Tomb of Horrors - 1st Edition.pdf - Advanced Dungeons & Dragons { 1st edition} - R5700

Tomb of Horrors

LEGEND OF THE TOMB

tional information which player characters would have no way of know-

ing, and avoid facial expressions or voice tones which might give

helpful hints or mislead players. The real enjoyment of this module is

managing to cope, and those players who manage to do so even

semi-successfully will appreciate your refereeing property and allow-

ing them to “live or die” on their own.

The legend of the tomb is an old story with many parts, some of

which may be lost or obscured. Characters attempting to glean spe-

cial information by consulting sages or through legend lore spells

may still have difficulty obtaining as much background as they de-

sire, for the scraps of information are often minimal and mystical.

These bits of information are available as clues, and characters can

make of them what they wish: Ancient Burial Places; Ancient Tombs;

Sorcerous Kings; Challenges; Surpassing (Certain Death); Soul Eat-

ers; Treasure; Great . . . The other parts of the legend can be fur-

nished by the Dungeon Master from the description which follows:

The starting information for the module depends upon whether you

are using the Tomb as an insertion into your own campaign, as a

section of THE WORLD OF GREYHAWK, or simply as a one-shot

exercise for your players. Because of the variableness, the informa-

tion for starting is stated so as to assume the expedition has arrived

at the site of the TOMB OF HORRORS. As Dungeon Master, you

may fill in whatever background Is needed, and if this is a section of

a campaign, players cannot have obtained the Legend information

without consulting sages, casting legend lore spells, finding the in-

formation in some arcane work, or whatever; all prior to locating the

actual locale of the Tomb and then getting to it, so that background

will have been accomplished. (When this module was used at Ori-

gins I, referees were instructed that the hill had been found (in the

Vast Swamp, and the party had arrived there in barges.)

The Tomb of Honors: Somewhere under a lost and lonely hill of

grim and foreboding aspect lies a labyrinthine crypt. It is filled with

terrible traps and not a few strange and ferocious monsters to slay

the unwary. It is filled with rich treasures both precious and magical,

but in addition to the aforementioned guardians, there is said to be a

demi-lich who still wards his final haunt (Be warned that tales told

have it that this being possesses powers which make him nearly

undefeatable). Accounts relate that it is quite unlikely that any adven-

turers will ever find the chamber where the demi-lich Acererak lin-

gers, for the passages and rooms of the Tomb are fraught with ter-

rible traps, poison gases, and magical protections. Furthermore, the

demi-lich has so well hidden his lair, that even those who avoid the

pitfalls will not be likely to locale their true goal. So only large and

well-prepared parties of the bravest and strongest should even con-

sider the attempt, and if they do locate the Tomb, they must be pre-

pared to fail. Any expedition must be composed of characters of high

level and varied class. They must have magical protections and weap-

ons, and equip themselves with every sort of device possible to in-

sure their survival.

Start: The party has arrived at the site of the demi-lich’s last haunt.

Before them is a low, flat topped hill, about 200 yards wide and 300

yards long. Only ugly weeds, thorns, and briars grow upon the steep

sides and bald lop of the 60' high mound. There are black rocks

upon the top of the hill, and if these are viewed from a height of about

200' or so above the mound, it will be seen that the whole is shaped

like a human skull, with the piles of rock appearing as eye holes,

nose hole, and the jagged teeth of a grinning death’s head. A thor-

ough inspection and search of the entire area will reveal only that the

north side of the hill has a crumbling cliff of sand and gravel about 20'

high in about the middle of the whole. (This is the area 34 squares

wide which forms the east-west axis of your dungeon map.) A low

stone ledge overhangs this eroded area, and shrubs and bushes

obscure if from observation at a distance.

It will require a full turn for searching each 10' of this cliff area. Search

must be done from a distance with a long spear or 10' pole. Prod-

ding must be high in order to collapse sufficient material to expose a

portion of a tunnel entrance. Once an entrance is exposed, it will

require about 1 hour for 6 characters working in teams of 3 to thor-

oughly clear a passage, but a crawl space can be opened in 1 turn

by 3 characters digging with swords and hands. Note that probing of

the gravel and sand face can begin wherever the players choose -

east, west, middle, several locations or merely a single one at a time

- leave this strictly to the players to decide. The best manner to handle

it is to ask where they will search, once they have determined that

they will investigate the area and have stated how it will be done and

with what . Remember low probing, or probing with short implements

(daggers, swords, etc.) will not reveal anything. As soon as any en-

trance is cleared and entered, go to the KEY.

