TEXT: 1 | P a g e  
   
   
    DREAD MACHINE 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Dread Machine  is an adventure for a party of 3-8 characters of levels 3-6 that can function as a follow up to Prison 
  of the Hated Pretender as it references (only vaguely) the same ancient despotism and its overthrow by an 
  enigmatic sect whose regalia frequently features birds of prey.  No understanding of the prior adventure is 
  necessary, but some themes and ancient mysteries reappear. This adventure is not designed with any world or 
  setting in mind, and should work well enough with any fantasy or science fantasy world, it is designed with the so 
  called OSR or Old School style of play in mind, meaning it includes: instantly lethal traps, level draining undead, 
  encounters that are best fled from and a general disregard for ‘balance’ or ‘fairness’.  That is not to say that it’s 
  impossible or even hard, just that poor player decisions will lead to character death, which I believe is best 
  considered as much a part of the game as character victory – GUS L. 
  
  2 | P a g e  
   
   
  ADVENTURE SUMMARY AND HOOKS 
  Adventurers die, and usually in hideous ways, but the 
  optimism, entitlement and overweening self-importance 
  that often drives individuals towards delving in ancient 
  tombs and battling horrible monsters also means that 
  few adventurers will easily accept the finality of death.  
  When one of their companions predictably dies to the 
  horrors of some pit best left untrodden, adventurers will 
  seek for ways to transcend mortality and cheat death. 
  Returning a comrade to life is not an easy task. Certain 
  deities, and even their most powerful instruments, can 
  sometimes claw a mortal back from death’s sweet arms, 
  but few adventuring types are in good graces with the 
  gods, and fewer wish to owe the debts associated with 
  divine grace. To these desperate souls many a sage has 
  an answer, and that answer is often the lost Ziggurat of 
  the Pretender, an artifact, machine or perhaps a building 
  created by a forgotten and hated despot in some 
  antediluvian eon.   Pinpointing the whereabouts of this 
  wondrous edifice is expensive, and details sketchy, but 
  one thing that the overpaid sage will assure his or her 
  clients is that this device allows resurrection of the dead.  
  Upon asking knowledgeable sages, ‘wise’ wizardly 
  patrons, rude forest oracles and similar sources of 
  forgotten and disturbing magical lore about ways to 
  return the dead, a few hundred coins will often bring a 
  vague map to a canyon labeled “The Autocrat’s Tear” in 
  the hinterlands, a bit of ancient doggerel about a means 
  of resurrection and one or two of the rumors below.   
  A full investigation by a competent sage will unearth an 
  outline of the truth:  the Tear was the lair of a vile 
  ancient tyrant who in retreat would flee to the special 
  valley with captives and slaves and return months later 
  with a renewed army.  When his Empire of cruelty was 
  finally crushed by the paladins of the Beaked God the 
  valley revealed a device that could raise the dead.  The 
  D10 Was This Blather Really Worth That Many Coins? 
  1. 
  The ancient despot’s name is lost in time, but it is known that his power derived from strange apparatuses 
  and machines, purportedly of an infernal nature. 
  2. 
  The Autocrat’s Tear should be a center of farming, with a rich spring, but the water is tainted and nothing 
  wholesome can grow there.  
  3. 
  Sometime when the droughts are very bad a village will take sacrifices to drop in the cenotes that fill a 
  cavern at the valley’s heart. 
  4. 
  A great wizard – Zo Mustaph the Heart Sundered, travelled to the Autocrat’s Tear 20 years ago, he has 
  not been seen since. 
  5. 
  The crusade that overthrew the despot accused him of having contact, not with demons, but with soulless 
  intelligences, and whatever his allies were they were the enemies of nature, not law. 
  6. 
  The ancient people of the yellow grass sea called the Autocrat’s Tear “The rift of the sighing gods” and 
  regarded it as a holy place for the sacrifice of golden art objects. 
  7. 
  The Skip Lion, a multi-headed predator that is made more dangerous by its partial existence in the 
  spaces between moments is known to hunt the Yellow Lands. 
  8. 
  It is key to remember that you are not looking for an object, you are looking for something monumental. 
  The ancient despot made trips to this distant location to revive his champions, which implies the artifact is 
  not something that can be carried off. 
  9. 
  One of the reasons for the Hated Pretender’s power was that his generals and champions returned after 
  being slain.  The legends say that some returned as if they had never been slain, but others returned as 
  monsters, and still others as entities of power. 
  10. 
  The device itself is evil, powered by souls and strange substances from outside of space and time, be very 
  careful if you should find this thing, it may be unsafe to even look upon. 
  
  3 | P a g e  
   
  Paladins guarded the device, but in the end they 
  fought among themselves, perhaps even over the 
  machine, until schism, war and decadence brought 
  them low as well. 
  THE YELLOW 
  LAND
  The valley isn’t lost, it’s worthless, cursed and shunned.  
  Any of the slow moving, stunted, worn dirt farmers for 
  fifty miles can tell you where the valley is, as they 
  make various signs to ward off evil, sorcery, madness 
  and death. It was finding these plains of yellow dirt 
  that was hard, a place forgotten and overlooked.  The 
  plains are almost free of resources but teeming with 
  abandoned, sullen, cheerless clans of cruel, murderous 
  folk.  There is nothing to trade for here, nothing to 
  plunder, and thus no opportunities to draw the men of 
  civilization.  Yet, according to the sage, within a rotten 
  valley that boils from the yellow and rust scrub lands, 
  too poor for even the tireless and moronic dwellers of 
  these parts to farm, is the Autocrat’s Tear, a puckered 
  chancre filled with ancient puissance capable of 
  returning life. 
  The People of The Yellow Land 
  No sovereign claims the citizens of the Yellow Land, 
  they are too poor and to quarrelsome, and so they are led 
  by their hirsute priests and sheriffs. Sheriffs lead militias 
  of local farmers that are powerful enough to drive off the 
  odd tribe of waste goblins or pack of shun beasts, while 
  the priests ask for the favor of the indifferent rain spirits 
  and the truculent ‘Borrower of Tubers’, a subterranean 
  fertility god.  As a people the Yellowlanders are very 
  short, and predisposed either a lushness of the figure or 
  skeletal emaciation. In some worlds they would be 
  considered halflings. Despite variations, Yellowlanders 
  are similar looking, with ruddy complexions tanning to a 
  rich brown and dark straight hair. They do not practice 
  incest, punishing it with a variety of imaginative deaths, 
  but are all closely related, descended from a few small 
  clans.  Yellow Landers are can be vicious, despite their 
  lack of military force, as every Yellowlander over the 
  age of ten is a fair shot with a cord backed hunting bow.  
  The arrows of the Yellowlanders are invariably tipped 
  with a paralytic poison (save v. paralysis or fall inert to 
  the earth for 2D6 Turns) brewed from the gummy bark 
  of the Yorge Tree, and kept moist in a vial around every 
  hunter’s neck.  The poison also provides an anesthetic for 
  the ritual mutilations that the Yellowlanders perform on 
  captives as punishment for imagined slights and clan 
  feuds.  While the clans frequently feud amongst, the 
  whole land will erupt with armed bands seeking to 
  capture and torture to death outsiders that commit an 
  outrage on a Yellowlander farmstead.  Without this 
  excuse 
  for 
  wild 
  and 
  cathartic 
  violence, 
  the 
  Yellowlanders will be polite; the farmers will feed and 
  guest strangers in exchange for minimal gifts and 
  courtesies.  
  While the Yellowlanders are happy to allow strangers 
  to guest with them, trading with them is a more difficult 
  proposition.  The Yellowland is resource poor, and its 
  people rather distrusting of strangers.  Characters 
  Yellowlander 
   HD 1-1*,  AC 6, ATK 1 (spear/bow) DAM 1d6**, MV 
  40’, SV F1, ML 8 – Short Bow (D6), Hand Axe(D6), 
  Leather or Hide Armor, 2D10 arrows, Vial of Yorge 
  Poison (Save or paralyzed for 2D6 turns – will 
  curdle to uselessness in 1D4 sessions) 
  *Yellow Landers will often be led by sheriffs (As 
  H2-4 or Priests CL1-4).  As a people they are 
  excellent hunters, woodsmen and bushwhackers, 
  capable of hiding in the scrublands they inhabit 
  and attacking from ambush (surprise on 1-4), which 
  is their only real military tactic. 
  **ranged attacks are made at +1 hit and arrows are 
  coated with paralytic Yorge resin (Save or 
  Paralyzed for 2D6 turns). 
  
  4 | P a g e  
   
  seeking to trade will be besieged by Yellowlanders 
  selling handicrafts, mostly carved bone figurines.  Some 
  of these items attractively carved, and most depict 
  native creatures including wyverns, shun beasts, yellow 
  apes and skip lions, but they are not valuable despite the 
  prices asked by their carvers. Yellowlanders lack any 
  industrial capacity, but in addition to craft items can 
  grudgingly provide normal gear (ropes, poles, torches, 
  adventurers’ oil and tents) at x4 the list price. Much of 
  this represents the increased cost of mundane items in a 
  distant resource poor land, and the rest is mark up.  The 
  only truly unique item available in the Yellowland is 
  Yorge poison, the paralytic resin that Yellowlanders dip 
  their arrows in.  Yorge will paralyze a humanoid target 
  for 2D6 turns upon entering the bloodstream if they fail 
  their saving throw vs. paralysis.  It must be daubed on a 
  weapon from a sealed container immediately prior to 
  use however, so it is generally only used on missiles.  
  Even in a sealed container Yorge resin curdles and 
  becomes useless within 1D4 sessions of purchase.  
  Yellowlanders can be convinced to sell Yorge resin 
  sufficient for application to 20 arrows for 100 GP.  
  If the party act respectfully and offers a 100 GP gift to a 
  priest or sheriff, they will be able to hire a guide for 150 
  GP who can take them to the Tear. Otherwise vague 
  directions and bad maps are will have to suffice. 
  Yellowlanders will not enter the Tear unaccompanied 
  by a priest, but 1D6 young hunters can be hired to travel 
  with the party for 100GP each in addition to a guide. 
  D8 What Sort of Stunted Rustics are Willing to 
  Host for the Evening, and do they Know Anything? 
  1. 
  A comely widow and her two attractive daughters gladly provide the party with food and lodging.  All 
  three are searching for husbands, and are savvy at both encouraging and limiting the advances of suitors, 
  as they have many locally (some of whom may be violently opposed to outsiders who come courting).  
  The youngest daughter will tell of fabulous golden objects sometimes brought back from the cliff houses 
  of the ancients, and hint that she would adore such a treasure.  
  2. 
  A man from civilized lands and his local family are glad to see the adventurers, offering enormous 
  quantities of green plum brandy.  He’s a former mercenary/bandit but honest enough now.  When he 
  first came to these lands he wandered a bit and knows that awful undead - wire spouting, electrically 
  charged, mutilated with cogs and half machine are sometimes encountered to the near the Tear. 
  3. 
  A large clan who is indifferently civil and when asked about the Tear, a doddering grandfather sings a 
  ballad of “The black valley of grey thorns, where the crusaders tears are hard in the white death water”.  
  4. 
  Taciturn farmers who feed the party in silence and grunts, except for  a drooling idiot in the back of the 
  cabin that begins to laugh and shout “Sacrifice, Sacrifice!” when the party mentions the Tear. 
  5. 
  The local priest guests the party, he is covered in hair, wearing a coat of unsheared wool and caked in 
  holy filth.  The food in his immaculate home is surprisingly good, if tuber-centric,  and he is happy to talk 
  to outsiders.  He tells of the crusaders who once came in small bands every few decades, and all of whom 
  sought some power in the valley.  Since they disdained the gods of the Yellow Lands they all perished, 
  but their sorrowful ghosts still haunt the Tear, immaterial until they are attacked. 
  6. 
  Yellow Land hunters who welcome the party to their lean too. It is filled with pelts, some strange, but the 
  most astonishing is the pelt of a large cat that is a sparkling bluish purple.  It is the pelt of a Skip Lion and 
  the hunters say they were lucky to kill it, because doing so can only be done with hand weapons, not 
  arrows. 
  7. 
  An old herb woman lives alone in what was once the compound of a large clan.  She is friendly and 
  perhaps a bit mad.  She will feast the party on preserved meats and pickles, and after her third mug of 
  sweet black wine, the herb woman tells stories of the Tear – she relates that all bodies left there return as 
  unlife, warns of “the iron snails” “wire ghasts” and “weep-eye statues’.  
  8. 
  A small family, seemingly rich in sheep, who provide sparse but adequate accommodations.  They claim 
  no knowledge of the valley but warn of wyverns the color of dried blood, who swoop from the blinding 
  sun. 
  
  5 | P a g e  
   
  The Land Itself 
  The Yellow Land is named for its yellow silty earth 
  which covers everything in ochre dust, salty to the taste.  
  The land is mostly flat with dry wastes of loess, cut by 
  gullies and dotted with copses of stunted reddish leaved 
  trees and patches of rust colored scrub.  The sky is 
  generally an overcast light gray and always windy, from 
  a constant breeze to gusting torrents that churn the dust 
  into deadly storms. 
  Water is somewhat hard to find in the Yellow Land, and 
  generally either taken from the slightly brackish wells 
  that seem to have been dug in every low spot with a 
  bewildering array of technologies and styles, or 
  obtained by chewing the fibrous and lip numbing root 
  bulbs of local vegetation.  Game is less scarce, with 
  antelope, darting ochre feathered turkey-like ground 
  fowl, and an overabundance of lean, tan hares to 
  supplement the black and ruby flint corn grown by the 
  Yellowlanders.
    
   
  
  6 | P a g e  
   
  D10 The Dangers of the Yellow Land 
  1. 
  2D10+3 Yellow Landers (As Above) - This pack of cruel clansmen is either engaging in brigandage or 
  hunting for the party after a perceived slight.  They are led by Pops Bonder, a sadistic clan father whose 
  lips were once cut off as payment for a debt.  
  Pops Bonder – H3 (14), AC 4, ATK 1 (sickle sword or bow)*, DAM 1D8/1D6*, MV 40’, SV H3 ML 10 
  Ancient bronze khopesh marked with silver cranes (150 GP), shortbow, 36 arrows, patched and cut down 
  mercenary’s scale armor, Vial of Yorge Poison, 12 SP. *Pops attacks with +2 hit with bows due to his racial 
  and DEX bonus, his arrows are poisoned (paralyze 2D6 turns).  
  2. 
  Tinker – Jorg Klob the Meanderer is a Yellowlander singer, tinker and seller of curiosities.  He acts as a 
  gossip source (may provide a rumor above), matchmaker and diplomat among the Clans. 
  Jorg Klob – MU 3, (HP 12)  AC 8, ATK 1 (Staff or Sling) DAM 1D8-1/1D4, MV 40’ SV MU3 ML 6 
  STR 6, INT 14, WIS 11, DEX 15, CON 14, CHR 17 Spells: Light, Shield, Stinking Cloud (road spells) 
  Rust colored robe, leather leg/arm bindings, carved bone dust mask, bone staff, sling, 38 SP, hidden purse 
  with 93 GP, 6 PP. Spellbook (carved bone discs) [memorized spells]  plus: Floating Disc, Friends, 
  Pyrotechnics   
  3. 
  Silt Pit - A thin crust of hard dirt over a deep pit of loose silt.  The 1st character in the marching order 
  wearing armor heavier than leather will break the crust and begin sinking into the silt.  The sinking 
  victim must make a save vs. paralysis every round or sink deeper into the silt. Two failed saves in a row 
  will mean they sink beneath the surface and are lost, while two consecutive saves allow ecape.  Throwing 
  a rope or pole to a sinking man will give him a +1 to his saves. 
  4. 
  1D4 Skip Lions – These two or three headed, lion-like creatures are a sparkling blue in color and exist 
  between moments, meaning that they are never exactly where one expects them.  They are fearless 
  hunters and possess and almost human tactical acumen. 
  Skip Lion HD 5, AC 4*, ATK 2 (bite/bite), DAM 2D4, MV 50’, FV CL7, ML 11 *Immune to missiles 
  5. 
  1D2 Wyverns – Cunning hunters of man, the Wyverns of the Yellow Land are still beasts.  They have 
  light gray belly scales and rust and ochre mottled hides that give them some camouflage. 
  Wyvern -  HD 7, AC 3, ATK 2 (bite/sting), DAM 2D8/2D8+poison, MV 30’/80’ fly, SV F4, ML 9 
  6. 
  1D4 Wire Ghasts – This pack of Wire Ghast emerged from the Tear many years ago and have hunted 
  aimlessly since.  Both their organic and mechanical parts are cake in yellow dust. 
  Wire Ghast – HD 4, AC 4, ATK 3* (claw/claw/bite), DAM 1D4/1D4/1D8, MV 40’, SV F3, ML 12 
  * The tesla coil claws of a Wire Ghast cause paralysis for 1D6+4 rounds.  When attacking they are also 
  surrounded by crackling energy that causes 1D2 points of damage per round to all within 10’. 
  7. 
  1D8+1 Shun Beasts – A hyena’s jaws on the sturdy body of a four foot armadillo, shun beasts are semi 
  intelligent pack borrowers with a rudimentary culture.  They are quite belligerent, and prefer to capture 
  and eat intelligent prey live, drunk on fermented Shun milk, during ritualistic bacchanals. 
  Shun Beast – HD 2, AC 1, ATK 1 (bite), DAM 2D4, MV 30’/5’ Tunnel, SV F2, ML 8 
  8. 
  Pitted Stele – Likely buried in loess up half its length, this ancient monument is still notable.  The stele is 
  carved in black stone, and only lightly chipped be the ages.  It shows a king like figure with a radiant 
  crown leading an army of heavy legionnaires and larger figures in all concealing plate armor. 
  9. 
  1D6 Yellow Apes – These heavy bodied, mustard furred, four armed apes are well adapted to the dusty 
  plains, but may hail from another sphere.  They will announce their territory with bellowing hoots that 
  carry for miles, then stalk and attack bipeds that do not flee.   
  Yellow Ape HD4, AC 6, ATK 4 (clawx4), DAM 1D4x4, MV 40’ SV F2, ML 8 
  10. 
  Dust Storm – Nature only provides a turn of warning or less before a stinging silt storm boils over the 
  party.  Unless the adventurers either hunker down or find cover before the storm hits they will each suffer 
  1 point of damage for every turn exposed to the choking stinging dust. Cover, either natural or a ring of 
  bodies/pack animals will prevent damage. Moving into the storm will cut its duration by half, but any 
  henchman or pack animal has a 50% of becoming forever lost in the storm. The Storm will last 3D12 
  turns.   
   
  
  7 | P a g e  
   
  THE AUTOCRAT`S TEAR 
  The Tear is a dangerous place with a history of magical 
  intrusion from other worlds, human sacrifice and the 
  unnatural works of the Pretender.  Encounters within are 
  common, roll a random encounter check about 5 days a 
  day once the party descends into the Tear. 
  The people of the Yellow Land regularly come to the 
  Tear to make human sacrifices to their ambivalent earth 
  god, the burrower of tubers (who is also responsible for 
  the land’s infestation of Shun Beasts).  Long lines of 
  fantically loyal, drugged Yellow Landers, each carrying 
  a sacrificial stone dagger around their necks, are 
  escorted to the Area E  by their priests and clan warriors.  
  These groups may provide an ally for a party of explorers 
  as they might be willing to work with adventurers for 
  mutual protection while reaching Area E.  Yellowlander 
  visitors will not linger in the sacred valley, and will not 
  take kindly to any efforts to stop or interfere with their 
  bloody sacrificial rituals (indeed even the victims 
  themselves will violently protest any effort to ‘save’ 
  them). 
  Beyond the odd Yellowlander sacrificial party, there 
  are no allies within the Tear, only otherworldy horrors, in 
  the form of the undead created by the Machine  to serve 
  and protect it, unnatural beasts and the horrible 
  remnants of the ancient despots alchemical and arcano-
  mechanical experiments.   The worst of these are the Iron 
  Snails, arcane novelties once used to scale the Tear’s 
  walls by the Pretender’s sybaritic court of hangers-on, 
  and now gone feral, leaving trails of bioluminescent 
  slime across the valley floor an up canyon walls.  
  The landscape itself is marked as strange within the 
  Tear, even more than the desolate alkali waste that 
  surrounds it.  The valley is lush in comparison, but 
  monochrome, with black barked gnarled trees and 
  dense underbrush all with oddly structured leaves and 
  foliage in various shades of gray.  A naturalist or ranger 
  may determine that these plants are both mildly 
  poisonous (eating them causes stomach cramps for 1D2 
  days with a corresponding -1 to all rolls) and magical in 
  origin.   The creatures within the Tear are likewise 
  bizarre, scurrying grey rodents have extra tails, while 
  crabs with square shells hide in the blackish loam.  Even 
  the birds are unnatural with an extra set of wings or 
  feathers that appear normal at a distance but when 
  closely examined prove to be gray chitin. 
  The foliage is not the only passive danger of the 
  Autocrat’s Tear, the water itself is deadly.   White in 
  color the water in the Tear’s rivers and streams is milky 
  white as if filled with clay silt, but an insidious killer. 
  WHITE WATERS OF SLOW DEATH 
   
  The surface water of the Tear is a particulate filled, white, like grainy milk, and quite dangerous to drink. It has been  
  long polluted by the alien mechanisms of the Dread Machine.  The water causes a slow transformation into stone, 
  beginning with stiffness and progressing into calcification of bone and excruciating pain as the flesh crystalizes. 
  Drinking from or being immersed in the surface waters of the   Tear reduces DEX by 1D6 points (save vs. petrification 
  for ½) resulting in petrification (transformation into a marble statute)  if DEX goes below ‘3’. The effect may be cured 
  by a Stone to Flesh spell, but is otherwise permanent.   
   
