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Note: This scenario features some tough encounters. If the party is comprised mostly of 2nd level characters, then the DM should consider adding NPCs to the party or toning down a few of the encounters.

Summary:

The party is hired by the dwarves of Nirzumbil to slay the evil that dwells in the Tower of Tharikthiril.

Assumptions:

The party is in Nirzumbil.

Location:

The Market at Nirzumbil.

Historical Date:

21 N.S. (5535 A.D.), Early Autumn.

GM's Introduction:

This scenario can take place after the scenario entitled "A Taste of Honey", or it can stand on its own. During "A Taste of Honey", the party will have heard of rumours of the tower from Adazil, the dwarven merchant who hired them to gather giant bee honey. In fact, if they chose the westernmost route to the bee hive, they may have run afoul of Tharikthiril's groundlings and even been lured into the tower at some point.

The Tower was home to an evil wizard named Tharikthiril who delighted in delving into forbidden mysteries and demonology. He established his tower in the mountains atop a weak point (a nexus) in the material plane where outsiders could be more easily summoned.

The dwarves, however, were wary of the wizard, as they tend to be of all arcane magic, but did indeed trade with him for a time. However, when one of his summoned creatures escaped and mauled a dwarven prince of Nirzumbil who was out on a falconing hunt, the dwarves and the wizard became bitter enemies.

Tharikthiril at first used the local goblins as slaves and soldiers to contest the dwarves, bolstered by the occasional demon summoned to lead such rabble, but one demon traded his freedom in exchange for revealing to Tharikthiril a way to use the dwarves themselves to breed his own army, one more capable than the goblins to contend with the dwarves.

And so, the groundlings were created from dwarves kidnapped and twisted in horrid rituals by the wizard. The first groundlings were infertile and so the wizard had to constantly kidnap more dwarves, which drew more and more ire from Nirzumbil. Finally, even though Tharikthiril had just managed to breed groundlings true and no longer needed new dwarves to increase his servants, the dwarves had had enough and marched in full army, with aid from other nearby dwarven strongholds, and defeated the groundlings and goblins in a great battle in N.S. 6. The wizard was slain, but his body was never recovered by the dwarves. His tower was made into rubble, but many of his secrets were never found out.

Most of the groundlings were killed in that battle, but some survived, and in the intervening years have begun to breed and repopulate the area.

Tharikthiril did not survive the dwarven assault intact. He was, in fact, killed. But so evil was he and so pleased was the demon who gave him the secret of creating groundlings with the mayhem to which the wizard had put his creations, that the wizard was reborn into unlife as a fiend. Much of his magical abilities were lost during the rebirth and warping required to accomplish this, but he still retains a semblance of his once potent abilities. This ordeal, his conversion and rebirth, took many years, and only recently has he returned to his tower.

Tharikthiril is not behind the recent orc uprisings. In fact, his groundlings have had some run-ins with the orc forces. Nonetheless, the orcs do represent the enemy of a common enemy, the dwarves, and as such Tharikthiril has made overtures to the orc forces, though no formal alliance has been yet forged.

Tharikthiril's goal is to re-establish his power base and then breed an army of groundlings to defeat the dwarves once and for all.

Tharikthiril appears as a normal human with solid red eyes and small fangs through which a forked tongue teases.

Part One - The Offer:

The party is in the market at Nirzumbil, presumably either after the events of "A Gem in the Hand" and "A Taste of Honey" or perhaps on other business. They are approached by Ralzakark, a dwarven commander and Thelikuk, a dwarven runecaster (see "A Gem in the Hand" for more details regarding these two) and a guard of half a dozen dwarven warriors. These march up to the party in a very business-like fashion and Ralzakark proclaims in Common:

You lot are hereby summoned to council within Nirzumbil. Please attend to it and come with me.

While the party is not under arrest, and technically cannot be forced to accompany Ralzakark, refusing to answer such a summons would result in expulsion from the marketplace, reluctance to allow future admittance, and would be enough of an insult to sour future relations with the dwarves of Nirzumbil.

Assuming the party follows, they will be escorted to the massive gates of Nirzumbil set into the mountainside. This will attract many stares, both from jealous human merchants in the marketplace who will be wondering why the party is gaining access to the Halls of Nirzumbil, and from bemused dwarves in the marketplace wondering why human council is needed at all.

The gates will be opened, revealing a massive hallway decorated with amazing bas-reliefs and statuary. The passage runs straight into the mountain, and downward a bit for as long as the eyes can see, lit by torches and fire beetle glands.

The party will, however, be taken into a large archway a few yards after the entrance gates and ushered into a large chamber that contains a large, low stone table and many dwarven-sized stone chairs with cushions attached to them. Several important-looking dwarves are seated at the table, and the party can see other dwarves bringing up human-sized wooden chairs for the party to sit in.

Ralzakark will salute the seated dwarves and then he and his warriors will leave the room, remaining just outside to escort the party back outside the gates when it is time.

Meanwhile, Thelikuk will sit near the other dwarves and a particularly old dwarf will speak in Common:

Be seated. We have summoned ye here humans because we have a need of ye, and Thelikuk here who has fought alongside of ye has told us of your bravery and prowess, qualities we have need of at the moment. Ye know firsthand the orcs have arisen in the mountains and that they've been targeting our caravans along the roadway. And this recent brazen attack upon us has sealed the deal. We're convinced some person or force has roused and united the orcs agin' us. We don't know for certain who or what has done this, but we've a prime suspect in this regard. To the north of here are the ruins of a tower. This tower once belonged to a human wizard of evil repute called Tharikthiril. Why he chose to set up his lair in these mountains or so close to Nirzumbil is not known to us. However, for a time relations between us were…strained but peaceful and we did some trade with him. But we knew he was up to strange dealings in his tower, and many of us knew sooner or later some bad would come of it. And it did. One of his fiends summoned from the blackest pits of the netherworld escaped its bonds and his tower and ran loose in the mountains. Alas, the first beings this fiend encountered was Prince Zirik and his party on a falconing hunt. The prince was torn to shreds and most of his party slain as well, but some escaped to return the tale of what happened to us here. That was a foul day and, needless to say it soured relations between Tharikthiril and us. But we dwarves are slow to anger, and the deed was determined to have been…if negligent not entirely intentional on his part. Nevertheless, we refused to trade any more with the wizard, not wishing to further contribute to his foul rituals, and he became more and more wroth with us, eventually turning to the goblins of the region and allying them or enslaving them to make, procure, or steal from us what he needed. And so we became enemies, for he had allied himself with the goblins of the mountains, and that is unforgivable. And clashes were fought between us and the goblins. And in these clashes we generally prevailed. So, the wizard decided he needed a better breed of minion to fight against us. And who better to fight against dwarves but dwarves themselves? At first, we didn't draw a connection between the appearance of the groundlings and the disappearance of dwarves. But the connection was eventually made. By some horrific magic, Tharikthiril had learned how to warp dwarves physically and mentally…nay spiritually also…into mole-like creatures that now did his bidding. These groundlings were strong, tough as dwarves, and were fiercer and more bendable to his will than the unruly goblins who served him before. But as his groundlings appeared, we dwarves stepped up our resistance against him, and so this caused him to have to create more groundlings, which further heightened our ire and so a vicious cycle was created. Finally, some 16 years ago, we had had enough. The goblins were roused and the kidnapping of dwarves had reached intolerable levels. Word was sent to other dwarven strongholds in the mountains and an army was gathered. We marched against the wizard's forces and defeated both goblin and groundling in a great battle. We then marched on the wizard's tower and there, at great cost, we threw down groundling and tanar'ri alike and finally slew the wizard and cast his tower down into rubble. And so it was for the last 16 years. Aye, a few groundlings escaped, and these haunt the mountains still. And the goblins are with us as always, but they went back to their holes and their petty squabbles and dared not to mass against us. But now, these orcs have arisen, and there is only one person we can think of who bears us such ill will. In addition, reports say that the groundlings are becoming more numerous again, though this time there are no great numbers of missing dwarves from Nirzumbil…which is a puzzle to be sure. So our suspicion falls once again to Tharikthiril. Yes, I know I told you he was killed in the battle fought at his tower…and so we thought. But we never found a body you know. And we fear now that perhaps he did not die, but merely escaped to bide his time for revenge. This is where we come to you. We need to know if Tharikthiril is indeed alive and if he is behind this orc uprising. If evil has arisen in the name of Tharikthiril, we wish it slain. Now, why do I come to ye with this? The last orc attack cost us many warriors. Most not dead mind you, but many wounded and needing time to heal, even with our priests at hand. What's more, all warriors at hand are needed to defend Nirzumbil, especially the mines below where the main assault came. We cannot spare warriors to trek to the tower and investigate, nor can we replace such warriors with mercenaries, for only dwarves are allowed into our mines. So, you see, we turn to ye. Of course, we do not expect you to undertake such danger without return or reward. So I have spoken with Thelikuk and we offer you the following: Four masterwork weapons of your choice from the forges of Nirzumbil. A suit of masterwork medium or light metal armour. We will fashion your beetle carapaces into lightweight but durable armour, a prize that would cost ye a thousand platinum coins even if ye could find a smith skilled enough to do it. In addition, you will have the thanks and grateful remembrance of the great city of Nirzumbil, which shall look upon ye and your house with favour. In exchange for these, you must investigate the wizard's tower, determine if he or some other evil has arisen there, and determine if this is the cause of the orc uprising. In either case, if evil has arisen there, you are to destroy it or capture it if ye're able and bring it here dead or alive. Will ye do this thing?

Assuming the party accepts, a stone tablet will be brought in and the terms of the deal chiseled into the stone. The party will be invited to make its mark into the stone tablet to seal their end of the deal.

Ralzakark and his warriors will then be summoned into the chamber and informed that the party has accepted. He will be charged to await them for up to a week and to receive them should they return with information and/or proof of their task.

The party will be given a simple vellum map showing the location of the tower. The map is not very detailed and shows the tower as being on the eastern slopes of Mount Haranzinil, a day's journey north of Nirzumbil.

The party will then be sent out of the gates and back into the marketplace with thanks from the dwarven council.

Part Two - The Journey:

The journey to the tower is not long at all. A day's travel at best. DMs wishing to allow wandering encounters during the journey can refer to the scenario "A Taste of Honey" for wandering monster encounter charts for the area.

