The Apocalypse Archive 13-18

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Soundtrack for areas 13-18

Combat Music

Overview

Previous: Areas 1-6, Areas 7-12

13. Stairs

The door to this area can be unsealed using the Amber Keystone, currently in area 30. A successful Dexterity check with disadvantage can unseal the door, but a failure results in exposure to raw puissance, a jolt of which is enough to liquefy a would-be intruder instantly, flesh running like tallow, dealing 4d6 damage or producing one of the wild magic effects on the table below.

Beyond the door, a yawning emptiness opens, far too big for any torch or light spell to illuminate fully. Ancient stone bridges lead to a winding central stair here at the hub of the Apocalypse Archive. Six doors around the edges of the room open onto the six levels of the Archive.

• The doors to levels 2 and 5 are sealed. Depressions beside them take the Carnelian Keystone (found in area 90) and Chrysoprase Keystone (found in area 70).

• The bridge to level 5 is badly cracked; this is obvious to anyone looking at it closely. If more than one medium-sized creature attempts to cross it, it will collapse, requiring a Dexterity save to avoid 3d6 falling damage.

• Any loud sound in this area produces tremendous echoes, alerting creatures near to the Stairs on their respective levels of nearby intruders.

Roll (1d4)	Wild Magic Effect
1	Your hand and then forearm begins to writhe and flicker into a myriad of forms. Make a Constitution saving throw to return it to its previous shape; otherwise it becomes (roll 1d4): (1) a pincer dealing 1 damage but incapable of holding objects, (2) a tentacle, (3) hungry, developing a mouth in the palm that mewls and cries if it is not regularly fed meat, (4) a hideous lamprey-like worm with a fanged maw dealing 1d4 damage (Strength 12) which attacks the nearest creature, attacking you if there are not other targets. It has 1 HD and 4 Hit Points.
2	Your hand detaches painlessly and scuttles away deep into the Apocalypse Archive. It has 1 HD, 1 Hit Point, and Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution scores equal to half of our own. If you can track it down and bring it to a sufficiently skilled chirurgeon you might get it reattached.
3	Your entire arm begins to phase in and out of the Ethereal Plane rapidly. You cannot hold objects in this plane effectively with it, though if you manage to grasp an Ethereal object you can move it into the Material.
4	Your arm develops 18 Strength, swelling and bunching. It purples and darkens, the veins swelling. It develops a mind of its own and will regularly lash out at friends and foes alike if given a weapon. The arm slowly drains your Constitution at a rate of 1 per day. If it kills you, it still lives, hauling your corpse around behind it. This can be cured with Heal Disease or by removing the arm.

14. Collapse

This corridor has partially collapsed, a huge piece of rubble blocking almost all of the passage. A tiny space is evident near the floor, just big enough that someone small and slippery might be able to squeeze through. A curious smell redolent of loam and iron seeps through the crack, along with a few creeping crimson vines and the snaking tendrils of what might be roots.

• A Medium creature can squeeze through with a successful Dexterity check. On a failure, they make no progress; on a failure of 5 or more, they are stuck.

• A Small creature can get through without great difficulty.

• A Big creature has disadvantage on this Dexterity roll. Bloodwood Trees cannot follow through this aperture.

• Any pursuing hemadryads will typically stop at the collapse unless truly enraged.

15. Maw of the Bloodwood

The ancient stones of the Old City have been utterly obscured by a thick blanket of pulsing crimson moss. The entire passage has been clotted with trees, vines, and foliage, a twisted bone-white wood with vivid, blood-red leaves. A dim, reddish light suffuses the passage, shed by some bulbous growth near the ceiling.

• The light streams thinly through the membranous leaves of a curious bulb-like structure, one that twitches and rustles as if something within were trying to escape. Indeed, the bulb contains a Plasma Cherub, one of the Illumined of the Final Star (see area 11), which has been captured by the Bloodwood to serve as an energy source. The bulb blocks the harmful effects of the light and thus does not increase Radiation. However, if the bulb (5 Hit Points, Armour 1) were destroyed, the Cherub would be released, flooding the passage with the infectious glow of the Last Light. Further references to bulbs through the Bloodwood all indicate a similar imprisoned Cherub.

