Page 133 - Tomb of Annihilation

incorrectly placed cube, dealing 18 (4d8) lightning dam-
age to any creature within 20 feet of the door. A mage
hand spell can be used to place the cubes from farther
away and avoid this damage.
A detect magic spell or similar effect reveals an aura
of evocation magic around each of the cavities. If the
characters place the cubes correctly, read:

I
~he nine cubes flare with light, then disappear. Growling
like an angry beast, the slab begins to slide up into the
ceiling.

When the door opens, the puzzle cubes teleport back to
their respective shrines in Omu. Once the door has fully
risen, it remains open for 1 hour before slowly sinking
back into place. Characters who are outside when the
NllN GNANG 5HAGAM81 door closes must revisit the city to recover the cubes.

4B. SECOND PUZZLE DOOR
When the characters move past the first door, read:

I I
Another slab blocks the hallway twenty feet beyond the
first door. An iron lever is set into the door's surface,
with a graven stone skull leering down from above.
WoNGo PAPAlOTL Oeo'LAKA
When a character reaches the midpoint of the hall, read:
0111GRllM 5.1: S11MPLE PunLE Cuee CON F IGURATION
The skull's jaws creak open, and a skeletal hand holding
a crystal hourglass-style timer emerges from within. With
4A. FIRST PUZZLE DOOR
a click, the timer rotates and sand starts to trickle into its
lower globe.
A slab of worked stone blocks the overgrown tunnel
some twenty feet from the entrance. Grinning skulls
mark the edges of the slab, in the center of which Count down slowly from 10, and let the players tell you
what, if anything, their characters do in that time. If the
are nine cube·shaped cavities arranged in three rows
characters don't pull the lever by the time you've finished
of three.
your countdown, the lever and the sand timer retract as
the door sinks into the floor, revealing area 5 beyond.
Give the players copies of the god symbols in handout The sand timer can't be budged or damaged.
11 of appendix E. The individual squares can be cut out After remaining open for 1 hour, the door slowly rises
to be arranged by the players as they wish, or they can to seal off the passage once more. Characters can pre-
simply make notes on paper. vent the door from rising by jamming iron spikes into
To open the door, the characters must fill the cavities the surrounding floor seams. The lever resets when the
with all nine puzzle cubes retrieved from the shrines door returns to its closed position. The door can't be
of Omu (see chapter 3), but in the proper configuration. opened from the north side.
The cubes representing the trickster gods must be Pit Trap. Pulling the lever causes the Boor between
placed so that each god is opposite its rival's cube on the the two doors to split open along a central seam. Each
grid, with Unkh (who is neutral and bas no rivals) in the creature standing on the floor when the lever is pulled
middle. For example, a puzzle cube inserted into a cor- tumbles into a 20-foot-deep pit lined with poisoned
ner of the grid must have its rival in the diagonally oppo- spikes. With a successful DC 15 Dexterity saving throw,
site corner. Diagram 5.1 shows one possible configura- the character who pulled the lever can avoid falling by
tion, though others will work as long as Unkh is situated hanging onto it. The pit remains open until the lever is
between I'jin (CN) and Obo'laka (LN), between Kubazan reset to its original position.
(CG) and Papazotl (LE), between Moa (LG) and Wongo Each creature falling into the pit takes 11 (2dl0) blud-
(CE), and between Nangnang (NE) and Shagambi (NG). geoning damage and is impaled on ld4 spikes, each
lf a puzzle cube is placed incorrectly, any previously of which deals 3 (ld6) piercing damage and 5 (ldlO)
placed cubes pop out. Electricity then erupts from the poison damage. Any creature that takes poison damage

C:HAPTER 5 I TOMB OF THE NlNE CODS
132