Path of the Moon

Area 1-5 – Path of the Moon

PCs seeking to gain the top of the ziggurat unnoticed must employ either guile or stealth; the sentries sound their horns as soon as they spy assailants scaling the sloped walls. Armed with crossbows and glaives, the eunuchs fight to the death in defense of the ziggurat’s peak and its secret. If the alarm is raised, the eunuchs in area 1-1b lower the gate, and all the guardians within the temple withdraw to 1-9 to defend the the high priestess and her devotees. For her part, the high priestess cannot rush the rite, and must wait for the appointed time (midnight) to conclude the ritual.

A yawning pit is set in the center of the platform, descending through area 1-5a to 1-9. Set around the pit are four iron bars, each some 4 feet in height and topped with a polished silver mirror. The mirrors are used to reflect and direct the moonlight into the mirrored shaft (area 1-5a), and the iron bars and mirrors are readily adjusted to capture the light of the moving moon. If all the eunuchs are slain and there is no one to correct and adjust the mirrors, the ritual in area 1-9 is perforce delayed until the moon is directly above the temple (roughly midnight).

Eunuchs (4): Init +0; Atk glaive +2 melee (1d10) or crossbow +0 ranged (1d6); AC 16; HD 4d8; hp 19, 16, 15, 12; MV 30’; Act 1d20; SP wolfpack (+1d to hit when 2 or more eunuchs attack the same target); SV Fort +1, Ref +0, Will +1; AL C.