The map from "A Taste of Honey" has been recreated here for reference:

The Tower is located about 2 miules north of where the label "Groundlings" appears on the map.

Towards late afternoon, the party will enter the area of influence of the tower. If the party has already passed this way in "A Taste of Honey", then any groundlings they have slain before will not be met again in the first two encounters below.

Skirting the High Forest to the east, whose pines and firs can be seen in the valley below as the party makes its way up the rugged slopes of Haranzinil, the party can espy, during the day, great wheeling shapes high up the peak. These are the eagles and giant eagles that nest in the summit of the mount.

As the sun rides high in the sky, the party will espy a particularly large boulder that features prominent Dwarven runes which read:

Accursed land, demesne of Tharikthiril the Eld. Turn back!

Sometime later, perhaps 15 to 20 minutes after passing the boulder, the party will be spooked by some small boulders clattering down from higher up on the slope. However, even despite detection magics or flying familiars, nothing will be spotted.

It will be at just before sundown that the evil groundlings that haunt this area will attack. There are four of them, and they will be lying in wait, hidden (they have taken 20 and are thus hidden at a DC 21). Their hiding place will be some D20 ft to one side of the party's route, and they evil creatures will be burrowed into the earth, bursting out of the ground as the party passes over and likely gaining surprise unless they are spotted beforehand.

* Groundlings (4): CR 2; Medium-sized monstrous humanoid; HD 3D8+6; hp 19 each; Init +1; Spd 20 ft, burrow 30 ft; AC 16 (touch 11, flat-footed 15); Atk +4 melee (1D4+1 [x2], claws) and -1 melee (1D8, bite); SA grab; SQ resist magic (+2 racial bonus on saving throws against spells and spell-like effects), resist poison (+2 racial bonus on saving throws against poison), scent; AL LE; SV Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +4; Str 13, Dex 12, Con 15, Int 5, Wis 12, Cha 6. Height 4 ft. Skills and Feats: Escape Artist +5, Listen +5, Survival +7. Special Attacks: Grab (Ex): When a groundling hits its opponent in combat with any two of its attacks in a single round, it tries to grab the enemy and drag it below the surface (in this case into the burrow holes it has made). The creature makes a free grapple check (provoking no attack of opportunity); if it wins the check, it drags the victim toward its burrow. Fighting within a groundling tunnel is an advantageous situation for the groundling (+2 to attack rolls) and a disadvantageous situation for any opponents (-2 to attack rolls). Special Qualities: Scent (Ex): Detect opponents within 30 ft by sense of smell, 60 ft upwind and 15 ft downwind, detect strong scents at double range and overpowering scents at triple range, pinpoint source of scent when within 5 ft; track by smell using Wis check with a DC of 10 and a +2 to DC for each hour the trail is cold.

That night, the party will observe a strange argent glow just over the horizon to the north, as if coming from behind a spur in the slope of the mountain. This glow comes from the Tower of Tharikthiril.

The next day, the party will, in mid morning, espy atop a spur of the mountain to the west, a large tower now broken, its top sundered and in scattered ruins around its base. This is the Tower of Tharikthiril, and the evil wizard now enjoys (or suffers) an undead life, his creatures, the groundlings, still worshipping him as a sort of god.

The party can certainly pass by the tower, but the evil wizard has placed at various intervals around the area magic stones that trigger a Suggestion spell when approached by sentient beings who are not groundlings. The suggestion is that great treasure and glory resides within the tower and the person should enter the tower to gain such wealth or fame (greedy or prideful characters should suffer a -1 or -2 circumstance penalty to the Will save).

The party will certainly run into one of these stones. In fact, the party will run into 1D3 of these stones, and will have to resist the temptation to enter the tower each time.

* Suggestion Trap: CR 6; magic device; proximity trigger (alarm); automatic reset (1 minute); spell effect (suggestion, 5th level wizard), Will save [DC 15] negates, follow suggestion); multiple targets (all targets within 60 ft); Search (DC 28); Disable Device (DC 28).

In any event, as the party passes near to the tower, they will be attacked by another group of groundlings, these burrowing towards the party through old groundling tunnels that literally crisscross the entire mountain slope in this area for miles.

* Groundlings (5): CR 2; Medium-sized monstrous humanoid; HD 3D8+6; hp 19 each; Init +1; Spd 20 ft, burrow 30 ft; AC 16 (touch 11, flat-footed 15); Atk +4 melee (1D4+1 [x2], claws) and -1 melee (1D8, bite); SA grab; SQ resist magic (+2 racial bonus on saving throws against spells and spell-like effects), resist poison (+2 racial bonus on saving throws against poison), scent; AL LE; SV Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +4; Str 13, Dex 12, Con 15, Int 5, Wis 12, Cha 6. Height 4 ft. Skills and Feats: Escape Artist +5, Listen +5, Survival +7. Special Attacks: Grab (Ex): When a groundling hits its opponent in combat with any two of its attacks in a single round, it tries to grab the enemy and drag it below the surface (in this case into the burrow holes it has made). The creature makes a free grapple check (provoking no attack of opportunity); if it wins the check, it drags the victim toward its burrow. Fighting within a groundling tunnel is an advantageous situation for the groundling (+2 to attack rolls) and a disadvantageous situation for any opponents (-2 to attack rolls). Special Qualities: Scent (Ex): Detect opponents within 30 ft by sense of smell, 60 ft upwind and 15 ft downwind, detect strong scents at double range and overpowering scents at triple range, pinpoint source of scent when within 5 ft; track by smell using Wis check with a DC of 10 and a +2 to DC for each hour the trail is cold.

Thereafter, the party will be free to approach and enter the tower.

Part Three - The Tower:

The tower rests atop a large 20 ft tall structure that serves as its base. The whole is built into the mountainside, and almost seems to be thrust from out of the earth itself. The thing seems to be made of a single piece of stone, for there are no seams at all observable anywhere. The base building is partially in ruins, full of holes made by dwarven siege engines and rubble litters the area.

The tower thrusts up like a finger from the centre of the base building. It is square in cross-section and it is impossible to tell how high it might have once been, though it now stands some 35 ft above the base building before ending in jagged ruins where the top of the tower was collapsed during the battle with the dwarves.

Several small windows look out from both the tower and the base building (these are unshuttered, mounted 10 ft above the floor, measure and 3 ft wide by 5 ft tall), and the base building's top is warded by battlements with 5 ft merlons spaced 5 ft apart.

At night, an argent glow often emanates from the tower, spilling up into the night sky and slowly diffusing into the air.

In the centre of the base building, a winding path 10 ft wide leads up to a large set of double doors, one of which is off-kilter, that seem to allow access into the tower.

Refer to the Tower Map for details.

In the base building and tower, all rooms are unlit and are 20 ft tall unless otherwise stated. Floors and ceilings are of stone, unbuttressed by wood or beam and seemingly a part of the single stone nature of the entire structure.

Many of the rooms have cracks in the walls or ceilings or gouges in the same caused by the battle with the dwarves, so some light will filter in during the daytime. Every room description comes with a roof rating of 1 to 10. A 1 indicates no cracks at all, while a 5 indicates large cracks allowing daylight to filter in throughout most of the room, and a 10 indicates many holes large enough to man-sized creatures to crawl through.

Most rooms bear water damage or moisture commensurate with their ratings.

All doors in the complex, unless stated otherwise, were once strong wooden doors, but time and neglect have degraded them to good wooden doors.

Key to the Ground (Base) Level of the Tower:

1. Entryway (2)

The double doors to the base building are a-kilter, allowing a medium-sized creature to squeeze in without disturbing the doors. The doors are of plain iron.

These lead to a hallway that heads north for 15 ft. The floor is of polished black marble, chipped and cracked in many places.

2. Main Chamber (0)

This large room is 20 ft tall. In the centre of the chamber is a large rectangular column measuring 10 ft wide by 15 ft long. Within this chamber, a set of steps and a series of landings lead up to the first level of the tower. These steps are accessed from the south wall of the column.

The room is littered with detritus, including broken weapons, bones, and stone chips. Tattered cobwebs drape the high corners of the room. To the north, once-gilded iron doors lie on the floor to the north.

East and west are ornate archways, once with lintels engraved with runes and studded with gems, the former now gouged and smudged and the latter pried loose and long gone.

3. Sludge Room (8)

This room is choked with stone from the ceiling, mud, water, and dung, forming a 1 ft thick goop that trails to nothing halfway down the hall to the southwest.

Within this room dwell s a colony of bats which hang from the ceiling during daylight hours and are swarming into and out of this room at dusk and twilight and are gone during the night.

There are some 50 bats here, and if disturbed they will flap around in a flurry. If the quasit in Room 30 is in trouble, it has the option of changing into bat form and heading here, to mix in with the other bats.

* Bats (50): CR 1/10; diminutive animal; HD 1/4D8; hp 1 each; Init +2; Spd 5 ft, fly 40 ft (good); AC 16 (touch 16, flat-footed 14); Atk -; SQ blindsense; AL N; SV Fort +2, Ref +4. Will +2; Str 1, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 2, Wis 14, Cha 4. Wingspan 1 ft 6 in. Skills and Feats: Hide +14, Listen +8*, Move Silently +6, Spot +8*; Alertness. Special Qualities: Blindsense (Ex): A bat notices and locates creatures within 20 feet. Opponents still have 100% concealment against a creature with blindsense. * +4 racial bonus to Spot and Listen checks which are lost if blindsense is negated.

Squirming around in the muck is a colony of monstrous centipedes, which will tend to swarm over anyone disturbing the muck. In addition, there is a 10% chance per round that the centipede in Room 4 will emerge during a disturbance.

* Tiny Monstrous Centipedes (16): CR 1/8; Tiny vermin; HD 1/4D8; hp 1 each; Init +2; Spd 20 ft, climb 20 ft; AC 14 (touch 14, flat-footed 12); Atk +4 melee (1D3-5 and poison, bite); SA poison; SQ vermin, darkvision 60 ft; AL N; SV Fort +2, Ref +2, Will +0; Str 1, Dex 15, Con 10, Int -, Wis 10, Cha 2. Length 2 ft. Skills and Feats: Climb +10, Hide +18, Spot +4; Weapon Finesse. Special Attacks: Poison (Ex): Bite, Fortitude save (DC 10), initial and secondary damage 1 temporary Dexterity. Special Qualities: Vermin: No Intelligence score, and therefore immune to all mind-influencing effects.

