The Minotaur of the Third Horn
Sand, raked flat this morning. Four bronze posts stand in it like the corners of a thought. Lamps burn low in the walls and the whole room smells of hot fat and animal.
He is standing at the far post with a double axe grounded head-down, and he has been standing there long enough that the sand has drifted against his hooves. Two horns curve from his skull. A third is socketed into his brow between them, bronze, riveted through the bone, and it is the only part of him that shines.
He lifts the axe until the haft is level with his eyes. Then he says, in Greek, in a voice like a door: "Ninety-one."
DM summary. A minotaur who learned to duel and kept score. He will fight the party one at a time and honour every rule of it, and he will stop entirely if somebody calls him by the name a woman gave him when he was a calf.
The Boon
Theano, Keeper of the Calf PensOptional companion
The woman who named him, in the room — advantage on talking him down, and one retry
What it is. A thick-armed woman of sixty who smells of bran mash and talks to whatever is in front of her, animal or not. Theano, Keeper of the Calf Pens fed the palace's bull-calves by hand for thirty years, and hers is the small neat second hand on the tally wall. She named one of those calves. She has not said the name out loud since the day they took him up to the ring.
Where it comes from. Early, in the first three rooms: an old woman asleep in the straw of a fodder store, or the voice behind a feed hatch asking whether anybody has seen the count. Hand her over as a nuisance rather than a quest — she wants walking back toward the pens, she knows two shortcuts, and she has bread. Late plant: she is behind the bull gate's portcullis when the party arrives, tally-stick in hand, and anyone who speaks to her through the bars has the boon.
What it does here. She comes in as far as the stepped arch and stops, and he checks the salute halfway — not the phase-two break, just a man losing his place. She will not say the name for them — all three routes to it stand as written — but once a character has said it she calls the count with him, and the DC 14 Persuasion, Insight or Animal Handling check is made with advantage. A first failure no longer closes the path: he turns to her instead of into phase two, she answers with the number, and the party gets one more attempt. Then she asks them not to kill him, out loud, in front of him.
What it doesn't do. She does not fight, heal, or open the bull gate, and cannot be made a hostage — her card says how. A second failed check puts him into phase two for good. A party who never met her runs the duel, the tally wall and the name exactly as written.
Card and numbers or jump to the card ↓
Arena
Battle map: The Hippodrome — pages 31 & 32, 110 × 75 ft
The hippodrome was built for him: 70 × 70 ft of printed sand, and its plinths stand where the four bronze turning posts go (draw them 20 ft in from each corner, worn bright). Chalk the stepped west arch 5 ft up and the trough along the east wall; the grates read as the old floor drains.
- Dimensions. 70 ft × 70 ft, ceiling 30 ft. The party enters by a stepped arch in the west wall, five feet above the floor, which means they arrive looking down into the ring.
- Light. Four bull-fat lamps in bracket-cages, one per corner: bright within 20 ft of each, dim in the middle. They can be knocked down. The middle of the ring going dark is a real tactical event and he does not mind it.
- The sand. Six inches deep over stone across the whole floor. A creature that Dashes must succeed on a Dexterity (Acrobatics) DC 10 check or fall prone at the end of the move. The Champion ignores this.
- The four turning posts. Bronze bollards 4 ft high, set 20 ft in from each corner, worn bright at shoulder height where something heavy has pivoted on them for years. Half cover. They are his cornering — every charge he makes runs post to post, so the lanes are predictable to anyone watching, and the posts are what he shears off in phase two.
- The trough. Stone, 12 ft long, along the east wall, full of standing water. He drinks from it between exchanges in phase one, and while he is drinking he is not fighting. A name is cut into the rim, worn nearly smooth.
- The tally wall. The north wall is scratched in fives from floor to reach height. Ninety-one marks. Investigation DC 12: the last dozen are cut in a smaller, neater hand than the rest. Somebody else has been keeping his count.
- The bull gate. An iron portcullis in the south wall with pens behind it, chain winch on the inside. It is shut when the party arrives. It opens in phase two.
Roster & Budget
One duellist and two men who work the gate.
| Count | Creature | XP each |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Champion of the Third Horn | 7,200 |
| 2 | Bull-Masked Cultist | 450 |
Base 8,100 XP; ×2 for three bodies = 16,200 adjusted, against the APL 9 Deadly budget of 14,400. That is an eighth over, and the duel gives it back: for as long as the party honours the challenge, only one character is in danger at a time and the cultists stay on the winch. A party that swarms him on round one gets the full 16,200 all at once, which is the trade the room is offering.
Outside the number: the Taurine Brute that comes through the bull gate in phase two. It is not budgeted because it only exists if the party breaks the duel or takes him past half hit points, and adding it moves the fight to roughly 19,800 adjusted. Say so to yourself before you open the gate.