Possible Locale of the Tomb:

1) The highest hill on the Plains of luz

2) An island (unmapped) In the Nyr Dyv

3) In the Bright Desert

4) At the western border of the Duchy of Geolt

5) Somewhere in the Vast Swamp south of Sundl

6) On an island beyond the realm of the Sea Barons

NOTES FOR THE DUNGEON MASTER

As clever players will gather from a reading of the Legend of the

Tomb, this dungeon has more tricks and traps than it has monsters

to fight. THIS IS A THINKING PERSON’S MODULE. AND IF YOUR

GROUP IS A HACK AND SLAY GATHERING, THEY WILL BE

UNHAPPY! In the latter case, it is better to skip the whole thing than

come out and tell them that there are few monsters. It is this writer’s

belief that brainwork is good for all players, and they will certainly

benefit from playing this module, for individual levels of skill will be

improved by reasoning and experience - if you regularly pose prob-

lems to be solved by brains and not brawl, your players will find this

module immediately to their liking.

Negotiation of the Tomb will require quite a long time, so be prepared

to spend several sessions with this module. When the game ends

for the day, assume the expedition is spending the intervening time

until play again commences resting and recovering from adventur-

ing up to that point. Allowing actual game days on a 1/1 basis gives

players a chance to recover some lost hit points, too. As there are no

monsters to be randomly encountered within the Tomb, the party

might be allowed to encamp close to the entrance without fear of

random encounters, but if you do so opt, do not inform the players of

this.

Note: Characters who become astral or ethereal in the Tomb will

attract a type I-IV demon 1 in 6, with a check made each round.

Please read and review all of the material herein, and become thor-

oughly familiar with It, before beginning the module - as players enter

keyed areas, you will note from appropriate information whether or

not the area has one or more illustrations for visually highlighting play.

Read aloud appropriate sections, but never give any addi-

Tomb of Horrors

KEY TO THE TOMB

1. FALSE ENTRANCE TUNNEL : The corridor is of plain stone,

roughly worked, and it is dark and full of cobwebs. The roof 20'

overhead is obscured by these hanging strands, so casual obser-

vation will not reveal that it is composed of badly fitting stones.

Daylight will be sufficient to reveal that there is a pair of oaken doors

at the end of the passageway. If the roof is prodded with any force,

or if the doors are opened, the roof of the tunnel will collapse and

inflict 5-50 ( 5d10 ) hit points of damage upon each character in-

side of it, with no saving throw. The doors open outwards by great

iron ring pulls. The cobwebs must be burned away to be able to

inspect the tunnel ceiling, THIS AREA IS ILLUSTRATED BY

GRAPHIC #1 .

step upon a pit lid will have a base 100% of falling, modified down-

wards by 1 % per point of dexterity through 12, and 2% for each

point above 12, i.e. dexterity of 13 = 14% chance of not falling into a

pit, dexterity of 14 = 16%, 15 = 18%, 16 = 20%, 17 = 22%, and 18

dexterity = 24% chance of not going in. At the bottom of each pit are

5 iron spikes coated with poison. Roll d6 to determine how many

spikes wound the victim: 1, 2, and 3 meaning that number of spikes

have wounded the victim, 4-6 equal NONE HAVE WOUNDED the

character. Each spike causes 1-6 hit points of damage, and the vic-

tim must make a saving throw versus poison for each spike which

wounds him of her. Any failure means the victim is killed by the poi-

son.

A. This area is where the torture chamber is painted, and the wall

hiding this passage shows a painting of the iron door which evi-

dently confines some sort of a horrid creature (its taloned and scaled

hands grasp the bars of its small window) which can be loosed to

torment prisoners. If the plaster and loth behind it is broken away,

a normal, inward opening door will be revealed.