4. Sludge Room (6)

This room is similar to Room 3, with another 50 bats. However, a single large monstrous centipede rules the ground level here and it is quite aggressive. In addition to the stinky sludge, the skeleton of a kobold lies atop the muck, gibbets of meat still upon its bones.

* Bats (50): CR 1/10; diminutive animal; HD 1/4D8; hp 1 each; Init +2; Spd 5 ft, fly 40 ft (good); AC 16 (touch 16, flat-footed 14); Atk -; SQ blindsense; AL N; SV Fort +2, Ref +4. Will +2; Str 1, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 2, Wis 14, Cha 4. Wingspan 1 ft 6 in. Skills and Feats: Hide +14, Listen +8*, Move Silently +6, Spot +8*; Alertness. Special Qualities: Blindsense (Ex): A bat notices and locates creatures within 20 feet. Opponents still have 100% concealment against a creature with blindsense. * +4 racial bonus to Spot and Listen checks which are lost if blindsense is negated.

* Large Monstrous Centipede: CR 1; Large vermin; HD 3D8; hp 20; Init +2; Spd 40 ft, climb 40 ft; AC 14 (touch 11, flat-footed 12); Atk +3 melee (1D8+1 and poison, bite); SA poison; SQ darkvision 60 ft, vermin; AL N; SV Fort +3, Ref +3, Will +1; Str 13, Dex 15, Con 10, Int -, Wis 10, Cha 2. Length 15 ft. Skills and Feats: Climb +10, Hide +6, Spot +4; Weapon Finesse. Special Attacks: Poison (Ex): Bite, Fortitude save (DC 11), initial and secondary damage 1D4 temporary Dexterity. Special Qualities: Vermin: No Intelligence score, and therefore immune to all mind-influencing effects.

5. Sealed Room (10)

The door to this room is intact, made of reinforced oak and is blocked by rubble collapsed from the ceiling. The room is enterable from the roof through the large holes that look down upon the room, but the door is fairly well secured, requiring the door be smashed to flinders or all of the rubble moved aside. Pushing through from the hallway requires a Strength check (DC 30).

Within is a tremendous amount of moisture and the floor is coated with a film of mud. There are the remnants of broken wooden furniture scattered here and there and scorch marks run along the walls in streaks and flower-like blossoms.

In the centre of the room is the partially mummified corpse of a dwarven priest locked in a death embrace with some unidentifiable creature. The creature is some sort of outsider judging by the strange shape and combination of parts still evident, but the whole is too desiccated to identify precisely. The dwarven priest's hands are clutched around a silver holy symbol to Weshta-grum, which appears to have been thrust into the creature's forehead.

The priest's raiment is tattered and moldy, but in the muck and litter at his feat (Search check of 10) is a wand composed of a single slender piece of quartz with an inner mauve glow to it. This is a wand of Cure Light Wounds with 32 charges left. The wand's glow recedes slightly as each charge is used.

6. Stairway Room (8)

This room is well exposed to the elements, both from the gaping hole in the west wall and the condition of the roof. A spiral staircase, somewhat battered, leads up to the roof.

7. Ruined Chamber (7)

This room saw much battle, judging from the condition of the outer and inner walls, the missing door to Room 2, and the ceiling. Rubble is strewn everywhere, amidst the skeletons of goblins and dwarves, twisted and rusted weapons and bits of armour, and shards of unidentifiable furnishings. Much broken glass is here, though the reason for this cannot be determined.

8. Collapsed Chamber (10)

The entire roof has collapsed here, and large slabs of it are on the floor, the remnants of skeletons of goblins poking out from beneath the slabs. These are quite heavy, weighing several hundred pounds, and there is nothing of value beneath them.

9. Corner Room (6)

This room is exposed to the outside as its southeastern corner has been ripped away and now lies in rubble spread down the slope of the mountain.

Within this room dwell two groundlings. These are a mated pair and they have a nest of leaves, branches, and pine needles in the northeast corner, below the window. Within the nest are two baby groundlings, blind and helpless.

The adults will defend their progeny to the death.

* Groundlings (2): CR 2; Medium-sized monstrous humanoid; HD 3D8+6; hp 19 each; Init +1; Spd 20 ft, burrow 30 ft; AC 16 (touch 11, flat-footed 15); Atk +4 melee (1D4+1 [x2], claws) and -1 melee (1D8, bite); SA grab; SQ resist magic (+2 racial bonus on saving throws against spells and spell-like effects), resist poison (+2 racial bonus on saving throws against poison), scent; AL LE; SV Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +4; Str 13, Dex 12, Con 15, Int 5, Wis 12, Cha 6. Height 4ft. Skills and Feats: Escape Artist +5, Listen +5, Survival +7. Special Attacks: Grab (Ex): When a groundling hits its opponent in combat with any two of its attacks in a single round, it tries to grab the enemy and drag it below the surface (in this case into the burrow holes it has made). The creature makes a free grapple check (provoking no attack of opportunity); if it wins the check, it drags the victim toward its burrow. Fighting within a groundling tunnel is an advantageous situation for the groundling (+2 to attack rolls) and a disadvantageous situation for any opponents (-2 to attack rolls). Special Qualities: Scent (Ex): Detect opponents within 30 ft by sense of smell, 60 ft upwind and 15 ft downwind, detect strong scents at double range and overpowering scents at triple range, pinpoint source of scent when within 5 ft; track by smell using Wis check with a DC of 10 and a +2 to DC for each hour the trail is cold.

10. West Hallway (2)

This hallway's floor shows the remains of a polished mosaic that seems to involve winged creatures of dark complexion. The ceiling bears bas-reliefs of gargoyles that leer unsettlingly at those passing down the hallway. Some of these are battered, but others are in fine condition.

The westernmost 15 ft of the hallway shows scorch marks emanating from Rooms 15 and 16, as if a fireball exploded in the area.

11. West Chamber (6)

This large chamber is, in the daytime, pierced with daggers of light that beam down from large cracks and small holes in the room as well as the window to the southwest. These alternate with areas of deep shadow.

Within this chamber dwells a single shadow, summoned years ago by Tharikthiril and overlooked by the dwarven attackers. It has haunted the area awaiting its master's return, and now it is eager to serve and create spawn to serve its evil. If sorely pressed, the shadow will flee to Room 26 to take advantage of the Desecrate effect there.

* Shadow: CR 3; Medium-sized undead (incorporeal); HD 3D12; hp 20; Init +2; Spd fly 40 ft (good); AC 13 (touch 13, flat-footed 11); Atk +3 melee (1D6 temporary Strength, incorporeal touch); SA strength damage, create spawn; SQ undead, incorporeal, darkvision 60 ft, +2 turn resistance; AL CE; SV Fort +1, Ref +3, Will +4; Str -, Dex 14, Con -, Int 6, Wis 12, Cha 13. Height 6 ft. Skills and Feats: Hide +8*, Listen +7, Search +4, Spot +7; Alertness, Dodge. Special Attacks: Strength Damage (Su): The touch of a shadow deals 1D6 points of temporary Strength damage to a living foe. A creature reduced to Strength 0 by a shadow dies. Create Spawn (Su): Any humanoid reduced to Strength 0 by a shadow becomes a shadow under the control of its killer within 1D4 rounds. Special Qualities: Undead: Immune to mind-influencing effects, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, and disease. Not subject to critical hits, subdual damage, ability damage, energy drain, or death from massive damage. Incorporeal: Can be harmed only by other incorporeal creatures, +1 or better magic weapons, or magic, with a 50% chance to ignore any damage from a corporeal source. Can pass through solid objects at will, and own attacks pass through armour. Always moves silently. * A shadow gains a +4 racial bonus on Hide checks in areas of shadowy illumination and a -4 to Hide checks in brightly lit areas.

12. East Hallway (1)

The mosaic on the floor of this hallway looks to have been purposefully pried up and the floor is now quite uneven. What pictures the mosaic once formed cannot be discerned.

The stench of rotting meat comes from the eastern end of the hallway.

13. East Chamber (5)

This room serves as a living chamber for some of the groundlings. These are assumed to be the nine groundlings encountered by the party prior to entering the tower. The room bears nine nests similar to the one described in Room 9. There are also remnants of the bones of small creatures, remains of past meals. The whole is squalid and the place smells of rancid meat. If any of the nine groundlings escaped or were not slain, they will be found lairing here.

14. Small Room (5)

The door to this small chamber is blocked by a pile of rubble that has obviously been stacked here on purpose. The rubble extends 5 ft out into the hall and is mostly stone. The pile is 5 ft high and would take a few minutes for a couple able-bodied persons to clear away. Behind the pile, the door is wooden and has swollen shut due to exposure from the cracked roof above. This counts as a stuck strong wooden door.

Within are the remains of a bedroom of some sort, with a ruined, smashed bed. However, during the assault, a dwarven warrior was pursued by animated dwarf skeletons into this chamber. The skeletons slew the warrior, but his comrades closed the door and blocked it with rubble rather than face the skeletons. The skeletons have remained ever since, waiting for the door to open so that they can attack intruders (defined as dwarves first and foremost and any non-groundlings aside from Tharikthiril after that).

The bones of several smashed skeletons that the warrior slew before he fell litter the floor, as does the skeletal body of the dwarf warrior, who is wearing rusted chainmail, with a corroded small steel shield strapped to his left arm and a serviceable, but somewhat rusted war hammer beneath the shield. This warhammer functions normally but has only half of the hit points of a normal warhammer.

Due to the years of rain, the skeletons have mold and moss growing on them, giving them a strange, fuzzy appearance and leaving their bones streaked with greens and other colours.

