INNER WARD FIRST FLOOR 51 YELLOW ROOM.

51 YELLOW ROOM. The door to this room is painted yellow. The walls and ceiling are bright yellow, while the floor is fine yellow sand. Near the center of this irregularly shaped room, a statue of a contemplative gnome sits on a stone box.

The sandy floor acts as an extremely efficient form of quicksand that offers less resistance than water. If the characters state that they are probing the floor with a pole or weapon, it will be obvious that it is not solid. Anyone stepping into the room will have a chance to save versus paralyzation (at -4 penalty) to grab hold of the door or floor, otherwise they will drop into the sand. Anyone running or jumping into the room will not have such recourse. Falling will cause no damage due to the softness of the sand, but the victim will begin to suffer the effects of drowning.

The real floor is fifteen feet below the apparent floor. A character engulfed in the sand may hold his or her breath for a number of segments equal to his or her constitution score. Recall that a segment is equal to 6 seconds, so a character with a constitution of 10 can hold his or her breath for one minute (one round).

After 10 segments (in that character' case), the character would begin to drown. This takes 3-18 additional drowning segments, in which the character cannot aid in helping themselves. Each segment spent drowning costs a hit point of damage, even if the character is rescued. If not saved from the sand within that time the character is dead, but can be revived by a cure wounds spell if cast within 5 minutes. This will bring the individual to the 1 hit point level.

The statue and box rest on a narrow pedestal which gives the impression that they are on the sand. The statue is somewhat heavy at 3000 gp weight, but can be toppled off the pedestal if struck with sufficient force. Note that it will be problematic to simply lift the statue, as the lifter will not have anything near by to brace themselves with.

The box contains a large yellow key with block-like bow and bit. Together with the red, blue, and green keys, the yellow key will open the yellow door to Room 53.