• If any part of the wood is harmed, 1d4 Hemadryads will emerge from the trees within one minute to investigate: eerie white figures with skin of bone-coloured bark who move with an eerie grace. They have long hair like trailing vines or creepers, thickly veined.
  
  Hemadryad: 2 HD (8 Hit Points), Armour 1, Lacerate (Dex, 1d6), Speed 30 ft., Plant (immune to mind-influencing effects, double damage from fire, slashing), Str 8, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 14.
  • Entangle: As an action, Hemadryads can use their long, vine-like hair to try and entangle foes so that trees or other Hamadryades may feed. This functions as an attack roll, but if it hits, the target is entangled and cannot move, and has disadvantage on defense rolls. They can attempt escape with a successful Strength check.
  • Feed: When a Hemadryad deals damage, she heals an equivalent number of hit points.
  • Treestride: As an action, Hemadryads can meld into a tree and reappear at any other anywhere within the Bloodwood.

• The trees of the Bloodwood are extremely dangerous. They can move, cutting off avenues of escape and attempting to split the party. They can also scent blood. Mostly the trees lie dormant, but one or more will attack given any of the following conditions: (1) the party is resting, (2) a party member is isolated, (3) more than three party members are below half of their Hit Points, (4) they are attacked, (5) or a nearby combat breaks out (1 in 6 chance of joining). Every round of combat in the Bloodwood, another tree has a 1 in 6 chance of joining the fray. There is a virtually inexhaustible number of trees in the Bloodwood. This makes prolonged combat in the Bloodwood effectively suicidal.
  
  Bloodwood Tree: 3 HD (12 Hit Points), Armour 2, Lashing Boughs (Str, 1d8) or Feed (Str, 1d6), Speed 10 ft., Plant (immune to mind-influencing effects, double damage from fire, slashing), Str 14, Dex 4, Con 13, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 4.
  • Big: Bloodwood Trees have a 10-foot reach.
  • Blood Drain: When a Bloodwood Tree deals damage with its Feed attack, it heals an equivalent number of hit points. It can only Feed on creatures it or a Hemadryad have entangled.
  • Engulf: When a Bloodwood Tree hits with its Lashing Boughs attack, in addition to dealing damage it automatically entangles its foes. An entangled creature cannot move and has disadvantage on defense rolls. They can attempt escape with a successful Strength check.

16. Overgrown Library

There is a 25% chance of encountering apatrol of 1d4 Hemadryads here.

Though this hall is filled with shelves, they have been utterly overwhelmed by the riotous growth of the albino forest with its blood-red leaves. A few scattered pages of Librarian texts are strewn about the sanguineous undergrowth. Mewling sounds fill the air – multiple creatures, clearly in pain.

• Following the whimpers leads to a kind of grotesque glade, lit by two more red bulbs. Here, three twisted goblins are being slowly devoured, ensnaring by strangling vines and branches. The trees are literally growing into their bodies, tendrils snaking into their mouths, ears, and noses, or plunging into their veins and arteries, spreading subcutaneously. The forest clutches the goblins close, lichen spreading across the limbs of their victims. The trees blush as they feed.

• One of the goblins, Shroomnose, is strong enough to cry out for aid in the High Goblin tongue, an archaic Goblin dialect. She knows enough Hexian Common to have a broken conversation, though she speaks in a style and manner reminiscent of the Dank Ages. She and her companions can be cut free, though doing so brings 2d4 Hemadryads within one minute to the glade, who will defend the feeding trees.

