The fourth floor of Bayt al-Bazan is comprised of the roofs of the citadel and gatehouse, and is controlled by the Flickering Candle and the Guardians of the Forbidden Gate. It also includes the upper floor of the palace and the remaining forces of the Keepers of the Haunted Palace—in particular, its leader, Imam Shabendeh, a cursed genie who spends the majority of his time in an unending feast in the great banquet hall.
Stairs climb from below into this guardroom. Loopholes look out over a garden and surrounding roof walk, while the room opens into the main palace dome to the north. The walls are adorned with crossed scimitars hung below antique bucklers. Several of the scimitars have been removed, leaving only the wall hooks where they once hung.
This guardroom controlled access to the upper levels of the palace. The bucklers and scimitars hanging on the walls are normal, though antique of make. The stairs lead down to area D24a.
A portion of the palace roof has been surrounded by a crenellated battlement to create a roof walk here that looks out over the City of Brass.
The roof walk is 150 feet above the surrounding streets.
Creatures: Two of the mad efreet that inhabit the haunted palace have found their way here. They have been tasked by Shabendeh to patrol this roof walk, to prevent intruders from entering the palace. They walk upon this platform and scream raggedly at random intervals, creating eerie echoes in the streets below. In their madness they attack anyone who enters. If they hear combat in the garden (area D24), they watch from the parapets at the edge, hurling down insults and mockery to the PCs but not attacking unless they are attacked first.
hp 65 each (MM 115)
This opulent chamber was clearly the quarters of someone of importance of approximately human size. Furniture constructed of brass and fire-blackened wrought iron provides a table with two chairs, a comfortable canopied bed, a wardrobe, and a footlocker.
This room once served Bagoas, the chief eunuch and chamberlain of the palace (see area D18), as home—none have dwelt here since his death.
Treasure: The wardrobe contains fine dwarf-sized clothing, and includes elaborate court costumes, jewelry and adornments with a total value of 1,850 gp. Stored within the footlocker is a brass walking cane with a grip shaped like the head of a phoenix. This was the Qilzar Agha’s symbol of office and is a rod of alertness.
This wide banquet hall contains ornate brass tables, chairs, and chandeliers—and a tremendous feast of rotting food and drink. Massive windows provide a breathtaking view of the Sea of Fire that surrounds the City of Brass.
It was in this chamber so long ago that the marid raid clashed with the efreet and the current ruler of Bayt al-Bazan, Al-hassan, and here that both forces died when Al-hassan’s guard dropped and the Vizier’s Curse took hold of the palace. The marids slew Al-hassan, but when the curse transformed the palace’s high priest, Imam Shabendeh, into a deadly creature known as a black jinni and animated the slaughtered efreet as great ghuls, the surviving marids were swiftly cut down.
Creatures: Shabendeh, the former imam of the citadel and now a cursed black jinni, spends the majority of his time in this room in a constant debauch of wine and food—all of which has been allowed to age to a point where it is sufficiently rotten for his debased tastes. Although he is constantly eating, his cursed state leaves him always hungry and gaunt. The black jinni is attended by four great ghuls who serve him food, massage him, and otherwise see to his needs. He abandons his feast if he realizes that the palace has been invaded, taking his great ghul servants with him to track down and confront the intruders, but since his minions are hesitant to face his wrath with bad news, it’s unlikely that he’ll rise to defend the area unless the PCs do something noticeable (particularly flashy or noisy combats in area D18, for example, might attract Shabendeh’s attention). He sees himself as the sacred guardian of the palace until Jhavhul’s return and fights to the death to expel intruders from the central palace, but has little interest in what goes on in the rest of the citadel.
hp 55 each (see page 40)
Black Jinni (see page 82)
hp 168
TACTICS
During Combat Shabendeh begins combat by summoning a dust vortex and attempting to draw his opponents into it to be electrocuted and buried. If they seem too formidable for this to suffice, he flies through the storm and attempts to attack with surprise with his searing touch and diseased taint.
