Boiling Lake

Hexes 22.20, 22.21, 23.21. A miserable, bubbling-hot lake, obscured by a yellow vapor rising from the water. Were it not for the precious crystals that form at the bottom of the lake, which are used as fuel for some sputter inventions, no one would dare explore it.

what's there

THE BUBBLING SURFACE

Yellow, putrid smelling gas clouds the lake, obscuring any clear view into the water. The temperature of the surface is bearable, like a hot springs.

• The gas is acrid and thick. Without a gas mask, Vitality Check every ten minutes or become WEAKENED.
• The bubbling water has healing properties, although it's toxic when consumed in large quantities (1d4 Dread). If added to the recipe of a Courage Potion, it heals +2 Courage.
• A Felmog SORCERER of the Broken Circle, concealed in bandages and dark robes, patrols the lake, ostensibly examining the area. If watched from afar, he repeatedly conjures a magic shield on himself and floats into the water, coming back up to land several minutes later.
• Zhadazat is a SORCERER (L7-C) of mysterious origin. Some say he is not a man, but a construct. Those in his presence feel a menacing chill, even though he does not speak. Zhadazat believes the Boiling Lake is magical in nature, not a geologic phenomenon, and suspects a powerful DRAGON is afoot. One that Zhadazat could control in the name of the Gloom King.
• A CLUNCH DRAGON lives in the lake, the son of Urmatha at the Stump (p391). It mostly stays just below the surface, but dives deep to munch on the crystals as its main food source.

THE SCALDING DEPTHS

The crystals (called ignition crystals by shrym inventors) grow at the bottom of the lake, but an adventurer would quickly scald to death without some kind of heat protection.

• Each cluster of ignition crystals yields 1d6 crystals. They are used as a heat source in sputter technology.
• A massive fish of a yet unnamed species (as BRAYING SABERFISH L8-B) dwells at the bottom of the lake. It feeds on the gas spewing from the underwater vents, sucking it down like fish food.
• Buried in the silt is an Eye of Ehk (The Quaking Eye) that looks like a huge, fractured volcanic stone.
• Unknown to anyone but Zhadazat, the lake is actually superheated by an ancient DRAGON (L10-C), slumbering below the lake bed for centuries.
• The only way to reach the DRAGON is to travel through one of the underwater vents when it's not blasting gas (Athletics Check with Disadvantage).
• The DRAGON, who has forgotten its own name, was put under a spell by an ancient wizard to remain in a deep slumber. If woken up, the creature would wreak havoc upon the Mucklands.

rumors

• A tinker in Beezelburf makes lava proof suits, which could withstand the heat of the lake.
• A bandaged, faceless magician has been spotted near Boiling Lake.
• Rare, valuable crystals used in sputter technology grow in Boiling Lake.