* Skeletons (4): CR 1/3; Medium-sized undead; HD 1D12; hp 7 each; Init +5; Spd 30 ft; AC 13 (touch 11, flat-footed 12); Atk +1 melee (1D4+1 [x2], claws); SQ darkvision 60 ft, DR 5/bludgeoning, undead, immunities; AL NE; SV Fort +0, Ref +1, Will +2; Str 13, Dex 13, Con -, Int -, Wis 10, Cha 1. Height 4 ft 5 in. Skills and Feats: No skills; Improved Initiative. Special Qualities: Undead: Immune to mind-influencing effects, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, and disease. Not subject to critical hits, subdual damage, ability damage, energy drain, or death from massive damage. Immunities (Ex): Skeletons have cold immunity. Because they lack flesh or internal organs, they take only half damage from piercing or slashing weapons.

15. Charred Chamber (3)

This once-room is now a smashed up alcove. There are scorch marks everywhere here, along with evidence of charred furniture and the horribly charred remains of at least four dwarven warriors. A successful Spellcraft (DC 18) will determine that a Fireball spell exploded here and if a DC 25 check is made it can be determined that the fireball was a 10 HD fireball. The dividing wall between the two chambers seems to be the point of origin of the burst.

16. Charred Chamber (3)

Similar to Room 15, except that there is no evidence that any dwarves were caught in the blast in this chamber. The dividing wall between the two chambers seems to be the point of origin of the burst.

17. Melted Chamber (2)

The door to this chamber is hanging on one hinge, a-kilter. The room within is a strange sight, for the floor is littered with strange pools of hardened materials of varying colour, most of them brownish or metallic.

The walls look as if they have literally melted in places, with runnels in the stonework that lead to globs of stone or drops of stone frozen in time and space.

The entire room was subject to a powerful Acid Fog spell, which melted the furniture down into puddles that then solidified once the acid dissipated. Similarly, the walls succumbed somewhat to the acid. Whether anyone was caught in the cloud is not known, as the acid likely melted organic material completely.

18. Melted Alcove (2)

Similar to Room 17, the walls show partial melting and the floor is littered with melted wood or metal items, the result of the same Acid Fog spell that so affected Room 17. Large rat droppings can be found scattered about the chamber on a Search check (DC 5).

19. Rat Room (1)

This smallish room is choked with debris, most of it wooden beams, pieces of furniture both wooden and metal, and other rubble. Dwelling within little tunnels and dens within the rubble are some dire rats. These will emerge to attack anyone disturbing their lair, which generally means anyone walking through the rubble or searching the room.

* Dire Rats (6): CR 1/3; Small animal; HD 1D8+1; hp 5 each; Init +3; Spd 40 ft, climb 20 ft; AC 15 (touch 14, flat-footed 12); Atk +4 melee (1D4, bite); SA disease; SQ low-light vision, scent; AL N; SV Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +3; Str 10, Dex 17, Con 12, Int 1, Wis 12, Cha 4. Length 2 ft 6 in. Skills and Feats: Climb +11, Hide +8, Listen +4, Move Silently +4, Spot +4, Swim +11; Alertness, Weapon Finesse. Special Attacks: Disease (Ex): Filth fever - bite, Fortitude save (DC 11), incubation period 1D3 days; damage 1D3 temporary Dexterity and 1D3 temporary Constitution. Special Qualities: Scent (Ex): Detect opponents within 30 ft by sense of smell, 60 ft upwind and 15 ft downwind, detect strong scents at double range and overpowering scents at triple range, pinpoint source of scent when within 5 ft; track by smell using Wis check with a DC of 10 and a +2 to DC for each hour the trail is cold.

The dens of the rats can be rooted out. Within are some remains of prey they have caught (mostly large insects and centipedes) and 4 babies (treated as normal rats).

* Baby Dire Rats (4): CR 1/8; HD 1/4D8; hp 1 each; Init +2; Spd 15 ft, climb 15 ft; AC 14 (touch 14, flat-footed 12); Atk +4 melee (1D3-4, bite); SQ scent, low-light vision; AL N; SV Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +1; Str 2, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 2. Length 6 in Skills and Feats: Balance +10; Climb +12, Hide +14, Move Silently +10, Swim +10; Weapon Finesse. Special Qualities: Scent (Ex): Detect opponents within 30 ft by sense of smell, 60 ft upwind and 15 ft downwind, detect strong scents at double range and overpowering scents at triple range, pinpoint source of scent when within 5 ft; track by smell using Wis check with a DC of 10 and a +2 to DC for each hour the trail is cold.

20. Chamber (2)

The door to this chamber is stuck shut and treated as a stuck strong wooden door. Within is the usual rubble and smashed furnishings. Stretched across the floor is a strange corpse. It has the nude torso of a dwarf, but the head and legs of a groundling. The arms are dwarven but studded with prickly fur and end in nubs before the elbow. Crossbow bolts pierce its body. This was a groundling in mid-transformation which fled its prison during the assault and died in this room. The attacking dwarves, not sure whether this thing was still a dwarf, dared not touch it and could not abide the sight of it, so they closed the door and left it where it lay.

The transformative magicks involved in the dwarf to groundling process lingered over the corpse, and have thus preserved the body. A Detect Magic will reveal faint Alteration magic emanating from the corpse.

21. Goblin Leader's Lair (4)

The door to this chamber is barrable from the inside. Within dwell a part of the goblins that dwell in the tower. These are a group picked by Tharikthiril to serve him, and they also basically run this level, as the groundlings are too stupid to properly operate on their own.

The goblin leader dwells here, along with his three concubines. The room holds a smelly, wet feather bed with furs, with a crude tarp set over it to divert rain water leaking from the cracks in the roof.

Hanging from the walls are various grisly trophies, including several dwarf heads, some small steel shields displaying dwarvish heraldry, an ugly orc head recently killed, an orcish greataxe, and a dwarvish battleaxe.

The concubines will attack in conjunction with the leader. They are, in fact, trained to flank opponents in order to allow the leader to gain his sneak attack.

* Goblin Leader: Male goblin Rogue 2/Fighter 2; CR 4; Small humanoid (goblinoid); HD 2D6+2 plus 2D10+2; hp 24; Init +6; Spd 30 ft; AC 16 (touch 13, flat-footed 14); Atk +3 melee (1D6, morningstar) or +5 ranged (1D4, javelin); SQ darkvision 60 ft, evasion, sneak attack +1D6, trapfinding; AL NE; SV Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +1; Str 11, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 10. Height 4 ft. Skills and Feats: Balance +7, Bluff +7, Climb +6, Escape Artist +4, Hide +6, Intimidate +6, Jump +6, Listen +5, Move Silently +10, Sleight of Hand +6, Search +4, Spot +5, Tumble +9; Alertness, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Initiative. Possessions: small studded leather, small morningstar, small dagger, small javelins (3), belt pouch, potion of Aid at 3rd level, 25 sp, 13 gp, 4 turquoises worth 25 gp each.

* Goblin Concubines (3): CR 1/3; Small humanoid (goblinoid); HD 1D8; hp 4 each; Init +2; Spd 30 ft; AC 13 (touch 13, flat-footed 11); Atk +1 melee (1D3-1, dagger) or +4 ranged (1D3-1, dagger); SQ darkvision 60 ft; AL NE; SV Fort +2, Ref +2, Will +0; Str 8, Dex 14, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 9. Height 3 ft 2 in. Skills and Feats: Hide +6, Listen +3, Move Silently +7, Spot +3; Alertness. Possessions: smalldagger.

22. Goblin Warriors Chamber (3)

The door to this chamber is usually slightly ajar. Within live four goblin warriors. There are four fur pallets here, along with various cast-offs of the goblins, including dead rodents skewered on sticks, centipedes pinned to bits of wood, crudely made bone dice and other trinkets, etc.

These goblins will obey their leader in Room 21, and will investigate any strange noises in the tower.

* Goblins (4): CR 1/3; Small humanoid (goblinoid); HD 1D8+1; hp 6 each; Init +1; Spd 30 ft; AC 15 (touch 12, flat-footed 14); Atk +2 melee (1D6, morningstar) or +3 ranged (1D4, javelin); SQ darkvision 60 ft; AL NE; SV Fort +3, Ref +1, Will +0; Str 11, Dex 13, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 9, Cha 6. Height 3 ft 6 in. Skills and Feats: Hide +5, Listen +2, Move Silently +5, Ride +4, Spot +2; Alertness. Possessions: small studded leather, small morningstar, small dagger, small javelins (2), belt pouch, 3D6 cp, 2D6 sp, 1D6 gp.

23. Goblin Marksmen Chamber (7)

This chamber houses 4 goblins, and for all intents and purposes is identical to Room 22, except that the fur pallets are pushed out of any sunlight streaming in from the cracks in the roof. In addition, in the centre of the ceiling is a hole small enough for a small creature to wriggle through (or a long and slender medium-sized creature such as a snake). Other medium creatures can wriggle through with a successful Escape Artist check (DC 30).

A knotted rope hangs from the roof, around a knob of stone, and reaches all the way to the floor in this room. The goblins use this to climb to the roof. These goblins possess crossbows and are trained in its use.

* Goblins (4): CR 1/3; Small humanoid (goblinoid); HD 1D8+1; hp 6 each; Init +2; Spd 30 ft; AC 15 (touch 12, flat-footed 14); Atk +2 melee (1D6, morningstar) or +6 ranged (1D6, light crossbow); SQ darkvision 60 ft; AL NE; SV Fort +2, Ref +2, Will +0; Str 11, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 8. Height 4 ft. Skills and Feats: Hide +6, Listen +2, Move Silently +6, Ride +5, Spot +2; Weapon Focus (light crossbow). Possessions: small studded leather, small morningstar, small dagger, small light crossbow, case of 20 crossbow bolts, belt pouch, 3D6 cp, 2D6 sp, 1D6 gp.

24. Slave Pen (6)

This chamber's door is closed and a makeshift bar attached to the hallway side. Within is a wooden cage with a wooden roof with a heavy pile of stones sitting on top of it, weighing it down. A door in the cage is locked, with the key hanging from an iron spike in the wall near the door.

Within the cage is a single kobold, the last slave of the goblins who has yet to be eaten. This kobold is eager to leave this place, and does not know anything about the other levels of the place. It was captured poking around the tower and knows of the cave in Room 33. It will bargain this information for its freedom, though it only speaks Draconic.