  Drinable water can be had in the Tear, either by collecting rare rain water, dew or digging a pit and allowing it to fill 
  with filtered ground water.  Characters need at least one skin of water per day (including the White Water) , or they 
  must Save vs.  Death  
  
  8 | P a g e  
   
   
   
   
   
  D10 Encounters Within the Autocrat’s Tear 
  1. 
  1D6 Wire Ghasts wander about, stand in the sun transfixed by nothing, or lay seemingly inactive amongst the 
  stones.  They are waiting for something alive to come near to their voltaic claws.   
  Wire Ghast HD 4, AC 4, ATK 3* (claw/claw/bite), DAM 1D4/1D4/1D8, MV 40’, SV F3, ML 12 * The tesla coil 
  claws of a Wire Ghast cause paralysis for 1D6+4 rounds.  When attacking they are also surrounded by crackling 
  energy that causes 1D2 points of damage per round to all within 10’. 
  2. 
  1D4-1 Skip Lions - Cats lolling on the rocks or hunting the miniature deer that skulk in the Tear’s low, thorny 
  black woods. A result of ‘0’ lions means some indication of their presence (roaring, tracks, a kill, etc.) 
  Skip Lion  HD 5 (HP 25), AC 4*, ATK 2 (bite/bite), DAM 2D4, MV 50’, SV CL7, ML 11 * Immune to normal missiles 
  3. 
  Yellowlander Sacrificial Party - 3D6 Yellowlander warriors armed with bows and hide armor led by 1D4 fur clad 
  Yellowlander Priests.  The armed Yellowlanders guard a group of 2D6 willing sacrificial victims, naked 
  Yellowlanders each wearing a large stone dagger on a necklace of leather.  
  Hirsute Priest CL1D4+1, AC 5, ATK 2 (steel claws) DAM 1D4*, MV 40’, SV CL 1D4+1, ML 8 Typical Spells: (Lvl 
  1)Command, Sanctuary, Cause Light Wounds, Fear (Lvl 2)Hold Person, Spiritual Hammer, Resist Fire (Lvl 
  3)Animate Dead, Cause Blindness, Glyph of Warding. Yellowlander Warrior  HD 1-1, AC 6, ATK 1 (spear/bow) 
  DAM 1d6*, MV 40’, SV F1, ML 8 *ranged attacks are made at +1 hit and both arrows and priest’s claws are coated 
  with paralytic Yorge resin (Save or Paralyzed for 2D6 turns). Sacrificial Victim  HD 1-1, AC 8, ATK 1 (short 
  sword)DAM 1D6, MV 40’, SV F1, ML 8  
  4. 
  1D4 Living Statues - Cracked and weeping marble figures disfigured by black lichens.  With a grinding  screech 
  they reach out and attack any who come within range.  Most of these ancient artifacts have been worn by rain and 
  are so covered with encrustations that their original detail is impossible to find. 
  Living Statue HD 3, AC 4*, ATK 2, DAM 1D6/1D6, MV 30’, SV F3**, ML 12 
  * Living Statues are stone, non-magical cutting and piercing attacks do 1 HP of damage. ** Living Statues are 
  animated constructs of marble,, they are immune to non-magical fire, poison and mind effecting spells. 
  5. 
  Monument – Very similar in appearance to the statue in encounter 4, a ring of marble columns, with a 1D4 
  cracked figures within.   
  6. 
  1 Iron Snail – A wheezing absurdity of rust, plating, clockwork and grey rubbery flesh, armed with six spiked 
  tentacles in place of a head.  These alchemical creatures one provided an amusing way to climb the sides of the 
  Tear. They have gone feral and mad, with each generation stealing the artificial shells of the one before it and 
  hunting flesh and magic to devour unrestrained by the sorcery that made their ancestors placid. 
  Iron Snail HD 6*, AC 3**, ATK 6, DAM D6x6, MV 20’, SV F6, ML 8 *Tentacles each have 1 HD independent of 
  body, when tentacle is destroyed snail loses 1 attack. ** Snails are immune to fire and poison, and their iron, glyph 
  warded shells channels and reflects spells, (D10 – 1-6 absorbed, 7-8 reflected.  An intact shell is worth 5,000 GP to 
  alchemists and wizards for anti-magical properties, but is large and weighs 3,000 lbs.    
  7. 
  1 Wyvern – Circling high above on the updrafts one of the blood colored wyverns of the Yellowland has spotted 
  the party and will dive to attack.  Surprise on 5 in 6 and the creature’s first attack will be at +4 to hit for x2 
  damage.  If the wyvern grabs unencumbered prey,  it is 70% likely to soar back to its nest to feed. 
  Wyvern HD 7, AC 3, ATK 2 (bite/sting), DAM 2D8/2D8+poison, MV 30’/80’ fly, SV F4, ML 9 
  8. 
  3d6 Zombies – The sun rotted detritus of past Yellowlander sacrifices, a mob of these sad revenants lurches 
  hungrily about trailing their eviscerated innards. 
  Zombie HD2, AC 8, ATK 1*, DAM 1D8, MV 20’, SV F1, ML 12 * Attack last every round but, on natural 20 these 
  zombies’ animated intestines will entangle their victim, preventing attack or movement until slain. 
  
  9 | P a g e  
   
   
  LOCATIONS WITHIN THE TEAR 
    The Watch – Built of black native stone 
  from deep in the canyon, only the first floor of 
  this well-constructed tower remains, with 
  fragments of the second visible and the source of an 
  intermittent flash, as if some sort of metal object is 
  moving and catching the sun.  The intact floor is 
  flattened, only four feet in height, and the walls are 
  belled out, heated and squashed by enormous forces.  
  The doors, stairs and any interior furnishings have 
  vanished (except for some suggestive marks, carbon 
  black on the more reddish black of the wall), and the 
  tower has had no recent  residents beyond some sort of 
  messy, foul smelling animal.   A student of unnatural 
  creatures will recognize the ozone tang as the faded reek 
  of skip lion urine, but the dried scat spread around the 
  tower interior will confirm that whatever laired here has 
  been gone several months. 
  A square aperture, easy enough to climb through, lets in 
  daylight and leads to a partially intact second floor.  On 
  the second floor is the source of the metallic gleam 
  visible from afar.  A fused block of slag stands here, 
  blasted by whatever power destroyed the tower, but still 
  recognizable as an arcane weapon of some kind;  a metal 
  lattice that held a central crystal in a framework of 
  struts, designed to channel magical energies outward a 
  bolts of hellish power.   
  A student of magic will recognize the device’s original 
  purpose and know that a careful examination of the 
  device should provide clues to harnessing such 
  destructive power.  In will take 24 hours of effort to 
  glean useful magical knowledge from the device, 
  though any wizard will be convinced that it will only 
  take 1D4 more hours to finish the process after each 1D4 
  hours of study.  If a sorcerer manages to complete a study 
  of the device, a noisy process involving hammering and 
  prying at the broken machine, their notes allow research 
  of the spell lightning bolt in ½ the time an increased 
  chance of success.  The spell learned this way will be a 
  very evil looking green.  
  A 
  
  10 | P a g e  
   
   
  The Blasted Crater – The final stand of Zo-
  Mustaph the Heart Sundered, a puissant 
  warlock from the alabaster wreck of the far 
  glaciers. About ten years ago, Mustaph 
  attempted to plumb the mysteries of the Pretender’s 
  Machine, with a strong force of glacial mercenaries 
  and a pair of apprentices.  One of the apprentices’ 
  bodies can be found in Area E, but Zo met his end here, 
  assailed by the canyon’s population of undead, and a 
  blasted crater is his monument.  A ragged 200’ circle 
  of blacked trunks fans outward among gnarled gray. 
  There is nothing of interest here on the surface.  The 
  pueblo of Area C is clearly visible however and the 
  Skip Lions that roam it watch the crater for game. 
  When Zo Mustaph entered the Autocrat’s Tear the 
  undead were far more numerous, and the horrible self-
  detonation spell, destroying two thirds of the undead 
  in the canyon, that he finally cast moments before 
  being overwhelmed. A prolonged digging in the 
  cinder blackened mud (roll a search check for the lead 
  digger every day to determine success), will discover a 
  cache of valuable items.  Otherwise digging will quickly 
  uncover burnt bones, melted armor, lumps of fused 
  machinery and bent, seared weapons. 
   
  The Black Pueblo - Eighty feet above the 
  Blasted Crater (Area B) the walls of the canyon 
  curve inward and under an overhang a 
  complex of black stone clings to the cliff.  The 
  cliff dwellings are a vestige of an ancient and forgotten 
  people, and this well preserved ruin is all that remains of 
  the religious complex they once built in the valley.  The 
  pueblos’ precarious location (they can only be reached 
  by a skilled climber and even then require a climbing 
  check) means that despite the age of the structures they 
  are unlooted.  The Pueblos are also home to a pride of 
  Skip Lions, twelve in all, who prowled down from the 
  canyon rim some months ago.  The lions now protect the 
  Pueblo, drinking from its reservoir and lounging on its 
  exposed roofs.  The pride will be dangerous to dislodge, 
  but may be picked off a few at a time. 
  B 
  C
  The Dead Warlock’s 
  Cache 
  Seared staff – Once a magical staff of considerable 
  power, this length of carved alabaster has been 
  permanently blackened by the unnatural fires of 
  Zo’s self-immolation. Some trace of power remains 
  and while holding the staff (a normal staff), a 
  magic-user will gain a +1 to Saves vs. Spells and all 
  fire damage received will be reduced by 1 point per 
  die.  
  A Molten lump of gold (formerly a delicate 
  thaumaturgical calculator). (200GP) 
  Crystal axe head  - that can be mounted on a haft 
  to make a hand ax that has a +1 bonus to hit when 
  thrown, and can strike immaterial and magical 
  creatures.  
  Scattered foreign coins (25 GP) 
  Black Pueblo Skip Lion 
  Pride 
  Dominant Male (3 Headed) HD 6, AC 3*, ATK 3 
  (bitex3), DAM 2D4+1, MV 50’, SV CL7, ML 11  
  Juvenile Males x2 HD 6 (HP 36, 30), AC 4*, ATK 
  2 (bite/bite), DAM 2D4, MV 50’, SV CL7, ML 11 
  Hunting Females x9 HD 5 (HP 25), AC 4*, ATK 2 
  (bite/bite), DAM 2D4, MV 50’, SV CL7, ML 11 
  Cubs x6 HD 1 (HP 3), AC 7*, ATK 1 (bite), DAM 
  1D2, MV 20’, SV CL1 
  *Immune to missiles 
   
  Lion Schedule: 
  Morning:  After feeding, skip lion females will be 
  sleep in nests (Cii.), while the males patrol leaving 
  scent markings. 
  Day: Lions will be gathered on the lion lair (Ci.) 
  Night: Lion females leave for hunting at sundown, 
  males retire to nests (Cii.) and intermittently 
  patrol. 
  
  11 | P a g e  
   
  Pueblo Locations 
   
  Appearance: 
  Walls of black stone dust ground into a cracking plaster, with square windows that let 
  keening gusts of wind. 
  Smell: 
  Stone dust and a harsh reek of animal urine  
  Lighting: 
  Most areas have windows or skylights letting in thin rays of daylight, others are dark. 
  Traps: 
  Lethal Deadfall, Cursed Ghostfence 
  Treasure: 
  Gold Ornaments worth 2,700 GP, Heroes’ Cinch  (Magical Belt) 
  Inhabitants: 
  Skip Lions – 3, 6HD Lions, 9 ,5HD Lionesses, 3 ,1HD Cubs 
   
  Any encounter within the Pueblo will be with 1D4 a 
  Skip Lions, and the encountered lions will roar upon 
  encountering intruders, attracting the rest of the pride 
  (except the cubs) currently in the Pueblo.  These lion 
  reinforcements will arrive in 1D4-1 rounds.  
   
   
   
  The black pueblo 
   
  
  12 | P a g e  
   
    
  Skip Lion Lair – The central lair of the Skip 
  Lions, this roof top patio gets a small amount 
  of light in the early afternoon and will be 
  filled with lounging skip lions from midmorning to early 
  evening.  The space itself is relative empty, except for a 
  few large gnawed bones.  
   Lion Nests - This ruined tower is full of 
  nests piled from dried gray grasses , bits of 
  bones and shreds of ancient cloth.  The 
  Skip Lion cubs remain here, active during the day, 
  playing with various old bones and baubles.  Scattered 
  among the nests are the following valuables:  black 
  crystal orb in a golden cage, once a staff head (800 GP), 
  Large golden hoop earring (100 GP), A well chewed 
  golden statuette of a robed man (50 GP). 
  Great Hall – Once the central 
  ritual chamber of the Pueblo, this 
  huge room is braced with ancient 
  tree trunks, rubbed and waxed to a 
  high sheen.  The walls are painted in ochre, red and 
  chalk white with images of animals and monstrous fish.  
  An altar carved from local black stone, hulking and 
  crude, rests in the center of the chamber, its top caked 
  with the azure blue pigment of sacrifice. Beside the 
  altar the room is empty except for smashed ritual 
  ceramics, most showing bright blue pigment residue.   
  Elevator Platform – This ledge is the 
  easiest point to climb into the 
  Pueblo, and the only real spot to 
  lower ropes from.  There’s even winch still affixed to a 
  wooden support structure with a coil of bark rope and 
  a large basket.  All of these items appear sturdy 
  enough upon initial investigation, but the ropes 
  holding the support structure are rotted and the entire 
  winch, basket and support will tear free if more than 150 
  lbs are raised or lowered, plummeting all in the basket 
  20-80 (2D4x10) feet to the canyon floor. 
   Reservoir - A set of ingenious stone 
  troughs and drains collect runoff and 
  store clean water in a huge tank.  The 
  lions drink from the tank regularly and it is not odd to 
  encounter a lone lion here.  The tank is twenty feet deep 
  and if the bottom is carefully searched, a skeleton, 
  encrusted with mineral deposits and wearing a gold 
  pectoral in the shape of a school of fish (650 GP). 
   Treasure Cache – In the uppermost of 
  a set of rooms is a hidden cache of 
  ancient artifacts.  The Northern wall of 
  the chamber has four skulls set into the plaster of the 
  wall as if at the corner of a square.  Tapping the wall 
  between the skulls will reveal a void in the wall, and the 
  plaster is easy to break revealing a dust encrusted set of 
  golden sacrificial instruments (300 GP) and a golden 
  shark mask inlaid with mother of pearl (1,000 GP).  
  However breaking the plane of the wall, or smashing the 
  skulls, without saying the proper long lost incantation (or 
  casting dispel magic vs. a 5th level Cleric), will activate 
  the magic of the ghost fence between the skulls.  
  Breaking the fence releases the First Ones’ Doom that 
  will adhere to the person in the room who rolls the 
  lowest on their save vs. spells.  
   
  Ancient Shrine – A narrow cave up 
  a narrow tricky path holds a shrine 
  from the age when men hunted with 
  stone arrows.  The inner walls are 
  completely covered in paintings and drawings, caked up 
  over the millennia.   
  Ci 
  Cii 
  Ciii 
  Civ 
  Cv 
  Cvi
  Cvii 
  First Ones’ Doom – While there is no 
  outward sign of this doom, the spirits of the 
  angry dead now seep into your wounds.  
  Magical healing ceases to function and the 
  edges of wounds grow black and puckered.  
  When wounds finally do heal, the flesh 
  around them is gray and dead look.  The 
  victim of this doom will slowly turn undead, 
  and after having cumulatively received 
  their maximum HP they will awake the next 
  morning as a wight, raving and hungry for 
  death. 
  
  13 | P a g e  
   
  An inner chamber of the cave can be reached through 
  a low passage, painted entirely black on the left side 
  and a bright azure blue on the right.  The bisected 
  hallway is a trapped with a deadfall and marked to 
  indicate that the black side is safe, while the right is a 
  place of sacrifice.    
  The deadfall is triggered by loose rubble on the blue 
  side, detectable and avoidable if stopped.  If triggered 
  the trap brings down a huge block down on the 10’ of 
  the right side of the passage.  Anyone caught in the 
  deadfall must Save vs. Breath Weapon.  Those who fail 
  are crushed to death, while those who save take 2D6 
  points of damage from debris. 
  Within the Shrine are three standing stones, crudely 
  carved with stern faces.  They are wrapped in decaying 
  felt armor adorned with leather straps and belts. 
  Leaning against the statues are three copper hand axes 
  (5 GP each) and white, wooden bows and cracked 
  leather quivers, embellished with black stone beads that 
  hold bundles of white wood arrows.   The wooden items 
  are brittle and useless, but the belt of the central figure, 
  The Heroes Cinch, provides magical protection. 
   
   
   The Nacreous Marsh – The Canyon slopes 
  water of the stream drains downward in the 
  East, and the milky water of the stream 
  drains here.  The remaining undead from the 
  Pretender’s experiments have drifted to this spot as well.   
  Any random encounter in the marsh will be off the 
  Undead Encounter Table provided in Area E. 
   
  D 
  Heroes Cinch  
  This belt is obviously ancient, brought to the 
  Autocrat’s Tear by the first hero of its now 
  vanished ancient people.  The belt is made of 
  knobby black sharkskin, stitched with wave 
  designs in white sinew.  These designs appear to 
  undulate and sway, though not unnaturally so. 
  When worn the belt will confer AC 6, and can 
  stack with other items that provide defensive 
  bonuses, such as shields and rings of protection, 
  but not with armor or items that grant a base 
  AC, such as bracers of defense. 
  The Cavern OF CEnotes – AREA E 
  
  14 | P a g e  
   
   
   Cavern of Cenotes - This great cavern is not 
  individually keyed, but areas are marked on the 
  map below for ease of use.  The cave can be 
  entered either by following the milky stream to 
  its source (Ei) or by entering through a huge cleft in the 
  Western wall of the canyon (Eii).  Both sources lead to 
  one of the cavern’s two chambers. Encounters within the 
  Cavern of Cenotes should be on the Undead Encounter 
  Table. 
  The first chamber (Eiii) is massive chimney that leads 
  hundreds of feet upward to a where water gushes from a 
  narrow crack, falling loudly to an opalescent pool below.  
  The noise of the falls means that encounters will be a 
  surprise on a 1-3. 
  A set of stone portals, megalithic post and lintels, 
  covered in time worn spiral engravings and odd 
  scratched graffiti (A bird in flight, the name “Enri”, “The 
  Beak Betrays”, and a drawing of a skeleton embracing a 
  bear) lead to the second chamber (Eiv).  Standing in the 
  left portal is a 9’ tall figure of rust covered armor.  This is 
  a Rusted Sentinel (See Below).  The quiescent horror will 
  attack any who touch it (with anything), or try to pass 
  through the opening it guards (the right portal is safe).    
  The second chamber, the cavern itself is an enormous 
  void filled with black rock pillars that climb to a ceiling 
  vaulting over a hundred feet above.  While the 80’ cube 
  of the Pretender’s Machine (Ev) is immediately obvious, 
  it doesn’t completely overwhelm the cavern’s strange 
  beauty.  Bioluminescent moss, lichen and fungus glows 
  green, yellow and blue while numerous deep cenotes 
  filled with clear, bright azure water dot the floor.  Each 
  cenote is 60’ – 150’ (1D10x10’ +50’) deep and the color of 
  the water within derives from the azure pigment that 
  coated the bodies of the ancient sacrifices thrown into 
  the cenotes.  Golden treasures also adorned these victims 
  and if a cenote is dredged for three turns (or dived in for 
  one) there is a 1 in 10 chance that a golden trinket (collar, 
  headdress, armband or mask) worth 1D8x100 GP will be 
  found.   If a party persists in constantly re-diving the 
  cenotes or systematically plundering them, the number 
  and frequency of undead attacks (especially waves of 
  sacrificial zombies) will increase.  Likewise, while there is 
  a considerable amount of gold in the cenotes (up to 
  80,000 GP in all) this amount isn’t actually infinite. 
  Along the rear wall of the cavern is another area of 
  interest, the Stone Mansion (Evi) a crumbled ruin of 
  fortified chambers that once housed the machine’s 
  human guard force, visitors and acolytes of the 
  Pretender’s Cult. 
  A careful search of the cavern will find the withered 
  husk of a human wearing a ice blue robe leaning against 
  a stone column.  This is the corpse of one of Zo-Mustaph’s 
  apprentices and still carries a sigil covered belt pouch 
  with 104 GP inside, a blue pearl worth 100 GP and a 
  silver athame (dagger). 
   