B. If the pattern of the floor has been carefully observed and studied

from the entrance to this point, the individual with such persever-

ance will be rewarded by suddenly understanding that a message

is contained in barely noticeable runes in the mosaic floor. It says:

«ACERERAK CONGRATULATES YOU ON YOUR POWERS OF OBSERVATION. SO MAKE

OF THIS WHATEVER YOU WISH, FOR YOU WILL BE MINE IN THE END NO MAT-

TER WHAT!

2. FALSE ENTRANCE TUNNEL : This is another plain stone

passageway, but the celling is only 10' high. Daylight will enable

adventurers to dimly see what appear to be two separate doors at

the end of the corridor. The floor paving at 50' distance within the

passage will shift slightly when characters tread upon its surface.

They will hear a rumbling from behind (or beside if some are at 30'

within) them. At this instant begin counting slowly to 10 - about

1½ seconds per count - and it you reach 10 before any player has

reacted as noted below, the huge stone block, 10' thick, has slid

shut and completely sealed off the passageway. This block cannot

be moved or forced back. Trapped characters can escape only by

the following means: disintegrate , phasedoor , stone-flesh (as-

suming a sufficient quantity of the block can be changed), trans-

mute rock-mud , wish . Players giving notice that their character is

running out will be able to cover 1' of distance/1" of movement rate

for their character/count. Thus, a base 6" movement rate means

that the character can cover 6' of distance in the space of a single

count. Mentally note such character’s actions, and when the 10

count is finished, compute where each character is. The block

begins slow movement, so that at the count of 1 only a slight bit

protrudes, at 2 it is 2'+ a bit out into the corridor, at 3 it is 4'+, at 4 it

is 6'+, at 5 it is 9', at 6 it Is 11'+, at 7 it is 13'+, at 8 it is at 16', at 9 the

block is 18'+ across, and at 10 it has slammed shut and crushed

anything between it and the wall. EXCEPTION: An iron bar will

stop the block, but only if the bar is placed on the floor where if will

wedge the block. A bar elsewhere will bend and allow the block to

come shut, but 1 count will be gained as the bar bends. The doors

at the end of the passage are false ones. THIS AREA IS ILLUS-

TRATED BY GRAPHIC #2 .

Go back to the tormentor or through the arch,

and the second great hall you’ll discover.

Shun green if you can, but night’s good color

is for those of great valor.

If shades of red stand for blood the wise

will not need sacrifice aught but a loop of

magical metal - you’re well along your march.

Two pits along the way will be found to lead

to a fortuitous fall, so check the wall.

These keys and those are most important of all,

and beware of trembling hands and what will maul.

If you find the false you find the true

and into the columned hall you’ll come,

and there the throne that’s key and keyed.

The iron men of visage grim do more than

meets the viewer’s eye.

You’ve left and left and found my Tomb

and now your soul will die.»

3. ENTRANCE TO THE TOMB OF HORRORS: Even a bit of day-

light entering through a crawl space or a torch will reveal that this is

an unusual tunnel. Bright, brilliant colors are to be seen everywhere,

the stones and pigments undimmed by the passage of decades.

(USE ILLUSTRATION #3 NOW.) The floor of the corridor is a col-

orful mosaic of stone, with a distinct, winding path of red tiles about

2' wide (the line snaking its way south down the corridor) easily

visible to the onlooker, (See special note regarding the pit traps at

the end of this paragraph.) No stonework can be seen on the walls

or the ceiling 20' above, (for some sort of cement or plaster has

been smoothed over all of these surfaces and then illustrated. The

scenes painted show fields with kine grazing, a copse with several

wolves in the background, slaves (human, orc, elven, and strange

human-animal mixture - pig-human, ape-human, and dog-human)

going about various tasks. Certain of the frescoes show rooms of

some building - a library filled with many books and scrolls, a tor-

ture chamber, a wizard’s work room (see 4 , below for more details

of this area). There are chairs, windows, boxes, bales, doors, chests,

birds, bats, spiders and all manner of things shown on the walls.

