1f the characters attack Hanne, she fights to the best
of her ability. U the adventurers are friendly toward her,
Hanne is willing to travel with them for safety.WORM NURSERY
As the characters near the nursery, they get a view of
one of its guardians-and might take an unexpected fall.As you make your way through a long tunnel, everything
around you begins to shake and rumble. Suddenly, the
tunnel floor gives way at your feet.The tunnel through which the characters travel is
directly above area 1 of the nursery. The burrowing of a
nearby purple worm weakens the tunnel floor. causing
a I 0-foot section of it to break apart and collapse. Any
character in the area must make a successful DC 15
Dexterity saving throw or fall 25 feet into area 1 below.
- ENTRY CAVERN
Any characters dropped into rhis dark cave have time
to recover, while characters who avoided falling can
anchor ropes to the edge of the tunnel floor above, then
climb down into the cave.ln any event. the characters
hear more rumbling off in the distance.
- FUNGUS CAVE
A variety of fungi blankets this dark, 15 -foot-high
cavern. Every 10 minutes spent foraging here yields 1d3
pounds of edible fungi per forager (to a maximum of
30 pounds).
WORM NURSERY: GENERAL FEATURES
The characters encounter the following features in th e
purple worm nursery.
Light. All tunnels and chambers are dark unless the text
states otherwise.
Purple Worm Tunnels. The tunnels marked Tl, T2, and
T3 on the map do not exist when the characters first enter
the nursery. They are created by purple worms after the
party arrives, as noted here:- Fifteen minutes after the party enters area l, a purple
worm digs into area l, then travels through area 3 and
creates tunnel Tl to enter area 8. - Ten minutes after the first worm arrives, a second purple
worm enters through the tunnel in area 7. It makes its
way through the adjoining echo chamber, then into area
- Then it digs tunnel T2 into the eastern echo chamber
before exiting through the worm tunnel in area 14.
- Fifteen minutes after the second worm arrives, another
purple worm enters through the tunnel in area 7, digs
tunnel T3 from the southern echo chamber into the
eastern echo chamber, then exits through the worm
tunnel in area 14.
Visiting worms are heralded by a low rumbling sound
2 minutes before they appear. (The bats in area 9 also
swarm and flee their roost l minute before a purple worm
appears.) Purple worms ignore intruders except those in
areas 5 or 8, but they won't pursue anyone fleeing from
those areas.
CHI\PTF.R 13 I THE WORMWRITHINGS
The passage to area 3 is a steep slope leading 10 feet
upward, and covered in small rocks and gravel. Moving
up the slope requires a successful DC 12 Dexterity
(Acrobatics) check. On a failed check, a character slips
and tumbles down to the bottom of the s lope. taking no
damage. If someone at the top of the slope lowers a rope
to help other characters climb, no check is necessary.3. OSSUARY
This 30 -foot-high chamber is dimly lit by luminescent
lichen. Thousands of bones carpet the cavern floor,
including many recognizable as humanoid (primarily
dwarf, elf, and goblin) and some belonging to strange
and unidentifiable creatures. Exactly where the bones
came from is a mystery. A crack in the south wall leads
to area 4.
The tunnel marked T1 on the map doesn't exist until
a purple worm creates it fifteen minutes after the party
discovers area 1 (see the "Worm Nursery: General
Features" sidebar). Thus, the characters won't be able to
reach area 8 until the tunnel is formed.- CHASM
This 30 -foot-high unlit cavern has a twenty-foot-wide pi
in its center, which descends a thousand feet. Thirty fee·
down is a small ledge holding the skeletal remains of a
moon elf adventurer clad in moldering leather armor.
Scaling the chasm walls without gear requires a
s uccessful DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check.
TREASURE
The skeleton still wears a ring of free action on one
bony finger.- ECHO CHAMBERS
These three 60-foot-high caverns, hollowed out and
expanded by purple worms, are set around area 8 as a
defensive measure. Using their saliva, the worms have
created thick, resinous strands that stretch from wall
to wall. These strands are 2 feet thick and suspended
some 50 feet above the floor.
Any noise in one of these chambers (including a
normal speaking voice or metal striking metal) causes
the strands to reverberate, creating a loud humming tha
echoes throughout the surrounding caverns, alerting
the purple worms to the presence of trespassers.
DEVELOPMENT
If the adventurers set off a humming in one of these
echo chambers, a distant rumbling can be heard and
felt as a purple worm burrows toward the egg chamber
arriving there in 1d4 minutes (see area 8 for details).6. CARETAKER'S QUARTERS
Phosphorescent lichen clings to lhe walls of this 30-foo-
high cavern. Stronk, a bruLish fomorian, lairs here.
Somehow the giant formed a bond with the purple
worms. becoming a caretaker of their eggs. He regular'
checks lhe eggs, brushes fungus off them. and defends
them against predators.