Hi everyone, and welcome back to the Finder’s Archives.
In this column, we take some of the lands from Magic: The Gathering and turn them into something you can use for your fantasy games.
The stats given in each entry assumes that you’re using Pathfinder for your games, but they can easily be converted over into any fantasy system. And this week it’s time to delve into a place where every adventurer wants to go: The Bottomless Vault.
Bottomless Vault
The Bottomless Vault is a fabled land of treasure, the Vault of the Gods themselves. In here can be found treasures lost to the ages, and the first versions of some of the most dangerous items ever created. Creatures, items, and more can be found here, all sealed for the safety of the multiverse. It is the place that every thief dreams of robbing, the “One Haul” of many scoundrel-like religions. But it is guarded by traps and worse. It has never been claimed that it was impossible to break in, as entities such as the Monkey King, and several gods of thieves, have made their way in. Even mortals have managed to penetrate it on occasion, so it is not impossible – merely difficult.
Lay of the Land
The Bottomless Vault is just that. Stone and steel constructions make up the walls, and the entrance itself (hidden by powerful magic). Each level of the Vault stretches out a mile in all directions from the central stairway – the only way to descend into it. The further one descends, the more powerful the guardian and the more powerful the items being protected. Each item or creature is stuck in a cell that is permanently stasis locked. Only through outside help can they be removed.
No one knows what is actually there, except for gods and the guardians themselves. It is rumored that the Rod of Seven Parts, the Eye and Hand of Vecna, and (at one time) the Wand of Orcus. Included as well is a fabled Orb of Dragonkind that is supposedly attuned to Platinum Dragons (which potentially could mean affecting a god such as Bahamut). But getting them is not easy.
Dangers
Each level of the Vault has different guardians, but the deepest levels explored by outsiders – where the Eye and Hand of Vecna are located – is guarded by a unique creature. An Intelligent (Int 20) and Lawful Neutral version of the Tarrasque. (5e / PF2). But it has been revealed, by some of the deities, that this is not the most powerful guardian of the Vault. That something bigger, and more powerful, is lurking somewhere deeper and protecting something worse. Scholars have speculated that perhaps the bottom of the Vault is the home of an entity that previously was one of the Lords of the Nine Hell – the 10th Lord, also known by names such as Astaroth or Gargauth, or perhaps Tharizdun. Either would spell disaster if they were revealed and surely, only a god would be able to keep such a powerful entity in check?
And with that, we hope to see you next week. 😊
Kim Frandsen
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