#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 9, Room 25

 Continuing on to the next room, this is the tomb of another dwarven prince. There is a sarcophagus and an interned body but no treasure save for a single bottle.

Inside the bottle is a Djinn. 

The djinn will offer the party 3 wishes total if they don't attack it.

The djinn knows nothing about the Vampire Queen. This is because before imprisoning the djinn she wished for him to forget everything about her.

The party could choose to attack. The Djinn will turn invisible and hide. He will come back around to see if he can get the party to consent to the wishes since this is the only way he can get back to the Plane of Air.

The djinn returning to the Plane of Air will also return his memories. At this point, the djinn will return to the party and offer them any weapons they need to help them defeat the Vampire Queen. The djinn is barred from directly dealing with the Queen herself.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 9, Room 24

 Moving on from the King's Chamber (where the dragon was), we get to the Queen's Chamber. 

This tomb has been desecrated and robbed of all treasures. The Vampire Queen is jealous of any other queen other than herself.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 9, Room 23

 This room is directly in line with the corridor the party used to enter the room. The passageway slopes down considerably and goes for nearly 100 feet.  The room it opens up into is large.

Inside this room is a large dragon.

This dragon has been down here for centuries and it has grown too large to leave or even fly. It is a Necrotic Dragon. It had been a Red Dragon (and uses those stats) but its exposure to the necromantic magics of this tomb has changed it. Its breath weapon is a gout of black fire that burn cold, but burns all the same.

The local living goblins pay it tribute and the Shadow Elves from above believe it is some sort of dark avatar of long dead gods.

It has maximum HP for a red dragon and three times (x3) the amount of treasure.

It can be harmed with holy water (1d8 per vial) and a light or continual light spell will cause it to hit and save at a -1 penalty.

Kickstart Your Weekend: Demons, Angels, and Serpent Queens

 A couple of new Kickstarters for this weekend.

Castles & Crusades Codex Infernum & Codex Exaltum

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ckg/castles-and-crusades-monsters-the-unclean-and-pure?ref=theotherside

Troll Lords continues their Codex Series with two books. Castles & Crusades Codex Infernum and Codex Exaltum, this time covering Demons and Angels, respectively.

I really liked their Tome of the Unclean, which featured demons and devils, and I thought it was a great book. I love their Codex series as well.  No surprise then that I am looking forward to seeing these out. 

And to add icing on the cake the Codex Exaltum is being written by none other than my frequent partner in crime, Jason Vey!  Jaso really is the perfect person for that with his academic and game-writing background. So my expectations of this one are pretty high. 

The covers look great and will fit in nicely with my current in-use copies of Castles & Crusades.

Also expect these in a future One Man's God-style post.

Trails & Tales: Temple of the Serpent Queen

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/trailsandtales/trails-and-tales-temple-of-the-serpent-queen?ref=theotherside

If you are on social media, in particular Facebook, you know that for a little bit now Danger Forge has been releasing some quality OSR-compatible PDFs for free. The production values are high and the content has been a lot of fun.  

This is their first Kickstarter. 

Personally, I can think of about three or four campaigns I could use this in, one of which is my Castles & Crusades conversion of my "Second Campaign."

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 9, Room 22

 Continuing counterclockwise to the next crypt brings the party to room 22.  This one is dedicated to one of the dwarven princesses.

The party notices many things.

First, there is the ghost of a dwarven princess standing near her damaged sarcophagus. She is very sad and does not speak.

Secondly, the walls are covered with paintings of the pricess' life. She died young and un-married.  The painting were of her playing in the (then) nearby fields. Braiding her father's beard, and other scenes of innocence.

Thirdly, the party will also also see that these paintings have all been defaced with graffiti and pornographic imagery. 

The princess' ghost cannot be attack of hit. But likewise she can't attack either. She can't find rest because her grave has been disturbed.  A cleric can perform the final rights and put her soul to rest, but she won't leave until the vandalism is removed.

Fortunately the graffiti was done by magic (a magic-user or witch can detect this) and so a Dispel Magic will erase it all.

Doing this will allow the princess to move on.  She will with a smile and as she departs a previously hidden secret door will open and reveal the Princess' treasure. There are two bags of holding each with 18,700 gp value in jewels and gems. There is a crown worth 1,000 gp and a slim bejewelled sword. Finding these is worth 40,000 XP total. 

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 9, Room 21

 Moving on to the next room on the left hand side (to the right of Room 20) is another passageway to a crypt. This one has a guest waiting for the party.

In this crypt is a dead dwarf. He is looking at you, but he is dead.  

If the party does not attack right away the dwarf, a bhūta, will ask in a dry and dusty voice to ask the party to hold.  The dwarf will explain that he is only interested in killing the Vampire Queen, or at least get confirmation that she is dead.  If they party lets him pass he will walk by. Give them the same XP as if they had defeated him.

IF they attack, then he will attack back.  Nothing will stop his vengeance on the Vampire Queen.

Bhūta (Dwarf)

Armor Class: 4 [15]
Hit Dice: 7+14** (46 hp)
Attacks: 2 claws (1d6+1 x2)
Special: Death Grip, Undead.
THAC0: 11 [+8]
Movement: 120' (40')
Saving Throws: Monster 7
Morale: 12
Alignment: Neutral evil
XP: 1,250 (OSE) 1,100 [9] (S&W) 1,200 (LL)
Number Appearing: 1
Treasure Type: None

When a person is murdered, the spirit sometimes clings to the Material Plane, refusing to accept its mortal death. This spirit, called a bhūta, possesses its original body and seeks out those responsible for its murder. It will never rest until those responsible are sought out and slain. 

Since the transformation into unlife is almost instant (occurring within 1-2 hours after death), the bhūta appears as it did in life for about 2 weeks, taking on a more decayed appearance thereafter. Close inspection (spot on a roll of 1-2 on 1d6) reveals slight decay, and the body still shows signs of any trauma suffered prior to death (wounds, disease, burns, or the like), but outwardly, the bhūta for the most part appears as a normal creature of its race. In its undead state, the bhūta sustains itself on a diet of flesh, preferring that of humans and elves. A bhūta that scores two successful claw attacks on an opponent in the same round fastens its hands around its opponent’s throat and deals 1d6+1 damage per round until the hold is broken with a successful attack by the victim. 

The bhūta’s main objective is revenge on the person that killed it. So long as the bhuta and its killer are on the same plane of existence, it can find its target unerringly.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 9, Room 20

 Room 19 has many small passageways radiating out. They form 8 spokes, with the larger hall as the first.  The first passage leads to a small mausoleum. 

This is final resting place for four dwarven princes.  

There is still some treasure here. A total of 163 gp can be found along an axe +2, +3 vs. Goblins and Orcs.