The characters have just defeated a group of skeletons and a monstrous reptilian beast in the Death's Door chamber. The character now have to descend the shaft - either by the ancient staircase or some other means (if the stairs were destroyed).
As the characters make their way down the shaft, they will notice the air turning damp and chilly. It is also very dark at the bottom of the shaft. They will have to rely on their own light sources.
At the bottom of the shaft, the characters find many bones, whole skeletons, rats, rotted vegetable matter, etc. A huge nest is formed in the wreckage. This is clearly the lair of the great reptilian beast.
Judging by the rubble and the gaping hole in the wall, it's clear that the miners who cut this shaft broke through into an existing dungeon unexpectedly. Their shaft connected to one of the satellite towers. (The exact tower is up to you).
Levels 1 and 2 are mostly deserted. There is little here other than rats, undead and the occasional roaming "spawned" creature from the godbeast.
The Undead - The undead here are animated by the residual energy from the Jaidor Talisman which lies far below. For the most part, these are the animated bones of those who died here long ago (mostly guards when this place was the Mines of Morgoth). You can make them skeletons or zombies or something else entirely. Feel free to make them tougher than normal to keep your players on your toes. I tend to use a skele-zombie combination. It looks like a skeleton with lots of rotting flesh. Is it a skeleton? Is a zombie? It's both! :) Keep your players guessing. Don't use something out of a monster book that they've The players won't know quite what it is. I make may skele-zombies move fast. They hit twice as fast, twice as hard and regenerate their wounds. Do whatever. Just make it fun.
The Godspawn Creatures - The "spawned" creatures came from the godbeast long ago. There are a set number of them roaming these underground levels. The truth is that the spawned creatures can be anything. Feel free to drop them in at any point to give your players a challenge. They can take any form. They can be as challenging as you need them to be.
Satellite Guard “Towers”
The lair of the beast. Dozens of bones and skulls. One or two of the bodies
might have something of value. A minor magic item, for instance.
Blast Doors
In the corridor, the characters come across some large, impressive wood and iron
doors. They are very heavy, closed and locked. There are two undead on the other
Security Post
Two undead are standing at this security post.
Kennel – Undead dogs.
Four massive undead dogs are here.
Command Center
Ghost. Revenant. Insane. A former commander who stayed at his post and was
overrun. Normal weapons don’t affect this guy. Magic weapons affect it for 1
point per plus of magic.
Main Prison
40 Undead. Will attack on sight and pursue. Adjust the number and strength to
suit your players.
Office
Rotted paper. In disarray. Looks like the room has already been searched. Blood
stains on the walls and the same strange green ichor. Fragments of text are
visible and show writing in Old Kartese. If any of the players actually can read
this ancient language, the fragments are : status reports on a mining
operation, supply lists, disciplinary reports, letters, etc. Although only
fragments of sentences are still legible.
Main Armory
Hundreds of weapons. Most rusted beyond use. This room is in disarray and has
obviously been searched. The style of weapons is unique. Double bladed staves
and curves sickle like weapons. Very ancient design. This might be a good place
to have them discover a magic
weapon.
Workshop
Hundreds of ingots of iron and blocks of stone. Hundreds of tools. Also, a golem
like thing in the corner. This golem is an unfinished work and it is lacking a power source.
The golem could be finished, but it would take several days and appropriate
wizardly skills.
Barracks
This chamber is really about shock value. The players open the doors and witness
a huge crowd of undead monstrosities turn toward them. There are well over 100
rotting skeletons here. If they slam the doors shut and barricade them, they
will hear the undead pounding futilely on the other side. If they choose to
fight, they will likely be overwhelmed. Or, it could become a running fight and
they could be running into packs of undead throughout much of the rest of the
dungeon. Could make things interesting.
Training/Exercise Room
This chamber was once a large training room for fighters. Sparing mats, weapons
on racks on walls, a pit filled with sand, heavy rocks, wooden clubs, rope
hanging from the ceiling. Everything is rotted and rusted with age.
Mess Hall
Ancient. Rusted pots. Stains. But nothing liquid here anymore.
Storage
Rotted clothing and blankets. Candles. Torches. Oil in sealed clay jars –
some are dried and useless and some are ok.
