The Last Gate's Sixfold Ward
The Last Gate's Sixfold Ward protects a castle entrance at the far end of a 100-foot mountain ravine. The portcullis is only one part of the defense. Ancient magical ballistae track movement through the ravine, firing enormous bolts of force and iron whenever intruders approach the gate or tamper with its runes. The ward was designed to make a direct assault feel like walking beneath the gaze of a patient, many-eyed giant.
The Last Gate's Sixfold Ward
Defenses
Detection
“A black-iron portcullis fills the ravine's end, its bars engraved with weathered oath-runes. Six stone ballistae are embedded in the cliff walls, three on each side, their arms formed from pale enchanted metal. No winch, chain, or firing mechanism is visible. When the ward awakens, blue-white sigils crawl across the bars and the ballistae draw themselves with the sound of cracking ice.”
Standard Engagement
The hazard activates when a creature without the castle's gate-token enters the final 40 feet of the ravine, attacks the portcullis, attempts to force it open, or tampers with a ballista or the central command rune.
On its initiative, the ward uses Ballista Salvo if three or more hostile creatures are in the ravine. Otherwise, it uses Ballista Bolt against the creature closest to the portcullis, the creature manipulating the gate, or the creature that most recently attempted a countermeasure. If a ballista has been disabled, the salvo targets one fewer creature for each disabled ballista, to a minimum of one target if any ballista remains active.
The ward resets 1 minute after no hostile creature remains in the ravine. Disabled ballistae remain disabled until the hazard resets, unless the central command rune is disabled, in which case the entire ward remains inactive until repaired.
The ward fires a heavy enchanted bolt at one creature in the ravine. The target attempts a DC 30 Reflex save. On a critical success, the target is unaffected. On a success, the target takes half damage. On a failure, the target takes 8d10+18 piercing damage and is knocked prone. On a critical failure, the target takes double damage, is knocked prone, and is pushed 10 feet toward the nearest ravine wall. A creature hit by a bolt is pinned to a solid surface if the bolt's damage exceeds the creature's Fortitude DC; the creature is immobilized until it Escapes against DC 31 or the bolt is destroyed.
The ballistae fire in a coordinated pattern along the ravine. Choose up to three creatures in the ravine, with no two targets more than 30 feet apart. Each target attempts the Reflex save against Ballista Bolt. The ward prefers creatures closest to the portcullis, then creatures manipulating the gate or its runes.
The ravine is 100 feet long and mostly 20 feet wide. The ballistae have line of effect to the entire ravine except where natural cover blocks them. The portcullis and cliff walls provide standard cover; large boulders and deep ravine bends can provide greater cover at the GM's discretion.
The ward can distinguish creatures carrying the castle's original gate-token. Such creatures do not trigger the hazard and are ignored by its routine unless they attack the portcullis or another creature.
Each of the six ballistae has AC 30, Fortitude +23, Reflex +19, Hardness 15, HP 35, and BT 18. Damaging a ballista does not damage the central command rune. A ballista reduced to 0 HP is disabled until the hazard resets.
A creature can identify the active firing lanes by spending an action to Seek and succeeding at the hazard's Perception DC. Until the start of its next turn, that creature treats the first ballista attack against it as though it had cover.
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