Phases / Clock
Phase one — The Count. He salutes, names the number, and waits at the eastern post. He does not move until a creature steps past the turning posts into the ring. Then he fights that creature and no other, refuses opportunity attacks, and steps back to the trough for a mouthful of water at the end of any round in which nobody hit him. This is a duel and he is running it.
Phase two — The Herd. Triggered by whichever comes first: he drops to 86 hit points (half), or a second creature attacks him while a duel is live. He bellows one word at the gate; the cultists throw the winch; a Taurine Brute comes out of the pens on the next round. Visibly, he changes: he stops saluting, he tears a turning post out of the floor and carries it in his off hand as a club (that quarter of the arena loses its cover), and he uses Ruinous Rush the instant it is available, every time, into whichever lane has the most bodies in it.
Combat Resolution
Five to seven rounds. He is beaten by a party that keeps the lanes broken — stand off the post-to-post lines, make him turn, and he loses a third of his damage. Straight-line fighters get run down.
- Round 1. He salutes and waits. If nobody comes forward within one round, he says "Ninety-two," walks in, and picks the smallest person there.
- Tactics. He targets whoever accepted the duel and will not be pulled off them by damage. In phase two he targets whoever is nearest a wall, because that is where Ruinous Rush pays. He does not pursue past the arch. He does not finish a creature that has yielded, and he steps over the downed without looking at them.
- The weakness. The third horn is bronze, riveted, and not his — the Cult put it there. Investigation DC 13 or passive Perception 15 notices the rivets and the old infection around them. Wrenching it out takes a grapple and a Strength (Athletics) DC 18 check, or a called attack at −5 to hit against AC 20. Out, it costs him Ruinous Rush and Sand-Footed, deals him 22 (4d10) damage, stuns him until the end of his next turn — and he speaks in something other than commands for the first time.
- When he dies, he goes down on one knee first and finishes the count. He scratches the ninety-second mark on the wall with the axe head. Then he falls.
- If the party is losing, he offers the yield out loud, in Greek, and means it: "Ground it." A character who drops their weapon is out of the fight and safe, and the Champion says the number again and looks for the next one.
Alternate Resolution
Roleplay — call him Phorbas.
Before he was ninety-one duels, he was a calf in a pen, and a woman who worked the pens called him Phorbas and fed him by hand. She is the neat, small handwriting on the tally wall. She is still alive somewhere in the maze and she still keeps his count.
Finding the name. Three routes, and any one of them is enough:
| Route | Check | What it gives |
|---|---|---|
| The trough rim | Investigation DC 13, or free for anyone who goes to the water | ΦΟΡΒΑΣ cut into the stone, worn smooth by a jaw resting there |
| The tally wall | Investigation DC 12, then Insight DC 13 | Two hands keep this count, and the newer one is careful and fond |
| Knossian practice | History DC 15 or Religion DC 14 | Pen-calves were named at birth and the name was never used again once they went to the ring |
Speaking it. Say the name aloud in his hearing and he stops mid-motion, whatever he is doing, including mid-charge. Everything in the room gets one round in which nothing attacks. Then:
- Persuasion, Insight, or Animal Handling DC 14 — or no check at all if the third horn has already been pulled — and he grounds the axe and stands aside. He will not go with the party. He will not open the pens. He asks, once, whether she is still out there, and he is asking honestly.
- Failure costs the roleplay path for good and puts him straight into phase two: he takes the name being used on him as the worst thing anyone has done to him in years.
- Attacking him during the free round ends this permanently. He does not hear the name a second time.
If Theano is standing in the arch, a character still has to find the name and say it — she will not, and she has not in thirty years. What she does is answer it. She calls the count with him, the DC 14 check is made with advantage, and a first failure turns him to her rather than into phase two: he stops, she says the number, and the party may try once more. A second failure is final and she cannot help with what comes after it.
Scaling — APL 6 / 12 / 15
| APL | Adjustment |
|---|---|
| 6 | Drop the Champion to 129 hit points and remove Ruinous Rush; one cultist, no Brute. All DCs −2 |
| 9 | As written |
| 12 | Champion at 215 hit points; the Brute is in the ring from round one; add a fourth legendary action. DCs +1 |
| 15 | Champion at 258 hit points, two Taurine Brutes, and a third phase at 25% where he pulls the second post and fights with one in each hand — Multiattack becomes three post-club attacks, reach 10 ft. DCs +3 |
Exit to the Resolution
Boon Card
Theano, Keeper of the Calf Pens
Medium humanoid, neutral · CR 0 (10 XP) · a companion, and not a combatant
AC 10 | HP 9 (2d8) | Speed 25 ft.
Skills Animal Handling +5, Insight +5, Perception +5 · Passive Perception 15 · Speaks Greek and a little Egyptian, deaf in the left ear · carries a tally-stick, a bag of bran, and thirty years of other people's animals
Will Not Say It. She does not speak the name, to him or to the party, and no check makes her. She will talk for an hour about the calf who had it. A character who listens learns everything the tally wall's Insight DC 13 gives — two hands keep this count and the newer one is fond — and not the word itself.