Main Corridor
Empty.
Entrance Hall
This is another good place for another spawned creature. This one is appears
like a giant 12 foot scorpion with a thick grey exoskeleton. It has four arms
and pincers instead of just two. And each pincer is able to launch a three foot
spike like a spear. The scorpion's shell is extremely tough. Blades especially
deflect off of it. Blunt impact weapons and impaling weapons have a better
chance of penetrating.
Security Command Center
Four undead.
Two Offices
Empty.
Main Corridor
Skeleton on the ground. Blood stains. Broken chain and leather armor. Leather
satchel. In the satchel, there is a map of this dungeon - all 3 levels.
Main Armoury
Lots of shields, hammers, racks upon racks of weapons. Several thousand. None of
them are magical. Most are rusted and corroded.
Guard Room
Table, chairs, one smashed crate. One smashed lantern.
Barracks
40 tri-level bunk beds. Lots of huge wooden chests of drawers. Bits of clothing,
boots, belts, cloaks and flasks. Much of it is mold, rotted and corroded. Little
else remains. Possible location for some undead.
Food Storage and Wine Cellar
Empty sacks, empty crates. One giant dead rat.
Lots of broken wine bottles. Lots of glass on the floor. Broken table. Pantries,
smashed jars.
Several dozen racks of wine. Several are tipped over. Hundreds of shattered wine
bottles on the floor. Dozens of empty wine bottles. One rack in the back is
still good. About half of the bottles are vinegar. There are seven bottles which
have very old, very good wine in them. Each of these seven bottles could fetch a
very high price in certain markets. To certain wine connoisseurs or collectors
of rare antiquities, each of these could fetch 10,000 gold pieces.
Bathing Hall
Large empty stone room with a 5 foot deep pool... empty. A thick layer of slime
coats the bottom.
Servants Quarters
30 cots, chairs, small tables. Nothing of value.
Kitchen
Dirty pots and pans. Stains. Not a scrap of food though.
The Great Hall
A huge central dining hall. Long tables and high backed chairs. Chairs are
scattered in disarray. A monstrous fireplace sits at one end of the hall. Big
enough to fit ten men in.
Guard Room Entry
Table, four chairs.
Elevator
Enchanted elevator. Glyphs on the stone plaque above. Female voice asks a
question in a foreign tongue
“Doe chai mang tuvu?”
The characters can either answer in Old Kartese or press one of the glyphs. Each glyph represents a specific level. There are 18 levels below their current position and a "ground floor" far below.
The enchanted lift works much like a modern day elevator. A
number of glyphs on a control panel correspond to specific levels in the great
column. There are 18 levels in the column, but each level only has a few rooms.
It should be clear to the players how the glyph buttons correspond to the
different levels. A large button at the bottom corresponds to the ground floor.
The third, fourth and fifth levels are actually one enormous
carven. The main chamber is immense.
It stands about 200 feet tall and 200 feet diameter. At the center of this
immense cavern, stretching from floor to ceiling, is a huge column of rock about
40 feet in diameter. This stone column is honeycombed with chambers, stairs and hallways.
Numerous windows and balconies cover the sides of the column looking out into
the giant cavern.
The chambers in the column are empty. If the players look out from any of the balconies, they see only a vast inky blackness, but they can tell based on echoes and the flow of air, that they are looking out into a huge cavern.
If the players have a light source or some way to see in darkness, they see the following:
"Before you is a city filling the chamber. All of the buildings are made of stone and lay along streets that radiate out from this central towering column. You estimate the size of this city is about 150 buildings and probably held a population of 15,000 in this part. The buildings are of some ancient architectural design that you do not recognize.
If the players can see in the dark AND can see long distances, because of some magic item or whatever, you can tease them by saying that they catch glimpses of something moving around down there in the city. Hard to tell from this distance, but they do see some movement. Extremely good eyesight might even let them make out humanoid shapes moving among the buildings. In any case, this is only if the players can some how overcome the darkness. In truth, there ARE humanoids down there moving around.
Once the players get down to the ground floor, they exit the massive stone column through a pair of large wooden doors. Before them is a brick covered street with buildings on either side.
