Asterion Remembered
It is a room somebody once tried to make kind. A stone bed heaped with straw that has gone to dust. Twelve lamp niches around the wall, three of them still burning. A pillar by the door notched across at heights, the way you measure a child, the topmost notch nine feet up and cut deeper than the rest, as though whoever cut it had stopped to think about what they were measuring.
In the middle of the floor, on a mosaic of a winding dance, something very large is kneeling in the dust picking up the pieces of a broken bowl. It has a bull's head. It turns the pieces over, trying to fit them, and it cannot, because there is a piece missing.
It looks up. When it speaks, the voice is a boy's. "Is it time to eat?"
DM summary. The maze's most famous inhabitant, dead a very long time and still waiting for supper. He will not attack anyone who does not lie to him or break his things — and the way to end this is to bury him properly, which nobody ever did.
The Boon
The Sister's StaterOptional item
The coin the rite asks for, one he knew as a child, and showing it costs him a turn
What it is. A heavy silver coin, drilled off-centre and worn on a plaited cord until the cord went black. One face is a bull-dance rubbed flat by a thumb; the other is a meander, the same winding line as the mosaic on this floor. The Sister's Stater has three letters scratched into its rim with a pin, in a child's hand, a name given up partway through.
Where it comes from. Early, in the first three rooms: the odd coin in any purse off a loot roll — too heavy, drilled, still on its cord, and a player will pick it out themselves. It hangs as a votive in a shrine room, or comes as change from an NPC who does not know what it is. Late plant: it is in the straw of the bed in this chamber, an arm's length from the missing bowl-piece. Hand it over as money and say nothing about whose it was.
What it does here. It is a real coin, so it answers the rite's Coin step with nothing of the party's own weighed against it, and the letters on the rim settle the Name step — no History DC 13 on the height-post. Better: held up where he can see it in his first phase, it answers the question he keeps asking about the woman. He crosses to whoever holds it, sits down on the dancing floor, and does nothing for a round — one clean round for the character working Wash or Cover with the Sighing Shade on their back.
What it doesn't do. It is not an anchor, does not touch the Shade, and buys nothing once he has remembered the knife — in phase two it is twenty drachmas' worth of old silver and he has never seen it. It does not shorten the rite's three rounds, and a party who never found it works all four steps as written, with a coin out of their own purse.
Card and numbers or jump to the card ↓
Arena
Battle map: The Villa — pages 43 & 44, 110 × 75 ft
The villa is his house: the great room's carpet is the 30-ft meander mosaic — the dancing floor — and the red-tiled state room side holds the bed plinth and the dripping basin alcove (draw the basin). Mark the barred bronze door on the west wall and the three potsherds on the mosaic.
- Dimensions. 60 ft × 60 ft, ceiling 25 ft, with a 20-ft alcove off the north wall where water drips into a basin. The party enters by the bronze door in the west wall, which was barred from the outside and is not barred now.
- Light. Three lamps of twelve, dim throughout, bright nowhere. Every lamp he puts out in phase two takes 15 ft of the room with it.
- The dancing floor. The centre 30 ft is a meander mosaic — the winding dance Daedalus is supposed to have laid for Ariadne. He walks it, always in the same direction. Stepping into its centre is a provocation and he treats it as one. It is also the only clean ground in the room and the only place the burial rite can be worked.
- The bed. A stone plinth 8 ft long against the south wall, heaped with old straw and a wool blanket worn to threads, hollowed in the middle where something heavy slept curled. First anchor.
- The bowl. Three pieces of red clay on the mosaic, and the fourth piece is somewhere under the straw. Second anchor, and the thing he is holding when the party walks in.
- The height-post. The notched pillar by the door. Third anchor. Somebody measured him twenty-two times and then stopped.
- The basin. A stone bowl in the alcove, filling one drip at a time from a crack in the ceiling. Clean water, which the rite needs and which nothing else in this maze has offered the party all session.
Roster & Budget
Him, and one of the youths who did not get out.
| Count | Creature | XP each |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Asterion Remembered | 7,200 |
| 1 | Sighing Shade | 1,800 |
Base 9,000 XP; ×1.5 for two bodies = 13,500 adjusted, against the APL 9 Deadly budget of 14,400. It sits under budget on purpose. The pressure is not bodies: while any of the three anchors stands he cannot be killed, so a party that fights without understanding the room is doing damage into a hole.
Not in the number: four Lost Wanderers walking the tribute procession around the outside of the mosaic — in a line, hands on each other's shoulders, the way they were led in. They are harmless and they stay harmless unless the party stands in their path, touches them, or takes something off their route. If your table starts a fight with them, add 2,800 base and recompute at six bodies: 11,800 × 2 = 23,600, which is a very different evening and an avoidable one.
