The drow priestess is never encountered without her
adopted d row daughter, Zress Orlezziir, and a yochlol
advisor disguised as a female drow named Chalizana.
To determine where the characters first meet Vlon-
welv and her retinue, roll a d20 and consult the fol-
lowing table:
d20 Vlonwelv's locat ion
1- 5 Area 25b
6-15 Area 26
16-20 Area 27aTreasure. Vlonwelv wears two webbed platinum brac-
ers (250 gp each) and a spider-shaped obsidian pendant
magically animated so that its legs twitch (50 gp). This
amulet doubles as a holy symbol of Lolth.ZRESS 0RLEZZIIR
A deadly warrior from a destroyed drow house, Zress
was adopted by Vlonwelv Auvryndar and is ready to die
in the service of her savior. Vlonwelv has come to trust
Zress more than she does her own children, keeping
her adopted daughter close by. When determining Vlon-
welv's starting location, assume Zress accompanies her.
If you have Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, use the
drow house c aptain stat block in that book to represent
Zress. Otherwise, Zress is a drow champion (see ap-
pendix A), with these changes:- Zress is neutral evil.
- She has these racial traits: She speaks Elvish and
Undercommon. She has advantage on saving throws
against being charmed, and magic can't put her to
sleep. She has darkvision out to a range of 120 feet.
She can innately cast dancing lights at-will, and dark-
ness, faerie fire, and levitate (self only) each once per
day. Her spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save
DC 13). While in sunlight, she has disadvantage on
attack rolls, as well as on Wisdom (Perception) checks
that rely on sight.
Treasure. Zress wears mithral armor (plate). Affixed
to her spider silk cloak is an obsidian scarab engraved
with the insignia of House Auvryndar (25 gp).GORZIL'S GANGVlonwelv has twenty troglodytes in her service. One of
them is a fat, loathsome specimen named Gorzil. A fol-
lower of the reptile god Laogzed, Gorzil secretly hopes
to depose Vlonwelv, seize control of Muiral's Gauntlet,
and turn it into a troglodyte warren. His dreams, how-
ever, far exceed his grasp.
The drow have trained Gorzil's gang to wear armor
and fight with swords. All the members are troglodytes,
with these changes:
- Each troglodyte wears a breastplate (AC 14) and
wields a longsword, which it uses instead of its claws. - As an action on its turn, a troglodyte can make two
attacks with its longsword instead of attacking with its
bite and claws. It wields the longsword with two hands
and deals 7 (ldlO + 2) s lashing damage on a hit. - The troglodytes understand Undercommon but
can't speak it.
LEVEL 10 I MUIRAL'S GAUNTLET
WANDERING MONSTERSIf Muiral survives his first encounter with the adventur-
ers, he begins patrolling areas 1 through 5 and areas
7 through 12, looking for signs of other intrusion. The
characters might also encounter small packs of skele-
tons, zombies , and ghouls that Muiral has created by
casting animate dead and create undead spells on drow
corpses. These undead shouldn't pose much of a threat
to high-level adventurers, but they help reinforce the
danger that Muiral represents.
Adventurers exploring areas 13 through 30 are likely
to encounter one or more drow patrols, each consisting
of ld4 + 2 drow elite warriors wearing the insignia of
House Auvryndar. The leader of such a patrol is always
a female drow who reports directly to Zress Orlezziir.
Most drow patrols are spoiling for a fight; if a battle
turns against them, however, they withdraw to a more
defensible location.EXPLORING THIS LEVEL
All location descriptions for this level are keyed to map
10. Adventurers most likely enter Muiral's Gauntlet by
using the stairs from level 9 (near area 1) or by descend-
ing a shaft into area 3b.
Muiral's Gauntlet has architectural features com-
monly found in drow fortresses. Its 20-foot-wide,
30-foot-high corridors have arched ceilings bridged at
regular intervals by web-like latticework arches serving
as buttresses and rafters. Many of these "web arches"
are cracked and broken. Shattered pieces of these
arches lie scattered across the floor, as well as the re-
mains of broken stone braziers carved in the shape of
spiders. The bones of interlopers slain by Muiral also
litter the dungeon.
The 15-foot-tall double doors found throughout
this level are carved with web patterns, their features
chipped and worn.- SHATTERED MIRRORS
This corridor lies at the bottom of the staircase from
level 9. Its features are as follows:
Broken Mirrors. The shards of a dozen shattered mir-
rors cover the floor. (Murial destroyed the mirrors in a
fit of rage.)
Empty Frames. Tall, rectangular frames of sculpted
stone line the walls. They appear to have once held
mirrors but now s tand empty. (The wall behind one
such frame conceals a secret door that swings open
into area 2.)
Characters who pass through this hall might catch
fleeting glimpses of Halaster reflected in the mirror
shards instead of their own reflections- one of the
Mad Mage's harmless regional effects (see "Halaster's
Lair," page 311).
2. SECRET HALLWAY
Empty Frames. Empty mirror frames cover the walls,
the floor around them littered with shards of reflective
glass (just as in area 1).