Court of the Damned
RoomDCC 74 · p.17
Open source p.17Area 2-5 – Court of the Damned
Lit by flickering red candles, the chamber before you is home to a hellish court.
A long table sits in the center of the chamber, covered in crimson cloth and set for a lavish meal. Around the table sit a dozen-odd courtiers, each more bizarre than the last.
Several skeletons, their bones held together with copper and silver wire, sit with goblets raised in mid-toast. A pair of desiccated corpses leans close for a tender kiss. Bulky, shapeless forms covered in canvas and stitched with patchwork faces leer with frozen smiles. In the back of the chamber, a skeletal jester and a trio of desiccated troubadours wait eternally to entertain the court.
A robed mummy is frozen at attention beside a pair of lavishly carved chairs at the head of the table. All seem to await the master’s arrival.
Ratvik handpicked this odd assemblage of corpses to serve as his royal court. His work ground to a halt when he was unable to secure the affections or the corpse of Moira to serve as his queen.
If any of the PCs were stolen away in area 2-2 or area 2-3a, they awaken here bound, gagged, and sewn inside a canvas
doll but otherwise untouched. If multiple PCs were abducted during the course of the adventure, there is one shapeless canvas scarecrow for every captured PC. Captives can do little more than grunt and rock in their anchored chairs. Escaping from the bonds requires a DC 17 Strength or Agility check (one check can be made per round). Once a PC has snapped or slipped the bonds on one hand, it takes another full round to free himself completely.
As the first PC enters the chamber, the frozen tableau comes to un-life. The troubadours play a wild, cacophonous tune, the jester prances around the table filling goblets with wine, and the robed mummy Mnom-Mothot bids the PCs to take places at the table, insisting that the feast is about the begin!
If the PCs take their seats at the table, the jester serves them wine, then doles out the first course: a greasy soup thick with chittering mortuary beetles (as found in area 2-3a). As the jester circles the table, ladling the horrific soup into bowls, MnomMothot declares that the feast cannot possibly continue: the master’s queen refuses to attend. Would the PCs be so good as to fetch her? Mnom-Mothot offers a key (to the locked gate outside area 2-7a) and gestures grandly in the direction of the ovens.
If the encounter devolves into combat at any point in the proceedings, the court fights savagely in the defense of Mnom-Mothot. The skeletons stab at the PCs with sharpened knives while the desiccated lovers grapple the PCs in amorous embraces and breathe their poisonous gasses into the PCs’ lungs. The jester leaps and prances madly about the chamber, while the troubadours gang up on a single PC, beating him senseless.
Mnom-Mothot moves to a bound PC, curved dagger in hand, and tears off the canvas hood, revealing the hero. He threatens to kill the hostage unless the PCs stand down. His goal remains the same: send the PCs into area 2-8 to “deal” with Moira. If the PCs press the fight, Mnom-Mothot flees to area 2-6, alerting his master.
Mnom-Mothot wears a dark amulet that can absorb up to three turn un-dead attempts; at his command the amulet can counter any turn attempt made within 30 feet. Apart from the dark amulet, the courtiers wear a variety of faux jewelry worth some 50 gp (but that can be sold to a duped buyer for ten times this amount).
Mnom-Mothot: Init ; Atk curved dagger melee (); AC 14; HD ; hp 20; MV 30’; Act ; SP un-dead traits, spellcasting (spell check , spells known: (level 1) cantrip, magic shield, magic missile (appears as searing black rays), sleep); SV Fort , Ref , Will ; AL C.
Court Skeletons (3): Init ; Atk knife melee ( plus poison); AC 13; HD ; hp 10 each; MV 30’; Act ; SP poison blade (-1d to action dice for one round, DC 10 Fort to resist), un-dead traits, half damage from piercing and slashing weapons; SV Fort , Ref , Will ; AL C.
Skeletal Troubadours (3): Init ; Atk strike melee (); AC 14; HD ; hp 17 each; MV 30’; Act ; SP dance macabre (1/day can command sentient target to dance for one round, as per word of command, DC 12 to resist), un-dead traits, half damage from piercing and slashing weapons; SV Fort , Ref , Will ; AL C.
Desiccated Lovers (2): Init ; Atk embrace melee (, Str check DC 15 to break); AC 13; HD ; hp 16 each; MV 30’; Act ; SP un-dead traits, kiss of death (Fort save DC 15, or dmg); SV Fort , Ref , Will ; AL C.
The Jester: Init ; Atk springing strike melee (); AC 18; HD ; hp 27; MV 40’; Act ; SP un-dead traits, can use springing attack on any target within 15’; SV Fort , Ref , Will ; AL C.