While they are extremely well protected and diffi- cult to circumvent, the locks on this level’s doors can be opened, though they present a deadly challenge to even the most experienced rogue. The locks’ first defense is their simplest: To a normal mortal’s gaze they are not even there. Hidden by permanent illusions, the locks themselves are completely invisible. The illusion can be dispelled with a DC 32 dispel check. True seeing will also reveal the presence of the locks.
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Once the illusion is gone, a door’s lock—a huge latch plate made of black iron with a raised disk in the center surrounded by heavy rivets—is revealed. The doors have no apparent handles or any other obvious way to open them. The locks radiate strong abjuration magic. If touched, they inflict 10d10 points of electrici- ty damage on the individual who touched them (Reflex save DC 28 half) and trigger an alarm, summoning orcs, legates, and other guardian creatures. The electrical trap is magical and can also be dispelled with a DC 35 dis- pel check.
After the electrical trap has been disabled, there is a mechanical trap that requires a DC 30 Search check to locate and a DC 35 Disable Device check to remove. If it is not removed, the trap is triggered by an unsuccess- ful Open Lock check (see below). If triggered, the trap releases a powerful contact poison (contact DC 25, ini- tial damage 3d6 Con, secondary damage 3d6 Con). If the poison is released, the alarm is sounded.
The lock can be opened through an intricate series of movements of the disk, which rotates freely. There are no numbers or other indicators to suggest how the disk can be turned, and successfully manipulating the disk requires a DC 40 Open Lock check. If the first check fails, the lock jams mechanically and can only be freed with a DC 30 Disable Device check. Another Open Lock check can then be made.
Note that the level is well guarded and regularly patrolled, and making these checks unnoticed is highly unlikely. Should intruders successfully go through the entire process and actually get the portal open, they will still have to figure out a way of escaping from the tower with their loot.
Level 6: Library of Shadow
The mystical knowledge required to perform Izrador’s most secret and powerful rituals is consider- able, taxing even the capacity of the Night Kings and the highest-ranking legates. The Library of Shadow, located at one of the lowest levels of Theros Obsidia, is a store- house of foul, horrific magical knowledge, including books from the dawn of time and even volumes that might have originated on other planes, chronicling the use of the most dangerous arcane procedures known. The library is also a storehouse of historical and scien- tific knowledge, although the information contained is almost always about especially evil and disturbing top- ics.
The Library of Shadow consists of endless corri- dors of books, with shelves rising nearly 50 feet into the air. Bound spirits are used by the librarians to retrieve needed volumes, and individual books are constantly flying between shelves, rising from or settling into the
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open hands of the black-robed legates who study here. A single individual, known only as the Librarian, holds sway on this level. The Librarian is a silent, robed figure, its face lost in shadow, who sits on a high dais overseeing the entire library. It can communicate silent- ly with any legates who enter and the bound spirits are entirely under its control. No one really knows who or what the Librarian is, but it is generally believed to be a demon or other outsider that was charged with guarding arcane and profane knowledge on its home plane. Whether it serves Izrador willingly or unwillingly is not known. The Librarian is certainly a creature of few words, for it says only what it needs to say, its words echoing in the mind of the creature that it is addressing. To defy or disobey the Librarian is usually a capital crime, for those who do are said to simply disappear, and the books that they carry silently return to their shelves.
1. Portal: The entrance to the library is through an
entirely normal oak-and-iron door. However, six good- size gemstones surround the door on the inside, and each has a guardian spirit bound to it. The guardian spir- its will attack intruders if the Librarian commands it.
2. Librarian’s Dais: Conveniently located in full
view of both the entrance and the stacks, the Librarian sits on this raised platform, silently surveying the entire level.
3. Guardians: An iron golem stands at the head
of each of the stacks. These act as guards for the library should the guardian spirits fail, but can also serve to per- form simple tasks for the Librarian and visiting legates. Each golem has been enchanted with permanent ver- sions of true seeing, detect magic, and darkvision.
4. Stacks: Massive shelves crafted from dark
hardwood, these stacks reach high into the gloom over- head. Books move from shelf to shelf and down to legates who request them, seemingly of their own accord.
5. Desks: Each stack has a corresponding row of
desks where the legates can study their chosen volumes. Each desk has a small magical stone that emits a soft white light.
6. Artifacts Chamber: This small room contains
the most powerful books in the library—relics and books of great antiquity. At the DM’s discretion, the room can contain volumes that are themselves magic, such as golem manuals, manuals of bodily health, gain-
ful exercise, or quickness of action, or especially power-
ful artifacts such as a book of exalted deeds, book of infi-
nite spells, book of vile darkness, a deck of many things,
and so on. Two more iron golems guard this room. Though it might seem like a satisfyingly
heroic thing to do, a direct assault on Izrador’s cap- ital would be nothing short of suicide, and gain lit- tle or nothing for the forces of light. An army is needed to truly besiege the tower—an army whose like has not been seen since the Last Battle. A band of adventurers, however powerful or pure of heart they may be, can never hope to pull down the enemy’s greatest citadel in the age of his triumph. In all likelihood they will perish before even reach- ing the walls of Theros Obsidia and will never be more than a minor inconvenience to the enemy.
A more feasible—though still all but impos- sible—approach is a raid or infiltration mission against the tower and the forces within. Though this task is likely to end in the death of most or all of the party, there is a chance to buy some time for the forces of good and in dying allow others to live at least a bit longer. Appropriate missions in the tower include liberating magic items that might aid those who still oppose Izrador, slaying an especially powerful outsider or freeing an imprisoned demon to seek vengeance upon Izrador’s forces, destroy-
ing or damaging temple facilities, assassinating a Night King, grand legate or other high-ranking minion, or—perhaps the most that a party of play- er characters can hope to accomplish—destroying the ultimate source of Izrador’s power, the Izradis
Zordrafin Corith, the Black Mirror of Izrador.
This last endeavor is only appropriate to the highest-level (and most suicidal) player characters and is fraught with peril, not the least of which is the danger of being fooled by the false Corith beneath the tower. Even surviving in the presence of Izrador’s greatest mirror is a challenge, and although destroying it would indeed be an enor- mous blow to the dark lord’s plans, it would at best only delay the Shadow’s ultimate triumph. The arcane energies gathered in the corith would imme- diately dissipate back into the land and to the vari- ous black mirrors scattered across Eredane. Izrador himself would not be harmed, and would immedi- ately set out to create a new mirror. This would cer- tainly take years and distract the fallen god, buying time for his enemies and allowing them to marshal their forces.