Any creature that is not a fiend triggers the symbol
spell when it steps on the circular rug or disturbs the
rug in any way. Because the rug covers the spell's trig-
gering glyph, the characters have little chance of spot-
ting the glyph unless they use a detect magic spell or
magic that allows them to see through the rug.
When the glyph triggers, all creatures in this room
and area 15a must make a DC 17 Constitution saving
throw, taking 55 (lOdlO) necrotic damage on a failed
save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
Treasure. The arcanaloth is an avid reader and has
collected countless books from across the multiverse.
Most of the books cover mundane subjects such as eti-
quette, oratory, and poetry. Twenty of the books are trea-
tises on the Outer Planes and chronicles of historical
events on various Material Plane worlds, including Tori!,
Oerth, Athas, and others; these tomes are worth 100 gp
each to an interested buyer. A character who spends 1
hour searching can find one of these rare tomes.
The arcanaloth keeps its spellbook here. The book
has leather covers with dreadful images branded into
them. The script in the book is invisible and can be
read only by a creature who has truesight or by means
of the see invisibility spell or similar magic. The book
contains all the spells the arcanaloth has prepared, plus
antimagic field, cloudkill, circle of death, delayed blast
fireball, ice storm, legend Jore, scrying, and symbol.
- MAGIC CAULDRON
Nylasjowd. NylasJowd, the Thayan mage (see "Nylas
Jowd," page 118), lurks in the eastern alcove with his
invisible companions, two will-o'-wisps.
P illars and Cauldron. Five stone pillars buttress the
20-foot-high ceiling of this hall. A cavity in the south-
ernmost pillar contains a covered lead cauldron vis-
ible to anyone south of the pillar. A stained wooden
spoon hangs from a hook above the cauldron.
Illusory Wall. An illusory wall hides area 18. A detect
magic spell cast on the wall reveals an aura of illusion
magic. The wall has no substance, and creatures and
objects can pass right through it. The wall can be re-
moved with a successful dispel magic spell (DC 14).
Nylas plans to ambush and kill Turbulence (see area
17) when she enters the hall to drink from the cauldron.
If the characters catch Nylas here, he tries to convince
them to kill Turbulence for him and attacks them if they
refuse. The will-o'-wisps gang up on the enemy nearest
to Nylas, protecting their master.
C AULDRON
A detect magic spell can't penetrate the cauldron's lead
shell. It weighs 10 pounds and contains ldlO doses of a
transparent magic liquid that smells and tastes like vine-
gar. Any creature that drinks a dose of the liquid regains
one expended spell slot of any level. If the cauldron is re-
moved from its niche, the magic liquid contained therein
turns to ordinary vinegar. The same thing occurs if the
vinegar becomes mixed with any other substance. If the
empty cauldron is left in the niche, it automatically fills
with twelve doses of the magic liquid at the next dawn.
- 8PELLCASTING HALL
This room has a vaulted ceiling 30 feet high. It is lit by
continual flame spells cast on stone wall sconces shaped
like fiendish claws. The walls, floor, and ceiling are
scorched and pitted from spell damage.
If the characters are visiting the room for the first
time, a black-robed female tiefting mage named Turbu-
lence (see "The Horned Sisters," page 118) is engaged
in a spell duel with three archmages, one of whom
appears to be Halaster. Turbulence is losing badly and
has only 3 hit points remaining. Before the archmages
can finish her off, the tiefting shouts, "I surrender!" On
their next turns, the archmages retreat into alcoves and
become inanimate gray statues (see "Statues" below).
Turbulence tells the characters whatever they want
to know about Dweomercore, with the intent of pitting
them against Halaster. She mentions that the Mad Mage
has a private sanctuary on this level (area 45), hoping
they'll try to rob it and create a big enough distraction
for her and her sister Violence to escape.
STATUES
The room's three statues are life-size carvings of robed
human wizards. They are used for testing the spellcast-
ing abilities of pupils. A detect magic spell reveals an
aura of transmutation magic around each one:
East Statue. This statue depicts a young Shou woman
whose face is half ruined by acid. She clutches an orb
in one hand.
South Statue. This statue stands atop a stone dais and
depicts Halaster Blackcloak in a robe covered with
unblinking eyes. He clutches a staff.
West Statue. This statue depicts a long-haired woman
armed with a gnarled wand. She looks out from be-
hind a smooth, featureless mask.
The statues are indestructible in their inanimate
state. When a creature moves between the west and
east statues, all three become flesh and attack all other
creatures in the room. Roll initiative for each statue
separately. While animated, the statues are archmages,
with these changes:- The statues are unaligned constructs that speak only
when casting spells that have verbal components.
They can' t leave the room. - They have the ice storm spell prepared instead of ban-
ishment, and the finger of death spell prepared instead
of teleport. - If incapacitated or reduced to 0 hit points, a statue
instantly teleports to its alcove, where it reverts to its
inanimate form and regains all its hit points. It can't
reanimate again until all three archmages have re-
verted to statues. - The statues return to their alcoves, revert to their in-
animate forms, and regain all their hit points if, when
their turn comes up, no other creatures remain in the
room that aren't incapacitated. This also happens if a
creature in the room speaks the words "I surrender!"
in any language. - Any creature reduced to 0 hit points by an animated
statue is stable and unconscious.
LEVEL 9 I DWEOMERCORE
125