Phoenix (city)

The City of Phoenix, once Carthag, was an ancient city in Raurin, which was known for its luxurious resorts, houses of rest and restoration; this led to its later renaming. As the desertification of Raurin continued, the city was first protected with an enchanted dome, and then finally abandoned; the archmage Martek chose to hide the prison of the djinni vizier Aeraldoth there.

Location
Though only east-northeast of the Oasis of the White Palm, the City of Carthag was separated from it by a chain of rocky mountains. The City lay in a low-lying bowl, at least in diameter, where no wind could reach; this made the temperatures stay frightfully high during the night and outright deadly by day, from  to  at times.

Structure
The city of Phoenix had some structures visible from the tops of dunes away. Most who entered would do so through a pitfall, which would deposit them somewhere in the streets below. Some of those pitfalls led into glassy smooth tubes, which had been created by a beholder in service of Khalitharius, aiming to find victims to capture and convert to the cause amongst those who were caught in Phoenix's pitfalls.

The city itself was silent and still, save for the sand still filtering through gaps in the magical dome; it had accumulated too high to see the tops, as there was just about no light in there. Most of the visible buildings were white marble. Buildings still at least partly standing in the city of Carthag included the house of Khalif Mubrek, the Secret Maze of Kharan, the home of Chininsk Ambar , and the Baths of Garimsharr. A nonfunctional sewer tunnel connected the baths to the Statue of Set.

The foyer of Khalif Mubrek was still accessible from the outside streets. It was set apart from the street with pillars and a stone filigree; the floor was a complex mosaic of white and cream-colored stones, while the walls were covered in dark brown baked enamel tiles. There was an entrance door, with an inscription enchanted to render it readable to anyone, stating "My fun is your fun". The entrance was only small enough for one person at a time, and it required a man-sized person to stoop slightly in order to cross. Anyone passing would be struck by a chocolate cream pie in the face. Even those who covered their faces completely while entering would be assaulted by a flying pie as soon as they were inside the room.

Beyond the foyer was the sitting room of Khalif Mubrek. It had walls frescoed in murals of a city with beautiful buildings descending to a large lake dotted with triangular sail ships. The room was appointed with fine couches and chairs, embroidered with pastels and gold. Two five-foot couches inlaid with gold were worth 150 gp, 10 gp for the inlay alone; a small chair encrusted with seed pearls and enlaid with gold was worth 180 gp, 20 gp from the seed pearls and 20 gp from the inlay. A high, bronze-backed throne-like seat with large arms was set with runes that would display "Rule ye all who sit here"; it was a harmless prank device, whose seat dropped out as the arms fell inward if anyone sat on it. Struggling to rise would make the legs spread outwards while the back hinged forwards. The device would return to its shape as soon as its user was extricated from the chair.

Beyond the sitting room was his dining room. It had a 30-foot vaulted ceiling, ornate brass oil lamps hanging from the ceiling, and a floor covered in thick wool rugs colored in fantastic designs. The rug would gently but forcefully remove the shoes of anyone passing by, even if it tripped them in the process. There was a long, low table in the middle of the room for diners to eat seated at the floor, which would seat up to 24. Everyone who entered would be announced with a gong, followed by the appearance of a meal of steaming roast meat, fresh fruits, pita bread, three goblets of wine (one gold and two silver), and a decanter full of wine, per person. Anyone sitting at the table would be greeted by the spirit of Khalif Mubrek, a smiling, pudgy, little man dressed in the finest silks and satins, whose fingers were covered in assortments of rings showing pearls, emeralds, rubies and diamonds. He would offer people a toast in the golden goblets; those were actually dribble glasses. If the players did not laugh alongside the man as they toasted, the meal would disappear; upon finishing the meal, one of Khalif Mubrek's rings would appear before them in the table. Those who took the rings would hear a last toast from the apparition, "Long Life".

From Khalif Mubrek's dining room, one would reach his entrance. The entrance would open unto the streets, where a boneless, dessicated husk of a corpse lay across the threshold. The other room led unto his kitchen; the kitchen had three ovens, a hearth, several cleared-out cupboards, and three water taps. These water traps were prank devices; the flow of water on one of them would stop if one attempted to tap them for water, the second one would spew a torrent of water into the fact of the person attempting to tap, and the third worked normally- but it turned the tongue and lips of those who drank black. There was a warning to leave back through the entrance, which would change language as needed; those who used the other door would end in the Hall of Khalif Mubrek. That hallway contained a black obelisk with a sign of a raised palm on the side pointing towards the kitchen, and a mirror of opposition on the other side of the obelisk. Several bodies lay on the other side of the obelisk; there was a door leading outside past the obelisk.

The Secret Maze of Kharan was accessible from the street just outside the entry room of Khalif Mubrek; there was an open door to a darkened room beyond. It was divided in two sections: the Maze of Darkness, a maze with 4-foot corridors made of a stone that absorbed just about all light, and the Maze of Light, whose walls were made of mirrored white marble and abundant in torches, but not less claustrophobic. The maze of light was accessible through a teleporter in the Maze of Darkness, a silver disc.

