Page 227 - Tales from the Yawning Portal

Statues. Each statue has a magical aura, but they are 32. SECRET DOOR
merely hunks of metal; they do nothing. Each registers The portal to the south can't be detected by any magical
to the casting of detect evil and good as a desecrated ob- means. but a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception)
ject, and the visage of each of these iron statues is most check enables a character to notice that the wall at this
fearsome and terrifying. location has a small opening that is metal-lined- obvi-
Moving a statue can be done, but it requires a com- ously a keyhole!
bined Strength of 48. Moving the statue in the north- Following this discovery, any attempt to force the door
west corner reveals a ring pull in the western wall open by physical or magical means will be useless. But
which will raise a small plug of stone and enable the if the First Key (from area 19) is inserted in the hole and
party to enter a small chute which takes them into the then removed, the door will sink into the floor, revealing
corridor that goes west. itself to be a stone-sheathed adamantine slab of tremen-
Bronze Urn. A character who examines the urn can dous thickness. There can be no real doubt that the end
use an action to pry loose the stopper. If the stopper is of the adventure- one way or another- is near.
removed, an efreeti will come forth. If the urn has been
battered, knocked about, shaken, overturned, or other- 33. THE CRYPT OF ACERERAK THE DEMILICH
wise roughly handled, the creature will be in a fury and
will attack. If not, it will grant three wishes for the party
Beyond the door is a smallish, rectangular chamber with
and then depart. l
Sarcophagus. Examining the lid of the sarcophagus a ceiling that extends twenty-five feet overhead. There is
reveals that glyphs spelling "ACERERAK" are inset on a smaii depression a few inches deep and about two feet I
pried out.) The end of the thing nearest the wall is stove l
it in platinum. (The metal, worth 100 pp in total, can be
square in the center of the floor.
in and shattered. Inside can be seen bits of a wooden
inner shell, a few bones, destroyed jewelry (the stones A successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check enables
pried out), torn bits of robes and windings, dust, and a a character to discover a small hole in the middle of this
broken staff of the magi (evident from the runes upon it). depression-another keyhole!
A shattered skull will roll out if the contents are moved If the First Key is inserted herein, the key explodes,
around. (Why, the demilich has long been destroyed, but and the individual doing so takes 17 (5d6) bludgeon-
his magical traps somehow survived!) ing damage.
Iron Chests. Each of these massive boxes is embed- The Second Key (from area 28) will fit within the hole,
ded into the stone. Neither can possibly be moved, and and nothing untoward will occur. In fact, nothing what-
both show marks of prying, battering, and similar treat- soever will happen until it is turned three times to the
ment. Each chest is triple-locked, and each lock contains right in succession. If this is done, read:
a poison needle trap (see "Sample Traps" in chapter 5 of
the Dungeon Master's Guide). If the trap is triggered by
As you finish turning the key, the floor begins to tremble,
a failed check, it deals 1 piercing damage and delivers I
a dose of purple worm poison (see "Sample Poisons" in and then abruptly it starts to rise toward the ceiling.
chapter 8 of the Dungeon Master's Guide).
Treasure. Both chests have treasure, the true nature
Roll initiative. On initiative count 10, anyone still on the
of which doesn't become apparent until the spoils are
southern 15 feet of the crypt floor is crushed against the
moved at least 13 miles away from the tomb.
roof and slain. If any characters survive, read:
The eastern chest holds 10,000 gems, which will
initially appear to be of not less than 50 gp value each.
Each is actually a 1 gp piece of quartz. The other chest The rising of the floor in the southern part of the room
contains 10,000 copper pieces magicked to appear as reveals a mithral vault. There is a door in the center of
platinum when they are first discovered.
the device, with a ring set into it.
31. ONE-WAY DOORS
Characters who traverse the east-west corridor have A hard pull will open the door.
no chance of discovering the north-south route that
adjoins it. The two doors to the north are magical, such
that they don't exist except for characters who approach A low, dust-covered bench is near the back wall of the
and open them from the north. vault. On and around it are an abundance of items. Rest·
Phasing Pit. The covered pit depicted on the map ing on one end of it is a human skull.
doesn't exist until someone opens either of the one-way
doors or opens the door in the corridor while traveling
east to west. When one of those events occurs, the cov- Creature. The skull belongs to Acererak, the demilich
ered pit comes into phase where shown. This pit is oth- who lies in wait for the characters. When they joined the
erwise exactly the same as others in the place. halves of the First Key, that act called his soul back to
the Material Plane, and their use of the Second Key to
enter the vault alerted him that he must be prepared to
do battle in order to survive yet more centuries.

CHAPTER 7 I TOMB OF HORRORS
226