Morale If Shabendeh is subjected to a dictum or holy word spell and is able to flee, he immediately does so. If he is forced into an opposed Knowledge (religion) check and does not win the check by more than 4, he likewise immediately flees.
This immense kitchen is dominated by a massive brass grill set in the center of the floor.
Both areas labeled a are huge, well-stocked larders filled with all manner of foodstuffs, wine, and cooking supplies. Each larder bears a magical enhancement that periodically replenishes the supplies of grain, wine, vegetables, spices, and bread, but the efreeti are forced to look to other places to supply the meat their master craves—the majority of such meat comes from hapless mad efreet who wander into the palace, or from other wandering monsters these efreet encounter and catch during a palace patrol.
The secret door into this room can be found with a Level 7 Perception. The stairs at area E6a lead up to area F1a.
This huge roof walk extends from the gatehouse to the palace, its eastern face a crenellated battlement overlooking the Sea of Fire far below. To the west, the rooftop looks out over the palace courtyard, while a number of guard shacks, turrets, and garderobes top the walk.
Yet the most impressive sight here is the one-hundred-foot-tall pyramid of ancient tarnished bronze that stands in the northern half of the rooftop. A wide stair rises to the pyramid’s apex, where a small temple with a double-peaked roof stands. Statues of draconic, four-armed female centaurs stand at each corner of this top platform, keeping an eternal watch over the surrounding area.
Area E7a is a small outbuilding constructed of thick clay bricks—inside, the stuffy building stores hundreds of shattered amphorae, and the floor is a stinking, sticky morass of dried fire wine. Once the palace’s wine stores, the building’s contents have long since been ruined.
In the early days of Bayt al-Bazan, the princes of the house were dedicated to the service of the Elemental Queen Ymeri rather than the grand sultan of the efreet. This pyramid was once a shrine to her power, and even though the efreet of Bayt al-Bazan moved on, they kept this temple here out of respect for the powerful demigod.
It was from this ancient tradition that Jhavhul learned of the Queen of the Inferno and began his own obsessive quest to court her. The inside of the temple (area E7b) is decorated with pictographs and writings in ancient Ignan that relate numerous prayers to Ymeri. A Level 6 Perception check reveals a large secret door in the floor, but it can only be opened with an offering of blood spilled upon its surface (or via magic like knock). Anyone who reads the prayers on the walls and makes a Level 6 Knowledge (religion) check realizes this. When opened, the secret door sinks into the floor, creating a spiral stair that descends 50 feet into a small chamber at the pyramid’s heart. A pedestal here holds a head-sized crystal orb of nearly indestructible glass within which appears to burn a raging inferno. This sphere of fire is slightly warm to the touch and contains a sample of Ymeri’s breath, a valuable relic that has lain here forgotten ever since the efreet of Bayt al-Bazan turned away from the Queen of the Inferno’s service. Ymeri’s orb is the key to the hiding place of the Impossible Eye (see area F2).
Creatures: Two Forbidden Gate patrols, each consisting of a fire giant and a Nessian warhound, walk this area. They seek to contain incursions from the palace, the assassins of the Flickering Candle, and other intruders from the City of Brass itself. Each giant carries a war horn, which he uses if attacked to call for aid from the other patrol, which arrives 1d3+1 rounds later.
hp 142 each (MM 121)
hp 114 each (MM 152)
The floor of the western half of this guard chamber is lined with well over a dozen murder holes. Piled near the murder holes are a number of rocks.
Creatures: A fire giant is always on duty here, though he’s not particularly attentive. An iron crate near the murder holes is packed with 10 flamebrother salamanders trapped within. If he hears intruders in area D1 below, the giant dumps the crate through the murder holes and then attacks with rocks. Likewise, if this room is invaded, he hurls the crate of salamanders only as a last resort, since once they’re free, they’re just as likely to attack him as intruders.
hp 142 (MM 121)
Salamanders (10)
hp 26 each (MM 219)
Judging by the rows of oversized bunks and ruined furniture here, this abandoned guardroom has not been used in some time—although some of the damage to the furnishings seems to be relatively recent.
