Waterdeep - Dungeon of the Mad Mage

(Jeff_L) #1

13A. TAPROOM
This room resembles a comfortable taproom in Water-
deep. The bar is stocked with bottles of fine liquor and
casks of wine, and a wooden dartboard is mounted on
the west wall with darts carved to look like stirges.
A drow mage named Elan Tanor'thal (see "Elan
Tanor'thal," page 118) is seated at a table strewn with
parchment in the southwest corner, facing the north
door. Elan recently acquired a spell scroll of legend Jore
from Wormriddle the night hag and is carefully copying
the spell from the scroll to his spellbook. He greets in-
truders in a friendly manner and suggests they partake
of the wine while he finishes his work. The scroll turns
to dust once the work is complete.
Treasure. Elan's black leather-covered spellbook con-
tains all the spells he has prepared plus the following:
confusion, counterspell, fabricate, feather fall, glyph of
warding, magic weapon, seeming, and water breathing.
If his attempt t o copy Wormriddle's spell scroll was suc-
cessful, Elan's book also contains legend Jore.


13B. ARCH GATE T O LEVEL 6
Arch. Embedded in the south wall is a stone arch bear-
ing images of beholders, flumphs, and stirges (see
"Arch Gate" below).
Guard. An invisible nycaloth stands against the south
wall, protecting the arch gate. The nycaloth becomes
visible when it attacks or casts a spell.
The nycaloth's orders are to prevent anyone from
using the a rch gate to leave Dweomercore without the
arcanaloth's permission, and to haul any creature that
enters the room by way of the gate to the headmaster's
office (area 15a) for questioning. Given strict instruc-
tions not to kill anyone, the nycaloth knocks creatures
unconscious instead of killing them, then drags them to
the headmaster's office.
Arch Gate. The arch is one of Halaster's magic gates
(see "Gates," page 12). Its rules are as follows:


  • If a creature flies or levitates within 5 feet of the arch,
    the gate opens for 1 minute.

  • Characters must be 9th level or higher to pass through
    this gate (see "J hesiyra Kestellharp," page 10). The
    first creature to pass through the gate triggers an el-
    der rune (see "Elder Runes," page 12).

  • A creature that passes through the gate appears in
    area 8b on level 6, in the closest unoccupied space
    next to the identical gate located there.


14. DETENTION HALL
There's a 50 percent chance that a red-robed tiefling
mage named Violence (see "The Horned Sisters," page
118) is here, serving a detention for threatening a
guest lecturer. The area contains the following:
Desk. A plain desk is situated against the west wall. If
Violence is here, she's seated in the chair, facing the
wall, read ing a scorched spellbook.
Door Plaque. The northeast door bears a bronze plaque
that reads, "Headmaster's Office- Knock Please."
Violence isn't permitted to leave this hall until the
headmaster releases her, and she's unwilling to sneak

LEVEL 9 I DWEOMERCORE

off and face greater punishment. If the characters ap-
proach her in a friendly manner, Violence tells them to
leave before the head master returns, and recommends
that they speak to Turbulence, her sister, who's in the
Spellcasting Hall (area 17).

TREASURE
Violence's scorched spellbook contains all the spells she
has prepared, plus the following: alter self, cloud of dag-
g ers, hypnotic pattern, and wall of fire.


  1. ARCANALOT H ' S SANCTUM
    These private chambers belong to the arcanaloth head-
    master posing as Halaster Blackcloak.


15 A. HEADMASTER'S OFFICE
If it has not already been encountered elsewhere, the
arcanaloth headmaster is here in its Halaster disguise.
The room has a 30 -foot-high domed ceiling and the fol-
lowing features:
Statue. Opposite the door, a life-size statue of Halaster
stands atop a 3-foot-h igh granite pedestal. Dozens of
eyes are carved into the wizard's robe, and he holds a
stone staff topped with a flickering magical flame (cre-
ated by a continual flame spell).
Desk. Resting before the statue is a tremendous oak
desk, behind which stands a high-backed chair carved
with screaming faces (see below).
Pneumatic Tubes. Fifteen copper pneumatic tubes
span the northwest wall, with a shelf of empty copper
canisters below them.
Secret Door. A secret door opens into area 15b.
If present, the arcanaloth is writing individual assign-
ments on scrolls and using the pneumatic tube system
to deliver them to the academy's students. The assign-
ments involve reading books, completing experiments,
and drafting essays on various arcane topics.
The headmaster's chair has an antipathy/sympathy
spell cast on it. Any creature not able to cast one or
more spells of 7th level or higher is subject to the spell's
antipathy effect (save DC 17), overwhelmed by screams
that seem to emanate from the chair.
Pneumatic Tubes. The tubes connect to various other
locations in Dweomercore and in Muiral's Gauntlet
(level 10). From left to right, the tubes are labeled with
their destinations: "Turbulence" (area 8a), "Violence"
(area 8b), "Karstis" (area 8c), "Yarek" (area 8d), ''Spite"
(area lla), "Skrianna" (area llb), "Vacant" (area llc),
"Cephalossk" (area lld), "Elan" (area lle), "Nylas" (area
llf), "Wormriddle" (area 23c), "Kitchen" (area 27a),
"Study Hall" (area 39), "Guest Lecturer" (area 42), and
"Muiral" (level 10, area 4b).

15 B. ARCANALOTH^1 S L AIR
Bookshelves. Books are packed into stone s helves that
circle the room to a height of 10 feet.
Symbol. Inscribed on the floor and covered with a cir-
cular rug sewn with repeating eye-like patterns is a
nearly invisible, IO-foot-diameter glyph that serves as
the trigger for a symbol spell.
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