  Appearance: 
  Vaulted caverns of black stone, with many pillars and other rock formations, filled with water 
  and fungal life much of it glowing.  It can be entered from the Tear via a swimming a stream of 
  Milk Water, or entering through a huge cleft in the canyon wall.  The Pretender’s Machine 
  sits in the main cave (Eiv) 
  Smell: 
  A wet fungal reek and the occasional smell of chemics or ozone. 
  Lighting: 
  Luminescent fungi and a few shafts of light from narrow rock chimneys fill the cavern with a 
  murky purple glow. 
  Traps: 
  None 
  Treasure: 
  Golden Artifacts in the cenotes (100 – 800 GP), Dead Wizard’s Effects (234 GP) 
  Inhabitants: 
  Random Encounter 1 in 6 on Undead Table; Rusted Sentinel (HD 5+5) 
  E 
  
  15 | P a g e  
   
  Beyond the Machine itself and the various Centotes, 
  hunched against the rear wall of the Cavern are the 
  crumbled blocks of what was once a stout multi-story 
  stone building.  While the upper levels of this Stone 
  Mansion (Evi) have collapsed into a spray of moss 
  covered stone, a few rooms, mostly roofless and barren 
  except for fungal life remain.    Two wings, with shattered 
  colonnades, still stand, partially buried in rubble, while 
  behind and between them the roofless shell of a more 
  prosaic central building is largely intact. Close 
  inspection of either the tumbled pile or the face of the 
  remaining structure will indicate that the mansion was 
  built of white and pink marble, obviously imported, and 
  that the building did not collapse from age or neglect, 
  but was destroyed by siege weapons and magic.  Melted 
  stones, and scattered fragments of stone show the 
  intensity of the battle fought here, and the heavy carpet 
  of bright lichens, and bulbous mushrooms covering the 
  ruin are a clue to how ancient that battle was.    
  Beneath the lichens and clinging fungus that blanket 
  the structure lumps and vague shapes seem to indicate a 
  large amount of decorative detail on the remaining 
  columns and walls.  If a turn is spent scraping away the 
  fecund fungal life of the Cavern the scarred remnants of 
  a statute or two can be revealed.  The building’s 
  decoration consisted of unnaturally neat geometric 
  designs, and monumental statues of heroic warriors and 
  wise looking robed priests.  All the statues are carved in 
  a rigid sharp featured style of clean lines that manages 
  to feel both oppressive and dull. 
  Entering the buildings themselves, the interal wooden 
  walls and furnishings have long ago rotted in the humid 
  air of the cavern, and only great piles of green, blue and 
  red fungal life remain to mark the warren of rooms that 
  once filled the Mansion.  The entire walled area is about 
  150 feet square, U shaped and partially filled with 
  ramps of rumble that allow easy entrance.   
  A visual search will reveal little as almost every surface 
  is encrusted with lichens, but digging and rummaging 
  through the soft growth (much of it bioluminescent) 
  counts as a Search check with the normal chance to find 
  an item of interest from the table below for every turn 
  (remember to roll for random encounters) spent.  
  Multiple copies of items from 1-5 may be discovered, but 
  items 6-8will only be discovered once, and any repeat 
  treated as item “1” on the table. 
  D10 Amongst the Rubble of the Stone Mansions 
  1 
  This oddly shaped chunk of fungus draws the eye, and hints that there might be an artifact concealed within, 
  once the growth is wiped away however it proves only to be a bit of rubble chipped from a statue of 
  decorative carving.  
  2 
  A large ceramic bowl, platter or piece of cutlery that somehow remains intact.  The ceramic is glazed purple 
  with simple white geometric designs, and difficult to shatter without extraordinary force, but it is worth 5GP 
  at most. 
  3 
  A cracked white ceramic mask, featureless except for eye slits.  Touching it causes unease. 
  4 
  The twisted remains of some kind of tubular metal furniture, now bent and corroded, but still strong and light. 
  5 
  A rusted or corroded piece of plate armor forged from steel or bronze.  The armor is now useless but was once 
  part of a fine suit, enameled with birds and feather imagery or engraved with fine geometric designs. 
  6 
  A tumble of clean bones.  Runes of purplish metal are burned into their brittle white surfaces.   
  7 
  A nodule of fungus shot through with hexagonal golden coins, (200 GP) stamped with the regal head of an 
  unknown sovereign.  The opposite side depicts a crown with six points. 
  8 
  A small scroll  of engraved silver slats , bound with gold wire (200 GP).  Written in an ancient language, read 
  magic or a similar is necessary to  read the prayer inscribed on it – the gist of which is that the devotee is 
  blessed because the “Divine Autocrat” offer  “the new sunrise” to even those who displease him allowing 
  them to serve him still despite their mortal failings. 
  9 
  A black crystal vial (50 GP) with a gold cap, containing purple syrupy oil that smells like ozone.  If added to 
  clean water it will create up to eight flasks of holy water. 
  10 
  A short red falchion, made carmine  stone and enchanted so that it will become wreathed in flame (adding 
  +2 points of damage) when it first strikes an enemy.  The flames will die down after the combat, but may be 
  rekindled the next time the weapon draws blood. 
  
  16 | P a g e  
   
   
   
   
  D6 
  The Horrific Unliving Refuse of the Pretender’s 
  Madness (Undead Encounter Table) 
  1. 
  1D6 Wire Ghasts – A hunting pack of Wire Ghasts, their tesla coil claws alight crackling energy and their 
  gray flesh shimmering with voltaic surges. 
  Wire Ghast: HD 4, AC 4, ATK 3* (claw/claw/bite), DAM 1D4/1D4/1D8, MV 40’, SV F3, ML 12 
  * The tesla coil claws of a Wire Ghast cause paralysis for 1D6+4 rounds.  When attacking they are also 
  surrounded by crackling energy that causes 1D2 points of damage per round to all within 10’. 
  2. 
  1D6-1 Desolate Crusaders – Slow sadness hangs in the air as a mist around these forlorn soldiers.  They 
  stare through the visors of their rotted armor at their prey for 1D6-1 rounds before attacking and are 
  immune to any attack (weapons dent and gouge their armor with no effect) until they do.  
  Desolate Crusader: HD 4+1, AC 3*, ATK 1** (touch), DAM 1D4+level drain, MV 30’, SV F4, ML 10 
  * Immune to normal weapons, silver and magic weapons do full damage. Immune to all damage until they 
  attack.  ** Sadness travels with the Desolate Crusader and all within 10’ suffer a -1 to all saves. 
  3. 
  3D6 Wire Ghasts – An entire colony of these horrid things roams about bickering, howling and generally 
  obsessed with their internal feuds (until they spot living flesh). 
  Wire Ghast: HD 4, AC 4, ATK 3* (claw/claw/bite), DAM 1D4/1D4/1D8, MV 40’, SV F3, ML 12 
  * The tesla coil claws of a Wire Ghast cause paralysis for 1D6+4 rounds.  When attacking they are also 
  surrounded by crackling energy that causes 1D2 points of damage per round to all within 10’. 
  4. 
  1D2 Rusted Sentinels – Huge and unmoving lumps of lichen shrouded machinery, or stumbling ramdomly, 
  stained and dripping from the colorful waters of a polluted cenote, these ancient guardians continue to 
  protect the cavern from intruders 
  Rusted Sentinel:  HD5+5, AC 3*, ATK 1**, D 1D12, MV 30’, SV F5, ML 12 
  * Have 1 point per die damage reduction.  Meeting the gaze of an active iron sentinel causes violent 
  insanity for 1D12 rounds.   Any individual in melee with one of these hulks must save vs. paralysis or launch 
  a melee attack against the nearest target.  If more than one target is nearby (as in a melee) attack will be 
  random.  Averting one’s eyes is an effective means of avoiding the insanity effect, but give a -4 to all 
  attack rolls against the Sentinel ** Blows of the Rusted Sentinel infect those struck with the iron curse, a 
  creeping rust that slowly consumes the body and mind, leaving cankers and corrosion, The curse prevents 
  magical healing and causes 1D2 points of damage a day.  It may be cured by remove curse, while victims 
  who die of the curse will arise as Wire Ghasts. 
  5. 
  3D12 Zombies – Yellowlander sacrificial victims, these compact zombies surge up from the cenotes in 
  waves, dyed horrid colors by the ancient pigments within.  These sacrifices were disemboweled and drag 
  behind them glistening animated coils of their rotten innards. 
  Zombie: HD2, AC 8, ATK 1*, DAM 1D8, MV 20’, SV F1, ML 12 
  * Attack last every round but, on natural 20 these zombies’ animated intestines will entangle their victim, 
  preventing attack or movement until the entangling zombie is slain. 
  6. 
  1 Bone Hulk – A huge (10’ diameter) slow moving mass of barely intelligent undead bones, their collective 
  mind so scattered and lost that action beyond consuming more bones is impossible.   
  Bone Hulk: HD 8, AC 5*, ATK 1** (subsume), DAM 2D8, MV 10’, SV F6, ML 12 
  * Normal undead immunities, immune to cold and electricity.  Cutting and stabbing weapons do 1 point of 
  damage.  Fire does ½ damage.  **If the Bone Hulk strikes for more than 8 points of damage it subsumes the 
  target, pummeling him with bones every round for 2D8 until freed by a successful contested STR check 
  against the STR 17 Bone Hulk.  Subsuming victims leaves the hulk free to attack new victims.  
  
  17 | P a g e  
   
  THE PUISSANT MACHINE 
  A metal cube 80’ by 80’ covered in gears, pistons and 
  jutting devices of unknown use, a doorway in its 
  Southern face spilling a weak internal light, white and 
  cold, onto the cavern floor.  Trickles of lubricant, oil and 
  other industrial discharge leak from ancient pipe fittings 
  and run in unnaturally bright rivulets across the rocky 
  ground. The upper level of the object appears to largely 
  consist of an angled set of four huge pistons, all closed.  
  The interior of the cube is similar to its exterior, a mad 
  jumble of pipes, plates, dials, gears and pistons that 
  overwhelms the eye, with hallways and chambers that 
  appear to have been tunneled out of the mechanical 
  bulk.  The halls are between 10’ and 6’ wide where 
  jutting machinery limits passage.  The floor is made of 
  either sturdy metal mesh grates, revealing more pipes 
  and devices beneath, or riveted metal plates of steel, 
  bronze or iron.  Ceilings vary in height depending on the 
  number of conduits and devices in a particular area of 
  hall, but is never less than 5’.  
  This is one of the artifacts used by an ancient despot to 
  control his empire.  It is powered by sacrificed souls and 
  energy siphoned from beyond the veil of reality.  Built 
  partially with the Despots sorcerous skills and partially 
  with material and knowledge of enslaved otherworldly 
  entities, the machine can extend life, reverse death, 
  create ablife and grant a form of immortality.  The alien 
  technology used in its creation is that of the domain of 
  the Machine Intelligences of the Bronze Ziggurat, a 
  plane of perfect, horrible order and merciless 
  calculating rationality.   
  Much of the machine is constantly in motion, with 
  flywheels slowly turning and pistons moving in obscure 
  patterns.  It is largely hydraulic and steam operated, 
  powered by internal energies manifesting both as fires 
  and bizarre radiation.  The fuel for the machine’s abilities 
  to extend, change and return live is human souls. 
  Currently there are 12 souls trapped within the machine, 
  but various ways exist within of adding more to its 
  batteries. 
  The machine is well constructed by alien but perfectly 
  rational intelligences who built many fail-safes and 
  redundant systems into it as a means of stymieing crude 
  attempts at vandalism or destruction.  The interior 
  workings of the machine are tough, and normal, even 
  hard use will not damage them (including errant axe 
  blows and the oil fires).  Intentionally smashing or 
  breaking the interior of the machine however can have 
  disastrous effects (See Table) if an attack succeeds 
  against AC 4 and does more than 6 points of damage. 
   
   
  
  18 | P a g e  
   
   
  THE PRETENDER’S MACHINE – 1 Square = 10 Feet 
   
  D6 Skulking through the  oil slicked halls of the 
  Pretender’s Machine 
  1. 
  1D4 Wire Ghasts Scabrous and Crackling with electricity, these horrors move with more purpose than usual, making 
  small repairs to the machine’s interior.  They are intent on their tasks and will be surprised on 3 in 6. 
  Wire Ghast: HD 4, AC 4, ATK 3* (claw/claw/bite), DAM 1D4/1D4/1D8, MV 40’, SV F3, ML 12 
  * The tesla coil claws of a Wire Ghast cause paralysis for 1D6+4 rounds.  When attacking they are also surrounded by 
  crackling energy that causes 1D2 points of damage per round to all within 10’. 
  2. 
  Random Predatory Lubricant (roll a D6 on the Lubricant Table) dripping from above, or waiting to gush from a wall 
  grating (surprise on a 1-3) 
  3. 
  1D2 Rusted Sentinels – Suddenly standing, seemingly locked in place behind the next door, or even behind the party in 
  an already investigated area, these monstrous constructs move with surprising stealth. 
  Rusted Sentinel: HD5+5, AC 3*, ATK 1**, D 1D12, MV 30’, SV F5, ML 12 *insanity gaze while in melee causes berserking, 1 
  point damage reduction  ** attacks cause rusting curse, incurable 1-2 HP per day, may be removed with remove curse.  
  4. 
  2D6 Clockwork Ticks – Discs of copper carapace (20gp/lbs of copper plating per tick) animated by leaking 
  thaumaturgy.  They suck the fluids and life force of the Wire Ghasts, and keep the lubricant population down, but are 
  happy to supplement this diet with mortal blood. 
  Clockwork Ticks: HD 2, AC 3, ATK 1*, DAM 1D4, MV 40’, SV F1**, ML 10 *After a successful attack the clockwork tick 
  will remain attached, doing 1D6 automatically each round. ** Clockwork ticks are automatons and immune to mind 
  effecting spells. 
  5. 
  Mysterious Noises – Not simply the clanking and rattling of the machine.  Screams, bellows and teeth clenching grinding 
  noises. 
  6. 
  Eye of Fire – A floating arcane symbol, reminiscent of an eye and made of black flame.  This observer, placed in ancient 
  times, is harmless but rather disconcerting.  It will track intruders for 1D4 turns and disappear if struck with a magical 
  weapon or spell, to reappear later.  If struck with a magical weapon the Eye will become perturbed and form a Symbol of 
  Pain causing -2 to all rolls and AC for 1D6 turns. 
  
  19 | P a g e  
   
  D12 Your Clumsy Efforts to Damage the Strange Inner 
  Workings of the Machine Result in … 
  1 
  A ruptured pipe sprays Superheated Steam at the character damaging the machine.  Scalds 3D6 worth of skin off any 
  caught in the gout of steam (attacking the machine or within 10’), Save vs. Dragon Breath for ½ damage.   
  2 
  Hydraulic Valve rupture sprays Lubricant onto the character attacking the machine.  Use on the Lubricants Table for 
  Area 5 to determine just how horrible this is. 
  3 
  A vent burps out a bluish gray Gas Cloud that fills a 10’ x 10’ area.  The effect is disorientation, loss of depth perception 
  the desire to eat iron filings, and fits of nausea (-1 on all rolls for the next week).  Anyone breathing the gas must also 
  make a save vs. poison to see if they suffer the more serious reaction of blindness from the gas.  
  4 
  Sudden extreme pressure change causes Rivets to bursts from the walls all around the corridor.  Each party member 
  suffers 1D4 rivet strikes.  The rivets attack as 5HD creatures, and do 1D4+1 HP on a successful hit.  
  5 
  A gout of Lubricant gurgles from a smashed valve onto the floor.  Roll on the Lubricants Table for Area  5 for effect. 
  6 
  Soul Syphon: Screaming radiation envelopes the destructive party member and attempts to rip free his soul to add to 
  the Machine’s batteries.  On a failed save vs. Spells the machine is successful, draining 1D4+1 levels of energy.    
  7 
  One of the tormented souls trapped within the machine’s core escapes as an eel like cloud of sparkling motes. It is mad 
  from centuries of torment and attempts to attack and possesses a party member. 
  Tormented Soul: HD 4, AC 3*, ATK 1 (touch), DAM 1D6**,  MV 40’ (fly), SV F4, ML 10 *Immune to non-magical attacks 
  **On touch make a contested Wisdom check to avoid being possessed.  The Soul’s WIS is 10, and it will flee the machine 
  in any body it possesses.  
  8 
  Soul Radiation from the past evils committed here is released filling the minds of all nearby with horrid visions of 
  human sacrifice and reanimation. 
  9 
  Lockdown: All doors within the machine snap shut and locks engage.  On a repeat of this result they unlock. 
  10 
  Alchemical Rays coruscate briefly from a cracked lens and a random party member’s weapon or armor (50% for each) 
  will be bathed in the strange violet light. Metal equipment so effected will turn to gold, rendering it all but useless as a 
  weapon or armor but increasing its value greatly  (500 – 1,000 GP for a weapon 1,000 – 5,000 GP for armor).  
  11 
  A Thunderous Noise issues from deep within the machine: an explosion, the scream of lost souls or the scream of tearing 
  metal.  No other effect. 
  12 
  Machine is Damaged, sparks, flames and terrible grinding noises abound.  If this occurs three times the machine will be 
  broken permanently.  Destruction of the machine will have no effect on the location beyond preventing the use of the 
  devices within.  The machine will repair itself in 2D10 years. 
   
  1. The Nest of Blades  
  Appearance: 
  The machine looms illuminated; the air is filled with a dusting of lichen spores.  Door leads 
  North into machine and Area 3.  
  Smell: 
  Underworld fecundity, a reek of spore and wet earth.  A whiff of rotted iron. 
  Lighting: 
  The machine is lit from above by a shaft of daylight, luminescent fungi abound. 
  Traps: 
  Nest of Blades – save v. paralysis or die is attempting to enter doorway to ‘2’. 
  Treasure: 
  None. 
  Inhabitants: 
  Random encounter from Undead table 1 in 6 per turn. 
   
  The face of the cube is complex, and clearly artificial: 
  dull grey metal, with copper accents - covered in a maze 
  of gears, pistons and metal plates. Strange lubricants 
  drip from between the armored plates while 
  encrustations of rust ring odd pipes and hatches here and 
  there.  Most notable however is a doorway, illuminated 
  steadily from within.  It door would be welcoming in this 
  alien subterranean hell, except for the set of huge rusted 
  blades that hang poised around its edges obviously 
  connected to an apparatus of gears and crankshafts that 
  could cause them to slice violently though the areas 
  immediate in front of the doorway.   
  