* Kobold: CR 1/4; Small humanoid (reptilian); HD 1D8; 4 hp; Init +1; Spd 30 ft; AC 12 (touch 12, flat-footed 11); Atk +1 melee or +3 ranged; SQ darkvision 60 ft, light sensitivity; AL LE; SV Fort +2, Ref +1, Will -1; Str 9, Dex 13, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 9, Cha 8. Height 2 ft 6 in. Skills and Feats: Craft (trapmaking) +2, Hide +6, Listen +2, Move Silently +2, Profession (miner) +2, Search +2, Spot +2; Alertness. Special Qualities: Light Sensitivity (Ex): Dazzled in bright sunlight or within the radius of a Daylight spell. Possessions: none.

25. Larder (3)

This room is the larder of the groundlings that dwell in Room 13. Thrown in here are the carcasses, partially rotted, of several deer, some beaver, at least 3 goblins, and an orc.

26. Chamber of Gloom (7)

This chamber was once a chapel dedicated to the demons that Tharikthiril once revered. It was destroyed during the attack, but the power imbued into the place was such that all of its power could not be destroyed by the dwarves. As such, a permanent Desecrate spell is in effect in the room, as if cast by an 11th level priest.

The room itself bears a gloom that is palpable to those walking into it. Light sources are only half as bright and illuminate only half the normal radius.

The shadow that dwells in Room 11 will come here if it can if it is sorely pressed.

Six zombies dwell here, a mixture of dwarf and orc. They are newly created by Tharikthiril and are ordered to slay any living creature that enters the chamber except for Tharikthiril himself or his quasit (see Room 30).

* Zombies (6): CR 1/2; Medium-sized undead; HD 2D12+3; hp 16 each; Init -1; Spd 30 ft (cannot run); AC 11 (touch 9, flat-footed 11); Atk +2 melee (1D6+1, slam); SQ undead, single actions only, darkvision 60 ft, DR 5/slashing; AL NE; SV Fort +0, Ref -1, Will +3; Str 12, Dex 8, Con -, Int -, Wis 10, Cha 1. Height 4 - 5 ft 6 in. Skills and Feats: none; Toughness. Special Qualities: Undead: Immune to mind-influencing effects, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, and disease. Not subject to critical hits, subdual damage, ability damage, energy drain, or death from massive damage.

27. Room of Chains (4)

This room is an abattoir. A great many rusty chains hang from the ceiling, hooked through iron rings attached to the cracked ceiling. These chains end in, variously, wicked barbed hooks, spiked manacles, and other horrific means of securing flesh. Many of these chains still hold the bones of their victims within. None are whole skeletons, but here a wrist bone stands in a spiked shackle, there a femur is spiked by a large hook, and here a skull is spiked through the jaw with a sharp spike.

Most of the bones are dwarven in nature and the room doesn't seem to have seen much use in years.

28. Fallen Chamber (10)

The roof of this chamber has collapsed entirely and the floor is covered with rubble. The door leading to the room is hanging by a single hinge and can therefore be pushed open over the rubble on the ground that would normally block the door from opening. The room is empty of anything of value or interest.

29. Stairway Room (6)

A crumbling spiral stone staircase leads up to the roof of the base structure. Meanwhile, the east wall has been burrowed through, as if some large worm had tunneled into the room from without. The opening is 3 ft in diameter.

A single groundling is usually here, lounging around and keeping watch on the young in Room 33, for the groundlings fear the goblins may try to take their young, even though Tharikthiril has forbidden it.

* Groundling: CR 2; Medium-sized monstrous humanoid; HD 3D8+6; hp 19 each; Init +1; Spd 20 ft, burrow 30 ft; AC 16 (touch 11, flat-footed 15); Atk +4 melee (1D4+1 [x2], claws) and -1 melee (1D8, bite); SA grab; SQ resist magic (+2 racial bonus on saving throws against spells and spell-like effects), resist poison (+2 racial bonus on saving throws against poison), scent; AL LE; SV Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +4; Str 13, Dex 12, Con 15, Int 5, Wis 12, Cha 6. Height 4 ft. Skills and Feats: Escape Artist +5, Listen +5, Survival +7. Special Attacks: Grab (Ex): When a groundling hits its opponent in combat with any two of its attacks in a single round, it tries to grab the enemy and drag it below the surface (in this case into the burrow holes it has made). The creature makes a free grapple check (provoking no attack of opportunity); if it wins the check, it drags the victim toward its burrow. Fighting within a groundling tunnel is an advantageous situation for the groundling (+2 to attack rolls) and a disadvantageous situation for any opponents (-2 to attack rolls). Special Qualities: Scent (Ex): Detect opponents within 30 ft by sense of smell, 60 ft upwind and 15 ft downwind, detect strong scents at double range and overpowering scents at triple range, pinpoint source of scent when within 5 ft; track by smell using Wis check with a DC of 10 and a +2 to DC for each hour the trail is cold.

30. Quasit's Chamber (2)

This chamber is the personal demesne of Tharikthiril's quasit familiar. The quasit, though bonded to Tharikthiril, is a creature of the demon Razkurig'il and was given to Tharikthiril ostensibly as a gift but also to serve as a spy for Razkurig'il and to make sure Tharikthiril acted in ways that served the glabezru's interests.

The chamber is surprisingly well-appointed, given the ruined state of the rest of the above-ground structure of the tower. Certainly, there are small cracks in the ceiling and some water drips in during rains, but the chamber is still comfortable.

Rugs of once expensive origin cover the floor, and upon these have been set pillows of all hues and fabrics. Covering the center of the room is a 7 ft 6 in square tarp of fabric held up by metal tripods 4 ft tall, forming a dry area and a tent of sorts. Set beneath this is a small, plush chair (sized for the quasit) carved to resemble a half goat half centipede creature along the chair back.

Behind the chair is a small iron chest. The chest is trapped. It opens not from the apparent direction, but from the opposite side and upside down. Thus, to open the chest, one must tip it upside down and open the bottom of the chest from the side opposite the lock. If anyone attempts to pick the false lock or open the chest from the "proper" direction will set off the trap. The trap is a curved needle that springs out of the lock and up towards the false lid. This needle is coated with the quasit's own poison.

* Poisoned Needle Trap: CR 3; mechanical; touch trigger' repair reset; alternate opening bypass (Search DC 25); Atk +17 melee (1 plus poison, needle); poison (quasit venom, Fortitude save [DC 13] resists, 1D4 Dex/2D4 Dex); Search (DC 22); Disable Device (DC 19).

Within the chest are the following:

· 12 gems of varying sorts worth 1D6x100 gp each.

· A flute of the snake (from Song and Silence) made from ebony and carved to look like three snakes entwined around each other.

· A vial of oil of animate dead (from Magic of Faerun).

· A vial of elixir of Horus-re (from Magic of Faerun)

The quasit usually spends its time here, in wolf form lounging on the pillows or in quasit form on his chair. He often wanders this level in bat form or invisibly, causing minor mischiefs and spying on Tharikthiril's servitors or relaying orders from Tharikthiril himself.

If sorely pressed, the quasit will turn invisible, open the door to Room 31, silently sneak back into this room and wait until the party is involved with Room 31, and then flee down the stairs at Room 32.

* Quasit Familiar: CR 2 (included in the CR of its master); Tiny outsider (chaotic, evil, extraplanar); HD 3D8 (treat as 7 HD for effects dependant upon HD); hp 13; Init +7; Spd 20 ft, fly 50 ft (perfect); AC 18 (touch 15, flat-footed 15); Atk +8 melee (1D3-1 and poison [x2], claws) and +3 melee (1D4-1, bite); SA spell-like abilities, poison; SQ damage reduction 5/cold iron or good, poison immunity, fire resistance 10, alternate form, fast healing 2, improved evasion, share spells, empathic link, touch (deliver touch spells for master), speak with master, speak with wolves and bats when in their form, outsider traits; AL CE; SV Fort +3, Ref +6, Will +6; Str 8, Dex 17, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 10. Height 2 ft. Skills and Feats: Bluff +6, Diplomacy +2, Disguise +0 (+2 acting), Hide +17, Intimidate +2, Knowledge (planes) +6, Listen +7, Move Silently +9, Search +6, Spellcraft +6, Spot +6; Improved Initiative, Weapon Finesse. Special Attacks: Spell-like Abilities: At will - detect good, detect magic, invisibility (self only); 1/day - cause fear (as spell, except that its area is a 30 ft radius from the quasit). These abilities are as the spells cast by a 6th level sorcerer (save DC 10 + spell level). 1/week the quasit may commune (with Razkurig'il) to ask six questions (otherwise as a 12th level cleric). Poison (Ex): Claw, Fortitude save (DC 13); initial damage 1D4 temporary Dexterity, secondary damage 2D4 temporary Dexterity. Special Qualities: Alternate Form (Su): A quasit can assume other forms at will as a standard action. This ability functions as polymorph cast by a 12th level sorcerer except that the quasit can only assume one or two forms no larger than medium-sized. This quasit's forms include a bat and a wolf. Outsider Traits: Darkvision 60 ft. May not be raised or resurrected.

31. False Stairway (0)

Behind the wooden door, a 15 ft landing leads to a set of stone stairs heading down into the darkness. The stairs seem to wind around a corner 20 ft down, turning to the right. In actuality, the turn is a false one, ending just after the stairs turn out of sight. This is only visible from halfway down the stairs.

The stairs are a trap. When over 15 pounds of pressure are placed on a pressure plate in the middle of the stair, the stair split down the middle of a sudden, revealing a 20 ft deep pit trap.

* Pit Trap: CR 2; mechanical; location trigger; manual reset (a hidden switch near the doorway, Search DC 25); Reflex save (DC 20) avoids; 20 ft deep (2D6, fall); multiple targets (all on the stairway); Search (DC 24); Disable Device (DC 19)

.
Within the pit are two dretches which will attack anyone falling into the pit. A few bones and gibbets of flesh accompany the loathsome dretches.

These dretches are stupid, but well-trained, and will use their darkness ability to isolate their victims from rescue and will use their telekinesis to try to topple others into the pit. These dretches will not attempt to summon others of their kind, as they do not consider their pit duty important enough to warrant it.