Phases / Clock
Phase one — Supper. He asks questions and waits for answers. He does not attack anyone who does not attack him, damage an anchor, or step into the middle of the dance. His passive Insight is 16 and he knows when he is being lied to; being lied to hurts him and he says so.
Phase two — Remembering the Knife. Triggered by dropping to 84 hit points, by the destruction of any anchor, or by anyone in the room calling him a beast, a monster, or an animal in a language he understands. What changes, visibly: the old wounds open all at once down his left side, the lamps start going out one per round, the boy's voice goes, and he stops asking questions. He is faster, he keens more often, and he no longer waits to be attacked first.
The lamp clock. From the moment phase two begins, one lamp gutters out at the end of each round. When the last of the three goes, the room is dark and he has blindsight and the party does not.
Combat Resolution
Six to eight rounds if fought straight, and it should feel like it is going badly until the party works out the anchors.
- Round 1. He holds the broken bowl out in both hands toward whoever is nearest the door and asks his question. Let the players answer. Whatever they say, do not roll anything yet.
- The anchors are the fight. Each anchor destroyed costs him 25 hit points outright and one of his ways back up. While at least one stands, he rises at the end of the round with 30 hit points. Smashing the bowl is one action. Firing the straw is one action and a flame. The height-post is stone: 30 damage, AC 15, or a Strength (Athletics) DC 17 to lever it out of its footing. Investigation DC 14 on his second rising tells a character which three objects he keeps returning to.
- Tactics. In phase one he fights defensively and badly, gets between the party and the anchors, and grapples rather than gores — he is trying to make people stop. In phase two he goes for whoever last damaged an anchor and does not change targets. He will not leave this room even to chase.
- The Shade ignores anyone making no sound at all, which the burial rite unfortunately is not. It goes for the ritualist. That is the fight the alternate resolution actually asks the party to win.
- When he goes down for good, he is a very large man with a bull's head lying in the straw, and the straw fits him. Say that and stop talking.
Alternate Resolution
Roleplay — lay him to rest. This is the intended way through and it is not a shortcut; it is four things done in front of a grieving revenant while a shade tries to stop you.
Knowing the rite. Religion DC 15, History DC 14, or any character raised in a Greek household with a dead grandmother — the Knossian rite is wash, name, coin, cover. It takes three rounds and a different character may take each step.
| Step | What it needs | Check |
|---|---|---|
| Wash | Water from the alcove basin, carried in something, poured over the horns | None. Getting to the basin under fire is the cost |
| Name | The name Asterion, spoken to his face | Free if the party learned it; History DC 13 on the height-post's inscription, or Insight DC 15 on the way he answers to nothing else |
| Coin | One real coin, pressed into his hand — not a token, not a promise | None, and it must genuinely be spent. He will not take the party's last one; if it is their last one he closes their fingers on it |
| Cover | The wool blanket over his face, which means giving up the bed anchor | None, but somebody has to walk to the bed and pick it up |
The interruption. The Sighing Shade attacks the character performing each step. A step interrupted by damage is not lost — the character repeats it next round. A step performed wrong on purpose (a false name, a pebble for a coin, water from a wineskin that is not water) triggers phase two immediately and closes this path for good.
Completion. He lies down on the bed himself, pulls the blanket up, and stops. The three anchors go to dust. The Shade goes with him, unfought. The party has laid the Minotaur to rest and nobody at that table will forget it.
If the party carries The Sister's Stater, the Coin step needs no coin of the party's own and the Name step needs no check, because the rim carries it. Neither step is done until somebody walks over and does it — the Stater supplies what the rite asks for, it does not perform the rite — so the cost drops to getting to the basin and to the bed under fire, and no anchor falls until a step lands. Show it to him first, before starting: he sits down with it and gives up a round, and the ritualist gets the Wash or the Cover done without him standing over them. The Shade is not impressed and does not stop.
Partial credit. Two of the four steps and he takes the last of his hit points without Anchored to the Room — the fight becomes an ordinary four-round boss fight against something that has stopped defending itself. Give it to them.
Scaling — APL 6 / 12 / 15
| APL | Adjustment |
|---|---|
| 6 | 126 hit points, no Sighing Shade, two anchors instead of three. DCs −2, and the rite takes two rounds |
| 9 | As written |
| 12 | 210 hit points, a second Sighing Shade, and the lamp clock runs from round one. DCs +1 |
| 15 | 252 hit points, two Sighing Shades, four anchors (add the mosaic itself, which takes 60 damage to break up), and a third phase at 25% where the four Lost Wanderers stop walking, turn, and remember what he is. DCs +3 |
Exit to the Resolution
Boon Card
The Sister's Stater
Wondrous item, uncommon · a drilled silver coin on a plaited cord · optional, and never on the loot table
Appearance: a bull-dance worn flat on one face, a meander on the other, three pin-scratched letters on the rim · Weight: negligible · Attunement: none · Uses: one, and spending it is the point · Value if somebody suggests selling it: 20 gp
A Real Coin. It counts as the genuine, spent coin that the Knossian burial rite's Coin step requires. Pressed into a dead hand it is gone for good and cannot be recovered, taken back, or spent twice.