  20 | P a g e  
   
  Nest of Blades:  This trap is both obvious and menacing, 
  protecting the front entrance of the machine.  It is more a 
  warning then a trap, and no effort has been made to hide 
  it, but it remains deadly to the arrogant or stupid.  A set 
  of enormous (10’ long, weighing thousands of pounds) 
  steel guillotines are laid against the entrance face of the 
  machine.  These blades suffer from rust and chipping, but 
  each is more than sufficient to slice or smash an 
  adventurer into bloody ruin.  The blades have a rather 
  obvious set of actuators – gears, flywheels and pistons 
  that will cause them to cut through the area in front of 
  the doorway.  The trap is triggered by a magic eye, a lens 
  of black stone lost in ornamentation above the arched 
  entrance, that will release the blades when someone 
  tries to enter.  The blades kill anyone who tries to walk 
  between them when they are triggered, a save vs. 
  Paralysis is appropriate, with failure meaning a 
  gruesome death and a save meaning the character 
  leaped backward, miraculously at the last moment.  
  Unfortunately, once triggered, the blades will block the 
  door, resetting in about 3 minutes.   
  The trap may be avoided several obvious ways.  First a 
  quick individual may rush through as it triggers, leaping 
  past the scything blades.  This can be accomplished by a 
  DEX check with a two point penalty.  Failure means 
  death.  The best ways to avoid the trap are to either 
  climb the rough surface of the machine near the blades 
  and jam or break the exposed apparatus that moves 
  them (easy enough with a blunt weapon or several iron 
  spikes), or to cover the magic eye, though this will be 
  impossible without detecting it (a find traps roll will spot 
  the odd lens). 
  2. Secret Shrine 
  Appearance: 
  A dusty shrine to evil gods.  Racks of skulls line the walls around crude totem and altar. 
  Secret door on East wall to Area 3. 
  Smell: 
  Old blood and a reek of overturned soil (from the statue) 
  Lighting: 
  None 
  Traps: 
  Hidden compartment in altar opens when totem head placed on it. 
  Treasure: 
  Blue crystal skull – worth 1,000 GP concealed in altar. 
  Inhabitants: 
  None 
   
  Dusty and still, this chamber is obviously a shrine to 
  some sinister power.  Metal racks line the Southern and 
  Eastern wall and contain hundreds of skulls, while an 
  altar stands in the center of the chamber with a crude 
  iron totem looming above it.  The altar is a chromed 
  metal butte jutting from the floor and sheathed in pipes 
  and tubes.  Close examination of the altar will reveal 
  channels for draining sacrificial blood into these pipes. 
  Any sentient slain on the altar will have her soul drawn 
  into the machine’s batteries. 
  Above the altar is a rough metal totem cobbled together 
  from plates of black iron, welded and joined with thumb 
  sized rivets. A humanoid figure almost eight feet tall, the 
  totem exudes menace and power, but it’s hard to 
  determine exactly what deity or demon it symbolizes.  If 
  examined closely the head appears to come off, and can 
  be removed with a forceful tug.   
  Hidden Compartment: If the totem’s head, a twenty 
  pound hollow ovoid of iron plate with indistinct features, 
  is placed on the altar, the altar’s  secret compartment 
  slides open with a hissing gush of steam (the 
  compartment may also be discovered with a search 
  check at -1).  Within the compartment, nestled on a 
  pillow of brittle grey silk is a blue crystal skull.  Finely 
  carved from a single chunk of rock crystal the skull is 
  worth 1,000 GP as an art object, but is also a holy relic.  If 
  placed on the headless totem the skull will speak.   
  Unfortunately, unless a Cleric of 4th level or higher that 
  worships the coldly efficient and exactingly machine 
  intelligences of the Inverted Bronze Ziggurat is present 
  the skull will simply prophesy the death of all present in 
  horrible ways e.g. “You will suffer for 500 years on the 
  rack of razor needles…” before exploding in a shower of 
  worthless crystal shards. 
  
  21 | P a g e  
   
   
  3. TRAPPED CORRIDOR 
  Appearance: 
  A cross shaped junction. Worked relief of the walls depicts flames and crystals.  Passage leads 
  North to junction with doors to Areas 4 (South) and 5 (North) along Eastern passage.  
  Archway to West leads to Area 6. Secret door in Western alcove leads to Area 2.  Passage 
  Exits machine South to Area 1.  
  Smell: 
  The sharp stink of alchemical oils and a musty smell of rust 
  Lighting: 
  White light beams from the end of the hall 
  Traps: 
  Spear Trap (2D6); Pit trap (3D6); Secret Door 
  Treasure: 
  None 
  Inhabitants: 
  Random encounter from Machine table 1 in 6 per turn. 
   
  A metal corridor provides the main entrance to the 
  machine.  It is notable because of the efforts that have 
  been taken to decorate it with brass and steel panels on 
  the walls, panels covered in inlays and hammered relief, 
  sculpting a pattern of flames and crystals.  The hallway is 
  also heavily trapped. 
  Pit Trap: A covered pit, triggered by heavy pressure (a 
  person or intent prodding with a pole) on the floor of the 
  crossroads causes the floor to snap open, with four 
  triangles of floor plating swinging back in a ‘X’ pattern. 
  The pit is only about 10’ deep but is filled with a grinding 
  apparatus and scything blades that make falling into it 
  very dangerous, doing 3D6 damage. Persons aware of 
  the trap may easily traverse it by moving along the 
  edges of the corridor where there is a small ledge 
  concealing the trap’s hinges.  The trap will reset after one 
  turn.  
  Spear Trap: Beyond the pit trap is a spear trap using 
  steam pressure to crisscross the hallway with heavy steel 
  spikes.  Triggered when a narrow pressure plate at the 
  end of the 10’ section of corridor filled by the trap is 
  depressed, the spears will quickly and forcefully jab 
  from the walls accompanied by a cloud of steam.  
  Anyone within the 10’ of corridor beyond the pit trap 
  will suffer 2D6 damage, though an individual setting 
  the trap off may leap clear of the trap on a successful 
  save vs. paralysis.  After activating, the spears will slide 
  back into the walls, concealed in tubes amongst the 
  decorative paneling.  The trap requires several minutes 
  to reset after discharging, a process accompanied by the 
  chuffing and hissing noise of the trap’s hydraulics 
  refilling with steam and ending with a distinct click. 
  Secret Door: The rear wall of the left/Western alcove is 
  decorated with bronze sheets of metal, worked into the 
  same reliefs of crystals and flames, as the other hallway 
  walls.  If examined closely a slight difference can be 
  seen, as several of the crystal carvings on the Western 
  wall have subtle skull markings.  If all four of these skull 
  markings are pressed simultaneously a hidden catch 
  unlocks, allowing the wall swing inward into AREA 2. 
  4. RUSTED store 
  Appearance: 
  A jumble of rusted objects decayed and rotten with the decay of ages. Metal door on 
  Northern wall to Area 3. 
  Smell: 
  The reek of rust and musty scent of time. 
  Lighting: 
  Flickering strobeing lighted disc on ceiling.  
  Traps: 
  None 
  Treasure: 
  None 
  Inhabitants: 
  Random encounter from Machine table 1 in 6 per turn. 
   
  
  22 | P a g e  
   
  Once storage for mundane supplies and extra parts, this 
  room has been both thoroughly ransacked and left to rot.  
  The room is given an eerie quality by the whitish light 
  disk in the ceiling as it strobes on an off, revealing the 
  jagged shadows of destroyed shelving and reflecting off 
  water pooling in the room’s center.  
  A dripping pipe along the Eastern wall has created 
  several pools of reddish rust tainted water and stained 
  the Eastern wall with rust.  The contents of the room 
  consist of a large pile of bent and toppled metal shelving 
  that once contained parts and supplies.  Any remaining 
  machine parts are scattered about the floor, rusted into 
  barely distinguishable lumps. 
   
  5. Lubricant STORAGE 
  Appearance: 
  Vats, tubes and drums fill a room where pipes and values jut from every wall. Metal door on 
  Southern wall to Area 3. 
  Smell: 
  Chemic stink and an oily reek with an undertone of death. 
  Lighting: 
  None 
  Traps: 
  Opening valves, drums, tubes or releases dangerous lubricants 
  Treasure: 
  None 
  Inhabitants: 
  Various Oozes, slimes, puddings and jellies from Lubricant table 
  The oils, lubricants and fluids that keep the workings of 
  the Pretender’s machine operational are as extra-planar 
  in origin as its crafters and technology.  Most are 
  dangerous, many animate, some predatory, and a few at 
  least semi-intelligent.  This chamber is the centralized 
  stockpile and breeding chamber for the jellies, oozes, and 
  slimes that course through the various pipes and 
  conduits throughout the construction. 
    Three large sealed vats stand in the center of the 
  chamber and numerous metal tubes with obvious 
  spigots.  If any of the receptacles are opened or breached, 
  or the spigots are opened (there are D8+1 that are 
  immediately obvious) some sort of horrible lubricant 
  ooze will be released, determined randomly by rolling 
  on the Lubricant Table that follows.   
  Beyond the numerous containers (including a few 
  sloshing glass tubes filled with oddly colored liquid) and 
  huge spigot studded breeding columns this room is bare.  
   
   
  
  23 | P a g e  
   
  1-6 Strange Lubricants of the Dread Machine (PART I) 
  1. 
  Raw Ooze A wave of bloody colored slime with a slaughterhouse reek, this horror is a ferocious 
  predator seemingly made from gore. It attacks in a single arching torrent of offal, but more dangerous 
  than its thunderous blows is the creature’s near indestructability.  Attacks from edged weapons cause 
  the Raw Ooze bud off smaller oozes rather than damaging it, while it is immune to most other attacks. 
  Raw Ooze: HD 10, AC 6*, ATK 1, DMG 3D8, MV 20’, SV F5, ML 12*Raw Ooze is immune to all attacks, 
  except fire, while electricity heals it for 2D6 HP.  Blows with edged weapons propagate the Ooze, 
  doing no damage but creating an identical 2HD Ooze that attacks for 1D8 damage. 
  2. 
  Clotted Jelly A large spray of chunks resembling congealed gore this creature is similar to the Raw 
  Ooze, but less deadly.  The body of the jelly is highly acidic and it will platter nearby living creatures 
  with acidic slime to feed off their pain sensations. Clotted Jelly takes damage from normal weapons, 
  but regenerates quickly and becomes more energetic when struck. 
  Clotted Jelly: HD 5*, AC 5, ATK 1**, DAM 2D6, MV 20’, SV F2, ML 12 *Regenerates damage from all 
  attacks except cold or electricity at rate of 5HP a round **For every successful attack doing more than 
  5 HP the jelly gains an immediate melee counter attack and additional attack the next round. 
  3. 
  Jade Gas A wisp of pale green gas that will float toward the ceiling.  This creature is immaterial until 
  it coalesces to feed.  It will track any warm blooded target within 10’, slowly wafting after them, 
  attempting to hide in the recesses of a ceiling.  When prey stops and rests, the gas will descend slowly 
  and almost silently upon a sleeping form coalescing into gelatinous blob, paralyzing (no save for 
  sleeping victim, victims on watch or resting are surprised on a 5 in 6 chance but Save vs. Paralysis at 
  +2) and then draining them of 1D6 HP a turn leaving a desiccated husk within an hour or two. 
  Jade Gas: HD 4, AC 6*, ATK N/A, DMG paralysis**, MV Fly 30’, SV F 4, ML 6 *In gaseous form it may 
  only be harmed by magical cold or electricity. ** Sleeping victims cannot save, and take 1D6 HP per 
  turn thereafter.  Resting victims are surprised and attacked on 5 in 6, save at +2.   
  4. 
  Glowing Sludge Garish and glowing with searing light this strange jelly is not especially dangerous, 
  except in the presence of magic.  Glowing sludge devours magic and the byproduct of this strange 
  digestion is a burning flash of heat and light, a condition that makes this creature very dangerous 
  around sorcerers or those who carry large numbers of ensorcelled items. 
  Glowing Sludge: HD 4, AC 6, ATK 1, DAM 1D2*, MV 30’, SV MU 4, ML 8 *Glowing sludge will attack 
  any magic using character, or any magical item a character holds.  When the sludge contacts magic it 
  will drain it and produce an explosion doing 1D10HP to anyone within 10’.  An attack will completely 
  destroy a single-use item, but permanent magic items receive a saving throw vs. magic.  Spell casters 
  struck will lose 1D4-1 random memorized spells. 
  5. 
  Fractal Slurry A blob of brightly colored orange and brown sludge, constantly flowing into crystalline 
  shapes. The creature transforms metallic items into additional fractal slurry and can kill with its 
  jagged protean form.  While not hungry for flesh, Fractal Slurry is violently territorial. 
  Fractal Slurry: HD 6, AC 8*, ATK 1**, DMG 2D8 MV 3’ SV F2 ML 12* Metal Weapons striking the 
  Fractal Slurry do normal damage, but will be destroyed and heal the creature for 1D12 HP the next 
  round.  ** Upon striking a target with metal armor, Fractal Slurry does ½ damage, but will dissolve the 
  armor in 1D4 rounds fully healing any damage it has sustained. 
  6. 
  Memory Muck A mass of clear colorless sludge the quivers momentarily before it snaps into a shape, 
  looking exactly like one of the individuals nearby.  Within ten rounds the simulacrum will assume the 
  coloring and exact features of its model and seek to replace him or her.  
  Memory Muck: HD 5, AC 4, ATK (As Model)* DMG (As Model)* MV 10’ or (As Model) SV (As model) 
  ML 10 *Creature will obtain all statistics, bonuses and special abilities (including spells casting) of 
  model.  
  
  24 | P a g e  
   
  6-12 
  Strange Lubricants of the Dread Machine  
  (PART II) 
  7. 
  Orange Dust is a powder, soft and silky to the touch that shifts and swirls almost as if alive. Orange 
  Dust is a predatory entity partially manifesting itself in this universe as a drift rust orange dust.  The 
  dust feeds on organic material but does only minimal damage to flesh. 
  Orange Dust: HD 2, AC 7*, ATK 1, DMG 1D4**, MV 30’, SV F3, ML 10 * Immune to non-magical 
  weapons, flammable (1D4 from torch double damage from fire) ** Causes organic (wood, cloth and 
  leather) items & armor to decay instantly on attack. Non-metal weapons will decay if they strike the 
  dust.  Decayed objects are destroyed, but magical items Save v. Spells as F1 or rust. 
  8. 
  Cryogenic Masses Can form on any metallic surface within the Machine, they appear like an array of 
  crystals made from frost bitten meat, brown and tough, stinking of frozen rot.  The Cryogenic Mass is 
  actually an endothermic fungus and will drain the heat from any living creature within five feet.  Fire 
  and other heat sources cause the mass to grow rapidly.   
  Cryogenic Mass: HD 2, AC N/A*, ATK 0**, DAM1D8+2, MV 0’, SV F0, ML N/A *Immune to all 
  attacks except cold based, poison or pure magical (disintegrate or magic missile). Normal fire attacks 
  cause it to double in size, magical fire causes the mass to quadruple in size. ** drains heat and life of 
  1D8+2 HP from all within 5’.   
  9. 
  Red Slime Burbling from a floor level valve this spreading pool of viscous bright red slime is highly 
  corrosive and capable of propagating itself quickly from any organic material.  Luckily it is largely 
  immobile and unthinking. Red slime will not melt metal or stone, but can quickly dissolve glass and 
  organic materials. The slime detects movement through vibration, slowly flowing towards moving 
  prey to devour. If left alone for several turns Red Slime will climb to the ceiling to ambush prey. 
  Red Slime: HD 2, AC N/A*, ATK 1, DAM 1D8**, MV 1’, SV F1, ML N/A *May only be damaged by fire, 
  damage while attached to victim will harm both. **Will take 1D4 rounds to dissolve clothes or seep 
  through armor and then transform 1D8 HP of target into slime per round until destroyed.  
  10. 
  Opalescent Oil forms a sheen of unnaturally reflective opalescence and spreads to cover all surfaces 
  in a 10’ x 10’ area.  If disturbed the oily slick will react quickly to send out clouds of tiny bubbles that 
  will fill the lungs of any within 20’ of the slick.  These bubbles cause choking and death within 3 
  rounds of inhaling, unless a save is made against poison.  While choking a victim may be cured with 
  the spells “purify water” or “cure disease”.  Samples of the oil that are not sufficiently large to form a 
  bubble producing colony (requiring several gallons) will die off within 1D4 days.  
  Opalescent Oil: HD 2, AC N/A*, ATK None, DAM Poison**, MV N/A, SV F1, ML N/A 
  * Opalescent oil is immune to fire and weapons, but may be frozen or electrocuted into becoming inert 
  for several weeks.  Purify Water or large amounts of solvent/acid will also destroy the oil. ** 20’ cloud 
  of poison bubbles if disturbed, save vs. poison or die in 3 rounds.  Purify water or cure disease to save 
  choking victim. 
  11. 
  Marble Milk resembles a pool of opaque white liquid shot through with strands of black.  It can move 
  very slowly, seemingly without purpose, though it will often seek light (which eventually kills it).  The 
  touch of the milk, or the jets it can produce at close range, cause petrification, and eventually 
  transformation into a marble statue.  Removed from the Machine’s radiation the Milk will curdle and 
  rot within hours.  
  Marble Milk: HD 2, AC 9* ATK 1, DAM Petrification**, MV 1’, SV CL 10, ML N/A *Marble Milk is 
  immune to most attacks, but is flammable and may be diluted with acid. ** Save vs. Petrification or lose 
  1 point of DEX per turn until turning into a marble statue (at 2).   
  12. 
  Purple Fungus is a thin fungus that adheres to almost any surface in rich violet clumps.  The fungus is 
  harmless, causing itching and sneezing, but if disturbed by motion or light it will release huge clouds of 
  luminescent spores, that will adhere to any surface.  Individuals covered in these spore will be unable 
  to surprise enemies and suffer a 1 point AC penalty until the spores are washed off with alcohol or die 
  (1 day). 
  Purple Fungus HD 2 AC N/A*, ATK None, DAM Special**, MV N/A, SV F1, ML N/A 
  * Immune to normal and magical weapons, cold, fire, acid, electricity ** 50’ cloud of luminescent spores 
  (1 point AC penalty and loss of surprise). 
  
  25 | P a g e  
   
   
  6. The Vortex 
  Appearance: 
  A massive machine hangs from the ceiling above a vortex of light and energy swirling like a 
  maelstrom at floor level. Archway on Eastern wall to Area 3 and archway in South to Area 7. 
  Smell: 
  Reeks of ozone and the scent of strange magic (something like cotton candy).  
  Lighting: 
  Huge glowing vortex lights room a harsh shocking blue. 
  Traps: 
  Vortex  that leads to plane of the Brass Ziggurat, may summon extraplanar beasts 
  Treasure: 
  None 
  Inhabitants: 
  Random encounter from Machine table 1 in 6 per turn. 
  Well lit by a huge central vortex of swirling blue light, a 
  maelstrom of magical otherworldly energy. The vortex 
  pulls dust and air towards it and appears to strain, barely 
  held in place by a strange machine that hangs above on 
  thick square chains.  The machine is active, glittering 
  with glass lens, covered in spinning whirligigs, and 
  venting bursts of steam every few moments.  The rest of 
  the room is clean of dust and appears to be in better 
  order then the rooms nearby.  
  The Vortex: 40’ across this magical whirlpool is a 
  gateway to the plane of the bronze ziggurat, a place 
  where entropy has been all but banished under the 
  dominion of calculating and emotionless machine 
  intelligences.  While the machine pulls power from the 
  realm of bronze ziggurat, it is capable of transporting 
  objects between worlds as well.  In fact the vortex was 
  created to maintain a balance between universes, 
  exchanging terrestrial air for power.  If objects, or even 
  living things, are thrown into the vortex, a similar object 
  will be returned in 2D10 turns.  The objects taken from 
  the other world will be functional similar (and 
  mechanically identical in game terms) 80% of the time.  
  They will look very different however, a simple steel 
  dagger will be replaced by a short bladed weapon made 
  of some bizarre greenish alloy and structured for an 
  inhuman hand.  Otherworldly torches will reek of earth 
  oil and burn blue.   Items from the Realm of the Ziggurat 
  are novelties and worth approximately 200% of normal 
  value.  Unfortunately meddling with the vortex enlarges 
  the hole between worlds, and eventually this will attract 
  the interest of the creatures that live between worlds – 
  horrors of the outer darkness.  Each time the vortex gives 
  up an object there is a cumulative 1 in 10 chance that a 
  Void Stalker will emerge along with the new object. 
  Attempting to return objects or living creatures through 
  the vortex will fail spectacularly, resulting in a crackling 
  blast of purple energy and immediately allowing a Void 
  Stalker to slip through.  
   
  If living creatures are cast into the vortex, a 
  corresponding creature from the other world will be 
  pushed back through. Strange mechanical looking 
  animals most often resemble insects or spiders made of 
  glass, silver and brass. They will be invariably frenzied 
  Void Stalker 
  HD 6, AC 2*, ATK 2 (lashx2)** DAM (2D6/2D6) 
  MV 40’, SV CL 6, ML 12 
  Horrifying hunters from the impossible angles 
  between space and time, these creatures remain 
  invisible as they stalk their prey, and are only 
  detectable in the unease they create in magically 
  sensitive persons. Stalkers prefer to pick off enemies 
  one at a time, suddenly becoming manifest by 
  clothing themselves in shadow (often the targets 
  own) and rending with icy flagellums.  If viewed by a 
  mortal capable of seeing into the ethereal, the sight 
  of one of these horrors will cause catatonia for 1D4 
  days unless as save vs. spells is made.  
  *Immune to non-magical attacks and resistant to 
  cold, taking only 1D4 HP per cold attack. 
  **May attack with a backstab on initial attack (+4 
  hit/x4 damage) and can drag dead victims into 
  ethereal space to feed.   
  
