After her death, Lyria took efforts to reanimate her as an intelligent un-dead wretch so she could continue to torment her. Dara remains trapped in this pit, fantasizing about the day she may get vengeance.

Area 1-14 – After her death, Lyria took efforts to reanimate her as an intelligent un-dead wretch so she could continue to torment her. Dara remains trapped in this pit, fantasizing about the day she may get vengeance.

Dara, the Accursed Thief: Init +2; Atk claw +4 melee (1d4 plus Stamina drain); Crit U/d8; AC 15; HD 4d8 (hp 20); MV 30’; Act 2d20; SP un-dead traits; SV Fort +3, Ref +3, Will +0; AL C.

Stamina drain: A character hit by Dara’s claw attack must succeed a DC 12 Fortitude save or take 1d3 Stamina damage.

Un-dead traits: Dara is un-dead and can be turned by a cleric. She is immune to sleep, charm, and paralysis spells, as well as other mental effects and cold damage.

Dara asks to be released from the pit and demands the characters throw down a rope. She makes it clear her goal is retribution against Lyria. If the characters refuse, she curses them and vows to hunt them down when she gets her freedom. If the characters begin attacking Dara from the high ground, she scuttles out of sight into a small crevice in the western wall she’s claimed as her den.

At the top of the stairs is a wooden door. A DC 15 find trap check detects that opening the door will trigger a trap. A character succeeding a DC 14 disable trap check can bypass the trap, which allows the door to be opened normally. If the trap is triggered, a trap door at the top of the staircase opens and the victim falls down a winding chute and into the pit. If Dara’s attitude is antagonistic toward the party, she attacks.

Treasure: Dara is wearing a cursed cape that she found elsewhere in the dungeon. Dara did not live long enough after acquiring it to know it is cursed. Any successful casting of detect magic identifies the cape as being magical but not that it is cursed. A character wearing the cape will gain a +1 to all saving throws, but this benefit comes at a cost. The cape leaches age from those who wear it. After wearing the cape for a week, the character will age 3d30 years. This rapid aging continues at this rate for each week it is worn. For every 20 years aged, the character loses 1 point of Strength, Agility, and Stamina, but gains 1 point of Intelligence and Personality. Partial increments of less than 20 years result in no losses or gains. Note that this effect cannot improve an ability score beyond 18 or reduce it below 3. A remove curse spell can remove this effect.

The curse of the cape could push a character to the limits of age. Upon reaching the age threshold of what would be typical for their race’s natural lifespan, characters must make a Fortitude save each week against a DC equal to the number of

years exceeding beyond their race’s average lifespan. Failure indicates the character succumbs to the ravages of old age. It is up to the judge’s discretion what the average age of a particular race’s lifespan is, but some guidelines are provided here:

• Humans: 75 years

• Dwarves: 250 years

• Halflings: 100 years

• Elves: 1,000 years