The Artist, Part 3 (Sarenith (VI) 18th-19th, 4709 AR)

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Kitchen. The larder is fully stocked with enough food and beverages to last at least 3 weeks. Searching the larder revealed a trapdoor in the floor behind some crates and sacks of beans. A ladder under the trapdoor descends to a small space.

Hewn stone forms the walls, ceiling, and floor of most of the dungeon area.

Hidden Ladder. Stairs descend to a wide corridor flanked by curtained alcoves. An archway opposite the stairs opens into a gallery.

The curtains in the north alcove conceal a small space behind it. It contains a ladder that climbs to the trapdoor in the kitchen.


Gallery. Paintings of all sizes, styles, and subject matters cover the walls of this irregularly shaped chamber. A beautiful scene of an otherworldly sunset hangs next to a portrait of a red-scaled humanoid with silver eyes and massive horns protruding from its head. Across the room, a scene of a group of human explorers standing before a colossal tree of fire hangs next to a serene still life of a ship at anchor with a rising sun in the background. Small one-foot-square etchings and woodblocks give way to massive four-foot-by-eight-foot oil-on-wood paintings fit for a royal court.

A total of 53 paintings hung from the walls of this vaulted gallery. The collection appears to be random. A few of them are simply illusions cast within empty frames, such as one illusory painting which depicts a frumpy man sitting on a bench reading a book.

This is the haunt of an incorporeal undead creature called a shadowy lurker. The shadowy lurker cast an illusion to distract and divide the group of heroes and stayed hidden while its opponents reacted. The shadow lurker made hit-and-tun attacks against the heroes while flying and running in and out of nearby walls. It only tried to parley with the heroes when they threatened its bonded painting with destruction. When the lurker's bonded painting was seriously threatened, it attempted to negotiate a peaceful resolution by whining and pleading, but the heroes destroyed both the painting and the lurker.

One of the paintings is a powerful magic healing device called a portrait of health. The rest of the collection is worth a combined total of 4,177.79 gp. Imron also kept a trident of warning here.

The heroes decided to leave Imron's manor and recuperate after this battle. When they went back upstairs, they found Imron murdered, his head separated from his body. They returned to the dungeon the following day.

The Halberdiers. The dressed stone corridor opened into a long shadowy room. A faintly lit corridor exited through the opposite wall. Five alcoves line each of the two side walls with banners hanging from the wall above them.


Each alcove contained a suit of tarnished, dinged-up, battle-stained full plate holding a halberd. Each suit of armor differed from its neighbor in style and design. The banners are as battle-stained as the suits of armor.

A pressure plate at the center of the room caused two heavy stone slabs to drop in front of the two exits when Gryxxa stepped on it.

The suits of armor are animated guardians who attacked the heroes. They attack with tarnished halberds. The suits of armor hacked at the heroes with their halberds. They are still fighting this battle.

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