Most of the buildings look ancient. Some are damaged. Cracks can be seen in the architecture. The characters can also see, rubble, burnt wooden shacks, etc. The ground underfoot is a thick layer of dirt over stone. Lots of different claw prints.
The players can spend hours exploring this small underground group of buildings. The town is abandoned and has been deserted for centuries. However, there is evidence of reason stonework to repair cracks in the stone work.
Exploring the city, the players will find the ruins of a city market, an arena, several towers, a keep, shops, taverns and numerous residences. The place is unusually clean, but completely empty, almost as if it has been cared for, but remains unused.
Any of these places could be housing undead, automatons or spawned creatures. It's your choice.
Feel free to make the place feel spooky. The players see something out of the corner of their eye, a flicker of movement, a shadow, etc. Perhaps a strange sound off in the distance. Maybe something flies overhead in the darkness. The players hear only the flap of giant wings and then it's gone.
There is a group down here in the underground city. They are the bodyguards and slaves and servants who are accompanying a sarthak lord. The sarthak are a race of powerful telepaths that rule the underworld. This particular sarthak lord will immediately know about the party (he can sense their minds). Because of this and the fact that the sarthak can communicate telepathically with all of his minions, they will be able to ambush the players with ease.
The Ambush Party
Feel free to set up the ambush however you want. The attackers have superior numbers and are familiar with the layout of this deserted city. Their master, the sarthak Lord Tugra, can communicate telepathically with anyone of them. So, information can be relayed between members of the group very quickly and totally silently.
Lord Tugra's slaves consist of a miscellany of races. The sarthak, as a race, capture their prisoners from the surface races. The slaves of the sarthak come from all three continents, so it's possible that Lord Tugra's minions could be almost any race and walk of life.
Here's a sample of what the ambushing group might look like:
 | 10 skrell archers |
| 2 orc clan warriors |
| 4 human bandits |
| 1 ogre warrior, who was a gladiator in a former life |
| 1 half elven wizard |
| 1 mandalar warrior |
| 1 goblin shaman |
Skrell archers will rain down arrows on the party. Because skrell can see in the dark, the arrows will come out of the darkness. They will fire down from rooftops. They will have position. If the party lights up the area (with lanterns or spells or whatever), the skrell will exhale their inky black clouds to cover their positions. If the party members attack the skrell or try to escape, more of the sarthak's troops will move in and attack. They will have orders to capture and will attempt to use non-lethal force.
Lord Tugra himself will hang back with an additional dozen or so bodyguards. He sits atop a floating throne platform. It's slow moving platform that hovers about 5 feet off the ground. The bodyguards surround it and at least two will be riding on it behind the throne.
Although he's a powerful telepath, he's a coward, like all sarthak. This sarthak lord does not want to suffer significant losses. He will cease the combat and parlay for truce rather than lose all of his minions. If the players do too well and are wiping out his minions, the sarthak and his bodyguards will attempt to flee.
In general, you want this encounter to end in such a way that the players can ask questions of Lord Tugra and/or his minions. This is important. Most likely, one side will be able to capture the other.
| If the players win, they can question prisoners. |
| If Lord Tugra's force win, they will simply capture the players and the players still get to ask questions. Lord Tugra isn't interested in killing the players and, in fact, will let them go. (See below). |
| If it's a stalemate or truce, there can be civilized discourse with questions and answers. It might be with drawn swords, but as long as they're talking... |
The ideal solution is for Lord Tugra to be killed. Once Lord Tugra is killed, his mental domination of his enslaved minions ends. Most of them have been mentally dominated and enslaved for years. They will awake from it and suddenly find themselves in the underground depths of a dead subterranean city. Some of them could be potential allies for the group. In any case, they will answer questions. (The tone of their answers will depend on whether they are still under mental domination or not). Regardless, they will have the same information.
Below is an example of answers given by a captured minion before Lord Tugra is killed.
Who are you?
My name is Sorgren, a humble servant to my Lord Tugra, Master of the Shrine.
Who are the others?
We are all servants of Lord Tugra. We are sworn to serve him. We are sworn to protect the city, the Gate and the Shrine.
What is this Gate? What Shrine?
The Shrine of the Flesh God. That way, the Gate to the Flesh God. There is a Gate guarded by the guardian, created by the sarthak masters. Beyond the gate is the Great Maze and the
What is this place?