* Dretches (2): CR 2; Small outsider (extraplanar, tanar'ri, chaotic, evil); HD 2D8+4; hp 13 each; Init +0; Spd 20 ft; AC 16 (touch 11, flat-footed 16); Atk +4 melee (1D6+1 [x2], claws) and +2 melee (1D4, bite); SA spell-like abilities, summon tanar'ri; SQ damage reduction 5/cold iron or good, tanar'ri qualities, outsider traits; AL CE; SV Fort +5, Ref +3, Will +3; Str 12, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 5, Wis 11, Cha 11. Height 4 ft. Skills and Feats: Hide +9, Listen +5, Move Silently +5, Spot +5, Search +2, Survival +0 (+2 following tracks); Multiattack. Special Attacks: Spell-like Abilities: 1/day - scare, stinking cloud. These abilities are as the spells cast by a 2nd level sorcerer (save DC 10 + spell level). Summon Tanar'ri (Sp): Once per day a dretch can attempt to summon another dretch with a 35% chance of success. Special Qualities: Tanar'ri Qualities: Immunities (Ex): Tanar'ri are immune to poison and electricity. Resistances (Ex): Tanar'ri have cold, fire, and acid resistance 10. Telepathy (Su): dretches can communicate telepathically with creatures within 100 ft that speak Abyssal. Outsider Traits: Darkvision 60 ft. May not be raised or resurrected.

32. Down Stairway (0)

Like Room 31, after the doorway a 15 ft landing leads to stone steps leading down. After 20 ft the stairs turn south. Halfway down the stairs, it can be observed that the stairs legitimately turn south and continue downward to the first level of the dungeon.

33. Cave (0)

This cave has been burrowed out of the hard ground by the groundlings. It has two points of egress. The western point enters into Room 29. The southern point exits from a 4 ft diameter cave opening in the side of the slope just east of the base structure. This opening is hidden by bushes and is difficult to Spot (DC 20).

The tunnels within are 4 ft in diameter and meet in a small cave that is 6 ft tall. Within is the groundling crèche, containing six baby groundling youngsters watched over by 3 female groundlings. These will emit a shrill scream, summoning the groundling from Room 29 and possibly the other intelligent denizens of the base structure.

* Groundling Females (3): CR 2; Medium-sized monstrous humanoid; HD 3D8+6; hp 19 each; Init +1; Spd 20 ft, burrow 30 ft; AC 16 (touch 11, flat-footed 15); Atk +4 melee (1D4+1 [x2], claws) and -1 melee (1D8, bite); SA grab; SQ resist magic (+2 racial bonus on saving throws against spells and spell-like effects), resist poison (+2 racial bonus on saving throws against poison), scent; AL LE; SV Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +4; Str 13, Dex 12, Con 15, Int 5, Wis 12, Cha 6. Height 4 ft. Skills and Feats: Escape Artist +5, Listen +5, Survival +7. Special Attacks: Grab (Ex): When a groundling hits its opponent in combat with any two of its attacks in a single round, it tries to grab the enemy and drag it below the surface (in this case into the burrow holes it has made). The creature makes a free grapple check (provoking no attack of opportunity); if it wins the check, it drags the victim toward its burrow. Fighting within a groundling tunnel is an advantageous situation for the groundling (+2 to attack rolls) and a disadvantageous situation for any opponents (-2 to attack rolls). Special Qualities: Scent (Ex): Detect opponents within 30 ft by sense of smell, 60 ft upwind and 15 ft downwind, detect strong scents at double range and overpowering scents at triple range, pinpoint source of scent when within 5 ft; track by smell using Wis check with a DC of 10 and a +2 to DC for each hour the trail is cold.

Key to the First Level of the Tower:

This level of the tower is even with the roof of the base structure, and although egress to the roof was never intended from here by the tower's builder, holes in the walls now allow access.

1. Room of the Ward (0)

The steps from the ground level exit into this chamber, which bears a single window in the south wall and medium-sized holes in the wall to the west and east of it which look out upon the roof of the base structure.

The wall leading to Room 3 has been ripped asunder, but the iron door to Room 2 is intact (though unlocked).

In the middle of the north wall are two adjacent openings. One leads to steps descending to ground level and the other leads to steps ascending to the second level of the tower.

Within this room is an abyssal ravager. This demon was summoned by Tharikthiril to ward the stairs up to the second level of the tower, to make sure no one enters from below to steal what is hidden there, and to make sure the deadly warder of that level does not escape its bonds and attempt to descend into the rest of the tower.

The ravager is quite bored, and will attempt to converse with the party before attacking if allowed to. However, it is not intelligent, and will simply say it serves as a ward for the warder, as a guard for the guardian, and as a gaoler for the gaoler.

Nonetheless, its primary purpose is to attack intruders, and it will suddenly tire of talk and leap to the attack. The ravager will not leave this level. It will position itself in front of the stairs up, so that if a foe has a Protection from Evil/Chaos spell active it will force the protected foe to break the spell barrier in order to pass by him.

* Abyssal Ravager: CR 5; Large outsider (extraplanar, chaotic, evil); HD 3D8+9; hp 22; Init +4; Spd 50 ft; AC 17 (touch 13, flat-footed 13); Atk +6 melee (1D4+4 and poison, sting); SA poison; SQ acid resistance 10, cold resistance 10, poison immunity, outsider traits, scent; AL CE; SV Fort +6, Ref +7, Will +4; Str 17, Dex 19, Con 17, Int 6, Wis 12, Cha 8. Length 10 ft. Skills and Feats: Jump +9, Listen +7, Move Silently +10, Sense Motive +7, Spot +7, Survival +7; Track, Weapon Focus (sting). Special Attacks: Poison (Ex): Sting, Fortitude save (DC 14); initial and secondary damage 2D6 temporary Strength. Special Qualities: Scent (Ex): Detect opponents within 30 ft by sense of smell, 60 ft upwind and 15 ft downwind, detect strong scents at double range and overpowering scents at triple range, pinpoint source of scent when within 5 ft; track by smell using Wis check with a DC of 10 and a +2 to DC for each hour the trail is cold. Outsider Traits: Darkvision 60 ft. May not be raised or resurrected.

2. Wrecked Laboratory (0)

This room appears to have been a laboratory. Ruined shelves line those walls that are still intact, even though the entire northwest corner of the room has been sheared off. The remains of a large oaken table lie flush on the floor, showing signs of scorching and great hack marks.

A bewildering variety of glass and metal items crunch beneath the feet, all twisted, melted, and ruined.

There is nothing of value salvageable here.

3. Wrecked Transformation Chamber (0)

This room is missing a portion of its eastern wall.

Chains with manacles and the remains of battered tables with limb restraints can be seen here, along with strange, twisted and ruined instruments and what can only be described as elaborate implements of torture.

This is the chamber where the transformations from dwarf to groundling were initiated. It is a sight of horrid pain and vile, gruesome procedures and the evil committed here still lingers in the presence of a Detect Evil spell.

4. Library (0)

This room is warded by iron doors, though none are locked. Within is a window along the north wall. Surrounding it, and covering the south wall, are row upon row of bookshelves ascending all the way to the ceiling. All of these shelves are empty and knocked down and there are signs that the contents were fired, as flakes of burnt pages and ashes still cover the floor.

A small table in the centre of the room, however, looks to be intact and has seen recent use. Set upon the table is a book, an ink and quill set, a stack of parchment under a stone paperweight, and a potion rack with six potions set in it, three of them in blue coloured vials and three in green coloured vials.

The blue vials each contain a potion of Cure Moderate Wounds at 3rd level, while the green vials each contain a potion of Bear's Endurance at 3rd level.

The book, written in Abyssal, contains:

· Partial notes and instructions concerning the transformation of dwarves into groundlings, along with notations in the margins indicating that the author was trying and having difficulty reconstructing the detailed rituals and instructions by memory from a now destroyed volume.

· Initial entries mentioning Tharikthiril's return from what seemed like eternal torment and the need to re-establish his domain after years of painful absence.

· Notes mentioning the summoning of a jovoc tanar'ri from the netherworld and a detailed analysis of its aura of retribution, including descriptions of experiments regarding this aura conducted upon captive goblins.

· Notes mentioning the re-establishment of the groundling breeding project and renewed alliances with the local goblin tribes.

· Recent notes mentioning the prospect of potentially passing the jovoc's aura of retribution into the groundlings and the tactical applications of having a groundling army with such an aura.

· Notes of failure and frustration regarding the previous item and resignation to the fact that at least the jovoc can serve as a guard of Vanaskil until such time as the secret of its aura can be unlocked.

· Notes mentioning that the author suspects that his new friend is less loyal to him than to "Razkurig'il".

· Notes indicating that the orc tribes of the area have aroused for reasons the author cannot divine, though they seem to be more interested in the dwarves than him. There have been a few run-ins between orcs and groundlings and the orcs have pillaged some of the goblins allied with the author, but overall the author seems to welcome the distraction the orcs provide to the dwarves and considers their uprising a fortunate happenstance or a blessing from his patron/master.

Key to the Second Level of the Tower:

1. Room of the Jovoc (3)

This room contains two windows, one to the south of the eastern door to Room 2, and the other along the western wall near the door to Room 3.

To the north, stone stairs lead down to the first level of the tower.

Both doors in this chamber are locked by Arcane Lock spells cast at 5th level by Tharikthiril.

Within this chamber dwells the jovoc. It has been bound to the chamber as part of a pact between it and Tharikthiril. In reality, the demon agreed to the pact because of the fearsomeness of Tharikthiril's patron, the glabezru Razkurig'il. The demon has been assigned to guard the axe in this room and it is forbidden to leave this level of the tower except in pursuit of the axe.

Tharikthiril has been experimenting with the demon in order to determine the nature of its unique aura of retribution and whether this can be bred into his groundlings. So far he has met with little success, and the jovoc is not much interested in this happening. The jovoc is somewhat cunning, but not too smart and so may be out-thought or tricked into a disadvantageous situation. It is not smart enough to damage itself in order to wound others. It will, however, position itself to guard the chest so that anyone protected by a Protection from Evil/Chaos spell will have to break the barrier to get the chest.

This jovoc will not summon any other jovocs, as it is somewhat humiliated by its current servitude and does not wish to be indebted to others of its ilk, as it does not consider this assignment to be of great import.

If Tharikthiril is slain, the jovoc can be bargained with to give up the axe it guards. It will require as payment sacrifices of innocents or some other comparable favours. However, once absolved of any duty to Tharikthiril, it will feel free to attempt to summon another jovoc if hard-pressed.

