The Lake of the Mad
Take a stroll with me, cutter, to the perturbing and enigmatic site known as the Lake of Madness. Now, imagine you approach what seems to be a placid pool of clear water, a kind of oasis amidst the chaos, with a tempting pile of diamonds glittering seductively in the centre. A sight for sore eyes in the hellish landscape? But oh no, it’s all smoke and mirrors.
The true lake, oh it’s a different kettle of wastrilith altogether — it’s really a dark abyss of purple liquid, a fathomless depth that keeps its secrets deep underwater. Deep, deeper than the most profound Bleaker pondering in the depths of despair, this is not water, it’s a pool of liquified insanity.
Now here’s where it gets interestin’, cutter. Take a dip in those bewitched waters to try and score the diamonds and you’ll be playing the highest stakes game of chance in Pazunia. The waters demand a tribute of sanity [DC 25 Intelligence/Will save to avoid] falling prey to the dual curses of mental prison and feeblemind. These waters can break the strongest minds and shatter the most resilient spirits. Fail to resist, and you’re looking at a one-way ticket to a personal hell, trapped in your mind with your worst fears, your intellect stripped bare, left wanderin’ the landscapes of your own insanity with the mind of a babe. [The only known cures of this madness are heal and power word: heal]. Should you manage to dance with madness and come out unscathed, the lake grants a boon unlike any other, a rush of psychic energy that sends you soaring through the skies flying like an Abyssal eagle [speed of 150 feet] for a fleeting minute of godlike power. But no diamonds. You never get the diamonds, this is the Abyss after all.
Source: Galactic Rainbows