The fire giants of the Forbidden Gate used to bunk here, but have relocated to area D5 since their leader went mad.
Stacked in the center of the main chamber are a number of dead, half-eaten magmin (victims of the argbadh’s rage and the warhound’s appetite). The side rooms (marked area E9a) were once armories, but their contents have long since been scavenged.
Creature: The only creature allowed in here is the argbadh’s favored pet—the only creature the insane giant remains loyal to. This pet is an immense pyrohydra named Embertongues. It sleeps lightly near the door to area E10 and growls viciously at any non-fire giant that enters. If the intruder doesn’t immediately leave Embertongues’s sight, the pyrohydra roars and attacks, alerting Karambagya in the next room, who thunders into this chamber in 1d3 rounds to join the battle.
Eleven-headed pyrohydra (MM 157)
This guardroom has been converted into the quarters of a very large creature. Bales of wiry wool and flax cover stacks of crates and boxes, creating a huge bed, a tattered tapestry draping over the heap like a blanket. An open-topped crate serves as a footlocker at the foot of the bed. Stacked nearby is a pile of bronze spheres, each the size of a human head.
The 14 stacked bronze spheres serve as throwing boulders. The crate holds scrolls written in Ignan containing orders and missives from the commanders of the Grand Vizier’s personal guard, ordering one Argbadh Karambagya and his forces to continue to hold the citadel against all comers, though it promises a release from the citadel’s curse at some undetermined date in the future. Several of these messages have been torn apart, as if in anger.
Creature: The argbadh (captain) of the Guardians of the Forbidden Gate has taken this chamber as his quarters. Argbadh Karambagya is a bronze giant, a spectacular physical specimen who stands 25 feet tall, with hardened skin bearing a sheen of bronze like some pagan god. He eschews the use of armor, trusting in his metallic skin to defend him. His hair is long, dark, and wiry, and his face a wrinkled mass of barely recognizable features, marred by a recent acid attack from Flickering Candle assassins. These scars and acid burns are a pale green, almost as if the bronze giant’s flesh were caked with verdigris.
Karambagya is demoralized at his perceived abandonment and recent injuries at the hands of the assassins. He believes his position to be untenable and is contemplating mutiny against the grand vizier—thoughts that have all but driven him mad. If the PCs can change his attitude from hostile to friendly, and if they promise to aid him in destroying both the Keepers of the Haunted Palace and the Flickering Candle, Karambagya allows them safe passage through the portions of the citadel that his faction controls. If made helpful, he assigns a fire giant to assist them as well.
Male elite bronze giant (Tome of Horrors III 84)
N Huge giant
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Listen +24 Spot +24
Defense
AC 24, touch 10, flat-footed 22 (+2 Dex, +14 natural, –2 size)
hp 216 (16d8+144)
Fort +19, Ref +9, Will +10
Defensive Abilities rock catching; DR 10/—; Resist fire 20
Offense
Spd 50 ft.
Melee +1 keen longsword +19/+14/+9 (3d6+30/17–20) or 2 slams +18 (1d8+23)
Ranged bronze throwing sphere +14 (2d8+13)
Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft.
Special Attacks rock throwing, sardonic laugh
Tactics
During Combat Karambagya uses his sardonic laugh and hurls bronze shot before charging in for melee with his longsword, attacking with a 5-point power attack.
Morale Karambagya is disconsolate at his current circumstances and gladly fights to the death.
Statistics
Str 37, Dex 15, Con 29, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 10
Base Atk +12; Grp +33
Feats Awesome Blow, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Power Attack
Skills Jump +21, Listen +24, Spot +24
Languages Giant, Ignan
Gear +1 keen longsword, bronze throwing spheres (14), boots of striding and springing
Special Abilities
Rock Catching (Ex) A bronze giant can catch projectiles once per round by making a Reflex save (DC 15 for Small projectiles, DC 20 for Medium ones, and DC 25 for Large ones).
