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The Third Facet
In time of war the devil makes more room in hell.
- German Proverb The demilord of Aggarath has always imagined himself a mighty warrior. Chardath Spulzeer would like to believe that his magical battle axe and innate ability makes him the master of any who would oppose him. In truth, his skills and abilities on the battlefield were lacking, but that fact is not reflected in the domain of Aggarath. The Third Facet appears as a great coliseum where gladiators test their skills against each other. People exploring this region must step into the ring and battle many adversaries. Warriors of any type find themselves in grave danger here. Chardath sees in their skills the mastery that he longs for but can never attain. Consequently, they must face perils and hazards far greater than those confronting their peers. When the characters first appear in this facet, they find themselves encased in ruby columns. Like flies held fast in amber, they are unable to move or act in any way. All the while, however, they remain alert and conscious of the battles that their companions must fight in the arena. When the characters arrive in the Third Facet, the Dungeon Master should read the following:
You look out upon a vast circle of black stone and gravel roughly one hundred yards across. A palisade of faintly glowing pillars, each some fifteen feet in height and flue feet in diameter, borders this area. Near the center of the black circle tie ten round openings into the ground. You cannot determine, from your position, how far down the shafts go. Plumes of flame rise from these tunnels, spraying thirty feet into the air. The blood-red sky above this arena spreads across your entire field of vision without any sign of clouds or other irregularities. It looks uncomfortably like a wash of blood. Suddenly, you realize that your body will not move. After a second of thought, the full extent of this paralysis dawns on you: You are not breathing, and your heart lies still in your chest. You are encased in one of the crystal pillar.
Each of the characters is indeed trapped within one of the cylinders. They cannot tell whether they are side by side or scattered around the circle. While the characters may notice (if they ask) that the other pillars all have dark shapes trapped within them, no one can identify any of these images. A successful Intelligence ability check, however, enables a hero to notice that some of the forms trapped in other pillars are probably not human, demihuman, or humanoid. Mood and Athmosphere While the characters are trapped in the pillars, the Dungeon Master should focus on their isolation, allowing no communication between players and emphasizing their confinement and helplessness. Characters who are claustrophobic or suffer from taphephobia (the fear of being buried alive) and other such handicaps should be adversely affected by their entombment. Such characters must roll fear, horror, or even madness checks at the Dungeon Master's discretion. Once a character is released from his prison and forced to engage in combat, the mood of this scene should change. At that point, it becomes one of sheer brutality and individual combat. Characters begin their time in the Third Facet trapped in one of the ruby pillars. Sometime afterward, they are released from the pillar and forced to defend themselves in combat against a deadly foe. Afterward, the character returns to his prison to wait for his next fight. Before the Duel While inside the pillars, a character can do nothing at all. Magical or psionic abilities, whether organic in nature or generated by some object, simply do not function. It is therefore impossible for a trapped hero to explore the Third Facet. Maleffluent While the heroes are imprisoned in the crystal pillars (either before the duels start or while they are in progress), the voice of Malef fluent comes to them again. The Dungeon Master should read aloud the following narrative in a hoarse whisper:
"You have been trapped - flies in amber, gems in their settings, animals in their pens. Your only escape is the fire of battle. But beware, triumph can be defeat in the arena of Aggarath.
After a few minutes of isolation, one of the characters is released from his prison. The following text can be read aloud to the player:
After what seems like an eternity of immobility, you notice a change is the pillar taht encases tou. With each passing second it becomes more transparent. A feeling of warmth surrounds you and flows over your body. In the next instant, you find yourself free of the pillar. Now you stand just before it, atop the barren expanse of the black circle. The pillar in which you were trapped stands behind you now, empty and glowing faintly.