All pits (except where noted to the contrary) throughout the Tomb

are 10' deep and concealed by a counter-weighted trap door which

opens as soon as any person steps on it. Thrusting with force upon

these traps with a pole will reveal them 4 in 6 ( d6 , 1-4). Those who

4. FRESCO OF THE WIZARDLY WORK ROOM : The most

outstanding feature of this area is actually outstanding! Two jackal-

headed human figures (USE ILLUSTRATION #4 AS SOON AS

THE PARTY EXAMINES THIS AREA CLOSELY) are painted so

as to appear to be holding a real bronze chest. If this box is exam-

ined closely, the viewer will note that it is hinged on the bottom so

as to allow the lid to swing down if a catch on top is pressed. The

catch has an easily detectable poison needle trap, and this can be

avoided easily by pressing the stud with a dagger pommel, etc.

However, when the box opens, it will appear to be absolutely empty,

but if a character actually feels inside the chest he or she will find a

rod which stands vertically from the bottom. This lever moves eas-

ily, and if it is pulled with any force, it will open the shaded trapdoor

which covers a 30' deep pit (spiked and poisoned as are all traps

of this sort here) which will inflict 3-18 ( 3d6 ) hit points of damage to

all who fall within, exclusive of spike damage. Note: This trap door

is 3' thick and cannot be detected by sounding or by any magic

which detects secret doors, or even traps. True seeing will reveal

a fine rectangle where the stone plug is, but it will not show what it

does. Once triggered, the pit remains open thereafter.

5. THE ARCH OF MIST : One section of the path shown on the floor

Tomb of Horrors

leads directly into this archway. If any character stands within 1’ of

the entranceway upon the path, the base stones will glow yellow

on the left, orange on the right, and the keystone 7' above will glow

blue. (When this happens, SHOW YOUR PLAYERS ILLUSTRA-

TION #5 .) There is a misty veil across the archway, and nothing

will cause the vapors to clear, nor will any sort of magic allow sight

into the area, until the glowing stones are pressed in the proper

sequence - YELLOW, BLUE, ORANGE. If this sequence is

pressed, the vapors disappear, and the path appears to go east-

wards. If the archway is entered when it is clouded, those charac-

ters doing so will be instantly teleported to 7 (see below). If it is

passed through after pressing the glowing stones in proper se-

quence, those stepping through ON the path will be teleported to

11 , those who pass through OFF the path will be sent back to 3 .

A. pull down

B. pivots centrally

C. pull inward and up at bottom

D. slides up

E. double panels pull inward

F. slide left

G. 7 studs — press all and door opens, 1 & 7 bring door falling

inwards for 3-18 h.p. damage

10. GREAT HALL OF SPHERES: This area is similar to 3 , for

the floor is of inlaid tiles and the walls and ceiling are painted

with figures of animals, strange signs and glyphs (which mean

absolutely nothing), and humans and human-like creatures

with spheres of different colors. These globes are 2-dimen-

sional, of course, and their significance and pattern are de-

scribed below. (AS SOON AS THE PARTY ARRIVES HERE

SHOW THEM GRAPHIC #10 .) From north to south, with the

west wall being the first column, and the east the second, the

figures and spheres appear as follows:

6. THE FACE OF THE GREAT GREEN DEVIL : The other fork of

the path leads right up to an evil-appearing devil face set in mosaic

at the corridor’s end. (SHOW YOUR PLAYERS GRAPHIC #6 ).

The face has a huge 0 of a mouth; it is dead black. The whole

area radiates evil and magic if detected for. The mouth opening is

similar to a (fixed) sphere of annihilation , but it is about 3' in

diameter - plenty of room for those who wish to leap in and be

completely and forever destroyed.

7. THE FORSAKEN PRISON: This miserable cubicle appears to

have absolutely no means of egress, and even a magical means

of detection will not indicate any. There are 3 iron levers (about 1'

long) on the south wall of the chamber. These levers will move

horizontally or vertically, singly or in combination. Only the act of

moving all 3 together upwards or downwards will have any re-

sults. Moving them straight up opens a small trapdoor in the cen-

ter of the ceiling (10' above). Pushing them simultaneously down

opens the entire floor to a 100' deep pit with no exit. Damage from

the fall is 10-100 ( 10d10 ) hit points, and the floor will automatically

return to a closed position in 1 turn, thus sealing any inside the pit

there until another victim triggers the drop away again. The ceiling

route is a crawl space some 3' square. At the place it turns east

there is a plug in the ceiling which can be detected only with magi-

cal vision means or if a character has sense enough to test for

secret doors by rapping - secret door detection will not be of avail

here except as noted. Eventually the small tunnel leads to a magi-

cal one-way door which opens in the pit side as shown, and play-

ers are back to square one . . .