  26 | P a g e  
   
  and hostile due to insanity produced by the entropy of 
  the terrestrial world. If an intelligent creature is falls into 
  the vortex, one of the machine intelligences will be 
  pulled into the terrestrial universe.  This unfortunate 
  entity will resemble a geometric shape made of colored 
  glass, with several limbs and roughly man sized.  These 
  creatures must Save vs. Spell or be driven into violent 
  insanity by the nature of the terrestrial world. If not 
  insane, the perfectly neutral and rational Machine 
  Intelligence will accept its situation and knows that it 
  cannot return through the vortex.  Depending on the 
  party’s response to this entity it may be willing to work 
  with them to escape the Autocrat’s Tear, and real efforts 
  to help it return to its home dimension will be rewarded 
  with loyalty of a sort.  Whatever occurs, the Entity will 
  always be coldly rational and calculating, attempting to 
  maximize its gain and minimize its risk.  It has no sense of 
  group loyalty or emotions, only familiarity and a 
  willingness to work with those who have proven rational 
  and beneficial in the past.  
   
  Individuals from the Terrestrial Universe sometimes 
  survive the strange journey and a few even escape to 
  return to their native world months or years later.  For 
  PCs entering the vortex, roll a Save vs. Spells.  Success 
  means they have survived the planar transit.  Then roll a 
  Constitution check to determine if the alien world’s 
  diseases and poisons slay them shortly after they arrive.  
  A Charisma check will determine if the lost character 
  manages to escape death at the hands of the denizens 
  beyond the portal.   An Intelligence check determines if 
  they are able to return.  Characters that survive the 
  ordeal will return to the terrestrial world in 1D4+3 
  Sessions and they will return changed: limbs replaced 
  with hideous mechanical tentacles, eyes gone strange, 
  minds warped by what they’ve seen and with unknown 
  loyalties to extra planar patrons. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  CREATURES OF THE BRONZE Ziggurat 
   
  Extraplanar Beast (small) HD 2, AC 6, ATK 1* , DAM (1D6) MV 40’, SV CL 2, ML 12 (insane) 
  These small creatures resemble spiders, birds, lizards or mollusks made bronze with a single crystalline eye. 
  Most are radially symmetrical and all will be driven to frenzy by the disorder of the terrestrial universe.  
  They will attack with a bite or slashing forelimbs.  There is a 2 in 6 chance that the attack of these creatures 
  bite is poisonous to terrestrial life (Save or Die, as crystals form in the blood and internal organs).  The shells 
  of these creatures are worth 1D4 X100 GP as art objects. 
   
  Extraplanar Beast (large) HD 6, AC 4, ATK 3 claw/claw/gore  DAM (1D6/1D6/2D8) MV 40’, SV CL 6, 
  ML 12  (insane) 
  Larger versions of the metallic creatures above, these extraplanar beast are predators or dangerous pack 
  herbivores. Most resemble radially symmetrical sea creatures with numerous legs, pincers and mouths 
  sprouting from a bronze shell. When they arrive in the terrestrial universe its lack of order and essential 
  alienness will drive them into a frenzy.  Trapped within the Machine this means they will rampage about 
  seeking to attack any source of movement.  Eventually they are likely to find a way into the outside, but will 
  undoubtedly die of fear and starvation within a few weeks. The crystal encrusted shells of these creatures 
  are worth 2D6 X100 GP as art objects. 
   
  
  27 | P a g e  
   
   
  7. Iron Guardian 
  Appearance: 
  A grim iron statue opens its arms towards the Northern arch to Area 7, and a stair leads 
  upward to Area 9. 
  Smell: 
  Rust and strange lubricants.  A faint grinding sound comes from the statue 
  Lighting: 
  Single red light shines on statute from above casting dim light. 
  Traps: 
  Iron Guardian statue is part of elaborate guardian trap linked to statue in Area 9 
  Treasure: 
  None 
  Inhabitants: 
  Iron Guardian, animate statue (8HD). 
   
  Entering from the North the blue light of the vortex is 
  quickly lost in the dimness of this chamber.  A steep 
  corrugated steel stairway runs along the pipe covered 
  Eastern wall and  leads up the next level of the machine, 
  but to reach its base one must walk by almost within 
  touching distance of a malevolent statue, the Iron 
  Guardian. A rusted iron statue of an obese horned 
  humanoid whose face is a mass of unworked slag, the 
  statue stands atop a careful made column base. The 
  statue is illuminated by a single dusty beam of red light 
  from 20’ above, as no pipes, ducts or machinery fill the 
  10’ between levels here.  Animate, the Iron Guardian is 
  currently still, and part of an elaborate trap. 
   
  Iron Guardian (Animate Statue) 
  HD 8 (40 HP), AC 3*, ATK 2(pummel x 2) DAM (1D8+3/1D8+3) MV 20’, SV F 8,  
  ML 12 * Normal & silver weapons adhere to statue, save v. spells to avoid. 
   
  The Iron Guardian is a larger stronger version of the standard Animate Iron Statue brought to life with 
  mechanical genius and otherworldly magic. Like all of its kind, normal metal weapons (including silver 
  weapons) striking the Iron Guardian will do normal damage, but will stick into its iron skin, holding them fast 
  unless the weapon’s wielder makes a save vs. spells at -2.  
  Extraplanar Autochthon 
  HD 3, AC 2*, ATK 2 (lashx2)** DAM (1D6/1D6) MV 40’, SV CL 6, ML 12 
  The subjects of the Bronze Ziggurat are strange looking, radially symmetrical creatures made of facetted 
  crystal.  Slowly whirring brass clockworks fill the Autochton’s transparent central core while its six limbs, 
  three for walking and three for tool use, are covered in bronze chitin. An Autochthon’s  face is a mass of 
  glowing crystalline growths, largely without expression, beyond subtle changes in the glow light’s color and 
  pattern.  
   
  If the terrestrial sentient that is cast into the vortex is a normal human, or even level 1-3, the Autochthon  
  appearing will be a worker or farmer, as above,  without class levels or abilities (though if it survives in the 
  terrestrial world it may gain a character class).  For characters or NPCs level 4 and above lost to the vortex a 
  leveled Autochthon is cast into the Terrestrial world.  This creature will have class levels (and appropriate 
  HD for each level of the lost terrestrial about 3, but will have the spell and to-hit abilities of a classed NPC 
  of its full HD). Such leveled creatures will also have appropriate equipment.  Thus if a 5th level wizard passes 
  through the vortex an Authocthon of 5HD and 5th level class abilities will appear in his place.  Autochthons 
  will be either fighters (4 in 6 chance) or Clerics (2 in 6 chance). 
  
  28 | P a g e  
   
  Iron Guardian (Trap): The Iron Guardian is an animate 
  statue, but will only attack under particular 
  circumstance.  The guardian stands on a rounded base 
  that that rotates easily, allowing the statue to be turned 
  almost effortlessly with only a slight grinding noise. A 
  similar grinding noise can be heard from above when the 
  Iron Guardian is rotated as the Steel Guardian statue in 
  Area 9 moves in concert with the statue below.  When 
  the Iron Guardian faces the wall, the shaft of red light 
  from above will suddenly blink out, and arm the Iron 
  Guardian, while disarming the Steel Guardian above. 
  The purpose of the Iron Guardian (unlike his steel 
  counterpart), is to view and remember all who enter his 
  chamber and to tell his master.  The players will not and 
  cannot know the command to make him speak of what 
  he has seen without using magic, but if they discover it - 
  “Iron in the fire, by your master’s voice you are 
  commanded to speak truth”, the statue will tirelessly 
  relate the last several hundred years of comings and 
  goings - mostly Wire Ghasts going upstairs and coming 
  down again (This should result in at least one random 
  encounter roll).   
   
  Once the Iron Guardian is armed (having been turned to 
  the wall) it can no longer record comings and goings in 
  the room, and after a turn it will animate, ready to attack 
  anyone who enters Area 7. The Iron Guardian will not 
  stray from Area 7, unless attacked with missile weapons 
  from the hallway beyond, and will retreat to stand atop 
  its pedestal after a turn of pacing if its enemies flee.
   
   
  
  29 | P a g e  
   
  Opalescent Oil  
  HD 2, AC N/A*, ATK None, DAM Poison**, MV 
  N/A, SV F1, ML N/A 
  If disturbed the oil reacts with a large cloud of toxic 
  bubbles that will fill the lungs of any within 20’ of 
  the slick.  These bubbles cause choking and death 
  within 3 rounds of inhaling, unless a save is made 
  against poison.  While choking a victim may be 
  cured with the spells “purify water” or “cure 
  disease”. Samples of the oil that are not sufficiently 
  large enough to form a colony (several gallons) will 
  die off within 1D4 days.  
  Opalescent oil is immune to fire and weapons, but 
  may be frozen or electrocuted, making it inert for 
  several weeks.  Purify Water or large amounts of 
  solvent/acid will also destroy the oil. 
  8. Access  Ladder 
  Appearance: 
  Rickety and corroded, a ladder leads upward through a balcony dripping with slime leads to 
  a stair and doorway to Area 12. 
  Smell: 
  The cavern’s fungal stench, with hints of stinking machine oil, burnt metal and rust  
  Lighting: 
  The machine is lit from above by a shaft of daylight, luminescent fungi abound. 
  Traps: 
  Opalescent Oil (2HD) 
  Treasure: 
  None. 
  Inhabitants: 
  Random encounter from Undead table 1 in 6 per turn. 
   
  A ladder is affixed to the side of the machine.  Its 
  metal is corroded and the bolts holding it are loose, 
  but it is still solid enough.  Above the ladder a hatch 
  opens onto a corrugated metal catwalk that leads to 
  stairs rising upward along the side of the machine.  
  The entire hatch and catwalk shines with a thick 
  coat of unnatural opalescent oil. The oil is obvious 
  and strangely tinted, sparkling with various bright 
  colors, it is also a deadly alien lubricant, that will 
  foam up and release clouds of dangerous choking 
  bubbles if disturbed. 
     
  Once the oil has been dealt with or if it flares up four 
  times from being touched, or struck by missiles, 
  becoming dormant for 2D6+2 turns, the hatch can 
  be easily pushed open to access stairs leading to area 
  14.  The door to area 14 is heavy riveted bronze, and 
  locked by a complex tumbler lock.  Attempts to pick 
  it will be at -1 or -10%, and the door’s robust 
  construction will require two successful attempts to 
  force it. 
   
   
  9. Steel Guardian 
  Appearance: 
  Riveted steel panels and heavy hatches leading West to the Steel Guardan’s Lair, strewn 
  with rotten bones, and East to the hallway between Areas 11 and 12. 
  Smell: 
  Rust and alien lubricants, with hints of rot, ozone and acrid burnt machine oil. 
  Lighting: 
  None 
  Traps: 
  Steel Guardian Animate Statute 
  Treasure: 
  Ancient Coinage (200 GP) 
  Inhabitants: 
  Steel Guardian, animate Statue (8 HD) 
   
  This room is split into two parts, the Landing and the 
  Steel Guardian’s Lair.  These sections are connected by a 
  hatch like door that opens with a wheel in its center.  
   Landing: The narrow stairs from Area 7 lead upward to 
  a small landing forged from riveted steel.  The walls of 
  the room are likewise riveted steel plates without the 
  
  30 | P a g e  
   
  pipes, panels and ducts common throughout the 
  machine.  The entire Southern wall is a lattice of steel, 
  cut with downward facing triangles that are somehow 
  menacing in their orderliness.  Light directed at the 
  lattice will produce a bright glint from the Steel 
  Guardian behind it. Two heavy metal doors, with wheels 
  that release locking toggle and allow them to swing 
  open lead West to the Steel Guardian’s Lair and East to 
  a hallway between Areas 11 and 12. 
   
  Steel Guardian’s Lair: Behind the door to the West is a 
  narrow ‘L’ of a hallway leading to the Steel Guardian’s 
  pedestal behind the lattice facing the Landing.  The 
  Steel Guardian carries off the corpses of its victims and 
  tosses them here based on ancient instructions, leaving 
  this area strewn with ancient bones, scraps of armor and 
  rotten clothing.  A careful search of this area will reveal 
  several rotten purses and pouches containing 200 GP 
  worth of ancient coinage in silver, electrum and gold.  
  All ferrous metals have been devoured by the 
  Guardians.   Around the bend in the corridor stands the 
  Steel Guardian, a gleaming chromed steel statue of an 
  obese horned figure with the face of a beautiful and 
  bored youth atop an iron pedestal.  
   
  Steel Guardian (Trap): The statue is animate, and unlike 
  the Iron Guardian below it was created for the purpose 
  of slaying intruders.  The Steel Guardian will hunt and 
  attack any living creature it sees through the latticed 
  wall between its lair and the Landing. The Steel 
  Guardian is dormant when turned to face the Southern 
  wall, otherwise it will attack without mercy, pursuing its 
  prey throughout the second level of the machine and 
  dragging those it kills back this room where it will dump 
  their corpses.  Once turned to the wall the Steel 
  Guardian may be reactivated by turning it to face the 
  chamber again, but it still need a turn to awake and is 
  safe to pass during this time. 
   
  Steel Guardian (Animate Statue) 
  HD 8 (56 HP), AC 2*, ATK 2(pummel x 2) DAM (1D4/1D4)** MV 20’, SV F 8,  
  ML 12 *Immune to fire, and all melee attacks on the guardian will release a gout of molten steel doing the same 
  amount of damage to the attacker as the damage from the attack.  A successful save vs. wands at -2 will avoid ½ of 
  this retaliatory damage. ** Each round of combat after the first the Steel Guardian will heat and its damage will 
  increase a die from 1D4 to 1D6, 1D8, 1d12 and finally 1D20 on the fifth and subsequent rounds. 
   
  The Steel Guardian is much like the Iron Guardian below, an animate statue ensorcelled and augmented with 
  mechanical arts. Unlike other animate statues, a demon’s spirit is bound within its body keeping its center molten 
  and heating it red hot during combat. If the statue is destroyed the demon will be freed, fleeing rapidly as a wisp of 
  fire to find a new body and haunt the terrestrial world until it is banished.  The Demon will likely be grateful to its 
  rescuers, occasionally bringing them horrifying gifts and gory trophies much like a house cat. 
  .  
  
  31 | P a g e  
   
  10. 
  Desecrated Shrine 
  Appearance: 
  This rich chamber is shattered and profaned, its furnishings smashed, and the altar in its 
  center desecrated with the body of its priest. A door opens South to Area 11. 
  Smell: 
  Ancient incense, the perfume of rotten drugs, and moldering leather.  
  Lighting: 
  None. 
  Traps: 
  None. 
  Treasure: 
  Tapestries (Heavy) 6,000 GP to the right buyer.  Legion Breaker - Magical Flail. 
  Inhabitants: 
  Random encounter from Machine table 1 in 6 per turn. 
   
  This chamber is another shrine to the unspeakable 
  deities of the Bronze Ziggurat as well as a sybaritic den 
  for the acolytes of the Pretender’s cult.  The room is 
  furnished with dark tapestries, overstuffed arm chairs in 
  oxblood leather, several small tables of dark wood, and a 
  large glass water pipe.  In the center of the chamber 
  stands a bulky altar of brass and chromed steel.  The 
  rich furnishings have all been slashed and shattered, 
  while rotten cubes of alchemical narcotic are scattered 
  about the room’s scarred hardwood floor.  The altar has 
  also been profaned with the ancient husk of a robed 
  man. The desiccated man on the altar was once this 
  shrine’s priest and his tortured corpse is tied to his altar 
  with wire that has cut deeply into his wrists and ankles. 
   
  The tapestries on the walls remain untouched, a single 
  heavy curtain of brocade covering the 70’ of the 
  shrine’s Eastern, Northern and Western walls, and 
  weighs almost 300 lbs, clumsy even rolled into an 
  unwieldy 20’ long bundle . The tapestry is dark and 
  contains several panels depicting horrible images of 
  uncanny mechanical creatures slaughtering cities and 
  overcoming armies, but the majority of its surface is 
  covered with perfect repetitive pattern depicting 
  thousands of skulls.  The tapestry are unsettling and 
  unnatural, worth only 3,000 GP even in the markets of 
  a decadent metropolis.  Despite its disturbing subject 
  the tapestry is a true work of art and if the party has 
  connections to a proper buyer, such as powerful 
  necromancer, antipope, devil lord or evil despot the 
  tapestry is worth as much as 6,000 GP. 
  Hanging in the center of the shrine, but lost in the 
  gloom hidden from casual glance, is a large censer 
  dangling from a spiked chain.  This item is magical, made 
  of purple black steel, and if examined its finish is too fine, 
  and workmanship too perfect to be from the terrestrial 
  world.  The censer may be used as lighting fixture, but is 
  far more effective if removed and wielded as a flail, once 
  called The Legion Breaker.  
   
  The Legion Breaker 
  Carved or forged from a single piece of unnatural 
  purple black steel, this item consists of a heavy 8’ long 
  chain of hexagonal links topped with a melon-sized 
  polyhedral cage decorated with ornate ridges and 
  patterned engravings.  The exact number of sides will 
  appear different upon each viewing.  Inside the cage is 
  a silver censer for burning incense. 
   
  When incense is burned in the censer, it will fill a room 
  up to 50’ x 50’ with thick purple smoke that creates an 
  area of magical order, preventing demons and similar 
  outsider entities of chaos from entering and making 
  other chaotic creatures uncomfortable. 
   
  As a weapon the Legion Breaker is a magical blunt 
  two handed weapon, capable of doing 1D10 points of 
  damage and striking at +1 to hit.  If wielded by a cleric 
  in the service of a non-chaotic deity or power it will 
  burn with a pale purple fire in combat. On a natural to 
  hit roll of 17 or better (assuming the attack hits) the 
  weapon’s flames will spread to the target doing an 
  additional 1D4 points of damage, and burning for 1 
  point of damage per round for the next 4 rounds. 
  
  32 | P a g e  
   
  11. Pillar of the Ghasts 
  Appearance: 
  A chromed pillar stands here covered in copper manacles and dangling chromed 
  appendages.  The corridor leads North to Area 12 and loops Eastward towards Area 9 and 
  Area 12, with a door in the Northern wall to Area 10. 
  Smell: 
  Ozone and burnt flesh 
  Lighting: 
  None 
  Traps: 
  Electrical arcs from the pillar (4D6) 
  Treasure: 
  Copper manacles x 10 (200 GP total) 
  Inhabitants: 
  1 in 4 chance of encountering a group of 2D6 Wire Ghasts whenever the pillar is approached. 
   
  An almost 10’ diameter pillar stands at in the darkness of 
  the hallway.  Its surface gleams with chrome and is 
  festooned the both copper manacles and retractable 
  mechanical arms.  The manacles don’t appear especially 
  valuable (each set is worth 20 GP), and the various 
  mechanical arms dangle harmlessly.  The pillar can 
  create Wire Ghasts, originally as repair servitors for the 
  machine, and so is meticulously repaired, cleaned and 
  worshipped by the valley’s Wire Ghasts.    Wire Ghast 
  encountered at the pillar will be distracted by its 
  presence and may be surprised on a 4 in 6.  Wire Ghasts 
  will also take anyone they kill, or any humanoid bodies 
  they find, and attach the corpses to the pillar allowing 
  the mechanical arms to make various modifications and 
  implants and the pillar’s voltaic charge, raising them as a 
  Wire Ghast if they are not rescued within a day. 
  Voltaic Pillar The pillar is itself dangerous, a capacitor 
  for an enormous amount of electrical power, brimming 
  with an insane alien intelligence.  When a living 
  creature steps into the 10’ around the pillar (the entirety 
  of Area 11) the chromed device will begin to wind up and 
  blue arcs of electricity sparkle across its surface.  The 
  next round the pillar will be charged, and remain so, 
  ready to discharge a 4D6 lightning bolts at any living 
  creature within Area 11 for 6 turns. Targets of the 
  lightning bolt may save vs. spells for ½ damage. After 
  activating the pillar will become dormant for 6 turns.  
  The pillar can be disabled or destroyed by smashing it 
  with heavy blunt weapons or setting it aflame. However, 
  even if the pillar is smashed, the Wire Ghasts will repair 
  it within several days or weeks. 
   
  12. 
  The Infernal Engine 
  Appearance: 
  The armored casing of a giant black engine, surrounded by a spray of armored bodies.  
  Archways on Southern wall to Area 11 and the hallway leading to Area 9.  A ladder leads 
  upward to Area 13. 
  Smell: 
  Rot, death and rust 
  Lighting: 
  A small yellow light blinking in the far Eastern end of the vast engine  
  Traps: 
  None 
  Treasure: 
  Cankered Nadziak (Magical mace), Raptor Panoply (Magical plate armor), Soul Crystals 
  (36,000 GP) 
  Inhabitants: 
  The Harbinger of the Beak (8HD), 4 Desolate Knights (5HD), 10 Brute Zombies (3 HD) 
  
  33 | P a g e  
   
  Arched and vaulted this chamber seems less part of an 
  enormous mechanism and more a strange cathedral.  In 
  its center squats the dread engine, 40’ long and 8’ tall.  
  The Engine is surrounded by fifteen still figures in 
  ornate plate armor, all of whom will rise from the floor, 
  as if pulled by marionette strings when any person or 
  creature approaches.  A sturdy ladder is bolted to the 
  floor near the Western wall of this large room a leads 
  upward to Area 13. 
   
