The Apocalypse Archive 19-24

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Soundtrack for areas 19-24

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Overview

Previous: Areas 1-6, Areas 7-12, Areas 13-18

19. Herbicidal Arsenal

The door to this arsenal is sealed. The Peridot Keystone (currently in area 33) is required to open it, an octagonal stone placed into a depression to one side of the door. Picking the lock requires a Dexterity check with disadvantage; on a failure, the arcane mechanism deals 2d6 damage to the would-be intruder, potentially leaving their fingers blackened bones.

The floor of the arsenal is clearly inscribed with a series of protective sigils. Those without the Blood Glyph, which can be acquired through the Fleshscribe (area 26), activate the sigils, causing the blood of intruders to rebel against them, animating to become a Hemagolem, a dripping sanguineous horror that tries to break free of their flesh. Outside of the arsenal, a Hemagolem transforms back into regular blood.

Inside the arsenal are a series of carven niches, each containing an orb swirling with orange vapour. A dozen curious mask-like devices hang on hooks near to these orbs. There is also a strange, biomechanoid collar in the middle of the chamber on a low plinth, plugged into a series of intravenous feeding tubes. A pulsing organ contained in a crystalline bulb on the collar’s side glows and flickers as if with firelight.

• Each orb can be thrown with a range of 30 feet, producing a 10-foot-radius cloud of concentrated herbicidal gas that deals 2d6 damage per round to plant creatures, with a Constitution saving throw for half damage. Non-plant creatures have advantage on the save and take only 1d6 damage. There are 20 in all.

• The masks are Librarian-made respirators. Wearing one makes the wearer immune to inhaled toxins such as herbicidal gas, but makes verbal spellcasting impossible.

• The Wyrmgland Collar is a biomechanoid symbiont. If placed around the neck of a Big or smaller creature (it adapts to fit), it fuses with their body; a Strength save resists this. Once attached, it can only be removed by cutting it free, requiring delicate tools and a Wisdom check with disadvantage to surgically excise it without injuring the wearer. The collar reduces the wearer’s Constitution by 1, draining them of blood and energy and introducing alien compounds into their bloodstream. Once attached, however, it allows the wearer to breathe a gout of dragon’s breath, a Dexterity-based attack targeting up to three creatures within 5 feet of each other at once within a 15 foot cone. The gizzard contains 6d6 fire damage; dice can be expended over the course of a day, replenishing with a rest.
  
  Hemagolem: 1 HD (5 Hit Points), Scab Club (Str, 1d6) or Clot (Con, 1d6, ignores armour), Speed 10 feet., Infravision 120 ft., Ooze (immune to mind-influencing effects, immune to non-magical slashing, piercing, or bludgeoning damage, double damage from cold), Str 12, Dex 11, Con 13, Int 2, Wis 2, Cha 2.
  
  • Puppeteer: While a Hemagolem is inside its host, it cannot attack normally, but can make opposed Strength rolls to try and control the body of its host, typically attempting to free itself by wounding said host, or to free its brethren trapped in other bodies. It can also attempt to clot itself to kill its host. If its host bleeds, the Hemagolem begins to form outside of their body until it reaches 5 Hit Points.

20. Rift

Tectonic activity, the wrenching roots of this carnivorous wood, or some other force has torn a rift in the floor of this passage. Thick vines and creepers trail down the broken lip of the rift; distantly, some other part of the Archive can be glimpsed below.

• The rift is 12 feet wide, and so may be beyond the jumping distance for some party members.

• Should someone fall, the full drop is 60 feet.

• The vines can be climbed with a successful Strength check, leaving a 30 ft. drop to the floor below (area 86).

• Hemadyrads can simply treestride from one side of the rift to the other, or they can command the vines to form a rough bridge, knitting together to allow goblin captives or the like to pass.

21. Feeding Grounds

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

Low slabs fill this long room, along with a series of shelves, now emptied and overgrown by the verdant blood-red creepers and white trees that rustle and whisper without wind. Twisting trails wind through the hall, like paths through a forest. Here and there, scattered amongst the underbrush, curious tools gleam cruelly. A chorus of moans from deeper within the wood mingles with the susurrus of the trees.

• The tools are anathemantine dissection tools. They can be wielded as daggers (1d4), but no one – not even Fighters or Guardians – are proficient with them, unless granted facility via Dreams of a Dead Empire.

• Numerous victims of the Bloodwood can be found throughout this hall. Some are detailed below, but additional characters can easily be placed here, including replacement PCs.

21A. Captured Phrenomorph Drone

A feeble insectile chittering is evident up ahead. A spindly-limbed creature with a narrow, squid-like head is being digested by the trees, its body trapped by the gnarled boughs of the wood. It has a clutch of tentacles around its beaked mouth which feebly trash and writhe, a chitinous exoskeleton, six clawed limbs, and a long, sinuous tail tipped with a barbed stinger, all ensnared by the tree’s snaking tendrils.

