Note that the box cannot be found with a Search check unless a character knows that there is some-thing to search for in the sand pit.
8. ZADHI’S CAVE (EL 10)
This is the lair of Zadhi, the barbaric druidess of the Red Waste. The cavern is lit by small oil lamps placed around the edges of the grotto. To the south is a ledge 20 feet above the cave floor, accessible by a narrow (5 feet wide) stairway carved into the rock.
Zadhi has several befriended animal companions, 2 huge viper snakes and a desert hawk. The druidess keeps her few personal belongings atop the ledge and sleeps there, while her animal companions guard the cavern below. On occasion, the druidess has stolen a few eggs from the lair of the wyverns, and extracted wyvern poison from the hatchlings before killing them. This is a weaker form of poison than adult wyvern poison and only causes 1d6 points of initial and secondary Con damage.
Treasure: Among Zadhi’s personal items is a string necklace of small pink pearls (worth 1,000 gp), three doses of weak wyvern poison, a suit of wyvern-hide armor (+3 bonus to AC) that she only wears if she expects combat (or if barkskin is not among her memorized spells), and a potion of detect thoughts.
Zadhi, female human Bbn5/
Drd5: CR 10; SZ M; HD 5d12+10 plus 5d8+10; hp 75; Init +7; Spd 40 ft; AC 14 (+1 small wooden shield, +3 Dex), touch 13, flat-footed
11; BAB/Grap +8/+11; Atk +13/+8
melee (1d6+4 plus poison, +1 scimitar, 15–20); SA rage (2/day, duration 7 rounds), poison (weak wyvern poison, Fort DC 17, damage 1d6 Con/1d6 Con), spells; SQ animal companion, fast movement, nature sense, resist nature’s lure, trackless step, trap sense (+1), improved uncanny dodge, wild shape (1/day, animal only [Small or Medium]), wild empathy, woodland stride; AL N; SV Fort +10, Ref +7, Will +7; Str 16, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 15, Cha 11.
Skills: Climb +16, Concentration +15, Heal +15, Jump +16, Knowledge (nature) +15, Survival +15, Swim +16. Feats: Combat Reflexes, Improved Criti-cal (scimitar), Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Weapon Focus (scimitar).
Druid Spells Prepared (5/4/3/1; base DC 12 + spell level): 0–create water, guidance, know direction, light, resistance; 1st–cure light wounds, endure elements, magic fang, obscuring mist; 2nd–barkskin, heat metal, summon swarm; 3rd–poison.
Possessions: +1 scimitar, small wooden shield, gold jewelery (70 gp total), holy symbol (a lizard-skin filled with water during a full moon), light clothing, bone dagger.
Personality/Description: Zadhi is a tan, long-h a i r e d , b u t g a u n t a n d s k i n n y w o m a n o f indeterminate age. She dresses lightly, in scanty earth-colored garments. Her face is painted with mystic tattoos, and she is adorned with carved armbands and anklets of beaten gold. Finger- and toenails are unkempt and look like claws. As a child, Zadhi was outcast from her tribe and left in the desert to die, but she survived and learned the ways of nature. The druidess sometimes helps those who are alone and near death in the depths of the Red Waste.
Notes: Since Zadhi is a desert druid, at 2nd level, instead of Woodland Stride she gains the ability to survive for 1 day/druid level longer than normal before thirst affects her. At 4th level, a +4 bonus to Will saves against mirages and illusions replaces Resist Nature’s Lure.
Tactics: Zadhi can be assumed to always have endure elements (fire) cast upon herself. If she has time to prepare before combat, she casts barkskin on herself, increasing her AC to 17, and then magic fang on one of her animal companions. In combat, she attempts to use summon swarm (against spellcasters) or heat metal (against fighter-types) from afar while she is protected by her animal companions. Then, she rages and enters melee with her scimitar, reserving her poison spell for tough opponents. If her life is threatened, she
casts obscuring mist in an attempt to escape. Should that fail, she wild shapes into a small bird and tries to fly to safety, using the secret escape tunnel (Area 9).