  The Engine: The black casing of the Dread Machine’s 
  primary engine conceals a series of rotating crystal 
  spindles -  a beautiful machine of such alien 
  complexity and puissance that any terrestrial  closely 
  examining its workings will likely (Save under Wisdom 
  with a 2 point penalty) be driven to madness (WIS 
  reduced to 3 and other effects such as berserking or 
  catatonia).  Luckily the casing is sealed, and may only 
  be opened by removing a series of huge nuts and lifting 
  a several hundred pound panel of meteoric iron. A 
  control console, consisting of a chromed metal plate 
  with several dials and a large knife switch, juts from the 
  Eastern end of the engine, with the yellow light 
  blinking next to it.  
   
  Flipping the knife switch up (it is currently down) will 
  restore the feed of energy from the vortex below to the 
  engine and allow the souls stored within the engine to 
  be used by the mechanism above.   When the engine is 
  active the light will glow blue and the casing will 
  vibrate with a low hum. 
   
  If the engine is remains inactive, the mechanism above 
  will only be able to syphon souls.  Currently the engine 
  contains twelve souls, in the form of copper veined 
  glowing red crystals grown deep within the engine.  If 
  these trapped souls are somehow removed the are very 
  valuable (3,000 GP each) to extra-planar entities 
  (especially the evil sort) and the vilest kind of sorcerer.  
   
  The Harbinger’s Party:  The armored corpses are the 
  remains of a splinter faction within the armies of the 
  Raptor God, a fanatical millenarian paladin and his 
  most trusted knights.  They are now cursed through 
  their own hubris, as the Paladin, the Harbinger of the 
  Harbinger of the Beak 
  HD 8, (HP51), AC 3*, ATK 1 (cankered nadziak), 
  DAM 1D8+1**, MV 30’, SV CL8, ML 10 
   
  *The Harbinger possesses normal undead immunities 
  and may only be harmed by magical or unholy 
  weapons.  Additionally he wears the Raptor 
  Panoply (below) which allows the Harbinger to 
  deflect magical attacks onto nearby targets 50% of 
  the time. Additionally the Harbinger cannot be 
  turned by either the servants of law, due his own 
  lawful nature.   
   
  ** Striking with the Cankered Nadziak (below) the 
  Harbinger treats armor as if it were leather armor 
  (AC 7) and due to his undead power his attacks 
  drain 1D8+1 Wisdom as well as injure.  An enemy 
  reduced to a Wisdom below ‘3’ will fall into a 
  despondent catatonia for I turn for every point of 
  wisdom lost, after which they will recover (unless 
  left with the Harbinger), but suffer a permanent loss 
  of a Wisdom point. 
   
  Augmenting his melee ability the Harbinger may 
  cast the following clerical spells as a 6th level Cleric: 
  sanctuary, fear, command, hold person, chant, curse, 
  animate dead.  Furthermore with a successful 
  turning effort (as an 8th level Cleric) he may both 
  turn evil aligned clerics and return any of his 
  followers who have been turned to the fray 
  (including himself). 
   
  The Harbinger floats an inch or two above the floor, 
  a smoky spectral skull behind the open face of his 
  ornate gilded helm. His plate armor is fluted gold 
  and blue enamel, decorated with seabirds in flight 
  and reinforced with delicate golden jazeraint in the 
  between plates. In contrast with the pristine armor 
  the harbingers cape and robe are a rotten, ragged 
  white silk. 
   
  The Harbinger speaks softly with the rich melodious 
  tones of a church trained orator. 
  
  34 | P a g e  
   
  Beak, sought to use the Pretender’s Machine to grant 
  himself immortality, and bring his faction to power 
  rather than guard the Machine and prevent its use.  He 
  returned as a powerful undead creature and hunted his 
  own men through the halls of the machine, eventually 
  raising them and returning them here to protect the 
  machine.  The former paladin is now tormented and 
  insane but still driven by his abandoned mission.  He and 
  his former followers will rise if disturbed or if living 
  creatures linger in Area 12 for more than a few moments.  
   
  The Harbinger and the Desolate Knights can speak, but 
  they will not negotiate in good faith with a party 
  seeking to use the machine.  They will try to warn off 
  obviously powerful intruders but may offer to allow 
  adventurers to use the machine if they believe they can 
  trick them into annihilating themselves with it.   If 
  approached cautiously or offered parley the Harbinger 
  will talk of honor, sorrow and curses, a set of lies that hide 
  his true intent to murder and add the party to his ranks. 
  The Harbinger has a good idea of the machine’s 
  functions, and will provide misinformation aimed at 
  causing the party to misuse it.  The Harbinger’s 
  suggestion (assuming he doesn’t simply attack) will be 
  that any dead individuals be placed in the last chamber 
  of the machine, marked with the upward triangle, while 
  the living members of the party stand in the first 
  chamber of the machine, marked with a sun.  Following 
  this advice will of course lead to those in the last 
  chamber being reanimated as wraiths, while those in the 
  first chamber have their souls ripped loose to power the 
  machine. To accomplish this betrayal he will allow the 
  party to examine the engine and activate it, while he 
  and his dead guards loom nearby. Under no 
  circumstance will the Harbinger allow the secrets of the 
  Machine back out into the wider world, but he and his 
  minions cannot pursue beyond its walls for more than a 
  few turns without considerable preparation as they 
  suffer outside of its influence. 
  Harbinger’s Party 
  The Harbinger led a band of picked crusaders when he sought to turn the Machine to his use, gain godlike powers and 
  bring victory to his sect in the wars tearing apart the church of his raptor god.  His men perished by his hands when he 
  emerged from the machine’s furnace but have been raised to serve him.  All are undead and so immune to sleep, 
  charm and other mind effecting spells. 
   
  Desolate Knights x4  HD 5+1, HP 30 each, AC 2*, ATK 1(touch) DAM 1D6+drain**, MV 30’, SV CL5, ML 10 
  * Desolate Knights are immaterial and cannot be harmed by non-magical weapons and so profound is the aura of 
  hopelessness around them that all within 20’ suffer a -2 to saving throws. **Desolate Knight’s touch drains an 
  experience level from those they strike.    
  Former Paladins, these bleak spirits inhabit their rotten and decayed armor, suits of gilded plate and feather like 
  scale.  The touch of these spirits or their long corroded weapons drains life energy and injures.  They are slightly more 
  powerful Desolate Crusaders and similar in appearance and behavior, except far more purposeful while under the 
  Harbinger’s command 
    
  Brute Zombie x 10 HD 3+1, HP 19 each, AC 3, ATK 1*(giant mace), DAM (1D10+2), MV 20’, SV F4, ML 12 
  *Brute Zombies, like all zombies, strike last in any melee round. 
  Once elite church soldiers, these slow moving corpse warriors are still huge, made over 7’ tall by the intimidating 
  eagle helms they wear.  The zombies are dressed in the decayed remains of rusted plate armor, fluted and molded into 
  sweeping avian shapes.  Each Brute wields a massive two handed mace or footman’s pick, its battered head depicting 
  a fierce bird of prey. 
  
  35 | P a g e  
   
   
  13. 
  The CLOAKRoom 
  Appearance: 
  Smooth wood paneling, worn by time and filled with moldering cloaks. Hatch leading down 
  to Area 12, doorway leading to hallway of Area 15. 
  Smell: 
  Must, dust and mildew 
  Lighting: 
  None 
  Traps: 
  None 
  Treasure: 
  Ritual Masks (1600 GP) 
  Inhabitants: 
  Random encounter from Machine table 1 in 6 per turn. 
  Lifting the hatch form Area 12 Below reveals a dark 
  chamber filled with benches and the boxy man high 
  shapes of several wardrobes.  On examination the room 
  is notable as it is paneled in molding dark wood.  The 
  benches and wardrobes are made of similar dark wood, 
  and when opened most will prove to contain moldering, 
  moth eaten hooded robes of various colors.  One 
  wardrobe contains a set of locked cabinets (25 in all) 
  which are easily pried open.  Each cabinet holds a ritual 
  mask, and several of these are valuable: rustic silver fox 
  mask (200 GP), carved ivory spiral mask (100 GP), jade 
  mask of a leper (500 GP), ancient golden death mask 
  (800 GP).  The other masks paper, carved wood, bone or 
  felt and depict animal spirits, unknown demons or 
  forgotten god emperors.  
  Cankered Nazdiak 
  A cruelly barbed horseman’s pick made of obsidian 
  like black crystal set into a tarnished silver grip.  
  The crystalline shaft and head of the weapon are of 
  an alien and ancient appearance, cratered and 
  pocked as if by acid.  The Nazdiak’s handle is 
  masterfully crafted of tarnished silver decorated 
  with images of migrating birds. The Nazdiak is an 
  ancient weapon dating back to humanity’s earliest 
  days, and its current form represents one of a series 
  of reforgings, with the silver handle replacing 
  demon hide wrappings.  
   
  In combat the Nazdiak is treated as a mace, doing 
  1D8+1 damage.  Its form, material and 
  enchantments make the weapon much more 
  powerful however, allowing it to punch through 
  heavy armor with ease.  Against opponents wearing 
  metallic armor (not naturally armored creatures 
  such as dragons) the Nazdiak will treat all heavy  or 
  medium armor as if it were leather (AC 7).  This 
  bonus does not eliminate any magical bonuses the 
  armor may have, so an enemy wearing plate mail +1 
  with a shield will be treated as AC 5.   
  Raptor Panoply  
  Gilded, fluted and enameled plate armor plate 
  armor seemingly untouched by time or decay.  A 
  blue enamel sea, decorated with seabirds covers 
  the armor’s major plates, and is set off by gilding 
  and gold plated gussets of feather like scales.  The 
  armor’s helmet continues its avian theme, an open 
  faced, enameled morion with a sculpted crest of a 
  fierce sea hawk with wings outstretched.  The 
  armor will be recognizable by a rare historian or 
  collector of antiquities as holy armor of a high 
  ranking member of the long forgotten theocracy of 
  the beaked god, but is otherwise remarkable only 
  for its quality. 
   
  The Raptor Panoply is obviously magical, and does 
  offer AC 2 protection, but more impressively the 
  armor warps magical attacks directed at the 
  wearer 50% of the time.  Rather than effecting the 
  target these warped spells will shift to another 
  nearby target (generally the whomever is closest to 
  the wearer).  Area effect spells will not be 
  completely diverted but the panoply’s wearer will 
  automatically take only ½ damage as if he had 
  saved vs. the spell. 
  
  36 | P a g e  
   
  14.            The Mechanism 
  Appearance: 
  A vaulted metal cavern with a complex apparatus at its center.  A simple door in the 
  Northwest corner leads to Area 15, a similar door, heavily reinforced exits to the stairs above 
  Area 8 and the Cavern of Cenotes while an ornate door in the center of the Western wall 
  leads to Area 16. The Alchemical Lock opens a secret door to Area 17in the Southeastern 
  corner. 
  Smell: 
  A faint smell of ozone and burnt metal. 
  Lighting: 
  If The Engine in Area 12 is active blue light spills from strange cylinders along the Southern 
  wall. 
  Traps: 
  The Mechanism (Death, Transformation, and Empowerment), Alchemical Lock (Secret door).  
  Treasure: 
  Silver Sigils (25GP) 
  Inhabitants: 
  Random encounter from Machine table 1 in 6 per turn. 
   
  The heart of the Pretender’s Machine, this chamber 
  contains two complex puzzles, the core of the Machine’s 
  resurrection Mechanism and second an Alchemical lock 
  guarding the way into Pretender’s Laboratory. 
  Adventurers will likely enter the room along the North 
  wall, either from Area 15, opening a simple iron door or 
  from the stairs in Area 8.  If The Engine in Area 12 has 
  been activated the bulk of the machine and the organ 
  like battery of fluted pipes rising from it will be back lit 
  a pale blue.  Otherwise the room will be dark. 
   
  The black iron walls of the entire chamber are less 
  covered in pipes and machinery then the most other 
  areas within the Machine and the ceiling is a full 20’. 
  Titanic cylinders of iron, chrome and white ceramic 
  (magical condensers) line the Southern wall, and if the 
  mechanism is active they will let of bright blue light 
  from their ceramic components. 
   
  The Mechanism: Dominating the center of this room is a 
  huge device with a small door in its Eastern face.  The 
  Mechanism was designed only for functionality, yet its 
  sinister purpose gives it a grave majesty and the 
  appearance of embellishment.  Chromed pipes, some 
  large enough to hold a human, soar from the apparatus’ 
  ribbed roof into the gloom above, while gears and 
  pistons encrust its exterior, resembling relief carvings.  
  The Mechanism is an awe inspiring device, even for those 
  who have not guessed its purpose of trespassing against 
  mortality. 
   
  The mechanism is an artifact of extra-planar 
  necromancy, high alchemy and fine machine work at a 
  level of expertise now lost to the world, and is capable of 
  raising the dead, creating a wide variety of undead or 
  granting near god-like power. However, the only fuel 
  source capable of powering the device is life energy 
  ripped straight from the living mortal soul.  When the 
  Pretender was overthrown the machine contained the 
  souls of 12 unfortunates, all of which are still trapped in 
  The Engine below in Area 12.  
   
  The door in the Mechanism’s Eastern face is a heavy 
  affair, much like the door of a furnace, which can be 
  sealed with a large hasp.  Around its rim are silvered 
  sigils worth 25 GP if meticulously chiseled out over an 
  hour’s time.  Beyond the door is a narrow tunnel, 4’ tall 
  and about as wide, with walls covered in odd devices, 
  bedecked with conduits, engraved with runes and 
  studded with tiny crystals.  The narrow corridor runs the 
  length of the machine, and widens at three points to 
  make a rectangular and two oval chambers.  Each of 
  these chambers is marked with a series of symbols forged 
  into the heavy plating that lines them.  The first chamber 
  shows imagery of sunrise, with its rays spreading across 
  the walls above a bas-relief of a blooming countryside.  
  The second chamber is a contrast to the first, its walls 
  stamped with a bleak pattern of staring skulls. The final 
  chamber is more enigmatic, its walls polished to a high 
  sheen with a single black iron triangle pointing upward 
  inlaid in on the Eastern wall. 
   
  
  37 | P a g e  
   
  To use the mechanism, and the Pretender’s Machine as a 
  whole, its power must be activated by throwing the 
  switch on The Engine in Area 12. Powering The 
  Mechanism lights several indicators along its face with a 
  glow blue that winks on and off randomly. Power will 
  also light the cylindrical capacitors along the Southern 
  wall, bathing the entire area in a cold blue glow as the 
  crystals within start to shine through their ceramic 
  casing.  
   
  Once active, objects and people inside The Mechanism, 
  begin to glow with a faint inner light.  The Mechanism 
  can be operated manually by a pair of large switches on 
  either side of its door or from the pylon in Area 21.  Once 
  activated The Mechanism will hum and shake for a few 
  minutes until its exterior glows blue with magical 
  energy. 
   
  Depending on the mixture of living and dead placed 
  within the machine and the chambers they are placed in 
  a variety of effects will occur per the following table. 
  Any results not shown will have no effect except to drain 
  a charge. 
   
  Soul Drain:  The soul of the individual is torn asunder 
  and his inner power drawn into the machine, forever 
  annihilating it beyond any hope of resurrection.  
  Individuals with class levels may save against this effect 
  as Save vs. Spells at -4.  Activating the Soul drain will 
  use 1 stored soul, meaning that the machine can only be 
  powered by placing multiple victims in this chamber. 
  Necromantic Boon: This effect transforms an individual 
  into a sentient form of undead.  They become immune to 
  sleep, disease, and non-acidic poisons.  Additionally all 
  normal physical damage will be reduced by 1 point, and 
  they no longer require food, water or air to survive.  
  There are negative side effects to undeath, besides an 
  unsightly pallor, and individuals so transformed no 
  longer receive a benefit from magical or natural healing, 
  but may repair themselves if fresh bodies are available 
  at a rate of 1HP per turn (and will rapidly lose Charisma 
  as they become a patchwork of crude stitchery and 
  mismatched limbs).  As undead, individuals who have 
  received a Necromantic Boon may be turned and are 
  damaged by holy water. So empowering one person 
  requires two stored souls 
  Resurrection: Raises a body from the dead if less than 5 
  years dead.  Raised individual will be very hungry, but 
  otherwise unchanged.  Requires 2 stored Souls. 
  Raise as “X”: Will raise or transform the effected 
  individual into a malevolent undead creature (either 
  Mummy or wraith) which will attack any living 
  creatures nearby.  Effect uses a single stored soul. 
  Empower: This effect uplifts an individual into an 
  immortal being of immense power while it drives them 
  megalomaniacally insane.  Empowerment grants the 
  user +1D6 INT, and the ability to learn and cast spells as 
  a magic user of their current level.  Additionally, 
  empowered individuals will be immune to death from 
  normal physical damage, and will regenerate wounds at 
  a rate of 1 HP per round, from wounds caused by non-
  magical weapons or effects.  Additionally, empowered 
  individuals will be able to command undead created by 
  the machine (Mummies, Wraiths and Wire Ghasts). The 
  side effect of these powers is an overweening will to 
  dominate along with intense paranoia. Every game 
  session the empowered must make a Save vs. Magic to 
  avoid assassinating their closest companion.  On a failed 
  save the GM should select when and how the murder is 
  1st Chamber 
  (Sun) 
  2nd Chamber 
  (Skull) 
  3rd Chamber 
  (Arrow) 
  Result 
  Number of  
  Souls Drained 
  Living 
   
   
  Soul Drain 
  1 
   
  Living 
   
  Necromantic Boon 
  2 
   
  Dead 
   
  Resurrection  
  2 
   
   
  Living 
  Raise as Mummy 
  1 
   
   
  Dead 
  Raise as Wraith 
  1 
  Living 
   
  Living 
  Soul Drain/Empower 
  3 
  
  38 | P a g e  
   
  attempted.  Empowerment requires three stored souls, as 
  well as an additional living sacrifice for each level of the 
  empowered.  An insufficient number of sacrifices will 
  raise the individual in the arrow chamber as a vengeful 
  mummy. 
  Alchemical Lock:  A search of the Mechanism chamber’s 
  Southwestern corner will reveal three overlapping dials 
  of plain iron (see below) set directly into the black iron 
  plating of the walls and engraved with alchemical 
  symbols.  A character with an alchemy background or 
  wizard will recognize the symbols and their meanings.  
  Each spin of the dials will create a formula that can be 
  read either right to left or left to right.  Several of these 
  formulas have negative effects, a few positive effects, 
  and one will cause the secret door to open in a dramatic 
  fashion. 
   The meaning of the symbols on the lock are shown 
  below, and the GM should provide them if the party has 
  any members that might have a remote chance of 
  knowing anything about magic, alchemy, potion 
  manufacture, or chemistry.  The lock is meant to be a 
  puzzle, not a trap to avoid completely, and the GM 
  should provide the players with the tools to unravel it if 
  remotely plausible.  Each arrangement makes up a  
  formula, and the can be read either left to right or right 
  to left (none of the effects depend on a specific order).  
  Triggering an effect will effect whoever is responsible for 
  pressing the button, even if this is accomplished at a 
  distance by either mechanical or magical means.  Using 
  an unseen servant spell is likely to result in a nasty 
  surprise for the magic users for example.  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  A Dial 
  B Meaning 
  B Dial 
  B Meaning 
  C Dial 
  C Meaning 
  1 
  Lead 
  1 
  Calcification 
  1 
  Iron 
  2 
  Vitrol 
  2 
  Fixation 
  2 
  Air 
  3 
  Gold 
  3 
  Sublimation 
  3 
  Gold 
  4 
  Sulfur 
  4 
  Incineration 
  4 
  Quicksilver 
  5 
  Iron 
  5 
  Projection 
  5 
  Antimony 
  6 
  Water 
  6 
  Reproduction 
  6 
  Lead 
  7 
  Quicksilver 
  7 
  Separation 
  7 
  Tin 
  8 
  Silver 
  8 
  Congelation 
  8 
  Water 
  9 
  Air 
  9 
  Dissolution 
  9 
  Stone 
  
  39 | P a g e  
   
   
   
   
  Positive Effects 
  1) 
  Open Door (Iron Dissolution Quicksilver) A5B9C4/A7B9C1 – The Iron wall will dissolve into 
  a shimmering silvery liquid that seems to drain through the floor, revealing a simple hardwood door. 
  2) Healing (Water Reproduction Water) A6 B6 C8 –Heals dial user for 1D6 HP per level, cures 
  diseases, neutralizes poisons and restores 1D6 levels lost to level drain effects.  After three uses this effect 
  requires a week to recharge. 
  3) Iron Skin (Water Projection Iron) A6B5C1/A5B5C8 – The skin of the individual pressing the 
  button will quickly take on a dull metallic sheen providing a natural AC of 5.  A character with iron skin 
  cannot have an AC less than 5, but armor and magical protection will not improve it unless they would 
  provide a better AC independently.  This effect is permanent, but cannot be repeated for a year.   
  Negative Effects 
  1) 
  Disintegration (Water & Sublimation) Includes A6B3/B3C8 – Any formula including the 
  sublimation of water will result in disintegration. The individual pressing the button must save vs. spells at 
  -2 or sublimate into a pinkish mist.  This is lethal and leaves no corpse to revive. 
  2) Flame Cyclone (Incineration) Includes B4 – Any formula containing the symbol for incineration 
  produces a cyclone of towering flame.  It will attack anyone in Area 16 as an 8HD monster with two 
  attacks per round.  Each attack does 6D6 points of flame damage, though a save vs. Dragon Breath will 
  reduce this by ½.  The towering cyclone will move ponderously (30’ per round, the speed of a man in plate 
  armor) about seeking victims for 1D6 turns.  The cyclone cannot be harmed by most attacks but create 
  water, or a magical cold attack will dispel it 
  3) Curse of Gold (Gold) Includes A3 or C3 – A formula that includes the symbol for gold will curse, without 
  a saving throw, the person attempting to use the lock, causing golden spurs to erupt from various bones 
  within their body.  The pain and stiffness resulting from this curse will give the victim a -4 to all physical 
  rolls (to hit/damage/movement/Armor Class) until cured with a Remove Curse spell.  Surgical 
  investigation or autopsy will reveal the golden bone spurs (worth 1D10x100 GP if recovered from a 
  corpse). 
  4) Curse of Stone (Calcification) Includes B1 – Any formula with the symbol for calcification in it will curse 
  the lock’s user with petrification, transforming them into a limestone statute unless they make a Save v. 
  Petrification. 
   