GOLD held high above head *

(False door)

ORANGE held waist high

(False door)

PURPLE at feet

BRONZE held waist high

GRAY at shoulder

(none)

BRIGHT BLUE at feet

WHITE held high above head

TURQUOISE at shoulder

SCARLET held waist high

PALE GREEN at feet

PALE BLUE at shoulder

SILVER at feet

(secret one-way door) **

GREEN held high above head

YELLOW of shoulder

PINK held high above head

BLACK at feet ***

PALE VIOLET at shoulder

(none)

RED held waist high ****

BUFF at feet

(none)

INDIGO held high above head

* an illusion covering a crawlway to 11

** this door can be opened by a knock , disintegrate , rock to

mud , or stone to flesh spell

*** an Illusion covering a crawlway to 14

**** an Illusion covering a crawlway to 13

A. Magic Archway : When the party examines this arch give

them ILLUSTRATION #5 . and inform them that the stones

glow in these colors whenever any person comes within 3'

of the portal: lower left, OLIVE; keystone, RUSSET; lower

right, CITRON. No matter which stones are pressed in what

order, the archway remains clouded and veiled with a haze

which nothing can enable the onlookers to see through. All

living matter which goes through the arch will be teleported

to 3 , while non-living matter is teleported simultaneously to

33 , i.e. characters stepping through will appear at the start

totally nude, while everything else with them will go to the

crypt of the demi-lich (Cruel but most entertaining for the

DM . . .)

8. GARGOYLE LAIR : When any door leading to this room is opened,

it frees a mutated 4-armed gargoyle from temporal stasis . This

monster is a huge (H.P.: 64; 19 strength) monstrosity that attacks

6 times/round as a 12 hit dice creature inflicting damage as fol-

lows: 2d4 x4/ 3d4 / 1d6 , and if any 2 of the clawing attacks ( 2d4 x4)

hit, the creature will do an additional 7 hit points at rending dam-

age to the opponent so struck. Around the creature’s neck is a

collar studded with huge, gleaming gems (blue quartz stones of

100 g.p. value each, 10 gems total). Hidden in a secret compart-

ment of the collar is a slip of parchment with the following written

on it in magical runes which require a read magic spell to under-

stand: “ Look low and high for gold, to hear a tale untold. The archway at

the end, and on your way you’ll wend. » Beneath the runes is the initial

« A ». (USE ILLUSTRATION #8 FOR THIS ENCOUNTER).

11. THE THREE ARMED STATUE : When players find this

smallish room they will Immediately see what appears to be a

broken, 8' tall statue of a 4-armed gargoyle (GRAPHIC #11 ),

with a broken off 4th arm on the floor nearby. No amount of

fooling around with the broken arm will enable it to be replaced,

and the statue will do nothing at all meanwhile. A close look at

its open and outstretched hands, however, will detect that a

large gem (a 100 g.p. blue quartz one fits perfectly) will fit in a

carved depression in each of the 3 remaining hands, while

the broken one has no such concavity. If 3 large gems of any

sort are placed within the hands, the stoney digits will close

and crush them to powder, dump the grains on the floor, and

return to their normal positions. If this is repeated twice more,

and 9 gems are so crushed, a 10th (or more) will cause the

triggering of a magic mouth spell to speak the following words:

9. COMPLEX OF SECRET DOORS : Each of these portals must

be opened by hand, and each requires a different method of open-

ing. Meanwhile, each round that there are characters in a shaded

room, a number of bolts will be fired into the area from hidden

devices in the walls and ceilings, and 1 character, randomly deter-

mined, in each such area, will be hit for 1-6 points of damage un-

less he or she makes a saving throw versus magic. There is abso-

lutely no way to prevent the bolts from being triggered and from

hitting, and armor and spells will NOT have any effect either. The

various secret doors open as follows:

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