* Jovoc: CR 5; Small outsider (chaotic, evil, tanar'ri, extraplanar); HD 4D8+18; hp 36; Init +2; Spd 30 ft; AC 16 (touch 13, flat-footed 14); Atk +6 melee (1D3+1 [x2], claws) and +1 melee (1D4, bite); SQ aura of retribution, DR 5/good or cold iron, fast healing 5, outsider traits, tanar'ri traits, summon tanar'ri; AL CE; SR 13; SV Fort +7, Ref +6, Will +4; Str 12, Dex 15, Con 16, Int 7, Wis 10, Cha 7. Height 4 ft. Skills and Feats: Hide +13, Listen +7, Move Silently +9, Search +5, Sense Motive +7, Spot +7; Toughness (x2). Special Qualities: Aura of Retribution (Su): This effect is always active in a 30 ft spread centered on the jovoc. Whenever the creature takes damage from any source, every non-tanar'ri within the area immediately takes an equal amount of damage. A successful Fortitude saving throw (DC 15) halves the damage. Regardless of the source of the damage to the jovoc, the damage dealt to the non-tanar'ri by this effect is not subject to negation or reduction because of resistance, immunity, damage reduction, spell resistance, or the like. Outsider Traits: Darkvision 60 ft. May not be raised or resurrected. Tanar'ri Qualities: Immunities (Ex): Tanar'ri are immune to poison and electricity. Resistances (Ex): Tanar'ri have cold, fire, and acid resistance 10. Telepathy (Su): dretches can communicate telepathically with creatures within 100 ft that speak Abyssal. Summon Tanar'ri (Sp): Once per day, a jovoc can attempt to summon another jovoc with a 25% chance of success.

In the southwest corner of the chamber is a small stone pedestal that sprouts from the floor of the chamber. The pedestal is some 3 ft tall and 3 ft square and atop it is an iron chest 1 ft tall by 1 ft wide by 3 ft long.

The chest is closed by an Arcane Lock spell at 5th level cast by Tharikthiril and has no discernible keyhole. It is also trapped by a Ghoul Touch trap.

* Ghoul Touch Trap: CR 3; magic device; touch trigger; automatic reset; spell effect (ghoul touch, 5th level wizard, Fortitude [DC 13] negates); Search (DC 27); Disable Device (DC 27).

This trap resets itself after 3 rounds.

Within is a battle axe.

The axe has dwarven runes inlaid in gold along both sides of the blade. This is the Golden Axe of the dwarven Prince Zirik.

* Golden Axe of Prince Zirik: This is a +1 aberration bane battleaxe that has been blessed so that any evil being holding it gains one negative level for as long as he holds the axe. Caster Level: 9th; Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armour, summon monster I, bestow curse, bless; Market Price: 19,310 gp; Cost to Create: 9,810 + 740 XP.

2. Smashed Room (8)

This room saw some rather intense action during the battle with the dwarves, and the floor is scarred with gouges and rust-coloured blood stains. A window in the east wall remains intact, but there are holes in the walls and the door to the north is merely a scrap of iron an inch wide hanging from hinges.

An opening in to the north leads to stone steps that begin to ascend to the theoretical next upper level of the tower, but the way is completely blocked by rubble and there is naught of the next higher level except the roof of this level which acts as the floor of the next.

The door to Room 1 has an Arcane Lock spell cast upon it at 5th level by Tharikthiril.

3. Battered Room (10)

This room is practically open to the sky and shows massive damage to the walls, despite the intact window in the middle of the north wall. Skeletons of dwarves and goblins litter the chamber, still in corroded arms and armour.

Key to the First Level of the Dungeon:

This level serves as the lair for Tharikthiril's elite guardians as well as the space for his current research.

Unless otherwise stated, all passages are 10 ft tall and all rooms 20 ft tall. None are lit, unless stated otherwise, as Tharikthiril and the other minions here have darkvision.

The walls, ceiling, and floor of this level are normal dressed stone hewn from the ground.

Since this level is underground, no rooms have a roof rating.

1. Antechamber

This large chamber's walls were at one time decorated with bas-reliefs showing various demons and tanar'ri mutilating dwarves and performing foul acts upon humans. Most of the offending images have been battered into unrecognizability, though enough glimpses can be caught to discern the general nature of the reliefs.

The doors leading from this room are all strong wooden doors and none are locked.

Standing watch here is an abyssal maw, sort of a watchdog for Tharikthiril. The creature is not bright but makes up for it with its aggressiveness.

Gibbets of flesh and half-eaten corpses of indeterminate origin litter the floor here.

* Abyssal Maw: CR 2; Medium-sized outsider (chaotic, evil, extraplanar); HD 2D8+2; hp 13; Init +0; Spd 30 ft; AC 15 (touch 10, flat-footed 15); Atk +5 melee (2D8+4, bite); SA rend fallen; SQ outsider traits; AL CE; SV Fort +4, Ref +3, Will +2; Str 17, Dex 10, Con 13, Int 6, Wis 9, Cha 8. Height 5 ft 6 in. Skills and Feats: Climb +8, Intimidate +4, Jump +8, Listen +6, Spot +6, Swim +8; Alertness. Special Attacks: Rend Fallen (Ex): An abyssal maw loves to tear into its downed foes. It automatically deals an additional 2D8+4 points of damage to any foe it drops with a melee attack. Special Qualities: Outsider Traits: Darkvision 60 ft. May not be raised or resurrected.

2. Current Laboratory

This is the current laboratory of Tharikthiril. The room is filled with a long worktable covered with the beginning of a laboratory, including racks, beakers, flasks, burners, and other tools. Various alchemical manuals are open for reference on the table.

Shelves hung from the walls hold various powders and jars of exotic ingredients, none of them very identifiable and all marked by Tharikthiril's personal codes (which are symbolic and therefore not readable by means of a Comprehend Languages spell).

Along the south wall are five 5 ft square cells each surrounded by strong iron bars and locked by a large padlock (Open Locks DC 25). Each cell is 10 ft tall and covered by a solid iron ceiling. Each has a solid iron floor. Chains attached to each cell run through hooks in the ceiling and then to five wheels set into the western wall. These can be used to raise or lower each cage.

All of the cages are empty except for one which holds a groundling that is scoured with scars and flayed flesh wounds. The groundling is barely alive, perpetually at 0 hit points due to failed experimentation with the jovoc's aura of retribution. Essentially, the groundling has a form of reversed fast healing that damages him for 1 hit point per round until it reaches 0 hit points. Only a Heal spell can cure the groundling, but it can be put out of its misery by killing it.

The keys to the cells hang from a hook on the western wall.

It is likely anyone captured by Tharikthiril will be imprisoned here for later experimentation.

There are no magic items here, though the DM could improvise a few exotic components if he likes.

3. Tharikthiril's Quarters

This room serves as the fiendish wizard's quarters. They are by no means lavish, as the wizard's bodily needs have changed and he hasn't has the chance to fully re-establish himself in this place yet.

The southern portion of this chamber contains a plain wooden bed with linen bedding. Near to it is a wooden wardrobe holding several changes of clothes for the wizard, most of them scholar's robes and wizard garb, but with a few travelling outfits as well.

One of the cloaks within the wardrobe appears to resemble a tangle of thick black cobwebs. This is a cloak of blackflame (see Magic of Faerun) which will smooth into a woven black cloak of coarse threads when donned. This cloak has 12 charges left.

The north of the room contains a wooden table and several chairs. Upon the table are the remains of a meal, the plate holding strips of raw, bloody meat and the silver goblet (worth 15 gp) holding blood.

Also on the table is a large book made of leather with the raised image of a glabezru upon its face. This is one of Tharikthiril's spellbooks and it holds all of his spells known of 0 level and first level. The book is made of vellum and weighs 5 pounds. It has approximately 50 blank pages left and is spelltrapped with a Shocking Grasp spell at 5th level which affects anyone opening the book except for Tharikthiril.

Finally, the table contains a plain oil lamp for reading and several flasks of lamp oil.

The door to the south is of iron and locked by an Arcane Lock spell at 5th level cast by Tharikthiril.

4. Sanctum

This small chamber is warded by an iron door locked by an Arcane Lock spell at 5th level cast by Tharikthiril.

Within is the sanctum of the wizard. Upon the floor, which is of polished jet, is inlaid a circle of silver with runes around it. While this may appear to be some sort of protective circle, it is actually a circle of worship and communing with powerful demons, and this can be recognized by someone with a Knowledge (arcana) or Knowledge (planes) check (DC 25).

Anyone stepping into the circle, which radiates faint Divination magic and faint evil, will be in empathic contact with the glabezru Razkurig'il. If the glabezru elects to initiate contact, then the person can communicate telepathically with the demon. Razkurig'il will be extremely curious as to why someone other than Tharikthiril is within the circle, but he is a very evil and cunning being and will seek to turn the situation somehow to his advantage. He will attempt to convince the party to abandon any attempts to slay Tharikthiril, instead urging an alliance…perhaps even with House Riverine if such seems palatable to the party.

The secret door to Room 5 on the east wall requires a Search check to find (DC 25) and the hidden switch requires another such check (DC 25). There is a further hidden switch that bypasses the trap to Room 5. It is more difficult to find (DC 30).

5. Treasury

This room is guarded by a wicked wall scythe trap, the scythe emerging from the wall south of the secret doorway just within the room and sweeping across the entire doorway.

* Wall Scythe Trap: CR 4; mechanical; location trigger; automatic reset (every round for 10 rounds, then requires a repair reset); hidden switch bypass (search DC 30); Atk +20 (2D4+8/x4, scythe); Search (DC 21); Disable Device (DC18).

Within the small chamber are the following:

· A slime pot (see Book of Vile Darkness).

· A wooden rack holding 4 vials of elixir of the Dark Speech (see Book of Vile Darkness).

· An iron chest holding 1600 cp, 400 sp, and 900 gp.

· A stand holding armour of the dread emperor (see Book of Vile Darkness).

6. Torture Chamber

This vile chamber serves as a torture chamber for Tharikthiril and as a vivisection and experimentation room as well. Within the chamber are an iron maiden, various manacles and other restraining devices, pots of coals, kilns with various iron rods set within, and an intricate rack contraption that bears strange tubes that seem to hang in midair and bears runes across its frame. This is a rack of irresistible torture (see Book of Vile Darkness).

