Unicorn RampantClaw / Claw / Bite magazine & Tabletop Role-Playing Games

Aug 3rd Salodrin’s House

SALODRIN’S HOUSE

At the edge of the Wealthy Quarter, Salodrin’s house stands nearly alone on a city block. The moon leers overhead, and a small flight of bats circles around a plume of putrid smoke that emanates from the chimney. It is not a normal oak or maple wood burning.

A black, windowless, iron edifice acts as a stoic sentry, as if to proclaim in not so many words, “Keep Out.”

Only characters that have encountered many devils or have traveled to the Planes of Hell would recognize this smell. Characters who have encountered one or two devils may recognize the smell (DC 20 wisdom check).

If the characters knock on the door, the bats will fly down by the door, screeching their high-pitched wails, before returning to the chimney. No one answers the door.

Attempts to peer into the windows are unsuccessful; many layers of soot and grime coat them opaque.

ENTRANCE LEVEL

1 Entrance Hall

Stepping into the foyer, it is immediately apparent that the marble of this fifteen foot long corridor is worn and uneven. A bovine smell hangs thick in the air.

Archways lead out of the hall to the left and right, and the hallway opens into a wider room at the end of the hall.

2 Storage Room

Various crates, some bearing demonic iconography, are stacked here.

Upon inspection, they appear empty, save the straw packing that they were likely stuffed with to keep the contents from being damaged.

3 Study

This room is fitted along the walls with dark bookshelves. On the far end of the room, a stack of books adorns a wooden table.

The stacked books are focused on architecture and history. Many of them appear to be from foreign lands, made of strange parchment and paper and bound in a strong leather-like substance.

Some of the books in Salodrin’s collection are bound in human and demon skin, notably those dealing with necromancy and similar topics.

4 Cage Room

A ten foot wide cage occupies the back half of the room. On the floor of the cage is a collection of ruffled feathers. Wooden doors lead in three directions.

Characters who success in a DC 25 Knowledge Nature check recognize the feathers as belonging to a cockatrice.

5 Tapered Cage Room

Another ten foot wide cage fills the back end of the room, with the main walkway leading straight through to a closed door. The floor of the cage is covered in layers of fur and large claw marks mar the wood paneling.

Characters succeeding in a DC 25 Knowledge Nature check recognize the fur as predominantly dire bear and dire wolf fur, with swaths of torn dire badger and alley cat fur among the pile.

6 Prayer Room

The torches set in dark sconces on the walls illuminate the 25’x25’ room, filled with columns carved into images of people writhing in pain. Most 5’x5’ spaces on the floor are covered with carefully arranged finely woven rugs, giving the room a very orderly feel. At the far end of the room is a low table, upon which are a few additional rugs. Two indoor plants adorn either side of the table.

The rugs are geometric in nature, not forming any specific image. If the characters check closely enough and make a DC 25 Knowledge Nature check, they notice that the rug is woven with the fur of many animals, as well as human, dwarven, and elven hair.

Trap: In the center of the room, hidden by one of the rugs, is a pit trap, DC 35 Reflex save to avoid (also DC 35 to perceive). A swarm of rug rats crawl up through the rug, distracting the character standing upon the rug just before the floor gives way. This pit leads to the lower level, where two pit fiends await their prey. See below.

Rug Rats (6).

7 Sitting Room

This oversized sitting room measures 25’x 15’ at its widest point where two walls come together to form a huge window. The view is mostly hidden by two large red velvet drapes. A slight light escapes from between them. A single oversized chair is set facing the window with a small end table at its right side and an ottoman before it.

Behind the drapes is a window into the city streets as seen at night, regardless of whether it is day or night when the party finds it. The light that peeked though the drapes is that of a full moon aloft in a clear sky, which is also what is seen regardless. It is as if someone had painted a life-like mural onto the window itself. If broken, characters will see into the Nine Hells. This will bring Salodrin, his wargoyles, and the pit fields immediately, who will burst through the opening and attack.

