Exploration of The Crow
The Crow
Here are the room descriptions and any handouts I missed during your exploration of The Crow. The following is presented in the order encountered.
First Floor
Boat Dock
“A tall lancet arch at water level leads into a chamber at sea level within the side of the Crow. Inside is what was once a small, stepped terrace, now filled with sea water to the level of its top step. Three rowboats are tied off to heavy stones placed on this step. Above, the ceiling rises almost all the way up to the top of the monument—an opening leads off this shaft to the west near the ceiling. At the west end of this room lies a small alcove whose floor shows the stains of countless campfires—the back wall of this alcove has broken through, revealing a passageway beyond.”
Entry Hall
“Rubble from the collapsed wall has been pushed out into the chamber. Traces of recent habitation-bits of trash and rubbish and the odd piece of clothing or equipment are scattered here and there, though the room now appears to be unused.”
Abandoned Privy
“The foul odor and suspicious stains on the floor reveal that this chamber was used as a privy within the last few weeks. Huddled in one corner are the rotten remains of a small dog.”
The Landing
“Between two curving stairwells lies a small landing. Three stone boxes, their lids raised, stand lined up against the east wall . A fine yellow powder surrounds them on the floor.”
Rostrum Hall
“Pillars line the center of this long hall. At the far end is a low rostrum, the dusty stumps of ancient votive candles lining its outer edge. Two of these have been knocked over. Colorful murals of Thassilon pilgrims and giants marching over an intact Irespan cover the walls.”
Sasha Vidaxus
Fourth Floor
Looted Rooms
“Bits and pieces of old rubble, fragments of furniture, and broken weapons and armor clutter the floor of this room.”
Upper Camp
“A small cook fire has been built in the center of the floor with spits holding the sizzling carcasses of two donkey rats. The broken scraps of a crate now serving as fuel are stacked nearby, and blankets have been pushed together into a large bed roll.”
Ember and Nayven
Upper Entrance
“Pass through a secret door. The murals in this room are scratched and faded. Several portions of the wall and floor show signs of past chipping. An empty plinth where a statue once stood rests by a small alcove.”
Shaft Apex
“A ledge festooned with old bird nests looks out over a shaft dropping nearly two hundred feet to sea level below. A large coil of rope sits on the ground near the shaft, one end anchored to a large piton driven into a crack near the wall. Opposite the shaft is another ledge with a window looking out over Magnimar's harbor. The ceiling is a mere ten feet above, and crisscrossed by a complex tangle of stone arches that support the roof. Between the two ledges, a five-foot-square wooden platform hangs from four thick ropes that hang from the stone arches. The platform is further anchored by two thick ropes to spikes hammered into the walls near the edge of the western ledge, while another pair of ropes hang from the ceiling above, anchored to a hook driven into the wall near the same ledge.”
Empty Crypts
“The walls along this short passage bear murals showing strangely dressed Thassilonian priests placing bodies into crypts. Several niches in the walls may have once been burial crypts themselves, but today, the hall is strewn with bones and the niches lay empty.”
Alarm
“This room appears empty, but the Tower Girls have strung a thin length of twine across the entrance from the Empty Crypts at ankle height. Anyone who simply walks into the room tugs at the twine and rings a brass bell hung in the northeast corner of the room, which immediately alerts the Tower Girls.”
Guard Post
“A hooded lantern sits on the lip of a fountain in the west wall. A tinkling rill of water runs from a demon-shaped mouth on the wall into the fountain. A bed roll and several bags of rations sit on the floor just to the north of the fountain.”
Yazlenda and Tellavee
Collapsed Chamber
“The eastern wall of this room is buried under an ancient pile of rubble. Sitting near the entrance is a wooden crate and a dull gray amphora.”
Stairwell
“The stairs here twist and turn, leading down.”
Third Floor
Marshaling Room
“This large but empty room has been thoroughly looted by the Tower Girls.”
Dormitory
“A dozen bed rolls occupy this large chamber, and a few pieces of crude wooden furniture have been set up between them-a couple of scavenged chairs, a bench, and a short table. Torches mounted on brackets in each wall burn merrily.”
Ulandia, Lerrisien and Sadja
Donkey Rats
Packmistress' Room
“This room smells strongly of rats—a mix of spoiled food, dander, and the pungent sting of rat feces, all under an incongruous scent of lavender. A blanket has been spread on the floor, and a recovered antique brass platter holds a few bits of rat-gnawed food.”
Karisa Kemadandus
Donkey Rats
Common Hall
“Two tables of planks and trestles have been set up in here, and a large alcove holds the ashes and soot stains of many recent fires, along with a stone statue of a beautiful woman wielding a ranseur. A hooded lantern burns atop one of the tables.”