Development: Zadhi is suspicious of all strang-ers until they have proven their good intentions (and she might use her potion of detect thoughts in any case, just to be sure). She feels that the strange tablet she has found (see Area 7) is an item better left hidden from the world of men, and she is loath to surrender it to anyone. However, she does not risk her life defending it, and in a near-death scenario she might use the tablet to bargain for her life.
Huge Viper Snakes (2): CR 3; AC 15, hp 33 each; see the MM for details.
Desert Hawk: CR 1/3; AC 17, hp 4; see the MM for details on the hawk.
9. SECRET TUNNEL
A steep, cramped tunnel leads from the ledge in Zadhi’s cave, through the rock, and ends in a small, well-concealed (Search DC 30) hole 70 feet above the ground on the southern side of the mesa.
The tunnel is navigable only for creatures of Small or lesser size. Zadhi sometimes uses this tunnel to enter and exit her cave, using her wild shape ability to take the form of a small bird when doing so.
MYTHIC MESOPOTAMIA
INTRODUCTION
At the apex of Ibnath’s greatness, this now-s i n i now-s t e r o a now-s i now-s w a now-s a n i m p o r t a n t w a y p o i n t frequented by the caravans that brought precious metals from the mines beneath the Horns of Sinmesh to the gem-cutters and artificers of the city.
The camel-road between the city and the moun-tains was known as the Glittering Road, for it seemed that there was no end to the amount of precious gems and metals held in the depths of the mountains, and as the caravans plied the road, the saddlebags and crates spilled some of their contents on the ground until the very road itself sparkled with the fire of tiny gems and gold-dust.
Formerly referred to simply as the Northern Oasis, the oasis fell into disuse when it seemed that the mines were finally exhausted. The no-mads who drifted into the area many years later quickly learned to avoid it, for they found the waters of the lake to produce disturbing dreams and evil visions when men and animals drank of it. Hence they named it the Oasis of Purple Dreams.
LAKE (EL 3+)
The oasis is dominated by a great lake of bluish-purple water whose surface is strangely calm. The lake is ringed by stunted and twisted cacti. The very air seems to hang heavy with an unreal atmosphere, and the absence of natural animals is disturbing.
The cacti are vampire cacti, a deep desert plant that drains the liquids of living animals. These cacti have 12 fleshy, needle-tipped leaves of a dusty green color with narrow yellow bands at the edge. The plant is immobile like most cacti, but its leaves are capable of rapid movement. A suc-cessful DC 15 Spot check allows a creature to detect the sun-bleached bones of desert-dwelling creatures that surround the plants, and possibly be alerted to its dangerous nature.
Vampire Cactus (1d3): CR 3; SZ M Plant; HD 3d8+6; hp 19; Init +3; Spd 0 ft. (immobile); AC 17 (+3 Dex, +4 natural), touch 13, flat-footed 14;
BAB/Grap +2/+3; Atk +4 ranged (1d2+1 plus blood drain, needle); Full Atk +4 ranged (1d2+1 plus blood drain [x12], needles); SA blood drain (1 Con damage per needle); SQ plant, immunity to electricity, fire vulnerability (+50% damage from fire); AL N; SV Fort +5, Ref +4, Will +1; Str 12, Dex 16, Con 14, Int —, Wis 11, Cha 9.
Skills: Hide +11. *Vampire cacti have a +8 racial bonus on Hide checks in their natural environment.
Tactics: The vampire cactus attacks all warm-blooded creatures that approach within 5 feet. It attacks by firing its needles, which attach the plant to the victim via the thick thread that unreels itself from within the leaf. This thread allows the cactus to drain the blood and bodily fluids of living creatures.
The plant can fire all 12 of its needles in one round, but no more than 4 at a single target.
Needles that miss, any pulled out of a victim, or any needles in a dead victim are reeled in and can
be fired again the next round. These threads have 4 hit points, leaves have 8 hit points, and both can be severed with slashing weapons, though they regrow again in a few days if the main plant is not destroyed. Attacking the threads or leaves does not harm the plant itself (i.e., damage dealt to either is not subtract from the vampire cactus’s hit point total).