The end table is stained with a deep blue liquid unlike anything the party has encountered. The liquid is cool to the touch and will deal 1d4 points of constitution damage if touched, and 2d4 points if any amount is imbibed (DC 30 Fortitude save avoids each effect, roll separately for each effect as applicable).

8 Overflow Storage

This room serves as a mud room as well as a back entrance, and the walls are lined with boxes and crates. Other than that, this room appears to see little use.

From here, a long hallway leads back along the outer wall of the house, filled with bags, crates, and broken bottles.

If the party takes 20-30 minutes to search, they will encounter a few rats that quickly scurry out of sight, and find 2 potions of cure serious wounds and a broken quarterstaff +1.

Any noisy encounter with the rats will alert the pit fiends, who will storm up the steps and attack if the party is otherwise occupied and if they see an easy prey standing alone, or if the party splits up within the house.

9 Stairwell Down

Beyond two doors, a dark stairwell leads down into a dimly lit passage at the end of which glows an orange light.  A warm, smoky odor rises from below.

The ground floor of the house is like a standard human house, though there is no cooking pot nor stove to place one upon. It is possible that the party will discover the fastest route downstairs – the pit trap in location 6. If so, read the description at location 6 and move the action there.

LOWER LEVEL

A lone fireplace gently illuminates this floor. The stony floor is warm and the atmosphere humid.

The smell of grilled meat and smokiness from a fire assault the senses. Piles of bones occupy the edges of the room, mixed in with fur and teeth. The room that opens out to the left is dimly lit by two sputtering torches that cling perilously to the wall at the back of the room.

Rust colored stones line the walls of this musty basement, dripping with a moist luster.

If the characters touch the walls, they discover that they are not simply red-colored, but splattered with tainted blood (and they take 1d6 taint damage). By now the barbed devils will have attacked.

If the party enters here via the pit trap, the two denizens attack that one character. Otherwise, they attack whoever is closest to them, unless they detect a direct threat by a character, for instance, a priest.

Barbed devils (2) CR 12.

Characters who know infernal hear what sounds like one of them exclaiming, “another one?” They appear to have eaten recently, the charred and broken remains of a human slumped in the corner still oozing organs.

This is how the party must reach the second floor if they are to enter like civilized beings. The city’s watch will not take kindly to an uninvited visit to Salodrin’s house, and crashing through his stained glass windows will bring them in a flash.

TOP LEVEL

Large stained glass windows depicting horrific scenes of torture fill the 12′ arched windows on all sides of this penthouse.

This is where Salodrin sleeps between his meals of human and demi-human flesh. Unbeknownst to the citizens of Chaurille, he is an erinyes. When the characters enter this floor, he and his wargoyles attack, the wargoyles smashing through the stained glass window for dramatic effect, exposing views of a strange landscape (the Abyss) outside.

Before he attacks, he addresses the group.

“How dare you enter my house without summons! For your crime you shall spend your eternity in Hell!”

Salodrin.

Wargoyles (4).

CONCLUSION

Once Salodrin is either killed or flees, the view out the window returns to the surrounding Chaurille streets, and the party can explore this room.

At the opposite end of the room from the staircase is a tall bookshelf that runs the 5′ length of the convex wall.

If the characters search the bookcase and pull a book, they will discover a secret passage:

As the tome enters your hand, leaving the shelf, the entire bookshelf rotates on a small dais.  Behind the bookshelf is a doorway leading to a 10′ round chamber. In the center of the chamber is a strange set of runes set in the floor. Along the walls are bookshelves filled with texts labeled with arcane and demonic scripts and iconography.

The room is trapped. The first character stepping foot in the room must make a DC 30 Reflex check or be hit with a set of diseased darts. The disease quickly causes the part of the body hit to wither, resulting in a loss of 1d8hp per round until the disease is cured.

Further investigation of the runes on the floor (and a DC 20 Knowledge: Arcana or Planes check) reveals this as a portal of some sort.

When activated, this portal leads to the Plane of Knowledge.

Behind the other stained glass window, the one depicting the open book, is a portal to the Plane of Knowledge.