The Secret Spring
In the years when the Noonshade Oasis was quickly becoming the Mournshade Mine, a group of miners saw fit to defy the corporation operating the strip mine. They dug deep, rerouting the source of the Noonshade Oasis into a cistern far below the surface of the desert, below even the very bottom of the mine scar.
Building the giant cylindrical walls and spiral stair to gain access to the bottom of the delve, they followed the natural fissure from which flowed the water, and then built a cistern to contain some of the runoff, which they channelled deep into natural crevasses and deep, underground aquifers.
They hid the entire project from view, and cast spells of protection and concealment. And lastly, they left behind an old fashioned oil lamp. Touching this lamp will cause the Efreeti in the bottle to materialize, and compel the DM to roll on the chart in the Efreeti Bottle stat block.
Roleplaying Zephazool the Efreeti should be fun; he is much more interested in talking than fighting, and if the players do not seem inclined to fight, he is not inclined to make them. He has been trapped down there for many long years, and if the characters do not seem like they will defile the spring, he will instead tell them the tale of the Noonshade Oasis, and how a purple worm broke through the wall to the chamber more than a thousand years ago. He senses a great trove of crystals and gems in the tunnel nearby...the Treasure Sense being a gift of his Efreeti ancestry. He speaks with an old-fashioned turn of phrase, and is especially interested in hearing any jokes the characters may know; the goofier, the better. He laughs from his belly, throwing his head back and relishing the feeling of mirth.
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Sensory & Appearance
There is a cistern in the middle of the room that is full of clean, cold water. One of the walls has an enormous, round hole punched in it from a worm more than a thousand years ago, and the crystals that have formed within that tunnel are both dangerous and alluring.
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