The doors leading from this room are all strong wooden doors and none are locked.

The chamber is currently empty.

7. Room of the Skulkers

This room is lair to a gang of abyssal skulkers who serve Tharikthiril. They will likely hear noise in Room 6 or any loud noises in the rest of this level or may be roused by the quasit (Room 30 of the ground level) or by Tharikthiril himself.

The skulkers will attack fiercely, selling their material bodies cheaply in the hope of later reward in the netherworld.

The room itself is fairly barren, with a bleeding goblin whelp serving as their latest bit of recreation and picked over corpses of goblins and other creatures testifying to previous bits of torment.

* Abyssal Skulkers (5): CR 2; Small outsider (chaotic, evil); HD 2D8+2; hp 11 each; Init +2; Spd 40 ft; AC 15 (touch 13, flat-footed 13); Atk +5 melee (1D2 [x2], claws); SQ outsider traits; AL CE; SV Fort +4, Ref +5, Will +5; Str 10, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 9. Height 4 ft. Skills and Feats: Bluff +4, Climb +5, Diplomacy +1, Hide +11, Intimidate +6, Jump +9, Listen +7, Move Silently +7, Spot +7, Survival +7; Weapon Finesse. Special Qualities: Outsider Traits: Darkvision 60 ft. May not be raised or resurrected.

8. Chamber of Worship

This room contains a life-sized statue of a glabezru with red rubies for eyes (worth 1000 gp each). At its base its rectangular altar with restraints for wrists and ankles and blood stains on its face. Nearby a rack on the wall holds various sacrificial knives, collection bowls, and other horrid items.

9. Stairway

The secret door in the wall that leads to these stairs requires a Search check (DC 20) to locate. Behind the door, a set of stone stairs descends sharply into the ground, turning south after a landing.

Key to the Second Level of the Dungeon:

1. Antechamber

This room is adorned with intact frescoes of demonlings torturing the souls of the damned in a fiery hell. Over all a giant glabezru metes out punishment and devours demon and soul alike.

The double doors to the south are bronze valves engraved on their face with sigils and adorations to demonic powers in Abyssal. These doors are not locked.

2. Nexus Chamber

This large chamber swirls with a vague sickly bluish-green glow that comes from nowhere and everywhere at once. A Detect Evil will detect moderately strong evil in the area and a lingering trace of stronger evil somewhere "beyond" the room itself and yet, near to it.

The floor of the chamber is covered with intricate mystic diagrams and circles of warding and containment and protection.

This room is built over a nexus between the material plane and the astral plane. Any summon spells cast here function at 2 levels higher than normal, meaning a Summon Monster I functions as a Summon Monster III, whether the caster wants it to or not.

In addition, creatures summoned into this chamber by means of a summon monster spell can remain on the material plane indefinitely if bound into the service of a caster. The caster must bend his will to allow the creature to remain and the creature must be willing. The summoner, to bind such a creature, must succeed in a Will save with a DC equal to 10 + HD of the creature summoned. Success allows the creature to pursue its service or function. Once such a service is finished, the creature will disappear in a number of rounds equal to the duration of the original summoning spell.

Failure to bind costs the caster a point of temporary Constitution and, 24 hours later, the caster must make a Fortitude save (DC 15) or the Constitution loss is permanent.

In any event, the total HD of creatures bound into service cannot exceed thrice the character level of the summoner, except that levels in classes specifically designed to summon creatures count as double levels when binding the applicable creatures (e.g. demonologist levels count double for binding demons).

Thus, Tharikthiril can currently bind 27 HD of outsiders as long as at least 6 HD of these are demons (he currently has 23 HD bound, the quasit, being a familiar, does not count against this limit).

Tharikthiril and his Actions:

Tharikthiril can usually be found in the lower levels of the place, either in the laboratory, his own room, or even in the nexus. If a fight breaks out, he will grab his spellbook from Room 3 and flee to the nexus to await intruders. Before that, he will direct his quasit to direct the defense of the tower and will order his skulkers to prowl the dungeon level.

Tharikthiril chooses the nexus to fight because it augments his summoning spells nicely.

If a party attacks the tower and then retreats to rest, Tharikthiril will not be idle. He will certainly send his quasit to tail the party invisibly or in animal form to find where they have come from and where they make camp. If possible, he will then order a nearby group of goblins or some groundlings to attack the party at night while they rest.

Should the party return and retreat a second time, Tharikthiril will send for an entire tribe of goblins to man the tower, many as archers on the base structure roof. This force will include 24 goblins, 6 of which are on worg mounts and led by a 3rd level warrior. It will take two days for such a force to arrive. In addition, a group of 8 groundlings will be summoned from the surrounding lands to guard the tower.

Should the party defeat even this force and return a third or more times, Tharikthiril will prepare his defenses as best as he can and try to set ambushes for the party. In this case he may even elect to fight them before the nexus is reached so that the party cannot destroy his troops in detail before taking him out.

At all times keep in mind Tharikthiril's 18 Intelligence score and 15 Wisdom score.

* Tharikthiril: Male fiendish human Wizard 5/Demonologist 2; CR 9; Medium-sized humanoid (human); HD 7D4; hp 23; Init +0; Spd 30 ft; AC 10 (touch 10, flat-footed 10); Atk +3 melee (1D6, quarterstaff) or +4 melee (1D4+1, +1 dagger); SA smite good (1/day, +7 damage); SQ alertness (when familiar within arm's reach), share spells (with familiar), empathic link (with familiar), charm demon, darkvision 60 ft, cold resistance 5, fire resistance 5, damage reduction 5/magic; SR 12; AL CE; SV Fort +1, Ref +1, Will +7; Str 11, Dex 10, Con 10, Int 18, Wis 15, Cha 14. Height 5 ft 9 in. Skills and Feats: Alchemy +12, Bluff +10, Concentration +6, Decipher Script +10, Intimidate +7, Knowledge (arcana) +12, Knowledge (planes) +14, Scry +10, Search +6, Sense Motive +5, Spellcraft +12; Evil Brand, Extend Spell, Malign Spell Focus, Sacrificial Mastery, Scribe Scroll, Thrall to Demon. Special Qualities: Charm Demon (Sp): The demonologist may attempt to charm a chaotic evil outsider, as described in the Charm Person spell, once per day. The demon does not get to use its spell resistance, though it does get a saving throw as normal. Possessions: black mage's robes, +1 dagger, quarterstaff, spell component pouch, spell book (containing his level 2 and 3 spells). Wizard Spells Prepared (4/4/3/2): 0 - detect magic, read magic, slash tongue, unnerving gaze; 1 - bestow wound, cause fear, mage armour, seething eyebane; 2 - darkbolt, devil's tongue, summon swarm; 3 - blood funnel, suggestion. DC = 14 + spell level (+1 for spells with the evil descriptor). Demonologist Spells Known (cast 2/2): 1 - bane, demonflesh, doom, protection from evil, protection from good, spores of the vrock, summon monster I, unnerving gaze; 2 - bestow curse, dance of ruin, demoncall, magic circle against evil, magic circle against good, protection from elements, stunning screech, summon monster II. DC = 12 + spell level (+1 for spells with the evil descriptor). Spellbook (20/10/10/6): 0 - arcane mark, daze, detect magic, detect poison, flare, ghost sound, light, mage hand, mending, minor ward, no light, open/close, preserve organ, ray of frost, read magic, resistance, unnerving gaze, slash tongue, slumber swap, tongue of fiends; 1 - bestow wound, cause fear, charm person, identify, mage armour, nether trail, protection from good/evil/law/chaos, sacrificial skill, seething eyebane, stupor; 2 - arcane lock, darkbolt, devil's tongue, entice gift, ethereal blast, knock, see invisibility, slow consumption, soul bend, summon swarm; 3 - blood funnel, dispel magic, dread word, hold person, suggestion, tongues.

Killing Tharikthiril:

When Tharikthiril is slain (or captured and defeated) and the nexus is entered by the party, a dim shape will suddenly coalesce into the form of a glabezru. The glabezru will laugh mockingly at the party and inform them that they have defeated a minion into whom he had invested much time and effort and he does not take kindly to thwarting that effort.

The glabezru, who is called Razkurig'il, will promise revenge on the party. For even though he is banished to the netherworld for many years, still his memory is long and he will not forget.

Special Note if the Party is playing in the Riverine Campaign:

If the party is taking part in a historical Riverine Campaign, then Razkurig'il will taunt the party as described and then state:

So now I mark thee as my prey and my playthings so that all the fiends of the planes will know that you are mine to toy with…wait…what is this? I see someone has marked you so already. And a strong one, though one I do not fear. Hah! Very well then. I shall respect that claim. But I shall watch from afar and enjoy the torment that one has fated for thee. And should you escape that one, I will then come for thee!

In any case, the being is not actually Razkurig'il but a projection that, because of the nexus, allows Razkurig'il to manifest slightly here.

Part Four - Returning:

Nothing in the tower indicates that Tharikthiril is behind the orc uprising. Indeed, his journal to be found on the first level of the tower indicates that the uprising is a surprise to him as well.

The party can return to Nirzumbil and will be rewarded as promised. However, they must both determine if Tharikthiril is behind the orc uprising and defeat the wizard.

If the party recovers Prince Zirik's magical axe, the dwarves will demand its return (assuming they find out about it…it is instantly recognizable as such by any Nirzumbil dwarf). They will offer further items in compensation, specifically, they will offer the party armour or weapons made of arandur, copper, darksteel, silver, and/or mithril. Such can be masterwork as well. These will be forged to order and likely take enough time that the dwarves will offer to send the items to the party at a later date. The dwarves will offer to craft the party 15,000 gp worth of items in exchange for the axe.

Experience:

In addition to normal experience (which in Therra is half of that recommended in the DMG), each party member should be rewarded as follows:

· The party recovers the journal of Tharikthiril and has it translated, positively determining that the wizard is not behind the orc uprising: +50 XP.
· The party recovers Prince Zirik's axe and returns it to the dwarves: +50 XP.
· The party learns from Razkurig'il that it is already claimed by another entity: +25 XP.

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