Ternketh - South Rooms

South Rooms

16. Armory. This large room is the suiting area for guards and soldiers of the keep, used in old days primarily for ceremonial duties – so along with the swords, spears, axes and a wide range of other weapons, there are dozens cloaks hanging on the bare walls (and scattered over the floor, most of these with rents in the fabric), sashes, helmets and armours that were shiny and polished. These things, of course, have all be despoiled. The room is nominally empty, but a wandering monster encounter should be rolled if someone enters: a 1 in 6 will indicate a giant rat that sits and looks at the party from about 20 feet away. It will squirm away under the far right side door into room 19 (it only needs the one-inch space under the door to fit in.

17. Artisan’s Room. While most making of materials such as weapons, tools or other goods in the castle are made in the town, there was one Keep inhabitant who’s job it was to mend or repair objects, particularly armor and weapons. This is the room where that skilled person lived. There is a comfortable bed, a bookcase that is filled with low-quality works (popular writings) and two books about armor and repairing things. There is also a trunk in the room, unlocked, that contains clothes, some hammers and tongs and a pouch with about 50 c.p. and 30 s.p. The harpies have done their work with the room.

18. Soldier’s Quarters, Wu. These are barracks for soldiers, not guards, but the distinction might be easily lost on the party. The wall over the table indicates gives a brief history of the Wu Clan, giving no details that are especially important (make something up if you feel it is necessary, but this is all two thousand years ago). I would tell the party that it is propaganda for the soldiers and of no importance, being quick to reassure them that there is nothing in the passage to overthink and waste time with, as players will if they think its a clue. The passage is primarily decorative, to motivate the soldiers.

There are four chests in the room. These are locked and contain clothes, blankets, one weapon in each (a dagger and 3 hand axes) and small iron coffers that will rattle with coins (not many, perhaps 3-30 s.p. and 1-10 g.p.). Because of the locks, the harpies have not defiled the contents.

Somehow, a chink in the outer walls has allowed a family of giant rats to make their home in the room – these have spread into 19 also. The party will hear the rats before seeing them. There are 35 giant rats that will attack from this room. These will be aggressive and rabid. If characters remain in the room for more than one round, those present will be swarmed by four rats each. After the first round, this will increase, until up to eight rats will attack medium sized characters every round (leaping from the bunks and tables if necessary) and up to six against small characters. Their number will keep the door from being closed or force it open, as the door swings both ways.

19. Soldier’s Quarters, Yao. See 18, above. This room is also occupied by rats. There are only 21 giant rats in the room, however this is where the king rat dwells (treat as a rat that has grown fat, with three times the size of a normal rat, twice the damage done on attack and a level of intelligence bordering low). If the party is attacked in this room and manages to kill ten of the attacking rats, the king rat will call all rats from 18 to join the fight. The door of this room also swings both ways, like that of 18.

The history of the Yao Clan on the wall has the same lack of importance as that of the Wu Clan, but it is a completely different story. There are four chests in the room. These are locked and contain clothes, blankets, with a short sword in each and small iron coffers that will rattle with coins (not many, perhaps 3-30 s.p. and 1-10 g.p.). Because of the locks, the harpies have not defiled the contents.

20. Priest’s Room. As the party can only reach this room through the assembly hall (see 21, below), it should already be evident that the religion practiced by the original inhabitants of the Keep was Buddhism. The priest’s room is lush and unusually luxurious, with a marble floor, rich bookshelves, silk bedclothes, a couch and other furnishings. The room is empty but is polluted as expected. There are gold coins strewn over the table and floor, at least 200 in number – there are other signs that a struggle went on here, with little spatters of blood (but nothing excessive) on the walls and floor.

There are two chests, both of which are completely empty. The books in the room are common tomes containing sayings, mantras, moral tales, tantras and records of the keep. We may wish at this time considering the inclusion in the room of a secret compartment, one that the harpies never discovered, that might conceal a scroll with a raise dead spell, cure disease, restoration or heal spell (or some combination thereof). It depends on how generous we wish to be. I would likely include the raise dead spell, even if the party didn’t need it, just because it is nice to have. Obviously, the secret door would have to be looked for and found.

21. Assembly Hall. This is the giant room where the Lord of the Keep would address the subjects. There is a large table where the Lord, the magician, the priest and two others sit, perhaps the commander and the Lord’s spouse. There are four other large tables with 31 chairs, several carpets, the statue of a dragon by the front entrance (towards room 16) and two Buddha statues (unseemly, but perhaps acceptable for Ternkethians – heresy is strange). The heads of the Buddhas are only an inch below the ceiling of the 13 foot high room.

The hall also has five harpies. These will attack any intruders together, though they will have to come from all over the room to do it – unless they perceive they are outnumbered (there are more than five opponents, regardless of how strong these may be. If this is the case, the harpy nearest the door to 22 will push open the door and let loose a bloodcurdling scream. This will call in the remaining harpies from the temple. If the number of intruders increases to more than ten (or two of the harpies are killed during the combat), all harpies will retreat out of this room into 22.

This is the chief residence of the harpies so the stench and filth is greater here than any other part of the Keep. All players that enter will suffer -1 to their strength and -2 to constitution (with corresponding loss in hit points) for as long as they remain in the room (or in the temple beyond). The harpies do not feast here, they prefer to do that outside, but they do use the assembly hall as their toilet.

22. Temple. This great chamber served both as a place of worship and as a sleeping area for more than one hundred residents of the Keep. The chamber has 26 foot high ceilings, which are supported by stone arch rafters where the harpies will hide if pressed hard by combat. The floor is covered with carpets and large comfortable pillows. The black altar at the west end of the room is simple, about eight feet off the floor with a very low dais, surmounted by a cluster of incense lamps. In the lower east corner, opposite the stairs, is a beautiful ten foot high female buddha carved from an unidentified blue stone, sitting in a pool of water with blue tile beneath. Though this has been defiled again and again by the harpies, it has somehow retained its appearance and the water within seems able to purify itself (and the whole font) regardless.

The area is made for a great missile combat. There is no actual place where a harpy can completely hide without a chance of being struck by arrows or bolts, but shooters suffer a -5 penalty to hit if a harpy is hidden up there – and they must move to where they are underneath the rafter where the harpy is hiding. The location of the rafters is indicated by the pillar bases depicted in the side walls.

During the combat, harpies will dive at their enemies on the floor (roll initiative, giving the harpies +3) and seek to break up their enemy by moving from rafter to rafter. Combatants on the ground must look down if they don’t want to trip or fall over a large pillow (two feet in diameter) as these make the floor uneven – this will also contribute to the harpies’ +3 bonus to gain initiative, as they will selectively pick their moments when an enemy moves to a better position. 

Any harpy engaged with an enemy on the floor will prefer to fly up again into the rafters than continue the fight (in some systems this allows an attack of opportunity but in mine I consider the character’s attack prior to the harpy flying to be the only chance the character gets). The characters should be required to count their shots, as ammunition may be important if they have bad luck in killing harpies. Most likely, the spellcasters in the party will be needed to finish the harpies off.