TEXT: COMES THE MOUNTAIN 
  The doom of cities out of strange Vheissu comes.  Encrusted with the dolmens and temples of dead cities, with thunderous cracking and crash its coming drives 
  civilization before it.  Once the most feared punishment of those who defied the Flame Magi, now forgotten and loosed upon the world by indifference.  The 
  Mountain’s coming is slow but in a few weeks it will reach the capital to crush with its stone talons and burn with gouts of magma from within.   
   
  THE MOUNTAIN is a stone colossus, armies 
  cannot stop it.  More calculated attacks have 
  also failed; attempts to mine to its heart met 
  with gouts of magma from within the Mountain, 
  like blood from a wound.  The Magi of Vheissu 
  are not fools, and the wards of liquid fire that 
  protect the mountain have broken the sorceries 
  of priest-kings, academies of wizards, and 
  circles of shaman alike.  Even the most 
  powerful of spells, sorceries that bend space 
  and time, or the intervention of demi-gods can 
  only slow the Mountain for a week or two.  It’s 
  sides are covered with the debris of lost cities 
  and a few buildings near its 500’ summit 
  promise to reveal the Mountain’s secrets. 
   
  THE RED WATCH (AREA A) A bulbous 
  tower of red tile, etched with sinuous waves of 
  abstract flame.  There are windows atop it and 
  molten steps lead to a sagging arch at the 
  tower’s base. The interior is decorated in flame 
  hued tiles of glass, stone and ceramic, again 
  depicting flame patterns or the volcanic 
  mountains and hanging towns of lost Vehissu. 
  The doors within the Watch are the Mountain’s 
  porous black stone banded with bronze.  The 
  doors are malicious, and will always swing 
  closed after 1 turn, requiring a Force check to 
  open.  Random encounters within the tower 
  will be with flights of 1D6+6 Sainted Haints (as 
  Specters – See A4). 
  THE MOUNTAIN 
  AREA A 
  
   
  A1) Heart’s Vault - Stairs of bronze railing and black stone treads lead upward. 
  The door at the rear of this chamber is banded in gold (2,000 GP worth) and 
  clearly marked with a Ward of Death (First to interact with the door or bands 
  must Roll a CON check or die).  Beyond the door is a rounded vault containing 
  a well (See B5) leading to the Mountain’s Heart. The floor of the well vault is 
  decorated with a mosaic (containing 3,000 GP in semi-precious stones) 
  depicting weeping kings, queens, sultans, and empresses offering up their 
  children towards the well.    
  A2) Lava Blister - Once a guardroom, the floor sags and cracks, while fanciful 
  gilded weapons hang on the walls (the steel within is rotten, and the whole 
  collection worth only 400 GP) and jumbles of rotten furniture decorate the 
  corners.  The floor is weak and will crumble under more than 100lbs of weight, 
  dropping into a Magma Cyst 50’ below (5D6 damage and save vs. breath or die 
  each round if not immune to fire). 
  A3) Singing Stone - The black stone stairs of this hall are flanked by bronze 
  statues of crystal winged, lion headed woman.  The statues sing 
  incomprehensible hymns to the gods of rock and flame in sweet, high voices. 
  A4) Demise of Saints - Once a scriptorium, filled with lecterns and scrolls, now 
  dust and brittle tinder.  The room is haunted by 35 Sainted Haints, the spirits of 
  the copyists whose ash covered bones calcify where they sacrificed themselves 
  to their fiery gods amongst the detritus of their work.  Each Haint is a figure of 
  ash clad in robes of flame, unable to speak, but gesticulating to show its outrage 
  at the intrusion of mortals. (As specters, but immune to all manifestations of fire). 
  A5) Mechanisms of Fire  - The walls here are decorated in brass and bronze 
  plate, and inscribed with runes that spell out the following spells: Affect 
  Normal Fires, Burning Hands, Fireball and Wall of Fire.  The spells can be 
  deciphered with Read Magic and copied as a scroll (taking considerable time).  
  This room once rotated with area A6, and behind its wall is a hollow space 
  filled with arcane machinery. 
  A6) Wheelhouse - A cracked obsidian orb (500 GP) stands before a thin 
  window.  Turning the orb once provided control of the Mountain’s wanderings, 
  and the rotation of the tower’s top floor, but it has lost its power.  The small room 
  near the window is a spartan cell, the mummified remains of a Vheissuian Magi 
  sitting on the floor in a red embroidered loincloth.  The magi committed suicide 
  by digesting huge quantities of arcane regents and rare metals that 
  transformed and preserved his flesh.  The body is strangely crystalized, 
  reddened and enchanted, providing protection from fire (for 2D20 turns) to any 
  who eat a fist sized chunk of it.
  TEMPLE  OF  IRON AND  FLAME (AREA B)  Carved into the rock behind a 
  colonnade of black marble veined with orange agate (12,000 GP worth requiring  
  days of mining) is a domed temple.  The dome is red ceramic tiles and the walls 
  within are covered in black and red panels, broken up by mosaics and reliefs 
  depicting rites, myths and industrial processes related to fire. Random encounters 
  in the temple include only small snakes, vaporous apparitions and hissing black 
  salamanders. 
   
