ADVENTURES ⟩ THE LOST CITY OF ELUSHA
Exploration and excavation of the ziggurat interior reveals the following:
Two empty vessels—statues that look like other Elushans, but lacking the Forms carved into their bodies
Many fragments of tablets inscribed in dense Forms. A hero can spend a rest activity in the ziggurat piecing these together to form a copy of the Code of the Clay King.
The kiln is inscribed with Forms, but no longer appears to be active. A character who reads Forms can learn the name and description of this structure: Tophet, kiln of souls.
If non-Shinarian characters spend any time in the ziggurat while speaking, an enormous, 10-foot-tall golem with a giant stone scepter bursts from the rubble: a judge tophet. The golem's head has two faces—a monstrous, one-eyed face with a fanged, gaping mouth on one side, and a serene-looking bearded visage with a tall crown on the other. At your discretion, Shinarians might instinctively recognize the bearded visage as that of Amurah, the Clay King.
The judge's head swivels so the royal visage faces the characters. It speaks in pleasant-but-firm sounding Shinarian. (If no heroes understand Shinarian, don't reveal what the judge says.)
If the heroes don't leave by the end of the countdown, the judge attacks, its head rotating constantly.
If the heroes leave the ziggurat, the judge doesn't pursue.
Defeat or victory. If any heroes lose all their life, the golem takes hold and grapples the unconscious hero, magically stabilizing them in the process. The golem then throws the body in the tophet, the large kiln-shaped section of the ziggurat interior. (Fortunately, the tophet is no longer working, and heroes can climb up the "chimney" to escape after they regain consciousness.)
If the heroes defeat the judge, they can claim the vision orb phylactery inset in the monstrous face's eye.
The judge's soliton. Arbiters who Soulgaze the judge see that—unlike the Elushan dreamers—its body is not inhabited by a true soul. Instead, it houses a soliton, a remnant fragment of the Clay King's intentions, which is set to obey a simple protocol to protect the ziggurat from fleshly people.