Stairs Down
“At the end of the passage a set of stone stairs wind down to the second floor.”
Second Floor
Corridor
“The stairs lead to a 60 foot corridor devoid of any marking that end in a triangular vestibule with a large stone door in the north-west wall. The door is very heavy requiring considerable strength to open.”
The Siccatite Doors
“A massive pair of double doors dominates the western end of this spear head-shaped chamber. These doors are made of a silvery metal decorated with images of burning eyes that look inward toward two sets of runes carved on to the face of each door. The walls bear the remains of complex mosaics that once covered much of them, but which has crumbled and collapsed in heaps of colored tiles and debris around the edges of the room.”
These double doors are stone sheathed in a layer of hot siccatite, one of the seven types of skymetal (see below). Physical contact with these silver doors deals 1 point of fire damage per round. The tiles on the doors bear Thassilonian runes in a pattern that the PCs should recognize—they resemble the paradox box's tiles, and when two runes on one door are touched simultaneously, they magically exchange places (runes cannot move from one door to the other). The Tower Girls have had no luck so far getting through the doors, much to Ayala's growing frustration, since until the anagrams are solved, the 'doors' are a solid block of siccatite-encased metal embedded in the wall. As none of the Tower Girls have yet puzzled out the fact that the tiles are an anagram lock, Ayala's about ready to abandon style and simply order her girls to use picks to break through the door.
Siccatite Doors
There are two different sets of runes on each door. The left set spells 'LISTEN' while the right spells 'THE EYES'. To open the doors, 'LISTEN' must be rearranged to 'SILENT', while 'THE EYES' must be rearranged to 'THEY SEE'. As with the paradox box earlier, you can use real letter tiles on your game table to let the players solve the problem, or they can attempt a series of DC 13 Linguistics or DC 16 Intelligence checks—if they choose the latter, they need to accumulate 13 successes in order to open the door.
Each time a person swaps two runes, the siccatite deals 1 point of fire damage to that person. The runes only change when touched by living flesh, but creative players are sure to come up with ways to avoid touching the tiles too much—copying the runes onto pieces of paper in game and using the paper to try out combinations is one way to minimize the damage.
Siccatite: This shining silver metal is either incredibly hot or freezing cold when found. Siccatite is associated with evocation magic, wrath, and kindness. As of yet, scholars have not determined whether siccatite is actually two similarly hued metals or a single type that determines its own temperature via some unknown process. When raw siccatite is found, it has a 50% chance of being hot siccatite; otherwise, it's cold siccatite. Physical contact with siccatite deals 1 point of energy damage each round (either fire or cold, as appropriate). Hot siccatite can eventually ignite objects, and cold siccatite in water quickly surrounds itself with a 1-foot-thick shell of ice. A weapon made of siccatite deals +1 point of damage of the appropriate energy type each time it strikes a foe, but also deals 1 point of the same energy damage to the wielder each round it is used in combat. Likewise, siccatite armor deals 1 point of energy damage per round to a creature wearing it, and deals 1 point of energy damage each full round a creature is grappled by someone wearing siccatite armor. Cold siccatite armor grants fire resistance 5, while hot siccatite armor grants cold resistance 5 (The type of armor does not alter the amount of resistance granted.) Weapons made of siccatite cost +1,000 GP. Armor made of siccatite costs +6,000 GP.
Ayala's Quarters
“Several pieces of furniture decorate this room, the modern furnishings clashing with the ancient carvings of Thassilonian wizards crafting deformed monsters from dead bodies decorating the walls. Luxurious crimson Varisian drapes have been pinned up in an archway to the south east.”
The sound of wind and waves comes from the narrow windows to the east that look out over the Boat Dock on the first floor—as elsewhere, each of these windows is masked via a permanent illusory wall. The furnishings in this room were brought here by the Tower Girls—in the south-eastern arm of the room, a large comfortable four poster bed sits surrounded by crimson drapes as well.
The secret door leading to a small chamber is well hidden—it can be found with a DC 30 Perception check. If the PCs spoke with Natalya about where she found the Shard of Pride, though, they know a secret door is nearby and gain a +4 circumstance bonus on Perception checks made to locate it—if Natalya's with them, of course, she can open the door for them with ease.
Ayala Javeski
Donkey Rats
Creatures: This room currently serves as the personal quarters of Ayala Javeski, the leader of the Tower Girls. A pair of loyal donkey rats caper in the main room—they squeal and shriek if anyone enters the room, female human or not, quickly alerting Ayala to the intrusion.