• This creature can be freed (see area 15), though this is strongly inadvisable.
  
  Phrenomorph Drone: 3 HD (15 Hit Points), Armour 1d4, four Claws (Str, 1d6) plus Sting (Str, 1d8 plus Venom), Speed 40 feet, climb 40 feet, Infravision 120 ft., Anathemite (resistant to mind-influencing effects), St 14, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 6, Wis 14, Cha 6.
  
  • Extract: If it manages to paralyze a creature, the phrenomorph drone can attempt to extract the brain of its victim, dealing 4d4 damage per round; should it reduce a creature to 0 Hit Points, it consumes their brain, killing them instantly.
  • Hive Mind: Phrenomorph drones are connected to a telepathic hive-mind ruled by a phrenarch, which can see through the eyes of its subjects and direct others of the colony.
  • Venom: A creature damaged by the drone’s sting must make a Constitution save or be wracked with pain and paralyzed for 1 minute, repeating the save every round to shake off the paralysis.

• If it escapes, the drone will attempt to rejoin the Colony on level 2 using the rift in area 20.

21B. Captured Adventurer

A blonde cambion woman wearing ornate leather armour and armed with a rapier and pistol is being digested by the trees, roots and branches slowly sucking her blood. She slips in and out of consciousness, murmuring in Diabolic. She carries a leather satchel.

• The adventurer is Luxuria Houghing, a cambion (half-demon) fighter and wizardess and member of the Gehenna Girls, an adventuring company who previously discovered the Apocalypse Archive entrance. She is the sixth daughter of the Houghing family, a precariously prosperous cambion dynasty with lands in the Hexwold and in the Outer Circles of Hell. Unlikely to inherit and lacking the necessary reverence for a career in the Diabolic Church, Luxuria signed up with the Sisterhood in hopes of securing her fortune and restoring the prospects of her family. She is highly suspicious of other adventurers, perceiving them as rivals, and will likely betray them at the first chance.
  
  Luxuria Houghing, Cambion (Pandemoniac) Fighter 1/Wizard 1: HD 2 (1d10+1d6, Hit Points 13), Armour 1d2 (Studded Leather), Pistol (Dex, 2d6 piercing) or Rapier (Dex, 1d8 piercing), Cambion (Infravision 60 feet, reduces fire damage by half, advantage on saves vs. fire), Str 8 Dex 13 Con 12 Int 16 Wis 6 Cha 12.
  
  • Charm: As a Pandemoniac cambion, Luxuria can cast Charm once per day.
  • Spells: Conjure Cacodemon*, Hovering Head, Magic Shield,* Omen, Puissant Projectile, Time Spasm. *Currently prepared.
  • Weapon Specialization (Pistols): Luxuria rolls all attack and damage rolls with pistols twice and takes the higher result.
  • Equipment: Bandolier (22 shots + powder remaining), pistol, rapier, spellbook with above spells, studded leather armour, purse with 42 gp, The Rites of the First Darkness.

• The Rites of the First Darkness is written in Aklo and has pages of voidskin bound in nightflesh, the skin of an elder atramental; it appears as a menacing slab of leather so black it seems to absorb light brought near it. It describes a series of rituals pertaining to the enigmatic First Darkness, or Shrouded Lord. These include instructions for sacrifices to the First Darkness upon the altar in area 10 and others like it, as well as the spells Annihilate, Blind, Conjure Tenebral, Crepusculate, Darken, Shadow Jump, and Voidmouth. Reading the text itself is hazardous, dealing 1d4 cold damage (ignoring armour) and producing an intense feeling of primordial humiliation before the ineffable immensity of the supreme darkness that preceded all creation. This cures any Radiation equal to the amount of cold damage sustained. Reading the book also delivers dreams of an endless black void, purging all Dreams of a Dead Empire or other intrusive nightmares for 24 hours.

21C. Captured Celebrant

A disturbing series of cooing, groaning sounds issues from this grove. Trapped by two of the pallid trees and being slowly torn apart by competing tendrils of the bloodsucking plants is a voluptuous humanoid with skin covered in ritualistic scars. The creature’s body is a disturbing patchwork – what look at first to be clothes are revealed on closer inspection to be garments of skin sewn into the being’s flesh. It glistens and spurts, bleeding black blood. The trees draining it look somewhat unhealthy.

• This Celebrant is called Destruda. They are enjoying their captivity enormously, experiencing the sensation of being torn apart with all the rapturous aesthetic bliss one would expect from a member of the Frolic.
  
  Destruda, HD 4 (Hit Points 18), Armour 1d2, Spiked Chains (Dex, 2d6, reach), Speed 30 ft., Celebrant (Infravision 120 ft., advantage on saves versus poisons and disease), Str 10 Dex 14 Con 14 Int 11 Wis 13 Cha 16.
  