From the Maze of Light one could reach the residence of Chininsk Ambar. There was a short hallway leading up to a strange door, built to appear as though it called for depressing the latch and then pushing; it was actually opened the opposite way, even hinged wrongly. The door opened into the Library of Chininsk Ambar; as of, the library was in shambles. The only object of value was the lamp of El-Tarifa, an aerial servant who used to be the butler for Chininsk Ambar. If helped return all in the library to its proper place, it would stay with its helpers and perform up to one service that did not go against its nature (it was a good-aligned creature). There were no other doors, but one wall was actually made of lightweight blocks that crumbled away if their mechanism was triggered. That wall led to a sitting room; a carving of a skull allowed one to see the room across from the entrance, but double doors on the right led the way to the ballroom of Chininsk Ambar.

The ballroom was a place reputed as the one where anyone could dance. It had a ceiling, with long, hanging crystals for illumination; the walls were covered in frescoes of nymphs, satyrs and legendary beasts. Spring-loaded gimbals beneath the dance floor would complicate walking across the room; it was easiest to dance, or even crawl, than it was to run. The room opened unto the entryway, which was a normal room, and unto the Death Trap of Chinisk, visible from the sitting room. The Death Trap was merely a hinged floor that dropped all those who stood by the west wall into an underground chamber. The chamber had a tunnel dug out of it which led into one of Khalif Mubrek's cellars; unfortunately, it led straight in front of the Mirror of Opposition in his hallway.

The entryway was a normal room, which led towards a slide, or "Chandelle-Glisade". The room was a long, gentle spiral that fell counter-clockwise; originally oiled daily, it was intended for descent on a pillow or a rug, with pillows placed at the end. Now, covered in fine sand, the abrasion and accelleration could both be dangerous; they opened into the vicinity of the Baths of Garimsharr.

The Baths of Garimsharr were a massive rose-colored building; it had three entrances, all of which led into a 10-foot wide gallery 10 feet above the ground; on the ground level, there were three pairs of pillars leading to the ceiling. Those pillars were ornately carved to resemble legendary beasts; four pools lay between the pillars. Four more pools lay at the corners of the room, where about thirteen skeletons remained in reserve. A wraith, the spirit of Krinos Pandipolous, was hidden in the drain and would command the skeletons if it saw an opportunity to slay adventurers.

The drain led across a nest of red spiders towards a manhole, which opened before a statue of Set The djinn Aeraldoth was bound in a bottle hidden within the statue, reachable by going past the manhole in the tunnel.

Defenses
The heat was outright deadly during the day in a radius of forcing most travelers to make do by night; even then, the superheated sand remained painful to walk on, and it was so fine that it created a risk of sinkholes even then. A radius dome protected the city, only the tops of the highest towers poking out through; the dome was broken in places, and the gaps could function as sinkholes for unwary travelers.

History
The city of Carthag soon came to prominence in the times of the Pharaohs, before the drying of the River Athis, as a place with magnificent care for those who needed rest, a city whose healing waters revitalized the spirit. It became so notorious for its houses of rest and recovery that it eventually came to be known as the City of Phoenix, and embraced this by changing its name. The wealthy and powerful were catered to quite intensively during this period, and the city collected their follies, coming to abound in jokes, tricks, puzzles, and even mazes with magical hazards, which were carefully watched to keep people from dying.

It eventually became necessary to raise a magical dome around the city to protect it from the encroaching sands in order to protect its gardens, streets, and buildings. The dome eventually covered the entire city; it was several feet thick and very strong, capable of taking the weight of a camel and a man anywhere on it. Its strength ensured the city remained hidden after all the inhabitants abandoned it: the sands continued to encroach, eventually covering all but the tallest towers.

At some point in the 4th century DR, the wizard Martek imprisoned the djinn Aeraldoth in the city of Phoenix. By the mid-14th century DR, the City of Phoenix was only an occassional hazard to the travelers who broke through the dome. Most of their fellows mistook the gaps in the dome for sinkholes, leading to avoiding the area. In, adventurers may have released th djinn, which triggered the rise of the city back from under the sands.

Inhabitants
The area around Phoenix was uninhabitable by day. All life in the area emerged by night to hunt, including purple worms, giant rocs, krite snakes, centipedes, huge trap-door spiders, hyenas, jackals, giant ants and giant beetles. Spectral apparitions like those in Southern Raurin existed as well, and they led travelers towards the center of Phoenix.

The fauna was very different inside the city. There were a number of permanent residents, including rust monsters, red spiders, desert ticks, fire ants, carrion beetles, krite, and strangely enough, the skeletons of adventurers who cursed their gods as they died here. After the release of Khalitharius, a beholder under his orders had come to sift for possible servants in the ruins.

Appendix

 * Adventures
 * Desert of Desolation