• Shroomnose can explain (in High Goblin) that she belongs to the Fodder Clan of goblins, as distinct from the Digger Clan and the Baggage Clan, three goblin clans descended from the servants of Xavier Soulswell, who undertook a great expedition into the Apocalypse Archive centuries ago, abandoned inside the Old City after the trapdoor entrance shifted. Each served a unique purpose. Those who now call themselves the Fodder Clan were intended as trap-finders and distractions for the Archive’s guardians; the Digger Clan were employed when mining or demolition was necessary; the Baggage Clan carried loot from the Archive back to the surface. The Fodder Clan frequently go foraging for heartfruit in the Bloodwood. Shroomnose and her companions were part of one such party before being captured by Hemadryads.

• Shroomnose possesses the Onyx Keystone, which opens the Night-Bomb Arsenal (area 9).

• Apart from this, the goblins have little beyond their leather armour, javelins, and bone daggers, save for a small sack containing 6 harvested heartfruit (see area 18).

• Should the goblins be rescued, they can provide introductions to the Fodder Clan, potentially converting the otherwise-hostile inhabitants of areas 25-36 to allies.
  
  Goblin: 1 HD (3 Hit Points), Armour 1, Javelin (Dex, 1d8) or Dagger (Dex, 1d4), Speed 30 ft., Infravision 120 ft., Fey (advantage on saves versus charm or magical sleep), Str 8, Dex 13, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 8.
  • Mutant Resilience: These goblins have advantage on saves against poison.
  • Nimble: Goblins may Run and Hide as a single action.
  • Small: Goblins have advantage on attack and defense rolls against Big creatures.
  • Sunlight Sensitivity: Goblins have disadvantage on attack and defense rolls and Wisdom checks relying on sight when in direct sunlight or its equivalent (including the light of the Final Star).

• Although the shelves are mostly overgrown, a handful of texts and other fragments can be scavenged, each worth 1d100 gp. There are about 100 of these texts and fragments in total, but each takes 1d10 minutes to find.

Roll (1d6)	Text
1	An alchemical formula for an extremely potent herbicide similar to the one in the orbs in the Herbicidal Arsenal (area 19).  An Intelligence check by a trained alchemist with sufficient equipment and 50 gp worth of reagents produces a phial of herbicide that deals 2d6 damage per minute to plant creatures, spread over a 10-foot-radius sphere, unless they succeed on a Constitution save, 1d6 damage to non-plant creatures.
2	A copy of Whispers of the Woods, an Elfin text transcribed by the Librarians, which seems to be a book of poetry detailing the secret conversations of trees. If a spellcaster reads this text they must pass a Charisma saving throw or the spell Entangling Vines plants itself in their memory, replacing one of their other prepared spells. The spellcaster has advantage to keep this spell from fading from their memory. If the spell is not forgotten by the time the spellcaster rests, it spreads, prompting another Charisma save; on a failure, another spell is “devoured” by the vines, while on a success, the infection is stable. Only by casting and successfully forgetting all instances of the spell can it be removed from the spellcaster’s brain.
3	A spellbook containing formulae for Treeform and Heartberry.
4	A scroll of Oakflesh.
5	A book of prehistoric flora, each page containing meticulously pressed petals and stems, delicately and perfectly preserved through alchemical lamination.
6	A silver page of beaten anathemantine bearing Aklo glyphs, clearly part of a longer text (the Book of the Bloodwood). The page seems in the midst of describing the spread of the Bloodwood across an island continent as some form of weapons test. Within a month, the forest had spread to cover a third of the island, consuming all biomatter, replacing the local flora, and assimilating the fauna into its own hematophagic ecosystem.

17. Broodtree

There is a 50% chance of encountering agroup of 1d4 Hemadryads here, feeding the Broodtree blood by kissing its knothole mouth, vomiting the blood into it like vampire bats.

At the centre of this chamber, illumined by no fewer than three crimson bulbs, a huge white oak is swollen with what appear to be something between acorns and embryos, their enormous, translucent shells veined with red. A large, vertical knothole, like a sideways mouth, gapes along the trunk of the tree. A console covered in Aklo glyphs sputters fitfully to one side, the conduits leading to the mechanism frayed and degraded.

• Inside the acorns, lithe forms are vaguely visible, coiled, slumbering, twitching occasionally and making the tree rustle. There are a dozen in total.