  
  40 | P a g e  
   
  15. 
  Mechanics’ Shrine 
   
  A seemingly mundane hallway, pipes and pistons 
  covering every surface, that leads to a brass filigree door.  
  Everything in the hall is well maintained and shines 
  with a coating of machine oil, but oddly defaced with 
  grease paint arrows and symbols pointing West. The 
  door swings open silently on oiled hinges.  
   
  Within the small chamber beyond, is an oddly makeshift 
  looking shrine, shaped like a network of pipes cogs and 
  other mechanical detritus, with a golden cylinder (worth 
  800 GP) at the center.  Close examination of the shrine 
  will reveal it to be an amazing feat of balance, with a 
  wide variety of heavy objects meticulously balanced on 
  one another and towering up all the way to an 8’ceiling  
  thick with overlapping pipes and ducts. 
   
  Balancing Shrine – the creation and maintenance of this 
  shrine to mechanical perfection is a strange act of 
  worship, still performed by the Wire Ghasts as they 
  intermittently repair and clean the machine.  It is also a 
  trap.  Disturbing the balance of the shrine will cause it to 
  collapse, dropping an8’ pile of machine scrap onto 
  whatever is within 10’ of the front of the shrine.  This 
  collapse will do 2D6 points of damage to anyone caught 
  in the deluge, but a save vs. Paralysis will allow a victim 
  to cower for half damage.  Worse, the balanced objects 
  in the shrine itself are connected to a series of heavy 
  pipes and beams concealed in the ceiling of the entire 
  hallway (magical searching, or a detect traps success in 
  the hallway will reveal lose pipes in the ceiling).  The 
  entire careful arranged mass will come clattering down, 
  subjecting anyone in the hallway to 1D4+1 attacks by 
  the equivalent of a 3HD monster.  Each attack that 
  lands represents pieces of piping or other mechanical 
  debris that will strike for 1D6 points of damage.  
  Triggering this trap makes a great deal of noise and 
  requires an immediate wandering monster check to see 
  if 1D6 Wire Ghasts are attracted to the noise 
   
  The altar need not be disturbed to trigger the trap as 
  loud noises have a 2 in 6 chance of causing the collapse, 
  as does disturbing the room’s ceiling pipes.  The golden 
  cylinder may be removed by very careful manipulation 
  of the shrine elements, requiring five successful checks 
  on a D20 under various attributes to succeed.  Upon 
  each attempt to manipulate or disassemble the shrine 
  roll 1D6, on a 1-2 a Wisdom check is needed, on 3-4 an 
  Intelligence check and on 5-6 Dexterity.  Any failed 
  check will result in the collapse of the shrine.  
  Disassembling the shrine entirely will take ten ability 
  checks but will trigger the hallway ceiling portion of the 
  trap when completed. The best way disarm the trap is to 
  tie a thin cord to a piece of the shrine, requiring an 
  ability check, and taking it out of the area to use as a 
  trigger. 
   
   
  Appearance: 
  Narrow corridor painted with symbols and arrows leading West to a brass filigree door. A 
  door leads South to Area 13, and two doors on the ends of the hallway lead East to Area 14 
  and West to the shrine itself 
  Smell: 
  Oil and rust 
  Lighting: 
  None, unless door brightly lit to idol are is open. 
  Traps: 
  Balancing Shrine – 3D6 in 10’ line, 1D4x 1D6 3HD attacks each in hall. 
  Treasure: 
  Golden Cylinder (800GP) 
  Inhabitants: 
  Random encounter of 1D4 Wire Ghast worshippers on a 1 in 6 per turn. 
  
  41 | P a g e  
   
   
  16. 
  Ostentatious Entry 
  Appearance: 
  Floors and walls are carved marble, and the soft tinkling of falling water is heard from the 
  balcony of this vaulted 40’ chamber.  An ornate black iron door, engraved with chrome leads, 
  to Area 14, flanked by twin 30’ black iron statues of a robed man with golden faces. A flights 
  of carved marble steps set in fluted brass lead upward to Area 18, over a marble fountain that 
  spans the rear of the room.   
  Smell: 
  Perfume of cinnamon and tree resin, deadened and musty with time. 
  Lighting: 
  A soft blue light radiates from the balcony 
  Traps: 
  Searing Statues – May attack with eyebeams as 6HD monster for 3d6 per round. 
  Treasure: 
  Golden Masks x2 (6,000 GP each), Crystal Figurines (1,000 GP set) 
  Inhabitants: 
  Random encounter from Machine table 1 in 6 per turn. 
   
  The door to this chamber opens with an ominous click 
  with a turn of its mechanical knob.  The door itself is 
  black iron worked with chrome patterns of triangles, 
  squares and circles intimating a vaguely alchemical 
  purpose, but without meaning.  Beyond the door is a 
  room unlike any other within the machine, it appears to 
  have been built specifically to impress, with white 
  marble walls, floors and a marble ceiling  40’ above.  
  Two huge iron statues with golden faces stand on either 
  side of the door looking downward at any who pass it. 
   
  A stair of marble blocks, set in a brass lattice climbs 
  steeply from the center of the room to a balcony (Area 
  18) ringed with sinuous brass railings where unknown 
  sources produce a diffuse bluish light and the sound of 
  falling water.   Behind and underneath the stairway, 
  spanning the entire Western wall of the chamber is a 
  marble fountain, filled by water flowing smoothly down 
  the wall behind it, the water in the fountain is mundane 
  (unlike that in Area 18) but has a perfumed odor of old 
  cinnamon and piney resin.  The back of the fountain, 
  where it meets the wall, is decorated with a series of 
  loosely attached rock crystal statuettes depicting 
  chained men being marched to judgment before a 
  robed figure.  The simple figures aren’t individually 
  worth a great deal (maybe 10 – 100 GP each) but they 
  are numerous and the set of Crystal Figurines will easily 
  sell for 1,000GP. 
   
  Searing Statues: The Statues guarding the door a 30’ 
  hollow black iron monstrosities depicting the Pretender 
  as an idealized pope of the false religion he created for 
  his own praise.  The statues ornamented and brocaded 
  robes are cast into the iron, but the beatific faces above 
  shine with beaten gold.  
  Autochthonic Machine Intelligence 
  
  42 | P a g e  
   
  Climbing the statues is not especially difficult, though 
  tricky for a non-expert.  From a perch on the statutes 
  shoulders it becomes clear that not only are the faces 
  made of gold, but that they are held on only by simple 
  easily turned golden bolts.  Once removed the huge 
  Golden Masks (each weighing almost a hundred 
  pounds) are worth 6,000 GP each.  Removing either 
  mask represents a grave danger to treasure hunters as it 
  reveals a cursed iron skull beneath.  The skulls are 
  enchanted and will quickly begin to glow red hot, each 
  becoming capable of directing a deadly heat ray at any 
  movement in the room one round after its mask has been 
  removed.  Each round an unmasked statue will attack as 
  a 6HD creature, doing 3D6 fire damage on a successful 
  hit, the statute will aim first at anyone directly 
  attacking it but otherwise prioritize anyone moving 
  towards the stairs or onto the balcony. The statutes can 
  be damaged, though they are immune to fire, have an 
  effective AC0 (all strikes will hit the statue, but most 
  won’t do more than cosmetic damage) and each require 
  80 HP of damage to destroy.  The statues will not attack 
  as long as the eyes of the iron skulls are covered, but 
  doing so once a statute is active will require magical 
  intervention (a darkness or blindness spell will suffice) 
  or a brave adventurer who can cover the eyes manually 
  with something strong enough not to burn away while 
  in contact with the red hot skull (thick leather or water 
  soaked heavy cloth).  While climbing the statues is 
  relatively easy, doing so quickly while under a barrage 
  of heat beams will take three rounds and require a 
  climbing check for each 10’ climbed. 
   
  17. 
  SECRET Laboratory 
  Appearance: 
  A neat laboratory, steel operating table, alchemical equipment and bookcases.  A secret 
  door, guarded on the exterior side by the Alchemical Lock exits to Area 14.  
  Smell: 
  Must of old books  
  Lighting: 
  None 
  Traps: 
  Secret Door 
  Treasure: 
  Rare Books (20,000 GP), Wooden Paneling (1,000 GP), Alchemical Equipment (500 GP)  
  Inhabitants: 
  3 Literary Phantoms (4+2 HD) 
   
  From this side the Secret Door is an obvious and ornate 
  wooden panel carved with a pattern of alchemical 
  symbols.  The symbols are decorative, showing a 
  theoretical transformation of gold into steel (and 
  recognizable as such on a successful INT check by a 
  character with magical or chemistry knowledge).  The 
  rest of the room is similarly paneled in lovely hardwood 
  and decorated in alchemical and magical symbolism, 
  except where it is covered in built in bookcases.  If the 
  Wooden Panels (500 lbs of wood) were pried off the 
  walls carefully (it will require 5 checks against INT to 
  do so and each failure will result in a loss of 1D4x100 GP 
  value) the panels could be sold for 1,000 GP.  The 
  Numerous bookcases line the walls all made of simple 
  dark wood.  The bookcase are marked with confusing 
  alchemical symbols, mercury indicating a shelf of 
  transformative 
  magic, 
  antimony 
  necromancy, 
  quicksilver planar travel, sulfur summoning and earth 
  general knowledge.  There are five cases of books, floor 
  to ceiling, and with a scattering of other magical 
  laboratory items.  A long worktable is covered in 
  alchemical equipment, glassware and small mechanical 
  devices rests along the South wall, and a steel operating 
  table stands in the center of the room.  The Alchemical 
  Equipment is valuable, but not especially unique or 
  rare, worth only 500 GP. The Rare Books however, are 
  very valuable (20,000GP), providing a basis for 
  research into esoteric aspects of planar travel, 
  summoning and necromancy.  They are also protected 
  by a trio of Literary Phantoms which will form if any of 
  the books are opened without speaking a proper code 
  word or casting remove curse upon them.  If the tomes in 
  the library are destroyed the Literary Phantoms will 
  likewise disappear.  
  
  43 | P a g e  
   
   
  18. 
  Balcony 
  Appearance: 
  A balcony of marble set into a brass lattice above Area 16. Curtains of glowing blue water 
  blur but fail to conceal handsome matching wooden doors to the North (Area 19) and South 
  (Area 20) while arched windows, barred in decorative twisting brass look out of the Western 
  Wall onto the Cavern of Cenotes.   
  Smell: 
  Stale perfume of cinnamon and tree resin. 
  Lighting: 
  A warm blue glow softy illuminates this area from the water curtains;  diffuse light also 
  trickles in from the cavern beyond the windows. 
  Traps: 
  Curtains of Allegiance: Save vs. Spells or become insane/loyal to Pretender 
  Treasure: 
  None 
  Inhabitants: 
  Random encounter from Machine table 1 in 6 per turn. 
   
  Continuing the opulent grandeur of marble and 
  decorative brass found in Area 16 below, the balcony 
  adds a vista out onto the Cavern of Cenotes and a pair of 
  gentle curtains of glowing blue water that separate the 
  doors from the rest of the balcony.  The doors themselves 
  are locked, but can be picked or forced (though they 
  have steel cores) without complications.  The curtains of 
  water are another matter, representing a dangerous trap 
  for the unwary. The windows are thin crystal, as strong as 
  steel. 
   
  Curtains of Allegiance: The twin cascades of blue water 
  are an enchanted trap, placed by the Machine’s original 
  owners to guarantee the loyalty of their servants.  If the 
  blue water touches the flesh of anyone passing through 
  the curtains (and it will unless extraordinary precautions 
  are taken, beyond holding a cloak over one’s head), they 
  must roll a Save vs. Spells or find themselves insanely 
  loyal to the long collapsed regime of the Pretender.  The 
  first impulse of an effected individual will be to attack 
  their companions as a means of proving their loyalty and 
  then flee into the depths of the machine to plot the 
  restoration of the fallen empire.  If a victim is restrained 
  the effects of the curtains are reversible with remove 
  curse, or several weeks of aggressive deprograming and 
  brainwashing.   Bypassing the curtains will require 
  either a sealed waterproof suit, or the use of a shield 
  spell, or floating disc spell to divert the water.  
   
   
  LITERARY PHANTOMS 
  HD 4+2 (HP 14, 27, 22), AC 4* ATK 1 (bite), DAM 2D6**, MV 20’, SV F4, ML 12 
  * Immune to arcane magic, normal weapons, poison, cold and mind effecting spells, take damage from all liquids as if 
  they were holy water and 2x damage from non-magical fire. ** Poison Bite, Save or Die. 
   
  Not strictly undead and so unturnable, Literary Phantom are forged from the memories of dying scholars and sometimes 
  used by skilled necromancers to protect their libraries. The phantom will form from the words of the library, a maelstrom 
  of floating magical ink and sigils that burn with cold fire.  Their bite injects poisonous ink into their victims where it 
  spreads like black tracery through the skin, and if it kills will write the victim’s history on their own flesh (10% chance 
  per level that magic user victims’ skin will be scribed with their currently memorized spells, which may be peeled and 
  used as a scroll). More dangerous than their ability to poison is the literary phantoms’ complete immunity to arcane 
  magic, which they will absorb into their own being as a torrent of words and symbols, regenerating 1HD of damage for 
  every spell level used against them.    
  
  44 | P a g e  
   
  19. 
  PRETENDER’s SUITE 
  Appearance: 
  Completely ravaged and intentionally sacked bedroom suite with graffiti covering the walls.  
  An ebony door leads South to Area 18. 
  Smell: 
  Mold and decaying wooden furniture 
  Lighting: 
  None 
  Traps: 
  None 
  Treasure: 
  Rotted Diary (0GP - provides clues) 
  Inhabitants: 
  None 
   
  A once grand suite, vandalized with a singular obsession 
  to detail.  None of the ornate furniture remains intact 
  and the fine clothing has been torn as well as splashed 
  with caustics bleaching and burning it so that even the 
  cloth is worthless. The hardwood paneling on the walls, 
  once a rich shimmering reddish brown, has been hacked 
  and defaced with the phrases “Raptor”, “Death to the 
  False Tyrant” and “No Man Shall Die so Another May 
  Live Again”.  Careful searching through the wreckage 
  will reveal a torn and stained book.  The Rotted Diary is 
  barely legible, with only a few phrases that are legible.  
  Even the readable sections are mostly reports of battles 
  won and lost, or odd megalomaniacal ranting about 
  “spells of mastery”, “transforming the poisoned garden of 
  the Earth” and “transport of the champions into the very 
  body of the beaked demon”.   
   
  One passage is useful to explorers of the Machine and 
  reads “The efforts of increase are not providing 
  significant returns, despite filling the first chamber to 
  capacity with the highest quality of prisoner, when I 
  stand alone in the last my powers are no longer 
  increased.  The machines have lied, and I will not forgot.” 
   
  20. 
  CHECKPOINT 
  Appearance: 
  Spartan guard room and small armory, smashed and torn apart by battle.  Steel cored ebony 
  doors lead to Areas 18 (NW) and 21(NE). 
  Smell: 
  The must of ages and old decay 
  Lighting: 
  Flickering light of cracked glass globe in the ceiling.   
  Traps: 
  None 
  Treasure: 
  Crumbling Parchment (0 GP – Contains Clues) 
  Inhabitants: 
  Random encounter from machine table 1 in 6 per turn. 
   
  A dim amber light flickers in this from a cracked glass 
  globe on the ceiling, casting the shadows of wrecked 
  furniture, broken weapons and several of moth eaten 
  uniforms.  The furniture shows signs of having been 
  hacked apart, either in a melee or through wanton 
  vandalism, while much of the clothing is slashed and 
  covered in bloodstains.  A tarnished brass rail and rings 
  on the ceiling indicate this area was once bisected 
  lengthwise by a curtain, which now lies as a rotten pile of 
  brocade in the South Eastern corner of the room.  The 
  smashed weapons racks and desks indicate that this 
  chamber once had a soldierly purpose.  
  Close investigation of the smashed desks and chairs will 
  reveal several brass discs with the Pretender’s seal (A 
  bundle of arrows, a sheaf of grain atop a stylized hide 
  surmounted by a crown or something else equally 
  innocuous) and a bundle of crumbling parchment bound 
  with faded purple ribbon. 
  Crumbling Parchment: The duty manual for the ancient 
  Pretender’s elite guards assigned to this distant but 
  prestigious post.  The document is written in the dead 
  language of the Pretender’s empire, perhaps distantly 
  related to the languages of giants or ogres (should one’s 
  campaign use such language proficiencies) and 
  
  45 | P a g e  
   
  decipherable by a character fluent in either with a 
  successful Intelligence check, but otherwise only 
  accessible via read magic or a similar spell. 
  The content of the Crumbling Parchment is largely 
  admonishments to stand erect, duty schedules, 
  references to housing in the Stone Mansion, reminders of 
  how to treat visitors of differing rank and instructions of 
  weapon polishing.  However, a section of the document 
  lists warnings to guards who must move about the 
  machine.
   
  21. 
   SUMMONING CHAMBER 
  Appearance: 
  A strange juxtaposition of massive machines and marble clad decadence.  A single door 
  enters from Area 20 in the Southwestern corner of the room. 
  Smell: 
  Ancient incense and machine oil 
  Lighting: 
  Ceiling skylights let in the grey light of the cavern outside during daylight hours 
  Traps: 
  Central Control Pylon may open gates or summon attackers  
  Treasure: 
  None 
  Inhabitants: 
  Random encounter from machine table 1 in 6 per turn. 
   
  Six huge pistons line the walls of this room  and skylights 
  cover the ceiling letting in dim shafts of light during the 
  day.  When the machine is active these pistons (each 
  several tons of steel) slowly pound in and out with a 
  metallic screaming.  The floor is a patchwork of metal 
  piping, riveted plates and marble tiles. A Control Pylon 
  stands in the center of the room, made of gleaming 
  chrome with three banks of unlabeled cut glass buttons 
  on the front and a battery of huge copper wrapped 
  crystals on its rear. 
   
