I’ve recently finished reading Return To The Temple Of Elemental Evil in its entirety and found it an entertaining – if incredible difficult – module. It’s inspired me to write my own, and here it is.
The Vault Of Helgorim
This is a ‘drop-in’ adventure that can be added to any existing dungeon without requiring much (if any) explanation. It is intended that the adventure occurs in The Forgotten Realms. The encounters herein are quite difficult, including the presence of epic-level spells, and characters may not survive if not possessed of high level powers (including level 9 spells). The rewards – including a minor artifact – are certainly worth it.
Story: The vampire savant, Helgorim The Eternal (Wiz27/Clr22), spent centuries creating magic items so powerful that many of them are now considered artifacts. For reasons unknown, Helgorim sealed away some of these items when he left Faerun for Realmspace and they remain hidden in their vaults protected by powerful magic. This is one such vault and it contains a minor artifact known as The Stone of Blood. Some sages have assumed that Helgorim did not abandon these items and intends to reclaim them, and the epic-level magic he used to design the vaults seems to support this theory. However it has been aeons since Helgorim departed our world, and none know whether he yet unlives.
The vault should connect to an existing dungeon. It is recommended the vault be in a subterranean location, possibly hidden behind several secret doors or other traps and/or illusions of the DMs devising. Given the difficulty of the traps in the vault, the DM may decide to warn players in advance (such as by littering this corridor with the corpses of powerful monsters or describing runes of warning such as “Death awaits” written in the entry passage). The entire vault is dark but not magically so and played should be able to illuminate effectively via spells or lanterns.
1. Entrance
“After some time you reach the end of the tunnel. A pit, about 7 feet in diameter, is in the center of the floor and leads into blackness.”
The trapdoor drops 80 feet and as PCs descend they pass through two traps, both perpendicular to the drop and spanning the entire 7 foot width. Both traps are highly magical and cast at epic level. They are undetectable and undisarmable.
Trap 1: Field of Dispelling (3″ from the top). Dispel Magic is cast on all PCs and any magic items passing through this trap in either direction (this includes all armor, weapons and items held by PCs). This trap was created by Helgorim and Dispel Magic is caster level 27, and is therefore likely to succeed in dispelling all magic passing through it. While this is merely an inconvenience for items (which will regain their magic in 1d4 rounds), this means that players using items or spells to safely descend (as opposed to a rope) will lose such protection and fall unhindered down the shaft (and therefore take 8d6 damage upon landing)
Trap 2: Image Replacement (10″ from the bottom). All nonevil creatures moving (only) downwards through this trap must make a fortitude save (DC28) or be immediately replaced by a copy of the contents of the mirror in room 4 (see that room for more details). The original character is either gone completely, entrapped or teleported without error to some other location at the DMs discretion (and therefore possibly rescueable). Copies created by this trap fall only 10 feet (1d6 fall damage).
It is possible this second trap replaces the entire party, in which the adventure is likely immediately over.
2. Vestibule
“This large room contains statues of extinct creatures in a manner of materials. A passage in the north wall ends at a stone door, from behind which the grinding of stone can be heard.”
The statues are lifeless and constructed of bronze, iron, marble and granite. This room contains no threat to the PC unless anyone was replaced by the trap in the shaft, in which case the remaining party will likely battle the (evil) copies here.
3. Torment Of The Storoper
“You enter an octagonal room, approximately 50 feet in diameter and 60 feet high. Large boulders are scattered around. In the very center is a thin column of living stone, spanning floor to ceiling with a dozen animated tentacle-like strands branching off it. As you survey the scene, a great eye opens in the center of the column, glaring at you with malice.”
This room contains the only inhabitant of the vault, a Paragon Dire Storoper with the evil-elemental (earth) subtype. This creature was created by Helgorim specifically to defend this vault, and is likely the most powerful of its kind ever to exist. As a paragon creature five times larger than a normal storoper, it has 360 hp and bites for 10d6+10 damage. It’s 12 strands span the room and while delivering no damage, hit at +28 and draw targets in at a rate of 20 feet/round (double a normal roper). The earth elemental subtype was added by Helgorim to make the strands impervious to slashing damage (and therefore unseverable) and the dire trait was added to remove the usual roper vulnerability to fire. The storoper has spell resistance 42 and all other stats are as described in the Monster Manual
As formidable a foe this creature is already, Helgorim has given it a unique power designed to make it very unlikely his vault will ever be pilfered: Reverse Gravity. As a free action, the storoper can reverse gravity in this room up to once every round (typically it is cast every 1d4 rounds). PCs will ‘fall’ 60 feet every time this is cast, for 6d6 damage every time. In addition, the disorienting effect of the continually reversing gravity results in a -6 on all attack rolls and gives spellcasters a 20% chance to fail on any spellcast (or 80% if the casting is occurring when the gravity is reversed). The storoper, attached to both floor and ceiling, is not affected by the gravity switch. When the roper dies, gravity returns to normal.
The secret door in the west wall is featureless and difficult to discover (DC31) but opens easily once found.
4. Mirror Room
“This room contains what appears to be a large framed mirror on an intricate stand, turned to face away from the entrance. A dark cloth shields the face of the mirror, and runes are scribed into the back.”
