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| Virginia Sterrett, again. |
22: Tortoise
An ancient tortoise the size of a carriage. Someone has drawn obscene graffiti on its shell.
(?) The tortoise would be grateful for a clean shell. The apes make fun of it.
23: Hothouse
A hothouse of cracked and dirt-streaked glass.
Within, white pebble paths and an explosion of colourful plants with bizarre fruits.
(??) d6 fruit finder:
1 = striped, ordinary fruit, albeit a bizarre hybrid
2 = ultramarine, overwhelming perfume
3 = cyan, venomous spines, but delicious inside
4 = magenta, soporific poison, dizzying musk
5 = peuce, attempts to bite back with little toothed mouths
6 = emerald, woody and inedible, but seeds are actual emeralds worth 5 coins
24: Mushroom Patch
A generous patch of wrinkly red mushrooms under a burnt-out stand of trees. Strange chemical smell.
(!) Mushrooms are poisonous and highly, explosively flammable. Even the air nearby is full of explosive gas.
25: Bamboo Thicket
A maze of bamboo plants the size of trees, whistling in the breeze.
26: Stone Garden
An overgrown square with great mossy stones.
(!) The stones are actually ambulatory, with crab-like appendages that they keep hidden when observers are near. This means that they are in different positions each time the PCs pass through.
27: Wind Demon’s Lair
(!) Lair of an invisible stalker. Haunts the nearby forest and thickets. You can hear (but not feel) its presence, a breeze that hisses through foliage and whistles through bamboo. The stalker has an invisible lash with a grapnel that it uses as a hook and garrotte. The demon delights in tormenting its prey, and wishes for souls and trophies.
(?) The lair is filled with odd trophies — skulls, costume jewellery, feathers, teeth, charms and baubles. The fistful actually valuable jewellery is worth 5 coins.
28: Ziggurat Stair
Stairs of stone with marble rails supported by kneeling caryatids. At their end: the great stone doors, snarling basalt lions, open just wide enough to admit a person.
(!) : By the doors: the Peacock Knight, fiercest of the forest knights.
(?) The doors lead to the palace courtyard (L4).
29: Pomegranate Door
Marble stairs lead to cyclopean doors of stone, carved as a pomegranate in relief. Marble statues join hands over the entrance; they are scabbed with moss and vines. Fleshy growths spill from breaks in their hollow bodies.
(?) The doors are unlocked, if stiff. They lead to the womb of monsters (L3).
(?) The growths in the statues are shrike demon eggs.
30: Picnic Area
Rusting iron frames of benches and tables, home to moss and caterpillars.