  B1) Altar of Flame  - An altar of black pumice, its top dished to contain a pile of 
  burnt bones (from a large bird) stands at the center of this hall.  Around the altar’s 
  base is a carved inscription (readable with magic), an ancient prayer to the 
  destructive Flame Gods.  Monumental bronze carvings loom behind the altar, 
  each showing a different city enveloped in flames and ruin.  Passing through the 
  arch in the rear of the hall without first reciting a prayer to the gods of fire 
  (including the one on the altar) will summon a Wall of Fire springs up between 
  the columns and a Hateful Phoenix, which  manifests above the altar (one per 
  person crossing the arch without prayer – as Fire Elemental of the largest size). 
  AREA B 
  
   
  B2) Black Fountain - A fountain of cool water made from obsidian carved with 
  peaceful images of a mountain cataract (10,000 GP but attached to wall and 
  very heavy) bubbles soothingly here.  The rear of the fountain is a stele carved 
  with thousands of glyphs (prayers), pressing one unremarkable glyph will 
  unlatch a hidden catch and cause the stele to swing inward. 
  B3) Dust Halls - Empty halls and priests cells, that contain dust, ash and small 
  bones. A few small bronze bells are ground into the dirt. 
  B4) Patriarch’s Vault - The office of the temple hierarch, walls paneled in 
  riveted bronze (including a secret door triggered by a sliding rivet) with 
  patterns depicting the 500 positions of worship for the Vehissuian cult of fire.  
  Behind the secret door is a treasury including a set of gold and obsidian tile 
  vestments (50,000 GP, as leather armor, reflect spells 25%) and several coffers 
  full of red gems and yellow gold bars (30,000 GP) total.  
  B5) Path of Fire and Stone - A winding corridor of stone, inlaid marked with 
  glowing 10’ circles of obsidian sigils.  Crossing the circles, unless led by one in 
  the obsidian tile vestments, causes them to burst into towers of black flame (as 
  10D6 Fireball), or jagged barriers of spinning obsidian (as Blade Barrier).   
  Beyond is a chamber with a central well between smooth stone walls.  The well 
  also exits through the ceiling to A1.  In the darkness the walls will glow with the 
  history of the Mountain and tell how to mollify it through the sacrifice of royal 
  blood.  
  The well leads to the Mountain’s Heart, a huge red crystal floating in a magma 
  filled chamber 300’ below. If a member of any royal lineage is hurled down the 
  well the Mountain will settle and become quiescent for ten years.  Destroying 
  the Heart will also stop the Mountain, though the heart is submerged in a 10’ x 
  10’ magma chamber and immune to normal weapons. Descending the well 
  without protection from fire will cause 3D6 damage per round as hot volcanic 
  gasses boil from below.  Entering the Heart’s magma pool without complete 
  immunity to heat and fire damage is instant death, and even those who are 
  resistant will be attacked each round they remain in the pool by 1D4 of the 
  Flame Salamanders (as giant lizards) that cavort around the Heart. 
  B6) Hall of Iron Crescent shaped halls of tile and stone hold ranks of Black Iron 
  Statues, 120 in all, each depicting a bird headed lion with obsidian eyes.  The 
  statues are warm to the touch and will grow warmer until, red hot, they animate 
  (as Gorgons) at a rate of 1D10 per hour to hunt anyone who removes the 
  vestments in B5 from the temple.   The halls behind the statues contain dusty 
  meditation chambers of carved stone benches and intricately tiled mandalas of 
  semi-precious stone (5,000 GP).
   
  ICONS OF RUIN (AREA C) - A field of monuments blocks the best path up the Mountain.  To avoid travelling through it necessitates climbing gear and risks 
  falling from jagged cliffs.  While moving through the field the Monumental Wrecks within, the crumbled remnants of shattered cities, will animate to attack (As 
  animated stone statues).  The Wrecks are rooted in the earth and can’t move, but 1D6 will be able to attack a party moving through the field per round.  It will take 
  12 rounds to cross the field at unencumbered speed. 
   
  THE OLD GODS (AREA D) - Dolmen of red stones, cracked and lichen shrouded surround a stone lined shaft.  A monument to tribal earth spirits, subsumed by The 
  Mountain, the spirits will aid any who stand within the circle by whispering to them the riddle of the mountain’s power “The Mountain eats kings before it rests.” 
   
