Page 85 - Tales from the Yawning Portal

38. BARRED PIT 39. CHAMBER OF TH E SECOND SUN

The walls of the passage glow magenta, bathing the cor- Th s e or o s c~a'TIOer is thirty feet tall with mighty
ridor with a ghastly hue. After fifteen feet, the floor drops buttress1rg an.: a aulted ceiling. Parts of the ceiling and
away to a pit that fills the hallway ahead. The pit is twen- walls nave co a::ised. and raw earth has spilled down
ty-five feet deep. Eight large, spidery bushes with thorny from a ga::iing nofe in the east wall. Crushed beneath
stems, white leaves, and enormous yellow blossoms a fallen bock in the center of the room are humanoid
grow across its bottom. remains. Elsewhere around the floor are the chewed and
Five feet beyond the nearest edge of the pit is a bronze decayed corpses of baboons. Through a hole in the east-
bar, set level with the floor and embedded in the pit walls ern ceiling, daylight and fresh air filter in. Above, through
to either side. Farther out over the pit can be seen other this gap, can be seen four baboons. They jump around
similar bronze rungs, set at five-foot intervals. On the the hole and and scream in agitation, and as they do, dirt
floor by the edge of the pit is a scattering of broken, rot- begins to slide down the banks and rocks in the walls
ting wooden planks. shift slightly.

Bridge of Bars. A character can attempt to cross this There is no poison gas in the room, or in any of the up-
pit by leaping from one bar to the next. There are a total per areas (40 and higher), because the gas escapes out
of eight bars and 45 feet of pit. Moving across the bars the hole in the ceiling. The floor is strewn with rubble,
is akin to moving across difficult terrain; moving 5 feet so it is difficult terrain. Larger rubble piles are 1 to 4 feet
onto a bar, or between two bars, costs 10 feet of move- high. Any loud noise (such as an explosion, shouting,
ment. If a creature attempts to move more than half of or fighting) causes a minor cave-in: at the start of each
its base walking speed on any of its turns, it must make creature's next turn after the noise, that creature is sub-
a DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. On a successful jected to an attack from falling rocks and earth (+5 to
check, the creature can keep moving. On a failed check, hit, dealing 3 (ld6) bludgeoning damage on a hit).
the creature stops moving to regain its balance and can Creatures. Hidden in a pile of rubble in the center
move no farther on that turn. If the check fails by 5 or of the room is an amphisbaena- a giant, two-headed
more, the creature falls into the pit. snake. It fights as a giant constrictor snake that can
The third and sixth bars along the way are corroded. make two melee attacks on each of its turns, only one of
When a character moves onto one of these bars, roll a which can be a Constrict attack. This ability increases
d20. On a roll of 5 or lower, or 2 or lower for a Small its challenge rating to 3 (700 XP).
character, the bar breaks. If the bar doesn't break If the snake is slain, the four baboons leap through
and the roll is 10 or lower, some obvious sign of the the hole in the ceiling and down upon the party. (They
bar's weakness becomes evident, such as chipping remained outside the room because of their fear of
or bending. the snake.)
Hazard. The bushes growing in the pit are carnivo- Treasure. The bones crushed beneath the fallen block
rous thorn stingers (see appendix B). Each plant lies belonged to two humans. This block can be moved by
beneath one of the bronze bars and casts its projectiles the combined effort of up to three characters with a
directly upward against anyone attempting to traverse total Strength of 30 or higher. A pouch tied on the waist
the bars. A creature balancing on a bar when it is hit by of one corpse holds 40 ep. One of the humans wore a
thorns must make a Dexterity saving throw with a DC brooch of bronze and green quartz in the shape of a
of 6 + the damage taken. If the saving throw fails by 4 lizard (worth 25 gp). A silver and beryl-emerald ring (50
or less, the creature falls prone, catching itself on the gp) is worn on a bony finger. A silvery dagger, actually
bar. (To stand up on the bar afterward, a character must made of a copper-nickel alloy and worth 10 gp, is stuck
make a Dexterity check as if attempting to move on the in the left boot of one figure. A scroll case holds a map
bars.) If the saving throw fails by 5 or more, the charac- of the territory in which these ruins are located. Finally,
ter falls in the pit. a crystal sphere, cracked in the catastrophe, has rolled
Someone who falls into the pit always comes down into the shadow of some nearby rubble. It is made of pol-
on a bush, cushioning the impact. The fall deals only 3 ished quartz, 3 inches in diameter, and is worth 45 gp.
(ld6) bludgeoning damage, but the character lands on a Crumbling Exit. If characters attempt to climb up
plant's adhesive blossoms. the dirt embankments to the hole in the ceiling, they
discover that the surface supports only 50 pounds. More
weight than that on any space along the slope causes
further collapse- each climber must succeed on a DC

CHAPTER 3 I THE HIDDEN SHRINE OF TAMOACHAN