  The left bank of buttons controls the Mechanism in Area 
  14, the center panel controls the traps throughout the 
  Machine and the right panel the summoning device on 
  the rear of the pylon itself.  While the intricate codes 
  required to properly use the pylon, randomly pressing 
  the buttons will cause an effect as follows: 
   
  Left keyboard:  1 in 6 chance of activating the machine. 
  Central Keyboard: (1D6) will shut on or off a trap: 1- Searing Statues (Area 16) ,  2- Curtains of Allegiance 
  (Area 18),  3- No Effect, 4- Nest of Blades (Area 1) , 5-Pit Trap (Area 3) , 6-Steel Guardian (Area 9). 
  Right Keyboard: 1 in 6 chance a life form from elsewhere in the valley is summoned in a shimmering whirlwind 
  of sparkling blue light from the pylon’s crystals. (1D6) (1-2 Roll on the Undead Table, 3-4 Roll on the 
  Lubricants Table, 5-6 Roll on the Autocrat’s Tear Table. 
  1. 
  Report and fluid, gas or substance leakage, to an acolyte immediately as these are dangerous. 
  2. Place all deliveries of alchemical supplies and books near the Alchemical Lock in Operations; do not attempt 
  to enter the laboratory. 
  3. Always check with that the statutes are reset before passage - the black watcher to the room and hunter to 
  the wall. 
  4. Report all any suspicious sounds, deaths or odors to an Acolyte no matter how trivial 
  5. Do not throw items in the vortex, do not allow ones fellows to throw items into the vortex, discovery of any 
  vortex forged item found will result in collective punishment. 
  
  46 | P a g e  
   
  After the Machine 
   
  The Machine is an artifact of enormous power, and only 
  its dangers and distance from settled lands prevent it 
  from again acting as the centerpiece of an empire of 
  depravity and evil, with captives, slaves and prisoners 
  fueling the Machine to build armies of the undead, and 
  create a cadre of powerful megalomaniacs.  Many 
  parties will want to destroy the Machine on account of 
  its obvious evil, or conceal it, and it is hoped that players 
  will be reluctant to power it with the sacrifice of others.  
  Other parties, and certainly many forces in almost any 
  game world, will want to shackle the Machine’s power to 
  their ambitions.  There are several problems that can 
  arise from both these approaches. 
   
  Destroying the machine will be difficult, not only is it 
  rather sturdy and filled with dangerous substances, but 
  even if destroyed it is self-repairing and unless the 
  vortex within is somehow closed with specialized and 
  complex magic (the act of a divine being or a specially 
  researched modification of the Gate spell), surviving 
  Wire Ghasts (the machine will insure that some will 
  always survive) will rebuild it in a matter of months, 
  years or decades.   
   
  The best way of limiting access to the machine is likely 
  to collapse the entrances to the Cavern of Cenotes, but 
  doing so will destroy a site sacred to the Yellowlanders 
  and the entire Yellow Land may rise to hunt the party 
  (even sending diminutive assassins into civilized lands) if 
  they discover (and their gods will tell them) who has 
  destroyed the Cavern. 
   
  If the party attempts to seize the Machine for their own 
  uses, they may have some success for a few months, but 
  bring coffles of captives for sacrifice across the Yellow 
  Lands will arose the Yellow Landers suspicions and their 
  folktales still remember the reign of the Pretender.  If the 
  Machine is reactivated the Yellowland’s sheriffs, hunters 
  and priests will launch a war against those who would 
  do so, besieging the Autocrat’s Tear.  Even the 
  Yellowlander’s gods may become enraged if their land is 
  too polluted with armies of tortured undead and enough 
  of their worshippers are slain. Likewise foreign powers, 
  from despots and sorcerer kings, to the high inquisitors of 
  churches of order will eventually hear of the Machine 
  and send forces to seize it for their own purposes.  To 
  control the Machine almost requires the creation of an 
  Empire and a willingness to crush any who would claim 
  it.  An Empire formed from the enslaved souls of the 
  defeated and rule by a megalomaniac wizard will have 
  few friends, and a party attempting to forge one may 
  find the whole world turned against them, even if the 
  victors will eventually fall into warring amongst 
  themselves over the Machine. 
   
  The Machine’s exact powers are also somewhat complex 
  to unravel, and its workings (unless discovered through 
  in-game experimentation) will require spending several 
  weeks within its ghast haunted halls. A savvy GM might 
  enliven this research period with rival seekers after 
  power, perhaps groups sent by those who have funded or 
  know of the player’s expedition.  The forces of the Tear 
  will not be idle during this research period either, as the 
  Old Gods of the Tear, again glutted with willing 
  sacrifices, wish to prevent the Machine’s reactivation.  
  Likewise the Rusted Sentinels will besiege the Machine, 
  as they are loyal to the long lost Pretender and 
  compelled to expel or destroy intruders. If the Harbinger 
  of the Beak survives the adventurer’s initial incursion, he 
  will not react calmly, and with both his vow to guard the 
  Machine and his lust to control it offended he may be 
  able to overcome the compulsions that keep him 
  trapped inside the Machine, hunting intruders beyond 
  the Tear and gathering allies with promises of power. 
   
  The best option for adventurers who have mastered the 
  Machine is to conceal it and return to use its powers of 
  resurrection, and this shouldn’t be game unbalancing, as 
  without a recharge of souls the Machine can only raise 
  six individuals at best.  In leaving the Machine 
  unguarded the party will also be forced to navigate its 
  cursed halls again, facing any modifications it has made 
  to itself, if they wish to return and resurrect a companion 
   
  
  47 | P a g e  
   
  Another possible complication arising from the 
  Machine’s rediscovery is the return of the Hated 
  Pretender and his attempt to use the Machine to restore 
  some of his power.  If the Pretender is still alive, and has 
  been freed from his prison he will eventually make his 
  way back to the Machine, where the Rust Sentinels will 
  still obey him.  He understands the device’s secrets and 
  should have minimal problems regaining a portion of his 
  ancient power.  
  SERVITORS OF THE 
  DREAD MACHINE 
  Special Attacks 
  Gaze of Madness: Meeting the gaze of an active Rusted Sentinel 
  causes violent insanity for 1D12 rounds.   Any individual in melee 
  with one of these hulks must save vs. paralysis each round or 
  become afflicted with a hate fueled berserker madness and launch 
  a melee attack against the nearest target.  If more than one target 
  is nearby (as in a melee) attack will be directed at a random 
  victim.  Averting one’s eyes, or using a blindfold is an effective 
  means of avoiding the insanity effect, but gives a -4 to all attack 
  rolls against the Sentinel. 
  Iron Curse: Blows of the Rusted Sentinel infect those they strike 
  with the iron curse, a creeping rust that slowly consumes the body 
  and mind, leaving cankers and corrosion, The curse prevents 
  magical healing and causes 1D2 points of damage a day.  It may be 
  cured by the use of a remove curse spell, while victims who die of 
  the curse will arise as Wire Ghasts. 
   
   
  Rusted  Sentinel 
  No. Appearing 
  1-4 
  Hit Dice 
  5+5 
  Armor Class 
  3 
  No. Attacks 
  1 (smash) 
  Damage 
  1D12 
  Special Attack 
  Gaze, Disease 
  Special Defense 
  Immunities/Damage Reduction (-1) 
  Move 
  20’ 
  Save As 
  F8 
  Morale 
  12 (Fearless) 
  
  48 | P a g e  
   
  Special Defenses 
  Damage Reduction: The plating and largely inorganic 
  nature of the Rusted Sentinel make it is difficult to 
  damage.  Rusted Sentinels reduce all damage by 1 point 
  per die. 
  Undead Immunities: The Rusted Sentinels is undead and 
  as such immune to all attacks that depend on either the 
  mental fragility of their victims or poison the body.  
  Sleep, charm, feeblemind, fear, confusion, exhaustion 
  and similar mental effects cannot harm the undead, nor 
  will poison or disease.  Rusted Sentinels, like all undead 
  are susceptible to clerical turning and holy water as well 
  as spells that specifically target the undead.  
  Ecology 
  The Rusted Sentinel is part construct and part undead, 
  the body and soul of a captured war hero, whom the 
  Pretender bent to his service through foul necromancy 
  and the sinister instrumentalities of the Bronze Ziggurat.  
  The source of all Rusted Sentinels were captives, 
  imprisoned in new bodies of iron, steel and bronze, with 
  molten sigils of dark magic burnt into their flesh and 
  fixed in their bones.  These enemies of the Pretender died 
  horribly, with tortured bodies and tormented souls, their 
  hopes of victory, rescue or even an honorable death 
  replaced with the knowledge that their imprisoned souls 
  would serve the Pretender eternally.  If the process itself 
  didn’t drive these heroes insane, the years of abdead 
  psychic bondage afterwards certainly did, and all that 
  remains now is hatred of any who would intrude on their 
  madness and the commands of the Pretender, coded into 
  their hexed bones. 
  History 
  Massive tangles of rusted magical machinery that 
  encase the tattered remains of once great warriors, these 
  undead entities were constructed by the Pretender 
  himself to provide an incorruptible guard force for the 
  Dread Machine.  Like the Wire Ghasts they were 
  largely destroyed by the conquering Paladins of the 
  Beak, but once that Theocracy fell, the Machine began 
  to again produce Wire Ghasts, which in turn tirelessly 
  reconstructed some number of these titanic guards.  The 
  Sentinels now follow their ancient code, and guard the 
  Tear, the Cavern of Cenotes and the Machine, rarely 
  wandering from their posts. 
  Combat 
  The Rusted Sentinels are fierce opponents, smashing 
  enemies with a single massive arm of riveted iron and 
  capable of inflicting catastrophic damage with their 
  ponderous blows. They are undead and so immune to 
  many spells, fear and other psychological effects. 
  Additionally the heavy plating of the Sentinel offers not 
  only excellent protection, but absorbs the force of blows 
  and magic. While deadly in melee combat, even those 
  who survive a Sentinel’s pulverizing blows will find 
  themselves afflicted by the Iron Curse, a potent magical 
  disease that will kill painfully over the course of several 
  days.  Perhaps worse than the Iron Curse is the gaze of a 
  Rusted Sentinel, a glance into its hollow pain filled eyes 
  will drive most mortals into violent berserker insanity. 
  The obvious method of confronting a Rusted Sentinel is 
  to destroy them from afar, using their slow movement to 
  pepper them with sorceries and missiles until their 
  cantankerous machinery is shattered and the rune 
  covered bones beneath broken.  However, Rusted 
  Sentinels’ own tactics and manner of combat mitigate 
  this weakness to a degree, for there are patient eternal 
  guardians, not aggressive hunters and are unlikely to 
  pursue a retreating foe, especially one that has proven 
  capable of injuring them at range.  Rusted Sentinels will 
  simply retreat into cover, around a corner, behind a large 
  rock formation or into a murky cenote and wait.  When 
  intruders again pass by the Sentinel lurches to life, 
  attacking from as close as possible or slowly trailing 
  behind enemies to prevent their escape.  So patient are 
  the Sentinels that many in the Cavern of Cenotes are 
  lost beneath layers of lichen, moss and fungus, hard to 
  discern from any other dense growth until they attack.  
  The Sentinels are slow movers but stealthy for their size 
  and construction, having normal chances at surprise as 
  they creep almost silently on their spidery steel shod 
  legs. 
  
  49 | P a g e  
   
  Special Attacks 
  Aura of Hopelessness: Desolate Crusaders, whether they 
  broke their sacred vows or fell defending them, died in a 
  pointless struggle as the theocracy they served 
  crumbled around them.  As they fought they came to 
  know true hopelessness and to understand the futility of 
  their battles.  This sadness has carried over into undeath, 
  and any mortal within 10’ will feel a sudden, near 
  overwhelming bleakness in the presence of a Desolate 
  Crusader, suffering a -1 penalty to all Saving Throws.  
  This effect is additive and for each Crusader within 10’ 
  an additional -1 is applied to all Saving Throws. 
   
  Level Drain: The touch of a Desolate Crusader’s 
  corroded weapon siphons life energy, causing a rash of 
  necrotic black flesh and draining an experience level 
  from the victim.  The level draining effect of the 
  Desolate Crusader allows no saving throw to avoid it, 
  but is their primary means of inflicting injury.  After 
  combat a lenient GM may allow a Save vs. Spells to 
  recover drained levels at a rate of 1 per hour of rest.  Any 
  creature reduced to -1 levels is instantly dead, and will 
  rise as a Desolate Crusader the next night. 
   
  Special Defenses 
  Immaterial Presence: Desolate Crusaders do not exist in 
  any materially significant way, until they choose to 
  attack.  Their suits of decaying armor and rotten 
  vestments hang in space like moldering clothes in an 
  abandoned closet, purposelessly drifting until they 
  sense pray and manifest to attack.  Before a Desolate 
  Crusader attacks, no means of inflicting damage may 
  harm them (though material attacks will crease, dent 
  and puncture their shattered armor).  Turning will still 
  effect them, as will non-damaging magics such as slow 
  or curse.  
  Weapon Immunity: Even when a Desolate Crusader 
  attacks, they are mostly immaterial, and cannot be 
  damaged by normal weapons. Magical and Silver 
  weapons will slice the Desolate Crusader’s ectoplasmic 
  form. 
  Undead Immunities: Desolate Crusaders are undead 
  and as such immune to all attacks that depend on either 
  the mental fragility of their victims or poison the body.  
  Sleep, charm, feeblemind, fear, confusion, exhaustion 
  and similar mental effects cannot harm the undead, nor 
  will poison or disease.  Desolate Crusaders, like all 
  undead are susceptible to clerical turning and holy 
  water as well as spells that specifically target the 
  undead.  
   
  Desolate Crusader 
  No. Appearing 
  1D6-1 
  Hit Dice 
  4+1 
  Armor Class 
  3 
  No. Attacks 
  1 (touch) 
  Damage 
  1D4 + level drain 
  Special Attack 
  Hopeless Aura, Level Drain 
  Special Defense 
  Immunities, Immaterial 
  Move 
  30’ 
  Save As 
  F4 
  Morale 
  10 (Despondent) 
  
  50 | P a g e  
   
  Ecology 
  Desolate Crusaders are revenants of sorrow, once 
  paladins and knights of an avian god they perished in 
  the wars between the various sects of their religion, 
  either trying to seize or protect the Machine.  The 
  psychic residue of these conflicts, savagery, betrayal and 
  loss of faith combined with the otherworldly radiations 
  of the Dread Machine has brought these warriors back 
  from the dead.  Now they exist only to spread 
  hopelessness and sorrow. 
   
  Existing largely outside of this universe, with only a tiny 
  spark of bleak grey despondency tying them to their 
  savaged armor Desolate Crusaders linger without real 
  purpose. The faith and direction that once motivated 
  these holy warriors now provides them with a residue of 
  purpose, twisted and reformed into a desire to spread 
  their doctrine of betrayal and hopelessness. While the 
  bulk of the Desolate Crusader’s spirit wails endless and 
  disconsolate in the Lands of the Dead, their armor hangs 
  floating inches above the ground, moving in slow circles 
  or drifting without direction.  Drawn back into the 
  terrestrial universe by the presence of mortal souls and 
  the compulsion to drain hope and life from them, the 
  armor of the Crusader will float towards their victims, 
  and then it’s ectoplasmic body will fill the armor like 
  thick foul smelling oil poured into a leaking bag as it 
  attacks. Once manifest the Desolate Crusader will 
  attack until it is badly injured and flees or it manages 
  drain its opponents. Glutted with life energy, the 
  Desolate Crusader may go into a form of hibernation 
  after successfully attacking, wandering off and losing 
  interest in its prey for some time.  
   
  History 
  The Revolution often loses its way after victory, the iron 
  dictates of struggle eroding when they confront the 
  difficulty of governance.  The ancient destroyers of the 
  Pretender’s Empire suffered from this same fate trying to 
  govern an empire and convert it to their harsh avian god.  
  It’s also rumored that in a last act of defiant revenge the 
  Pretender’s own heroes killed the Beaked God. 
  Whatever the cause of the Crusade’s decline its Empire 
  collapsed into warring sects, with monastery and holy 
  order set against each other, squabbling over the loyalty 
  of their subjects and the eldritch artifacts remaining 
  from the Pretender’s reign. The sects fought most 
  vigorously over the Dread Machine, sending their 
  strongest and most fanatical paladins against each other 
  and to besiege the equally fanatical defenders of the 
  Machine.  Those that perished in these petty religious 
  wars had their faith shattered and returned as vengeful 
  revenants of hopelessness. 
  COMBAT 
  In combat the Desolate Crusader lacks the skills and 
  tactics that it had in life, dependent on its total 
  immunity to damage to allow it to approach its enemies.  
  The Crusader does not see its attacks as violence, but 
  rather as a form of preaching its personal religion of 
  despondence.  Often before attack the Desolate 
  Crusader will simply hang in the air for minutes before 
  attacking, waiting to be attacked or feeling the fear of 
  its victims.   
  Crusaders are not without some sense of self 
  preservation, and will flee (slowly) if injured sufficiently 
  or turned.  They also lack a real memory or close 
  attachment to their own existence, so they will lose 
  interest in pursuit quite quickly and rarely recollect 
  previous encounters. 
   
  WIRE GHAST 
  No. Appearing 
  1D6-1 
  Hit Dice 
  4 
  Armor Class 
  4 
  No. Attacks 
  3 (claw/claw/bite) 
  Damage 
  1D4/1D4/1D8 
  Special Attack 
  Paralysis/ Electrical Field 
  Special Defense 
  Immunities 
  Move 
  40’ 
  Save As 
  F3 
  Morale 
  12 (Fearless) 
  
  51 | P a g e  
   
  Special Attacks 
  Paralysis: The tesla coil claws of the Wire Ghast are 
  charged with voltaic energy that animates them, each of 
  a Wire Ghast’s claw attacks have the potential to 
  paralyze any they strike with a strong arc of electrical 
  energy.  A Save vs. Paralysis will prevent this effect, but 
  a failure will result in the victim becoming 
  incapacitated with convulsions for 1D6+4 rounds. 
   
  Electrical Field: Wire Ghasts are surrounded by a field 
  of charged voltaic force, visible as crackling blue energy 
  and capable of inflicting injury to any mortal within 10’, 
  who will take 1D2 damage per round, while within the 
  energy field.  This effect is not cumulative, and no matter 
  how many Ghasts are in melee the field they create will 
  only inflict 1D2 points of damage to anyone within it. 
  Special Defenses 
  Undead Immunities: Wire Ghasts are largely undead 
  and as such immune to all attacks that depend on either 
  the mental fragility of their victims or poison the body.  
  Sleep, charm, feeblemind, fear, confusion, exhaustion 
  and similar mental effects cannot harm the undead, nor 
  will poison or disease. Wire Ghasts, despite their 
  mechanical nature are susceptible to clerical turning 
  and holy water as well as spells that specifically target 
  the undead.   Wire Ghasts are also immune to electrical 
  damage as they are animated by the same force. 
  Ecology 
  The Dread Machine makes Wire Ghasts, and Wire 
  Ghasts repair the Dread Machine.  The Ghasts are 
  interventions, not normal undead, animated by 
  otherworldly sorcery and mechanical prowess, Ghasts 
  share some sort of vague collective consciousness and 
  attachment to the Machine itself.  They have no little in 
  the way of thought and are controlled entirely by the 
  Machine, subservient to its needs, principally repair and 
  a steady supply of more bodies to transform into Wire 
  Ghasts. What little memory of their old lives remains 
  within the tormented mechanical hulks is directed to a 
  sort of worshipful reverence for the Dread Machine. 
  The appearance of Wire Ghasts reveals their undead 
  nature with clammy grey skin, shrivelled sunken eyes 
  and obvious unhealed injuries that do not bleed.  
  Equally obvious is the strange mechanical modifications 
  that the Machine has made to these creatures.  Most 
  obviously the rack of tesla coils that sprout from their 
  shoulders and have replaced their fingers.  Additionally, 
  coils of wire, crude ceramic transistors and blinking 
  crystal diodes sprout from their flesh, crackling with the 
  same force that animates the Wire Ghast.   
   
  History 
  When the Machine was created by summoned and 
  enslaved extra planar machine intelligences, the first 
  mechanism they built was the Pillar of Ghasts which the 
  Pretender quickly used to convert his human workforce 
  into Wire Ghasts that the machine itself could direct to 
  complete its own construction.  Ever since the Machine 
  has created Ghasts to preform repair, maintenance and 
  to send on collection missions for victims to transform 
  into Ghasts. 
   
  
  52 | P a g e  
   
  COMBAT 
  Wire Ghasts are simple pack hunters, seeking to 
  surround their prey and drag them down with their 
  numbers and ferocity.  They will not run as they lack any 
  sense of self preservation, and cannot speak or parley. 
  After battle Giest will collect the injured or dead and 
  drag them back to the Machine to be transformed into 
  Ghasts through a process of grafting and alteration that 
  takes approximately a day.   
   
   
  All Writing and Art is the sole product of Gus L of http://dungeonofsigns.blogspot.com/ 
  This product is intended for free distribution and use under the OGL as it pertains to concepts and content owned by 
  Wizards of the Coast. 
   
   
  SHUN BEAST 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Old School Revival (OSR(ic))/[1e Compatible, OSRIC]/1e, OSRIC Adventures & Settings/Dread Machine (1e,OSRIC).pdf