L2-17a. Ruby Praxis Ring — Spar Hall
The portcullis lifts into a round hall, its walls painted with fading Suel murals: robed judges tracing sigils, mailed wardens drilling in six-count ranks. Decayed weapon racks cling to the plaster—only rust and splinters remain. Sand and bone grit skim the floor. A faint metronome beat trembles through the stone.
To the east, a corridor ends in a cave-in where raw rock and black roots punch through dressed stone. Another hall runs north into dimness.
To the east, a corridor ends in a cave-in where raw rock and black roots punch through dressed stone. Another hall runs north into dimness.
Ruby Phantoms
(training echoes)
- Trigger: If a creature draws a weapon, looses a missile, or casts a spell while standing inside the ring, 1–3 Ruby Phantoms crawl out of the murals and take the ring (DM: 1 phantom per 2 PCs in the ring, max 3). Use Specter stats with radiant vulnerability (they’re lawful practice echoes). They cannot leave the ring.
- Safe Mode (player-skill; no check): Two creatures stand on adjacent stance-plates and, on a soft six-count, speak any respectful line that includes the verbs witness and measure → phantoms dematerialize for 1 minute and won’t trigger during that time.
- Miscount: Off-rhythm or only one plate pressed → a phantom immediately manifests and the others gain +2 to hit this round. Attention +1.
- On defeat: Phantoms collapse into drifting ruby motes that highlight buried stance-plates for 1 minute.
Floor hazards (under sand)
- Pop-staves (3): spring from narrow slots on counts 2 and 5 of the six-beat. A creature dashing across the ring without clearing sand must make a DC 14 DEX save; fail: 7 (2d6) bludgeoning and knocked prone in place.
- Disable: Wedge with a brace-nail or staff; or keep to the outer 5-ft of the ring (safe lane).
- Grit Slide: The innermost 10-ft circle moves a fraction on beats 3/6; prone creatures slide 5 ft toward the center (no save). Clearing sand or stating the Safe Mode halts the slide.
Collapsed east hall → caverns
- The eastern corridor fails into a jagged sink that drops 8–12 ft into raw limestone. A wedged stone lip allows a careful downclimb (DC 10); hurried moves risk a short fall (1d6) and Attention +1 as stone cracks.
- The breach connects to your eastern cavern network (place a trickle stream, ash pockets, or Ember Skin mephits as desired). Excavating the last 5 ft of jam (two 10-minute shifts or DC 15 Athletics with tools) widens it enough for armored passage.
The north hall
- Ten feet wide, dressed basalt, faint six-beat louder. Small plaques read: “To forms. To oath. To rest.” Leads toward your northern crypt grid/temple approach (key elsewhere).
Interactions & clues (no rolls)
- Sweeping the ring in a clockwise six-step reveals the stance plates in order (they wink in sequence 1→6).
- Tapping the mural judges’ palms in order Witness → Measure → Brace causes a low gong that pauses phantom triggers for 1 round (enough to hurry through).
- Casting gentle repose or smearing funerary myrrh on a stance-plate mutes phantom damage to nonlethal for that combat (PCs drop to 0 hp stable instead of making death saves when the phantom would down them).
Treasure & salvage
- Silver-capped practice staff (counts as silvered quarterstaff).
- Brace-nails (2) and a bent true-square under the benches (advantage to spot or align ring features for the next room you choose).
- Incense pinch in a cracked dish (1 use): after a six-count, gain +1 on initiative this encounter (stacks with nothing).
Attention & patrols
- Each phantom trigger, loud pry at the east collapse, or smashed mural: +1 Attention.
- At Attention 3+, a Ruby Custodian and 1d2 Ruby Zombies approach from the north hall in 1d4 rounds, calling, “Witness your forms; keep the measure!”
Boxed outcomes
- Phantoms rise: The painted judges blink to life; ruby motes pour from their palms and take the shape of duelists, weightless and cold, circling on the beat.
- Safe Mode succeeds: One… two… three… four… five… six—ruby pips wink and the ring exhales. The murals flatten; the duelists smear back into pigment.
- East breach used: Grit and red dust skitter into the sink; raw, wet stone breathes from the dark as the worked hall surrenders to the caverns.
Ruby Praxis Ring — “Spar Hall” by 3orcs
At-a-glance (DM quick)
- Where: Immediately east of the Proving Run portcullis (L2-17).
- Size/shape: 30-ft-diameter round chamber.
- Role: Suel training hall for funerary guards and acolytes—sparring, spell forms, formation drills.
- Threat: “Ruby Phantoms” (training echoes; use Specter stats) animate if weapons are drawn or spells cast inside the ring; floor hazards under sand.
- Exits: West back through the portcullis; North 10-ft hall deeper into the crypt grid; East 10-ft hall that has collapsed into the natural caverns (ties to your eastern cave network / Flame Transept routes).
Features
- Measure Ring (floor): A 20-ft inlaid circle of ruby chips and bronze fillets (mostly buried by sand). Six stance-plates (1 every 60°) lie flush with the ring; each has a tiny ruby pip. Brushing sand aside reveals them.
- Murals: Suel casters demonstrate form drills—palm raised (Wee Jas, Witness), splay of six bars (Lendor, Measure), hammer held across chest (Jascar/Fortubo, Brace).
Thin Old Suloise bands read: “Practice the law in six; witness before you strike.” - Racks: Wall pegs and two wormy benches. One half-sound practice staff (silver-capped quarterstaff) can be salvaged.
- Sand Grit: Difficult terrain only inside the ring until swept (1 action to clear a 5-ft square).
Type
Room, Training, Sparring
Parent Location
Owning Organization
Scaling
- Gentle party: Only 1 phantom at a time; pop-staves deal 5 (1d10).
- Hard party: 3 phantoms on the first trigger; stance-plates also shock for 3 (1d6) lightning if miscounted.
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