Ziggurat Plaza, Week 4

Ben Andrews

 

 

 22: Imperial Stair Tower

• Locked (extreme difficulty – purple key or imperial blood unlocks) and magically sealed bedchamber of the captive princess.
• Small barred widows allow a view to/from the courtyard.
• (?) Spiral stair goes down to the spa and up to the palace.
• (!) Lair of the Princess of Sorrow, Erhua. Appears to be someone the PCs know, bound by iron shackles (the shackles are magical and she cannot remove them herself) . Her chains are long enough to allow her free roam of the room. In her true form, Erhua is petulant and sadistic in blood-drenched feathers and grasping talons
  • mien: plaintive whispers, always about herself or her persona
  • needs: to feed on human blood – she can survive in hibernation without eating, but must to feast to regain her full strength.
  • wants: revenge on her parents, who put her here
  • fears: the same
  • knows: the layout of the palace level and how to get there

23: Vigilator Bays

• (!) Lair of the vigilators. Those not on patrol are always here recharging. The recharging ones are dead to the world, but there is a high chance each tick that one will either wake up or return to recharge.
• Rows of alcoves with brass flutes and prongs. Some contain a sleeping vigilator. Workbench with spare parts and d half-assembled automaton.
• (?) The work area has all kinds of parts and doodads.

24: Warehouse

• Rows and rows of shelves lined with pots, chests, sacks and bottles.
• (??) Many units of flour (stale but edible), wine (mostly vinegar), charcoal (fuel), fat and oil (somewhat rancid).

25: Grand Arcade

• Curving marble path with a view of the city below. Planters filled with spiny weeds; apartment doors between the marble columns and arches.
• (!) A vigilator patrols this path.

26: Empty Townhouses (downstairs)

• A row of townhouses, mostly empty aside from the odd bit of rubble or broken furniture. A search may reveal… (d6)
  • 1 = nothing
  • 2 = a child’s doll
  • 3 = 2d6 coins
  • 4 = an antique vase worth 10 coins (delicate!)
  • 5 = a lot of functional but worthless crockery
  • 6 = the husk of a giant beetle grub, long empty

27: Empty Townhouses (upstairs)

• Upstairs balconies overlook the city.

28: Beetle Lair (downstairs)

• The entrance to this townhouse has collapsed, and part of the balcony has caved in along with it. A truly awful smell emanates from with, ripe and rancid.
• (!) The carrion beetles bring the wyvern’s discarded meals here and lay their young in the rotting flesh. The floor is covered in bones, hair, rotting meat, and pale grubs the size of a person. The grubs are mostly defenceless but spew corrosive bile, and their parents will not be happy with any intruders.
• (??) Beneath the whole stinking mess, buried under bones and filth, is a great treasure.

29: Beetle Lair (upstairs)

• (!) Lair of the carrion beetles. As with all lairs, they may not be home, but random encounters are much more likely.
• The room is completely bare aside from dried blood smeared all over the floor, especially toward the stairs. The smell from downstairs is overpowering.

30: Warzone

• Signs of battle: husks of giant lavender beetles, carved up and scorched; a dismembered vigilator automaton.

31: Courtroom Balcony

• Overlooks the courtroom in the Fortress of Doors (level 5). Dusty but intact chaises longues and coffee table.