The runes are elven and read ‘Eternal’. The mirror is a Mirror Of Evil Images and was accidentally created centuries ago by an Elven wizard searching for immortality. Helgorim obtained it and used it extensively in his research. The mirror functions exactly as a single-cell Mirror Of Life Trapping with the exception that the version of the character sealed into the mirror is evil (alignment converts to evil) and more intelligent (+2 to original INT) than the original. Any character looking into this mirror must make a will save (DC23) or be trapped inside. To an observer, the character trapped appears to disappear as soon as they look at the mirror. If another character is trapped, the character already in the mirror is lost forever. Characters that save versus the magic of the mirror can never be trapped by this mirror, and when looking into it will always see the character trapped within (who appears in repose). When the players enter the dungeon, the mirror contains a (lawful evil) sword archon (77 hp).
This mirror is magically linked to the trap in the entry shaft, and any character that fails to save against that trap is replaced by a copy of whatever is in the mirror. This copy is exact, including all items, equipment, memorized spells etc. As evil intelligent characters, it is likely these copies will either try to abandon or kill the PCs at their earliest opportunity (especially if multiple characters fail the trap and copies outnumber the remaining party). There is no limit to the amount of copies that can be created via the replacement trap, but all copies and the character trapped in the mirror (including gear and equipment even if it has been passed on to another PC) immediately disappear when the mirror is smashed. While highly magical the mirror has no special protection and smashing it is a simple matter.
5. The Empty Room
“This large room contains beds and tables for dozens of people, as well as equipment and supplies that suggests that men, women and children may have once lived here. Closer examination reveals warm bowls of soup and still-burning candles that suggest the inhabitants departed quickly and very recently.”
This room is an epic-level illusion cast by Helgorim for reasons unknown. It is likely PCs will assume there is illusion here, but unlikely they will be able to overcome the magic (DC43 to overcome the illusion) and therefore the contents will be as if real. They can eat the soup (or other foodstuffs, assume there is enough here to keep 30 people alive for 30 days), sleep in the beds and entertain themselves with the gambling games. If players spend at least an hour searching, they will (DC16) discover on the inside cover of one of the many books a single word written in magic script (and therefore detectable by magic): ‘CROATOAN’. The meaning of the word is unknowable.
6. The Inner Vault
“A small stone altar stands in the middle of this triangular room. On the altar is a black box, about 1 foot on each side, from two sides of which extend thin cylinders formed of an unknown material.”
The altar is unremarkable. The box – actually a cube of epic force – contains The Stone of Blood. The walls of the box are highly magical and transparent, and the interior of the box has a permanent darkness spell cast on it (caster level 27). The box is undispellable, immovable and unscryable, and the walls are unbreakable. Any spell cast onto the box fails (50%) of reflects (50%) back to the caster. To open the box, 4 keys must be inserted directly into the 4 side walls, of which two are already in place. These keys can be freely removed (no holes remain in the walls of the box) for examination and slide in and out of the box walls easily and without resistance to a depth of about an inch. The missing two keys do not exist, and therefore PCs must be creative to open this box and obtain the contents. Possible solutions are:
– Wish for them (one wish per key)
– Obtain them via divine assistance
– Construct additional exact duplicate keys using pieces of the firmament of the Plane of Dreams (known as dreamstone)
– Create them via the mirror in room 4 and the replacement trap by giving the two existing keys to a creature, trapping them in the mirror, then deliberately creating two copies and taking the now four keys. Note that this method is an evil act.
With four keys, the box can be easily opened by pushing a key into each of the four sides. When the box happens, a trap is triggered:
Contingent Delayed Maximized Fireball, 162/81 damage (DC 31 for half). The fireball fills the entire room. PCs can save for half except the last person to push a key into the box, who takes full damage. Helgorim cast this spell centuries ago, triggered to detonate as soon as the box is opened. The trap is undetectable unless PCs cast Time Stop before pushing in the last key.
The box contains The Stone of Blood. This minor artifact is an ioun stone with the following effects:
a) Drain Life: If the owner is damaged in any way, this stone drains the life of all nearby (20 feet) targets to heal the owner at the rate of 2hp/target/round. There is no saving throw against this life drain, which does not work against undead.
b) Steal Life: Once per day, the owner can use the stone to steal the life of another target. This slays the target (Fort save DC 21) and heals the owner equal to the amount of HP lost by the target. This is an evil act, and does not work against undead.
c) Supermassive: When being used, the gravity field of this stone prevents the use of any other ioun stone and actually affects the owner in such a way that their dexterity drops by 2.
The stone is highly intelligent (Int 17, Wis 11, Cha 15), lawful evil and has a strong preference for powerful vampires. It never communicates with nonvampire owners, but seeks to dominate them (Ego 26) and if successful freely uses them to steal the lives of friends and compatriots. It knows many secrets of Helgorim, including the location of other vaults, and will freely share this information with powerful vampires that possess it.
Ending the Adventure: The Stone of Blood is a tempting tool, but most players strong enough to recover it will likely quickly determine it is evil and should be destroyed. Similarly, they will want to destroy the mirror in room 4. While destroying the mirror is simple, discovering the method to destroy the stone is another matter and quite possibly the goal of an entirely different adventure…