At this point, the character has a few seconds to look around. Unfortunately, there is not much for him to see. The Black Circle: The floor of the arena is a glossy black stone similar to obsidian and covered with an inch or so of fine, black gravel. The gravel pieces range in size from sand particles to two- inch stones. It is impossible to break or mar the glossy surface. However, if a character clears an area of sand and delivers a solid blow to the surface of the black disk, he can summon the image of Marble. She appears trapped below the surface, just as she did in the First Facet. The Pillars: The ruby pillars that ring the obsidian disc prove just as invulnerable as the black circle. They are fifteen feet tall, five feet in diameter, and suffused with a faint red glow. Inside each pillar (with the exception of the one in which the hero was recently trapped) rests a dark figure. Most appear humanoid in shape, but a few are more unusual. Each pillar feels cool to the touch and very slick. Anyone who tries to escape from the circle by climbing over the pillars discovers another identical arena on the other side. In actuality, dropping into that arena sends the character right back to the first. One cannot escape so easily. The Shafts: A ring of ten circular shafts lies sunken into the center of the black disc. No one standing on the surface can judge the depth of these wells. A plume of fire spews forth from each shaft, stretching high into the air. Half of these flames are very dangerous, while the other half are harmless illusions. In fact, the illusory fires mask the conduits that lead out of this place. Standing near each flame reveals their nature-the real ones produce considerable heat. Anyone cast into one of the true flames is consumed by the fire. Magical spells and other protections do no good; the character is simply swept out of existence by an effect similar to a disintegrate spell. He is lost forever and cannot be resurrected or reincarnated. A character who plunges into one of the illusory fires finds himself in a conduit out of the Third Facet. See "Exiting the Facet" below. The Enchanted Ruby: If any of the characters casts a detect magic spell while in the Third Facet, he discovers a small, red three-sided gem half- buried in the gravel of the arena floor. This is one of the magical rubies that the heroes need to escape from Aggarath. The Challenger: Shortly after the character finds himself released from his pillar, another creature is thrust into the arena. Unlike the player character, this being is a reflection and exists only to do battle. Thus, any attempt to reason or negotiate with it fails. The player character (and each of his companions) must fight a progressively more difficult series of enemies. Every visitor to the arena fights the same array of monsters, although some individual creatures prove tougher than others. The following list indicates the opposing monsters in order of appearance:
Thus, the character first finds himself facing an ore in one-on-one combat, almost certainly an easy match for any of the heroes. The second battle takes place against a gnoll, then a bugbear, and so on until the character must single-handedly battle an ettin. Once he battles all ten creatures, the character returns to his crystal prison to wait while his comrades fight their own series of one-on-one contests. (At his discretion, the Dungeon Master may have the party members fight each round of duels simultaneously to speed the process along. A character cannot, however, participate in any battle but his own.) During each duel, the roar of a crowd fills the air. Though there is clearly no sign of anyone else present in the facet (save those frozen in the pillars), every solid blow meets a roar of approval, every close call elicits a gasp of alarm, and the final resolution inspires a cascade of cheers or boos. The phantom spectators have no effect on the battles and characters cannot interact with them in any way. Enemy Statistics: Appendix Two of this book lists statistics for all the opponents the characters face in this facet. The creatures have no special abilities beyond those described. They do, however, vary in strength according to the character class of their opponent. Although each character combats the same monsters, these battles are not the same for all characters. Physically weaker characters face weaker opponents (even though a hero might have spellcasting or other abilities that more than compensate for his lower hit point total.) The hit points of the monsters are scaled according to the type of Hit Die used by their opponent. Thus, a monster facing a wizard has 4 hit points per Hit Die because wizards use four-sided Hit Dice. Following this scale, monsters fighting rogues have 6 hit points per Hit Die and those battling priests have 8 hit points per Hit Die. Finally, monsters opposing warrior characters have 10 hit points per Hit Die, even though a monster normally has 8-sided Hit Dice. Chardath's latent jealousy of those more skilled than he has made the Third Facet especially deadly for those who live by the sword. After The Duel A duel can end in one of two ways: victory for the hero or triumph for the monster. There are no draws or stalemates in the arena of Aggarath. When an opponent falls in the arena, the victor is responsible for disposing of his body. This means tossing it into one of the fiery wells where it is destroyed. If a hero does not do so with the body of a slain enemy, the spectral crowd will begin to chant "feed-the-fire!" over and over again. If the hero still fails to act, the chant becomes a sea of boos, and the body of the monster fades away. Refusing to incinerate one's enemies has no further repercussions. The corpse of a fallen enemy reflection has no weight at all. Thus, even the frailest mage can drag the body of a slain ettin over to one of the wells and toss it in. Hero Victories: If a hero wins a battle, he remains in the arena to face another opponent. This continues until he faces the ettin. Should he defeat the ettin, the character finds himself returned to his ruby pillar. There he waits for an extended period of time, watching other creatures battle in the arena through the red haze of his prison. Some time later (a few hours at any rate), the hero is returned to the arena for another round of battles. During his imprisonment, he has no chance to heal or otherwise recover from the last battle he fought. Time is at a standstill for those trapped inside the pillars. A hero therefore begins his next round of battles in exactly the same condition that he ended his last one. Monster Victories: Should a hero lose to a monster, the creature throws his body into one of the fires. If he lands in one of the real infernos (50% chance, less at the Dungeon Master's discretion), that is the end of him; if he falls into one of the conduits, his life may be spared. Should another character reach his body while the spark of life still burns within it, first aid or magical healing can be employed to save him. The only way out of the arena is through the illusionary flames that spring from half the wells. Each shaft serves as the entrance to a conduit. The following table indicates the facets to which these conduits lead:
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