He is insane but remains lucid most of the time.
Male fire-infused advanced babbler cleric of Flauros 9 (Tome of Horrors Revised 26, Advanced Bestiary 111)
CE Large magical beast (fire, reptilian)
Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Listen +20, Spot +20
Defense
AC 21, touch 14, flat-footed 18 (+2 armor, +2 deflection, +3 Dex, +5 natural, –1 size)
hp 142 (19d8+57); fire healing
Fort +16, Ref +13, Will +16
Defensive Abilities elemental body; Immune fire; SR 21
Weakness vulnerability to cold
Offense
Spd 40 ft., bipedal 20 ft., firewalk
Melee 2 claws +22 (1d8+8 plus 1d6 fire) and bite +20 (1d8+4 plus 1d6 fire)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks breath weapon, heat, rebuke undead 4/day (+1, 2d6+10), sneak attack +2d6
Spells Prepared (CL 5th)
5th—quickened divine favor, fire shield, spell resistance
4th—chaos hammer (DC 21), cure critical wounds, poison (DC 21), tongues
3rd—blindness/deafness (DC 20), cure serious wounds, dispel magic, magic circle against law, magic vestment, searing light
2nd—bear’s endurance, bull’s strength, cure moderate wounds (2), hold person (DC 19), produce flameD, resist energy
1st—bless, burning handsD (DC 18), command (DC 18), cure light wounds (2), protection from good, sanctuary (DC 18)
0—create water, cure minor wounds (3), guidance, mending
D domain spell; Domains chaos, fire
Tactics
Before Combat Bassadoum casts magic vestment on his cloak and clothes at the start of each day, and before combat casts bear’s endurance, bull’s strength, fire shield, spell resistance, and tongues.
During Combat Bassadoum casts quickened divine favor and chaos hammer on the first round of combat. If in area C15, he prefers to fight from the idol’s basin and support the battle with spells.
Morale Bassadoum fights to the death.
Base Stats AC 19, touch 14, flat-footed 16; hp 104; Fort +14; Melee 2 claws +20 (1d8+6 plus 1d6 fire) and bite +18 (1d8+3 plus 1d6 fire); Str 22, Con 12; Skills Concentration +19, Jump +12, Swim +8
Statistics
Str 26, Dex 16, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 24, Cha 12
Base Atk +16; Grp +26
Feats Brew Potion, Improved Initiative, Improved Critical (claw), Improved Natural Attack (claw), Lightning Reflexes, Multiattack, Quicken Spell
Skills Balance +7, Concentration +21, Hide +3 (+7 when slithering on belly), Jump +14, Listen +20, Spot +20, Swim +10
Languages Draconic, Ignan; tongues
SQ spontaneous casting (inflict spells)
Gear periapt of Wisdom +4, ring of protection +2, bronze jewelry worth 285 gp
Special Abilities
Breath Weapon (Su) 30-ft. cone, damage 9d6 fire, Reflex DC 16 half.
Fire Infused For rules on Bassadoum’ s abilities gained from the fire-infused template (Elemental Body, Fire Healing, Firewalk, and Heat), see the Fire Cult Lizardfolk stats on page 29.
Both of these rooms once served as the lower barracks for the citadel’s garrison, and more recently as additional territory for the f ire cult. After many of their number were lost to battles against the fire giants of the Guardians of the Forbidden Gate, the fire cult abandoned both of these rooms. Both have been stripped of anything of value.
Once a large bifurcated guardroom with arrow slits to the west and south, these chambers are now largely devoid of furnishings. A broad stair descends to the west, looking out onto the citadel’s entry, and arrow slits and a door open onto the entry where it turns to the east. Dual stairs climb to the floor above from the center of the room.
Anyone looking out the southern arrow slits can see the pyrohydra chained in area C23. The south door is locked (the key is carried by the fire giant guard on duty).
Creatures: A fire giant and two hell hounds guard this chamber. The giant tends to doze in the eastern portion while one hound keeps an eye on the eastern door and the other watches through the arrow slits to the south. If alerted to intruders, the giant takes 2 rounds to awake and ready himself for combat.
This lumbering giant has short stumpy legs and powerful, muscular arms. Its hair and beard seem to be made of fire.
Health: 30
Damage Inflicted: 6 points plus 3 points from fire
Armor: 3 (immune to fire)
Size: Large
Movement: Short
Modifications: Speed defense as level 5 due to size; breaks and throws objects as level 8
GM intrusion: The jotunn’s attack inflicts a serious burn, making a limb useless for an hour or until healed.