From Journals: Ayala Javeski was one of a dozen wererats born to a established clan of wererat Sczarni who dwelled in Riddleport. Infighting and treachery eventually saw the destruction of that clan, with several of the siblings fleeing the city rather than be slaughtered by their kin. Today, the only scion of this clan who still lives in Riddleport is the crimelord Ziphras. Ayala ended up in Magnimar, where she worked for several years as hired muscle for the Wreckwash Blades. Through a combination of manipulation, seduction, and coercion, she managed to become apprenticed to a local cat burglar who taught her many of the finer points of breaking and entering. She repaid him with a knife to the back, leaving his bleeding corpse in a gutter one moonless night. Since then, Ayala has founded her own female-only gang of cat burglars, calling them the Tower Girls.
The Tower Girls have thrived under Ayala's hard-nosed leadership. But after a failed attempt to seize power from the Wreckwash Blades forced Ayala to flee Dockway and go into hiding for a time in Underbridge, the Tower Girls' fortunes seemed to be growing shaky. The discovery of the chambers within the Crow represent a great stroke of luck to Ayala—she hopes to use the treasures she finds within to restore her gang's place in Magnimar's underworld. The apparent betrayal of Natalya has left Ayala in a particularly bitter mood, and she's increasingly turning her plans away from using her new found resources to restore her gang toward financing a large-scale hunt in Magnimar to track down Natalya and destroy her.
Ayala's spent most of her time in the Crow in hybrid form. She knows that wererats tend to galvanize reactions from the city guard, and as such has taken care to prevent spreading lycanthropy too far—choosing only her closest allies as recipients of the condition. She doesn't use her bite attack against the PCs, viewing them as unworthy of the gift of lycanthropy.
Treasure: Heaped on a table are sections of wall mural, ancient coins, pieces of jewelry, gems, bits and pieces of pottery, and more for eventual sale in the markets of Magnimar-all treasures the Tower Girls have scavenged from the Crow. These treasures are worth 900 GP in all. The furniture is worth 1,000 GP. In addition, several journals on the table, written in Varisian, provide details on Ayala's history with and plans for the Tower Girls, including her increasing frustration at Natalya's betrayal. A small chest under the bed holds 25 PP, 187 GP and 475 SP and 50 gems of assorted variety worth 1,200 GP.
The small hidden chamber contains a skeleton (as yet unnoticed by Ayala)—the earthly remains of Nazir Kalmeralm, former Prince of the Market, who disappeared in 4685 AR.
Natalya Vancaskerkin stumbled upon this chamber and found the Shard of Pride where it had fallen beside Nazir's body, but had to leave quickly as her Tower Girl companions approached, so that she didn't have time to properly loot the remains. She fell under the curse before she could return to finish the job, and this room has remained undiscovered since. A search of Nazir's bones reveals his +2 mithril chain shirt, a +1 mithril rapier, a pendant of the souk (see below), 50 feet of silk rope, and a leather pouch containing 87 PP, 250 GP and 2x 500 GP gems.
Pendant of the Souk
PENDANT OF THE SOUK
Aura faint divination; CL 3rd
Slot neck; Price 4,000 GP; Weight-
DESCRIPTION
This golden pendant is of Qadiran make. Crafted from gold beaten into the image of a lanner falcon and suspended upon a gold chain, it's the traditional badge of office for the Prince or Princess of the Market in Magnimar's Bazaar of Sails although they are often given as rewards to those who are particularly helpful or well-liked by the Prince or Princess.
The wearer of a pendant of the souk gains a +5 competence bonus on Appraise checks. By holding the pendant to her brow, the wearer can gain the effects of an identify spell once per day. Finally, the pendant grows warm in the presence of illusions, granting a +2 insight bonus on saving throws made to disbelieve existing illusion effects.
CONSTRUCTION
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, identify; Cost 2,000 GP.
Abandoned Foyer
“The Thassilonian murals here are as vibrant as if they were painted yesterday. A dusty, cobweb-choked corridor runs northward to descending stairs.”
First Floor
Ancient Bath
“A green, scum-covered pool extends across the far end of this room. Passages exit to the sides, and curving stairs rise to a balcony over the south end of the room (just north of your entry from the stairs). The floor and walls are streaked with dark smears of guano in thick layers.”
Stairs and Secrets
“A large set of stairs that curve around to the east lead down. The secret door to the south can be located with a successful DC 22 Perception check.”
Corral
“A ledge looks out over a long chamber filled with sea water ten feet below. The ledge winds along to the north east, leading to a wooden plank that serves as a bridge to the top of a stone pillar. A bucket with a second board over it sits atop the pillar.”
Giant Water Spiders
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