  MAGMA BORE (AREA E)  - Lava tubes on The Mountain’s snout belch  sulfurous fumes, and will spew magma when it enters its city crushing madness.  Within the 
  air is toxic (save vs. poison every turn or take -1 to all actions and -1HP per round while in the cave) and the caves are the home of a tribe of Vulcani, impure spirits of 
  elemental fire that resemble crudely formed men of lava rock, legless and supported by serpentine bodies.  The Vulcani roam the mountainsides and cavort in the 
  burning ruins of cities left in the Mountain’s wake as they, like all their kind, are wanderers who relish destruction and renewal.  The Vulcani are elemental 
  creatures, but rather than the indifference and distance displayed by most elementals, Vulcani are malicious and playful, delighting in the fires created by their 
  searing flesh and molten breath, amused by the fragility and curiosity of the terrestrial plane’s inhabitants.   Encounters within or near the Bore will be with 1D6 
  Vulcani. 
   
   
  
   
   
  E1) SHRINE OF FIRE  - A cave studded with raw gems (5,000 GP worth) and decorated with a crude statue of 
  a serpentine form.  1D6 Vulcani (as Salamanders) will be in this room at any time paying homage to their god.  
  One of them will always carry a staff of black rock while in this room designating it a priest. 
  E2) FATE OF THE RELUCTANT PRINCE  - The air in this cave is clear and provides a break from the bore’s 
  fumes.  A jumble of twisted molten steel and shattered weapons covers the floor, all that remains of a sacrificial 
  prince and his entourage of Kinights of the Body.  If the pile is investigated the mournful spirits of the Knights 
  will rise from the tortured remnants of their armor and silently begin telling the story of how they refused to 
  sacrifice their prince and instead tried to unearth the mountains secrets, but failed.  The Prince’s body was 
  destroyed here with his guard by the Vulcani. The ghosts can be communicated with and understood by 
  means of a Speak with Dead Spell and know that passing beyond the altar in Area B1 summons horrible fire 
  birds.  Among the remains are slagged silver and gold ornaments worth 300 GP for the metal content. 
  E3) THE SIGHING VENTS - Sulfurous fumes regularly spew from these vents at incredible temperatures and 
  any character walking this hall will be blasted and scalded by them.  1D6-1 jets of superheated steam will 
  strike anyone in the hall per round and each will do 4D6 points of damage unless the target is immune to heat.  
  Attempting to avoid the jets or block them with a shield may work allowing a Save vs. Breath against each jet 
  to avoid damage. 
  E4)  POOL OF PROPHECY  - A statue of red crystal dominates this lava chamber, lit by the hellish glow of 
  the magma pool below.  1D6 Vulcani will be cavorting in the pool at any time, but the elementals view the statue oracle’s pool as a place of sanctuary and will not 
  attack unless provoked.  If the Vulcani are enraged they will attack by pulling enemies into the lava pool, harmless to them, but doing 5D6 damage and save vs. 
  breath or die each round to anything not immune to fire.  The red crystal statue represents one of the god’s of fire, but shifts constantly from bull, to horse, to man and 
  everything between as befits fire’s protean nature.  If addressed the statue will respond and offer to answer one yes or no question with truth per mortal in the room.  
  It knows everything fire knows, which is to say most but not all things.   
  STOPPING THE MOUNTAIN is near impossible with normal means, as armies and spells tend to fail against it due to both its size and the wards built into it by its 
  creators.  Even a Wish or similar spell will only slow the Mountain for a week, and if it should reach a city it will destroy it in a few days of titanic fury.   The easiest 
  way to stop the Mountain is to mollify it with a sacrifice of royal blood, serving The Mountain’s original purpose to cow and intimidate conquered states for the ash 
  shrouded oligarchs of Vheissu.   
  Regardless of the Mountain or the menaced city’s fate, the Mountain leaves behind several adventure hooks.  The first is to simply follow its trail of destruction back 
  through ruined and molten cities, looting whatever remains.  Secondly, if the Mountain’s lust for royal sacrifices is discovered, it’s worthwhile to remember that 
  while the sacrifice must be of a line that has controlled a mid-sized polity for at least three generations it needn’t be the royalty of the threatened city and hunting 
  down rival monarchs to feed the Mountain is not an unreasonable plan.  A competent looting of the mountain is also likely to release an army of 120 gorgons to 
  plague the party in the future and leave their own path of destruction in the party’s wake.   
  COMES THE MOUNTAIN  
  Writing and Art – GUS L of dungeonofsigns.blogspot.com 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Labyrinth Lord/Labyrinth Lord Adventures & Settings/Anomalous Subsurface Environment Land of 1000 Towers (LL)/ASE Land of 1000 Towers Comes the Mountain (LL).pdf