He Will Not Strike Her. The Champion never attacks her, never includes her in a Ruinous Rush lane (he breaks the lane rather than run her down), and steps around her as though she were a post. The Bull-Masked Cultists and the Taurine Brute will not touch her either. Everyone in this room knows whose hand fed the pens.
Not a Hostage. She cannot be used as leverage and no creature in this encounter tries. If a fight starts she goes back up the steps and through the arch on her first turn, out of sight, and waits; nothing pursues her. Bring her back in when the shouting stops. The DM never has to protect her and should never have to think about her initiative.
She Keeps the Count. She knows every mark on the north wall, which of them were hard, and which one she cried over. Any character who spends a minute with her before this room has advantage on the tally wall's Investigation DC 12, because they already know to look for two hands.
If He Dies Anyway. She does not interfere and she does not forgive quickly. She takes the axe off the sand, cuts the ninety-second mark on the wall herself, and asks to be left with him. Play it straight and give the table the silence.
Call the Count. Once per encounter, after the name has been spoken aloud and while the Champion can see and hear her, she says the number with him. The next Persuasion, Insight, or Animal Handling check made to talk him down is made with advantage, and if that check fails he turns to her instead of entering phase two — the party may attempt the check once more. A second failure resolves normally and she has nothing left to give it.
Creature Cards
The Champion is this room's only inline card. The cultists belong to Bull-Kin (W02) and their numbers live in the bestiary; the winch work above is this room's and stays here.
Shared across rooms, so the full cards live in the bestiary: Bull-Masked Cultist, Taurine Brute. Every mention above opens the numbers here on this page.
The Champion of the Third Horn
Large monstrosity, lawful neutral · CR 11 (7,200 XP)
AC 18 (bronze duelling harness) | HP 172 (15d10 + 90) | Speed 40 ft.
Saves Str +9, Con +10, Wis +6 · Skills Athletics +9, Intimidation +6, Perception +6 · Darkvision 60 ft. · Speaks Greek, slowly
Legendary Resistance (2/Day). If he fails a saving throw, he can choose to succeed instead.
Legendary Actions (3/Round). He spends 3 legendary actions each round, one at a time at the end of another creature's turn, and regains them at the start of his own.
The Duel Holds. While exactly one creature has stepped inside the turning posts to face him, he attacks only that creature, makes no opportunity attacks against anyone else, and does not move to threaten the rest of the party. The duel ends the instant a second creature attacks him, the challenger falls or yields, or he enters his second phase.
Honours the Yield. A creature that drops its weapons and goes to one knee is not attacked by him again for the rest of the encounter, and he steps over it rather than on it. He remembers faces, so this works once per creature and never twice.
The Third Horn. The bronze horn riveted into his brow is not his and it is what the Cult made him with. While it is seated he ignores difficult terrain from sand and adds 7 (2d6) damage to any attack made at the end of a charge. A creature that has him grappled can wrench it free with a DC 18 Strength (Athletics) check, and any attack made at −5 to hit against AC 20 that hits pulls it out. When it comes out he takes 22 (4d10) piercing damage, is stunned until the end of his next turn, and loses this trait for good.
Sand-Footed. Sand, gravel, and loose footing are not difficult terrain for him, and he cannot be knocked prone by a creature smaller than Large.
Multiattack. Two attacks with the labrys, or one labrys and one gore.
Labrys. Melee, +9 to hit, reach 10 ft, one target. Hit: 18 (2d12 + 5) slashing damage.
Gore. Melee, +9 to hit, reach 5 ft, one target. Hit: 14 (2d8 + 5) piercing damage, and a Large or smaller target must succeed on a DC 17 Strength saving throw or be pushed 10 ft.
Ruinous Rush (recharge 5–6). He runs a lane between two turning posts, up to 60 ft in a straight line, and does not provoke opportunity attacks. Every creature in the lane makes a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw, taking 27 (6d8) bludgeoning damage and falling prone on a failure, or half as much damage and no fall on a success. If the lane ends against a wall he shears the far post out of the floor and that corner loses its cover.
Turn on the Post. He moves up to 15 ft without provoking opportunity attacks, so long as the movement ends within 5 ft of a turning post or a wall.
Hooked Guard. When a creature within 10 ft misses him with a melee weapon attack, he catches the weapon in the axe beard: DC 16 Strength saving throw or the weapon lands in the sand at his hooves.
Step (costs 1). He moves up to half his speed without provoking opportunity attacks.
Say the Number (costs 1). He states the count aloud. Each creature that can hear him makes a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or is frightened of him until the end of its next turn.
Gore (costs 2). He makes one gore attack.