The sarthak masters came here long ago and found the Flesh God at the center of a great maze. Full of traps it was. Deadly traps. It took all over their skill and magic to get through the maze to reach the Flesh God. When they did, there was the great learning. The flesh God taught the sarthak much and they worshiped the creature. They learned how it was created, where it came from.
The flesh god was once many… a group of shape shifters, led by one named Aracles. He wielded a great talisman of unspeakable power. He used it to create monsters, he created the dead of that temple, the dead that roam above. He experimented and toyed with it endlessly. He created monsters, horrible abominations, walking dead and worse.
He grew drunk on his power. Eventually, he killed the others and absorbed them into his body. When he had consumed them all, he was a great bloated thing – a monstrosity of constantly changing and evolving organism. The talisman was inside him at the center of this thing.
And that is when my sarthak masters found him.
Why do the sarthak worship this Flesh God?
You see the sarthak worship life and magic. They are always experimenting on their slaves, perverting them with wicked spells, changing them. They like to experiment with life, to create new life. For them, the Flesh God was the ultimate evolution of this practice and at the heart of the beast was the most powerful magic item in the world for what they sarthak wish to achieve. The Flesh God was a gift, as they saw it. A god worthy of their adoration. And so they come here to worship it. They have rebuilt the maze of traps and even changed it to their liking. They have kept the underground city and all of the monsters Aracles created just as they were… to honor him and his achievement.
Why did you attack us?
The Master told us to. He sensed you coming with his magic. And he sent us to kill you.
Why do the sarthak worship this Flesh God?
You see the sarthak worship life and magic. They are always experimenting on their slaves, perverting them with wicked spells, changing them. They like to experiment with life, to create new life. For them, the Flesh God was the ultimate evolution of this practice and at the heart of the beast was the most powerful magic item in the world for what they sarthak wish to achieve. The Flesh God was a gift, as they saw it. A god worthy of their adoration. And so they come here to worship it. They have rebuilt the maze of traps and even changed it to their liking. They have kept the underground city and all of the monsters Aracles created just as they were… to honor him and his achievement.
Why did you attack us?
The Master told us to. He sensed you coming with his magic. And he sent us to kill you.
The real purpose of having the players encounter the sarthak lord and his minions is information. The point of the whole encounter and battle is so that they end up either calling a truce and talking or interrogating prisoners. Either way, the sarthak and/or his minions are a wealth of information.
They are able to tell them that this place was built by the morphians, who are now merged into a kind of super godlike beast spawning creatures continuously. They can also tell them of how the sarthak found this place, communicated with the beast and now consider this place holy ground and they are the caretakers.
Armed with this information, the players now know what became of Aracles and the other morphians. They know what they are going to face and where to find the Talisman. The sarthak and his minions have given the players all the final clues that they need.
This encounter could play itself out a number of ways. If the players choose to kill the sarthak and his minions, they can then move on. If they choose not to kill him, the sarthak won't try to stop them or escape, but he won't help them either. If the sarthak and his minions actually manage to capture the players, the discussion still takes place but the sarthak lets them go. The sarthak aren't interested in killing the players or even in stopping them. In fact, the sarthak welcome victims into the maze. The Maze needs to function by killing those who pursue the Talisman. It is not enough for this place to be protected, it must also serve its purpose. The sarthak lord can go on endlessly in vague religious doubletalk about why the sarthak will let the players proceed. Ultimately, it doesn't matter. The sarthak are very alien and their way of thinking is difficult to follow. The sarthak lord can tell the players that their actions in the maze and beyond will be watched by all sarthak with great satisfaction.
And with that players move on...
As the party comes to the edge of the central city, heading east, they come upon a large well maintained, heavily fortified building. Varying stonework indicates it was modified and rebuilt at one point in its life.
The main door is solid iron and triple locked. All the windows are barred and shuttered. And the thick stone walls have girrall in them, making it impervious to magic. Spells won't be able to penetrate them. This place should be challenging to get into.
The Organism
Lure the players in here with strange sounds inside. Inside,
the party finds a huge organism growing through the entire fort. Strange
twisted fleshy organic growths, somewhat like tentacles or vines, have grown
through the place, down corridors and into chambers. They are mottled gray and
pulse with the flow of blood. The organic matter has grown up walls and across
ceilings.