Rock Throwing (Ex) The range increment for a bronze giant’s thrown rocks is 120 feet. It gains a +1 racial bonus on attack rolls with thrown rocks.
Sardonic Laugh (Ex) As a standard action, a bronze giant can unleash a bellowing laugh that strikes fear into the hearts of any creature within 100 feet that hears it (DC 18 Will save negates). On a failed save, a creature is shaken as long as it remains within 100 feet of the giant and for 2d4 rounds thereafter. Creatures that save are immune to that bronze giant’s laugh for 24 hours. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Treasure: Within the open chest is all that remains of Karambagya’s wealth—3 diamonds worth 500 gp each and 589 pp.
This battlement looks out over the city. Two statues depicting efreeti warriors with scimitars rendered in red-veined marble flank the doors into the gatehouse.
The doors to area E10 are barred from the inside. The plaza of the City of Brass is 150 feet below this rooftop.
The stairs lead down from this terrace to area D12b below. The nearby buildings of the upper Guest Wing serve as the chambers of the current leaders of the Flickering Candle.
Creatures: This empty room is a guard post for Master Matajinn’s personal guard of efreet. The four efreet are alert and watchful—if they hear intruders or engage in a fight, they telepathically alert their master as the battle begins, giving him constant updates on the PCs, their tactics, and any weaknesses, so that if the PCs make it to confront him, he’ll be informed about them.
hp 65 each (MM 115)
This chamber is elaborately decorated with a circular bed covered in cushions and red crushed velvet, a large granite table with six matching chairs, a finely crafted hookah filled with water, and windows curtained with fine links of interwoven copper chain.
This chamber has been taken over by the master of the Flickering Candle. The furnishings are all sized for a Large creature, though one of the chairs has a stout wooden chest on its seat to accommodate a Medium creature.
Creature: Occupying this chamber is the elf assassin the Flickering Candle serve. Known to them as Master Matajinn (literally “genie-killer”), the elf bound his life and destiny to one of the City of Brass’s most powerful nobles, an efreeti named Musalla. In return for much enhanced abilities and genie-granted powers, Matajinn must continue to serve as Musalla’s personal killer, and still owes him 380 years of servitude. Matajinn hates Musalla, but is bound by wish magic to serve the noble efreeti as the secret master of the Flickering Candle, a group of efreeti assassins Musalla uses to keep his power. Matajinn actually finds his group’s current “exile” in Bayt al-Bazan much to his liking—while his followers grumble and grow impatient to escape, he has come to realize that here is a place where his own master dare not come to punish him. Matajinn’s current plan is to wait out as many of the 380 years he owes Musalla as he can, only then seeking an escape.
Male efreeti-bound elf rogue 5/assassin 7 (Advanced Bestiary 133)
NE Medium humanoid
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Listen +10, Spot +10
Defense
AC 25, touch 18, flat-footed 19 (+7 armor, +2 deflection, +6 Dex)
hp 80 (12d6+36)
Fort +6, Ref +16, Will +4; +2 against enchantment, +3 against poison
Defensive Abilities evasion, improved uncanny dodge, trap sense +1; Immune sleep; Resist fire 20
Offense
Spd 30 ft.
Melee Zin’Kali +16/+11 (1d6+5/15–20)
Ranged +1 composite shortbow +15/+10 (1d6+4/×3)
Special Attacks death attack (DC 18), poison use, sneak attack +7d6
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 12th, ranged touch +14)
At will—detect magic, produce flame, pyrotechnics (DC 11), scorching ray (1 ray)
3/day—invisibility, wall of fire (DC 13)
1/day—enlarge person, gaseous form, permanent image (DC 15), reduce person (DC 10)
Spells Known (CL 7th)
3rd (2/day)—deep slumber (DC 14), false life, nondetection
2nd (4/day)—darkness, invisibility, pass without trace, spider climb
1st (4/day)—feather fall, jump, ghost sound (DC 12), true strike
Tactics
Before Combat At the beginning of each day, Matajinn casts false life on himself. When he detects intruders, he casts invisibility and spider climb and walks to the ceiling above to wait for them.