  • Regenerating: Destruda heals 1d4 Hit Points every round unless damaged by holy water or a Cultist’s Smite or Exorcism. Although native to the pocket dimension of Excessus, they are distant kindred of demons and can be considered fiends for the purposes of spells and magic items.
  • Spells: Destruda can cast the following spells using Charisma, rolling to remember them as a Witch and eschewing reagents: Blood Boil, Execrate, Horrify, Time Spasm, Wound.

• If freed from captivity, Destruda will admonish their rescuers before inviting them to join them in the Frolic in area 37. Should they outright refuse the invitation, Destruda will grow peevish and may punish those who refuse them, spiked chains whipping forth from the intricate depths of their body like barbed entrails.

22. Thorn Pen

There is a 25% chance of encountering 1d4 Hemadryads here selecting a prisoner to be digested in the Feeding Grounds.

The jagged remnants of a crystalline specimen container big enough to hold an elephant or an ogre gleam beneath the crimson foliage of the Bloodwood. Within the broken container, an elaborate growth of thorns pens in a group of creatures whose movements can dimly be glimpsed.

• There are eight goblins in the thorn pens, five of the Fodder Clan and three of the Digger Clan. They have temporarily put aside their differences, but their hatred for one another is palpable, and they occupy different sides of the pen. The Diggers are notable for their clawed hands, vestigial eyes, and tentacular noses, like star-nosed moles. All have been thoroughly stripped of equipment.

• The Hemadryads can cause the thorns to retract at will and may place captives here if they are not immediately fed to the Bloodwood.

• The thorns have 2 Armour and 30 Hit Points. Attacking them with a melee weapon without reach requires a Dexterity save to avoid being pricked by them, which deals 1d4 damage and provokes a Constitution save or be plunged into a deep stupor for 1 hour. Nothing can wake a creature lulled into this state of sleep.

23. The Book of the Bloodwood

This chamber is protected with sigils deactivated by the Blood Glyph (see area 19).

The walls of this room are adorned with intricate bas-relief murals depicting the spread of the Bloodwood through an unfamiliar city, trees digesting citizens subdued by Hemadryads, Broodtrees towering over broken temples, roots and vines wrenching apart towers and walls. In the middle of the room stands an empty lectern. In the floor, a rough hole has been bored, leading down into a narrow passage.

• The book itself has been stolen by the goblins of the Digger Clan and is currently in area 82.

• The hole can be climbed down by a Small creature or by a Medium creature with a Dexterity check; on a failure of 5 or more, the creature is stuck. Big creatures have disadvantage. It leads to area 80.

24. Heart of the Bloodwood (Containment Chamber)

A gigantic tree strains against the ceiling of this chamber, whose walls are lined with largely overgrown shelves. A few crystalline cannisters still gleam on the shelves. The tree – illuminated by half a dozen crimson bulbs suspended near the ceiling – is a huge, heaving, rustling thing with numerous greedy knothole-mouths gasping about its trunk. Suspended from its branches are a series of translucent-shelled acorns in which embryonic Hemadryads slowly mature. Several fully-grown Hemadryads tend to the tree, vomiting blood into its knothole mouths. There is a rhythmic thumping in this chamber emanating from the tree – unmistakably, a heartbeat.

• This room was previously the Bloodwood Seed Bank. The cannisters contain small, pale acorns which, if planted and watered with blood, develop into Broodtrees. There are 12 acorn cannisters still-intact, each containing 10 acorns. Xenobotanists, alchemists, biomancers, and the like would likely pay handsomely for such treasures, to the tune of at least 1000 gp per cannister (100 gp per acorn). Of course, anyone who has read The Book of the Bloodwood in whole or in part will realize how risky letting it loose could be.

• A retinue of 6 Hemadryads is present here at all times. If the Heart of the Bloodwood is threatened, 1d4 Hemadryads arrive every round to defend her. There are 100 Hemadryads in total in the Bloodwood.

• The Heart of the Bloodwood is the Mother Tree of the forest, the oldest Broodtree in the grove. Her roots and veins are connected to all others in the forest. Although it can survive without her, destroying the Heart will seriously damage all other trees connected to her, reducing their Constitution by 6 and their Hit Points by half. The Heart has another 24 Hemadryads maturing in acorns in its boughs.
  
  Heart of the Bloodwood: 9 HD (54 Hit Points), Armour 1d6+2, four Lashing Boughs (Str, 1d6) or Feed (Str, 1d8), Speed 0 ft., Plant (immune to mind-influencing effects, double damage from fire, slashing), Str 17, Dex 4, Int 2, Wis 16, Cha 12.
  
  • Blood Drain: When the Heart 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 the Heart 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.
  • Gigantic: The Heart of the Bloodwood is Gigantic. Attacks against her by smaller creatures hit automatically. She has a 30-foot reach.