This organism is, in fact, a horribly modified creature... an
experiment performed on one of the morphians by Aracles created with the power
of the Talisman. It was a failure and the resulting organism became a freakish
thing, growing out of control until he had filled the entire volume of the
fortress. It is a mindless creature with only animal intelligence in certain
sections. Like all the of spawned creatures, this thing feeds on the energy of
the Talisman and does not need to eat. This is the reason why the fortress was
abandoned long ago and also explains why it was abandoned hastily and so much
was left behind.
In several places, the organic matter sprouts strange living organisms. In the
first chamber, the growths take the form of large spiked spheres supported on
columns of bone and flesh. These spheres fire spikes at the players. These are
non-intelligent things that react to stimuli - the presence of the players.
Barely animal intelligence. After some trial and error, the players should
figure out how to take these out. Feel free to have other growths from this
organism. It is, essentially, living tissue and growth run amok. It could sprout
eyestalks, tentacles and arms at any place. Feel free to challenge your players
as you see fit. Anyone killed by this organism will be claimed by it. Their body
will be slowly enveloped and fused with it. It's possible that others have come
here and fought this thing (sarthak slaves for instance). So, it's possible that
vaguely humanoid shapes might be seen here and there in the organism. Also, bits
of treasure, magic items, weapons or armor might also be found within the
organism. That alone, the possibility of finding a piece of treasure or magic
item, might be enough to keep the players happily hacking away at the thing
until it is totally destroyed.
With spells and weapons the organism can be destroyed, but it will have to be killed off section by section, room by room. It is possible to clear the entire fort of this thing, but it will take some time. As they do so, the will find private chambers, bed rooms, conference rooms, kitchens, dining halls, etc. It quickly becomes clear that this fortress was the home to the morphians for quite some time and that much of Aracles magical research was done here.
The Office and Work Area of Aracles
Eventually, the party will find a group of rooms on the third floor
including a master bedroom, office, library and spell research chamber. The
office and connected library are filled with
books, scrolls, maps, binders and journals. This was obviously Aracles' main
work area. Unfortunately, almost everything is written in a strange
runic code that the players have never seen. This writing is, in fact, a written
form of the complex morphian language. It is very difficult to translate and
will definitely require an expert linquist or a powerful deciphering spell.
Deciphering the Notes
If the players take time to decipher this script, the books and journals
here will tell them a great deal about Aracles research into the Talisman and
how far he got with the research before
he had abandoned it. In fact, he did unravel the spells necessary to break the
link. However, by that time, he was quite mad and beyond reason. He no longer wanted to break the link. He was too
far gone... drunk with the power of the Talisman.
The journals detail a fifth level spell which can "unlink" the Talisman from the morphian race. With this information in hand, a wizard can cast this unlinking spell upon the Talisman and then it would be possible to destroy the Talisman without obliterating the entire morphian race. Whether or not the party wants to kill off all morphians is an ethical dilemma for them to wrestle with. Would the world be better off without morphians? Do they have the right to commit genocide upon an entire race? What should they do now that they have the means to destroy the Talisman without risking the morphians? These are the kinds of questions they have to ask themselves. Ultimately, it doesn't matter to the plot. They can choose to kill the morphians or not. However, keep in mind that wiping out an entire species is an extremely evil act... especially when they don't need to do it to accomplish their mission.
The morphian's former home and fortress is the last large building the players encounter. It seats at the very east edge of the subterranean city. Beyond this there is the edge of the great cavern. The road continues out of the city to a great tunnel in the cavern wall which leads to the next section, another huge subterranean cavern. The next section is actually one of four identical caverns. These four residence chambers radiate out from the central city like petals on a flower. The party will be entering only one of them. (See the map ).
The next chamber, where the players are heading, contains the "Shrine Gate".. the entrance to the Shrine Maze which was mentioned by Lord Tugra and/or his minions/freed slaves. So, next up is getting to the Shrine Gate, passing through the Shrine Gate, entering the Maze and then getting to the Talisman. Easy, right?
This website was last updated March 31, 2026. Copyright 1990-2026 David M. Roomes.