During Combat Matajinn prefers to observe a spellcaster long enough to make a death attack. He then makes sniping attacks from the ceiling for as long as possible.
Morale Matajinn wants to survive long enough to enjoy his freedom again, and flees into Bayt al-Bazan to try to hide if reduced to less than 20 hit points, abandoning his comrades in the Flickering Candle to the PCs. If cornered, though, he fights to the death.
Statistics
Str 16, Dex 22, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 8
Base Atk +8; Grp +11
Feats Acrobatic, Combat Reflexes, Improved Critical (rapier), Quick Draw, Weapon Finesse
Skills Balance +16, Disguise +7, Hide +21, Jump +15, Listen +17, Move Silently +21, Open Lock +16, Spot +17, Tumble +25
Languages Common, Elven, Ignan
SQ genie-bound, genie empowered, genie magic, trapfinding
Combat Gear 2 tanglefoot bags, 6 doses of giant wasp poison (Fort DC 14, 1d6 Dex/1d6 Dex); Other Gear +2 mithral shirt, Zin’Kali (+1 genie-bane rapier), +1 composite shortbow (+3 Str bonus) with 20 arrows, gloves of Dexterity +2, cloak of resistance +1, ring of protection +2, masterwork thieves’ tools
Special Abilities
Genie-Bound (Su) This ability allows Musalla to keep telepathic track of Matajinn as though via a status spell. As a standard action, Musalla can heal 1d6 points of damage or 1d4 points of ability damage through this bond at will.
Genie Empowered (Su) Once every 3 rounds, Matajinn may choose to gain a +10 bonus on any one skill check, double his speed for the round, or gain a +5 bonus on any one saving throw (even on another creature’s turn).
Genie Magic (Sp) Musalla can choose to strip Matajinn’s spell-like abilities from him as a free action—he can also choose to end or spoil the effects of his spell-like abilities as a free action.
A bronze brazier full of hot coals stands on an iron tripod in the center of this chamber. Windows look out over the inner courtyard to the east.
Creatures: Three salamanders loyal to the Flickering Candle stand guard in here. They respond to commotions in areas E12, E14, and E16 in 3 rounds and can easily be lured away from their posts by such diversions.
hp 58 each (MM 219)
Multiple doors exit this room in addition to a curtain of brass beads hung over a doorway that leads to a balcony overlooking the courtyard. The room is unadorned save for a dozen severed fire giant heads stacked in its center, and the repugnant stench of scorched flesh fills the chamber.
Area E16a is a balcony that overlooks the plaza to the west at a height of 150 feet.
Creature: This room has been taken over by the Heyyab Cutthroat, the commander of the salamanders who serve the Flickering Candle, and second in command after Master Matajinn. The heads are trophies from several recent raids made by the Flickering Candle against the Guardians of the Forbidden Gate.
The Heyyab Cutthroat is a noble salamander who has passed beyond the boundaries of madness. For years he stalked the Heyyab, one of the city’s poor districts, committing brutal murders upon its hapless residents. His activities were covered up by his twin brother, an enigmatic salamander called the Bursar (see area C5). When his crazed twin slew a consort to one of the sultan’s favored nephews, the Bursar was able to spirit him away from the sultan’s wrath only by seeking sanctuary in Musalla’s band of assassins. The Heyyab Cutthroat is not particularly loyal to Grandfather Musalla or Matajinn, but is unable to escape the citadel and is able to sate his bloody appetites for now. He hides behind the stack of heads and summons a fire elemental when the PCs enter, then uses a wall of fire to try and isolate a single PC on whom he can practice his vile trade.
Noble salamander (MM 219)
hp 112
Melee +3 scythe +23/+18/+13 (2d6+12/×4 plus 1d8 fire and poison)
Combat Gear 4 doses of deathblade (Fort DC 20, 1d6 Con/2d6 Con); Other Gear +3 scythe