Combat: A fire jotunn uses weapons appropriate to its size (which would be two-handed for a human but can be wielded one-handed by the giant), inflicting 6 points of damage plus another 3 points of ambient fire damage conducted from the jotunn’s body. Jotunns throw boulders up to very long range, inflicting 6 points of damage plus 3 points of fire damage.
A jotunn can inflict 1 point of fire damage with a touch, and anyone touching it without protection against fire takes damage as if the jotunn had touched them. A slain fire jotunn and its equipment are too hot to safely touch for several minutes.
Fire jotunns are immune to fire damage, but take additional damage from cold (equal to the attack’s normal damage, up to a maximum of 5 additional points of cold damage).
Fire jotunn leaders sometimes have magical powers, usually related to earth and fire.
Loot: Greatsword and Half-Plate
Health: 17
Damage Inflicted: 6 points
Armor: 2
Movement: Long
Modifications: Speed defense as level 5; stealth and climbing as level 3
Combat: Hell hounds move very fast and use that speed to their advantage in combat. A hound can move a long distance and still attack as a single action. It can also use its action to run about in random patterns, hindering attacks against it by two steps.
A hell hound’s mouth is completely filled in a seething mass of hellfire. When it pounces on prey with its clawed forelimbs, which causes a burst of hellfire to flare from its body, burning whatever it touches or bites.
Anyone within close distance of a hell hound for more than one round suffers 2 point of fire and negative damage in each round after the first.
A tall gate composed of brass bars blocks the entry stairway here. The great steps continue to rise beyond it. A gatehouse stands to the north with a reinforced door and arrow slits opening out onto the stairs. A herculean iron spike has been driven into the steps east of the gate, and a massive chain attached to it runs to a shackle on the leg of a nine-headed reptile of horrific proportions.
The locked gate can be opened or battered as any other living brass door in the citadel, or the key in the possession of the guard at area C22 can be used. The stairway leads up to area D1.
Creature: Shackled in place and guarding this stairway is a nine-headed pyrohydra—once the mate of the pyrohydra in area C15. It is trained to attack to defend itself or when anything not accompanied by a fire giant comes through the gate or descends from area D1 above. PCs entering from area C22 cause it 1 round of hesitation before it decides to attack. The pyrohydra cannot move beyond the stairs at this area unless released from its shackles.
Nine-Headed Pyrohydra CR 10
hp 97 (MM 157)
The trapdoor in the ceiling of this chamber is blocked from above, requiring a Level 7 Strength check to open it from below.
The sconces in this chamber are out, so that the many arrow slits provide the only light. A single giant-sized pallet has been arranged near the south wall. The gate guard no longer uses this room as a watch post.
Creature: The chamber is currently serving as the cell for a fire giant named Gilbans who has fallen into disfavor with the Guardians of the Forbidden Gate after he attempted to secure an alliance with the Cult of the Incarnate Flame. Both of his legs have been broken, and he is slowly starving to death. Wounded and exhausted due to his deprivation, he can no longer walk but does defend himself to the best of his ability. His weapons and armor have been taken, but he has gathered several old pieces of furniture to throw as improvised rocks. His CR is reduced due to his current state and lack of equipment.
If befriended and given aid, he not only gladly describes areas D2–D10 and E9–E11, but will even accompany the PCs if they promise him a chance to avenge his humiliation by cracking a few giants’ skulls.
This lumbering giant has short stumpy legs and powerful, muscular arms. Its hair and beard seem to be made of fire.
Health: 30
Damage Inflicted: 4 points plus 3 points from fire
Armor: 0 (immune to fire)
Size: Large
Movement: Short
Modifications: Speed defense as level 5 due to size; breaks and throws objects as level 8
GM intrusion: The jotunn’s attack inflicts a serious burn, making a limb useless for an hour or until healed.
Combat: A fire jotunn uses weapons appropriate to its size (which would be two-handed for a human but can be wielded one-handed by the giant), inflicting 6 points of damage plus another 3 points of ambient fire damage conducted from the jotunn’s body. Jotunns throw boulders up to very long range, inflicting 6 points of damage plus 3 points of fire damage.
A jotunn can inflict 1 point of fire damage with a touch, and anyone touching it without protection against fire takes damage as if the jotunn had touched them. A slain fire jotunn and its equipment are too hot to safely touch for several minutes.
Fire jotunns are immune to fire damage, but take additional damage from cold (equal to the attack’s normal damage, up to a maximum of 5 additional points of cold damage).
Fire jotunn leaders sometimes have magical powers, usually related to earth and fire.