Tiras Maegthil

Tiras Maegthil was one of the ancient Forts od Towers of Lond Daer.

The slab found off the rocky islet was originally a step in the large, central staircase of Tiras Maegthil; it is currendy sealing the entrance to the tower's basement. Moving the slab releases a bubbling froth of foul air as the chambers beneath begin to fill with water. How fast the ruins fill depends upon how much the stone has been shifted. The air inside is completely unbreathable, but if a dam can be built around the slab, the basement area just below will be passable in less than an hour.

If the ruins are allowed to flood, the chambers must be explored by water-breathing magic or other means. The pickings are sparse, and the dangers commensurately lower. Minas Maegthil is of use to explorers mainly as a means to gain entry to other areas.

Basement
I. Entrance. Entry to the basement of Tiras Maegthil is gained at the central stairway, which has largely collapsed. It is only a 9' drop to the pile of rubble on the floor but the inrushing waters may make this initially an Absurd maneuver.

2. Main Hallway. Its gilded torch holders remain. The dozen fittings are worth about 2 gp apiece.

3. Large Dining Hall. Underneath the single large, broken table left behind by salvagers is a magically altered, motile plant that was originally designed to keep the sewers clean. Resembling a clutch of brown thistles the size of a pony, it is confused and will move out and attempt to "clean" any unusual smell within 10'. The best it can manage is 5 points of damage and an "A" slash crit on any attack. Once the "cleaning crew" is disposed of, a dozen pieces of silver cutlery and a badly dented gilded tray can be easily found. The pieces are worth about 3 gp in all.

4. Barracks. Diligent searching can uncover a handful of coins of little value in the mud. Ominous, distant mutterings can be heard in these rooms; this psychic residue is nerveracking, but harmless. Tiras Maegthil, basement

5. Chamber. An officer's or sergeant's room. A map of the general layout ofthe old city is engraved on the wall. It is somewhat obscured by algae. If someone touches it, he will be drained of Constitution and take an "A" electrical crit; the map will use the energy to clean itself.

6. Hatch. Large iron hatch in the floor. This is the entrance to the wine cellar. A good deal of rubble must be removed first, and the four large iron padlocks must be removed by force, because they are so rusted. If the basement has been flooded, water pressure will make opening this hatch an Absurd operation. In this case, the the hatch cannot be opened all the way until the flooding subsides, so there is little danger of anything being swept into the opening.

7. Kitchen. The copper and iron utensils that were abandoned have corroded away to uselessness. A enormous slug, almost 4' long and a foot thick, is licking the slime off the walls in the side pantries. It moves towards any intruders at a rate of I' per round unless hurt, in which case it mews piteously. Someone may want it as a pet.

8. Quarters for Kitchen Crew. There was never anything of value here in the first place.

9. Hallway. Leads to the cold storage rooms; the first wooden door has rotted away, but the inner insulated steel door remains. Its lock is Hard to jimmy. The door itself is worth 10 gp. If it is removed, a cold elemental, a small white puff of frigid smoke, will explode out of it as the last hinge is popped and then go swirling off down the hallway and into the outer air, giggling like a maniac. Catching it in a helm or cloak is an Absurd maneuver, but a sage will pay up to 30 gp for it. Any container it is kept in will frost up and do an "A" cold crit to any unprotected touch.

10. Cold Storage Rooms. Enough equipment is intact to allow one to figure out how the Numenoreans kept ices and fresh meats during the summer. Naught can be salvaged, but the information might be valuable in a southern climate, e.g., Gondor or Umbar. Wine Cellar

I. Secret Passage from Minas Mellon.

2. Door. The outer door to the secret passage, constructed of teak with clever plaster work for camouflage, but with two rusted-out locks. It will prove easy to batter down. If the wine cellar is flooded and the passage is not, this door will leak noticeably for the first two hours after the event, being then only a Light maneuver to detect, instead of Hard.

3. Inner Door. Extremely Hard to detect, largely because it is set against the top of the 12' ceiling rather than at floor level. For some reason, it was left unlocked with its traps unarmed. The mechanisms of the needle traps are worth 5 gp. It does not leak and will be as difficult to open as the cellar hatch if the basement is flooded.

4. Ladder. The iron ladder down from the basement. Anyone over 100 pounds is likely to break the ladder and experience a nasty fall.

5. Wine Racks. The best vintages were salvaged, and all the remaining wine has turned to vinegar. About twenty bottles of what once was cheap cognac remains, and there is a slim chance that a few may have matured to be exquisite almost beyond price. The proper connoisseur could not be found in Eriador, though. Three bottles bearing simple, scribbled labels are also in these racks, left here by an alchemist to age. The first is labeled "Sense of Worth" in Adunaic. It is empty save for a white stain along the bottom. This is 100 gp of powdered mithril. The second is labeled "Yuldar Vie" and is full of a bluish fluid. This was to be a simple restorative, but has aged into a Potion of Strength. The third is a "Peculiar Agent" and contains an incredibly lethal virus. Anyone in a room in which this bottle is opened, or just those within 5' if it is breached outdoors, must resist a disease attack or laugh themselves to death. They will be in obvious physical trouble. If they can be sedated, the suffocating effects of the disease will be delayed by a factor often. Anyone who gets within 3' of their exhalations will also have a chance of catching the sickness, while anyone just handling their body or remains will have to resist an attack. The virus will only live 48 hours out ofthe bottle, if it is not provided a steady supply of hosts.

6. Drain. There is a small drain in the floor of the southwest corner of the wine cellar, choked by broken glass from the salvagers' last drinking bout. It leads directly to the main drainage pipe from the castle to the city sewers. It would be Sheer Folly to detect by a general sounding of all the walls. Explorers might note, however, however, brown fluid leaking through small cracks in the wall above the floor drain, and more of it beneath the first layer of broken glass. Searching at this exact location reveals the shaft with only an average Perception maneuver. The wall must be knocked down to gain entry to the shaft.

The brown slime is corrosive, a self-cleaning mechanism of the main drain pipe, and it will deface metal, rot leather and cloth, and burn living flesh. The drainage pipe is lined with the stuff. Anyone who gets into the pipe without checking it for slime will be burned every round he tries to hold on to the iron ladder that leads down 10' to the bottom of the pipe. If he misses he will lose his grip and fall.

7. Pipe. The sloping pipe down to the main sewer, only 2' across. More brown slime, but only along the bottom. Another giant slug is present. It has been feeding on the brown slime, and will spit it as a attack if someone tries to push it away.

8. Main Sewer. A possible route to Aldarion's house