The Pain of Betrayal
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Cartography: The room is 15 feet from east to west and 70 feet north to south. The corners are beveled at 45 degrees. There is a door centered on the northern wall and another centered on the southern wall. |
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Room Details: The ceiling in this room is 30 feet high, but coffered with a 15-foot wide, 40-foot long recess that runs along the north-to-south axis of the room. The coffered recess is 5 feet deep. The air quality is nominal. The volume of the room is approximately 16,500 cubic feet. The elevation of this room is -100 feet. This room is included in Dungeon Zone 1. |
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Landmarks: Ten 30-foot tall columns, divided into two rows of five, running parallel to the north-to-south axis of the room, positioned 10 feet away from their adjacent walls; a 25-foot tall statue of an elaborately enrobed goddess with a silver lance piercing through her midsection; two ornate iron braziers ablaze, set to each side of the southernmost door. |
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The vastness of the chamber immediately surrounds you in gilt splendor. The ornately decorated ceiling stretches high above, broken by a coffered recess that runs the length of the room; within a majestic painting of a seated nude goddess accompanied to each side of her throne by five lance-wielding knights. Below, ten towering columns rise in twin rows, creating a faux corridor through the center of the room. At the far end of this visual conduit stands a glistening gold-adorned statue of the same goddess. Her figure is regal yet tragic: a silver lance depicted piercing her midsection as her hands are frozen in a gesture of both surrender and defiance. The wavering light cast from two flaming iron braziers to the south causes the aural ornamentation upon the statue to glimmer brilliantly. |
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If the heart-shaped ruby from Room #11 is brought here, its rhythmic thumping intensifies as it nears the statue. The statue is adorned with golden jewelry worth 5,000 gp, which can be removed at any time. |
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Placing the ruby into the statue’s hands causes the gemstone to shatter, releasing tendrils of light into the stone as the statue animates into a stone golem. The golem defends the creature that placed the heart, attacking any who target that creature, and follows nearby to them, though it does not obey commands. The golem crumbles to rubble if it or its master is destroyed. When the golem is destroyed, it releases the soulbound spirit of the queen, though she does not attack, instead gratefully gazing at the adventurers before dissipating into nothingness, finally released from her prison of stone. |
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Ten soulbound knights haunt the pillars of this room. If the goddess statue is touched, they step from the columns into the central corridor, forming a staggered column array before ascending and fanning into a tiered wedge beneath the coffered ceiling. Each knight wields a lance and will attack any creature that threatens the statue, regardless of the adventurers’ actions. In life, these knights served as the honor guard for a corrupt king but were executed after a failed coup. During the attack intended to assassinate the king, the queen—beloved by the people—was accidentally slain, while her husband survived. |
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