The Letters on the Rim. Three Knossian letters, a child's work, the start of a name. Any character who can read them, or who holds them to a lamp for ten seconds, learns the name Asterion with no check.
Not Once the Knife Is Remembered. In his second phase he does not know the coin and Show Him the Coin does nothing. Nothing gives the round back.
What It Is Not. It is not an anchor and cannot be used as one. It offers no protection from the Sighing Shade, does not shorten the three rounds the rite takes, and has no effect on any other undead in this maze, however much a player argues that it should.
Show Him the Coin. Once per encounter, while Asterion Remembered is in his first phase and can see the coin held up, he crosses to the bearer at his own pace and sits down on the mosaic to turn it over. He takes no action and spends no legendary actions until the end of his next turn. This is not an attack, does not count as a lie, provocation, or damage, and does not make him hostile.
Creature Cards
He is this finale's only inline card. The Shades of the Maze (W09) dead recur across the deck, so their numbers live in the bestiary and the procession above is this room's business.
Shared across rooms, so the full cards live in the bestiary: Sighing Shade, Lost Wanderer. Every mention above opens the numbers here on this page.
Asterion Remembered
Large undead, neutral · CR 11 (7,200 XP)
AC 15 (grave-linen and old bronze) | HP 168 (16d10 + 80) | Speed 30 ft.
Saves Con +9, Wis +6, Cha +7 · Details Insight +6, Perception +6 · Resistant to cold, necrotic, and bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical attacks · Immune to poison damage, exhaustion, charmed, frightened, poisoned · Darkvision 120 ft. · Passive Insight 16
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.
Anchored to the Room. Three objects hold him here: the broken bowl, the straw of the bed, and the notched height-post. While at least one is intact he cannot be reduced below 1 hit point, and at the end of any round in which he would have dropped he stands with 30 hit points. Each anchor destroyed, or laid in the grave by the rite, costs him 25 hit points at once and can never be undone.
Will Not Strike First. He takes no hostile action until a creature attacks him, damages an anchor, steps into the centre of the dancing floor, or tells him something he knows to be false. He states which of these has happened, out loud, in a boy's voice, before he moves.
Asks Before It Hurts. Once per round on his turn, in his first phase only, he asks a question — where the woman went, whether the ships still come, whether it is time to eat. A creature that answers honestly and gently, no check required unless the table wants one, costs him his action that turn. A creature that answers cruelly gives him advantage on every attack he makes before the start of his next turn.
Remembering the Knife. When he first drops to 84 hit points or below, or when any anchor is destroyed, the wounds he died of open down his left side. He loses Will Not Strike First and Asks Before It Hurts, his speed becomes 40 ft, his horn attacks deal an extra 7 (2d6) necrotic damage, and Keening recharges on 4–6.
Multiattack. Two attacks with the horn, or one horn and one grave-cold hand.
Horn. Melee, +8 to hit, reach 5 ft, one target. Hit: 15 (2d10 + 4) piercing damage plus 7 (2d6) necrotic damage.
Grave-Cold Hand. Melee, +8 to hit, reach 10 ft, one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage, and a Medium or smaller target is grappled (escape DC 16). He holds rather than crushes; a creature he is grappling takes no further damage from him while it stops struggling.
Keening (recharge 5–6). He makes the sound a very large animal makes when it has been alone for a long time. Each creature within 30 ft that can hear him makes a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw, taking 22 (5d8) psychic damage and being unable to take reactions until the end of its next turn on a failure, or half as much damage on a success. A creature that has answered one of his questions honestly this fight has advantage on the save.
Look for the Missing Piece. In his first phase only, he moves up to his speed toward the nearest anchor without provoking opportunity attacks, and puts himself between it and whoever was going for it.
Do Not Break That. When a creature he can see damages an anchor, he moves up to 30 ft toward that creature and makes one horn attack against it.
Walk the Dance (costs 1). He moves up to half his speed along the mosaic's winding line without provoking opportunity attacks, and the next attack roll made against him before the start of his turn has disadvantage.
Put Out a Lamp (costs 1). One lit lamp within 60 ft gutters out. When the last lamp in the room goes out he gains blindsight 60 ft until a new light is lit.
Horn (costs 2). He makes one horn attack.