• Each acorn holds an immature Hemadryad with half the Hit Points of an adult. If one of the acorns is disturbed, the Hemadryad may emerge early, typically attacking out of ravenous hunger.

• If attacked, or if the acorns growing from it are harmed, the Broodtree will attack as per an Bloodwood Tree with double the normal Hit Points and attacks. Any such assault will immediately bring 2d4 Hemadryads to defend the tree within 30 seconds.

• Another page of The Book of the Bloodwood (see area 16) can be spotted with a thorough search. The page describes the same island continent consumed utterly by the Bloodwood. The wood produces gruesome pens of thorns from which it periodically releases captives so that the Hemadryads can hunt them down. The captives are nourished with heartfruit, which grows from trees that recently fed. A successful Intelligence check suggests that this is a kind of perversion of the natural ecological order: plants, which should be producers, have become consumers, whereas those who would normally fill this niche have effectively become something more like producers, blood-bags for the predatory plants.

• The console requires an Intelligence check with disadvantage to operate successfully, and power to it is fitful; on a failure, the console shocks the operator for 2d6 damage and may cause unpredictable magical transformations as raw arcane energy is channelled into their body. If Mend or equivalent were applied, power would be restored, removing this risk. If, however, the correct Activation Code is input, the console releases herbicidal gas throughout this chamber and areas 15-24, requiring all creatures to make a Constitution save or take 1d6 poison damage per minute, double to plant creatures.

18. Overgrown Machine

There is a 25% chance of encountering a patrol of 1d4 Hemadryads here.

A grove of white trees, illumined by another crimson bulb, emerges from the shattered bulk of some enormous, overgrown machine, its purpose now inscrutable beneath layers of lichen, dark loam, and spreading roots. The trees’ branches dangle heavy with strange, pulsating fruit. The vegetation has grown so thick here that it’s almost as if you have left the Old City entirely and passed into some otherworldly forest.

• On closer inspection, these fruit resemble humanoid hearts, and seem connected to the trees by structures as comparable to veins as much as stems. Plucking one leads to a small spurt of blood from the tree. The fruit taste sweetly of meat. Each nourishes the eater for a full day, restores 1d8 Hit Points, and functions as per Heal Disease.

• There are twenty of these heartfruit currently “ripe” on the trees (1 Encumbrance slot each), and another 30 that are less ripe (1/2 a slot each), healing only 1 Hit Point and lacking the other attributes of the fruit.

• Picking unripe heartfruit summons 1d4 Hemadryads within 30 seconds.

• The machine is a gigantic security biomechanoid designed to destroy the Bloodwood in the event of containment failure. It is currently deactivated, but a close inspection of the machine reveals a septagonal depression into which something might be inserted – namely the Ruby Keystone (currently in area 42).
  
  Biomechanoid Sentinel: 20 HD (100 Hit Points), Armour 2d10, two Buzzsaws (Str, 2d6) and two Flamejets (Dex, 1d8 fire, range 60 feet), Speed 40 ft., Infravision 120 ft., Partial Construct (immune to mind-influencing effects, advantage on Constitution saving throws and half damage from poison and disease), Str 18, Dex 14, Con 18, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 8.
  • Gigantic: The Biomechanoid is Gigantic. Attacks against it by smaller creatures hit automatically. It has a 20 foot reach.
  • Herbicidal Breath: As an action, the Biomechanoid can exhale a plume of virulent orange poison in a 60-ft. cone that deals 2d6 damage, and double to plant creatures, on a failed Constitution save to all those in the cone, opposed by its Constitution attack roll.
  • Regenerating: The Biomechanoidheals 1d20 Hit Points per round.

• If awakened, the machine will proceed to poison and incinerate the entire Bloodwood unless the Hemadryads and every tree in the forest manage to stop it; every Hemadryad in the wood (roughly 100 of them) will rally to try and bring it down. It ignores other organisms unless they attack it or attempt to enter the Heart of the Bloodwood (area 24).