Waterdeep - Dungeon of the Mad Mage

(Jeff_L) #1

190


Underdark Model. Standing about the room are six
7-foot-tall, stalagmite-shaped spires made of tiny
rectangular blocks, with a half-finished seventh tower
under construction.
Furnishings. Furnishings include a wooden bed, an
overstuffed leather chair with a matching ottoman,
a stone shelf holding a wooden cask of ale, a hand-
somely carved stone table strewn with mason's tools
and bits of stone, and a heavy wooden seafarer's trunk
with a smashed lock.
Tapestry. On the south wall hangs an old, faded tapes-
try that depicts a beautiful crystal cavern.
A few days after settling in Arcturiadoom, the hob-
goblin warlord commanded his underlings to bring him
a set of mason's tools. Some old tools were gathered
and promptly delivered to him. In the days since, Doom-
crown has been carving rectangular blocks of stone
(each 2 inches wide, 4 inches long, and 1 inch thick) and
using them to build odd, tower-like structures resem-
bling stalagmites. The endeavor has helped alleviate his
boredom, even if he doesn't know exactly why he's build-
ing them. The answer lies with his strange companion.
Until recently, this ftumph surreptitiously fed on the
mental energy of Arcturia's mind flayer assistant. The
illithid's sudden death (see area 29) cut off the ftumph's
food supply. Fortunately, it can get by for some time
without needing to feed on more psionic energy. It
shacked up with Doomcrown and has been trying to
convince him to reform. The hobgoblin has proven to
be stubbornly, irredeemably evil, but their lengthy tele-
pathic contact has caused Doomcrown to exhibit odd
traits, including a subconscious need to recreate the
ftumph's home- the Underdark- out of building blocks.
The fiumph knows that its longing to return home is
affecting the hobgoblin's behavior, but it relies on Doom-
crown for protection. If the two become separated, the
ftumph opts to return to the Underdark.
The characters can befriend the ftumph and coax it
into joining the party for a while. It has encountered
adventurers in Undermountain before and is generally
quite fond of them and their tales of the surface world.

TREASURE
The wooden trunk contains the hobgoblins' loot: 2,500
gp, an electrum pepper shaker (25 gp), a pewter candle-
stick (25 gp), a red velvet cape (50 gp), an ornate coral
statuette of a ship cresting a wave (250 gp), a dwarven
beard comb made of lapis lazuli and set with gemstones
(750 gp), a platinum crown with black pearl inlay (2,500
gp), and an elven helm made of leafed gold with a spiral
horn of amethyst protruding from its brow (7,500 gp).

34. SHRIEKING GAS SPORE


Floating in the middle of this otherwise empty room is
a gas spore that has the added defense of a shrieker.
When bright light or a creature comes within^30 feet of
the gas spore, it uses its reaction to emit a shriek audible
within^300 feet of it. The gas spore continues to shriek
until the disturbance moves out of range and for ld4
rounds afterward.
The shrieking of the gas spore alerts the hobgoblins in
areas 32c and 33, who come to investigate.

LEV.EL 14 I ARCTURJADOOM


  1. RALLYING HALL
    This wide hall has a 50-foot-high ceiling that angles
    down to 20 feet high as it travels north and east. Shouts
    echo from area 36, the door to which is slightly open.

  2. DEATH'S HEAD TRAINING
    The door to this room hangs ajar, and shouts in Gob-
    lin come from within. The room contains the follow-
    ing features:
    Hobgoblins. Twelve hobgoblins are practicing phalanx
    formation maneuvers in the middle of the room, over-
    seen by a hobgoblin captain. When faced with an un-
    known threat, the hobgoblins close ranks and attack.
    Furnishings. Around the perimeter of the room are
    wooden trestle tables and benches.
    Wall Decor. The room is lit by continual flame spells
    cast on iron torch sconces bolted to the walls.
    Mounted on stone plaques between the sconces are
    the heads of three dwarves, two orogs, a troglodyte,
    and a gargoyle.


37. WEAPON OF MASS
DISINTEGRATION
In the event that her experiments got out of hand or her
enemies tracked her down, Arcturia built this chamber
to purge them all at once while protecting herself and
her apprentices (of which she currently has none). The
chamber has the following features:
Plated Walls. At the end of a short hallway is a 20-foot-
high domed chamber with seven narrow alcoves.
Every surface is covered with gleaming mithral plates.
Each alcove is brightly lit by the yellow glow of a small
crystal dome embedded in its 8-foot-high ceiling.
Key Shapes. Set into the mithral-plated walls between
the alcoves are six key-shaped indentations at chest
height. Each indentation is 6 inches long.
Each alcove is 8 feet tall and 4 feet deep, and narrows
in width from 3 feet to 1 foot. A detect magic spell re-
veals a strong aura of abjuration magic engulfing each
alcove, which is just spacious enough to accommodate a
single Medium creature. The crystal dome in the ceiling
is the source of the alcove's magic, and destroying its
globe renders an alcove dark and powerless. Each dome
has AC 11, a damage threshold of 10, 1 hit point, and
immunity to acid, fire, poison, and psychic damage.

USING THE MrTHRAL KEYS
Six mithral keys are required to activate the chamber.
Each conforms in shape to one of the six indentations
in the walls, which are (from left to right, going clock-
wise around the room): an upside-down Y, a backward
J with a small loop at the top, an upside-down F, an
upside-down U, a V with a small loop at the bottom,
and an H missing its top left stem. When the six keys
(located in areas 7, 10, 13b, 27, and 39a) are placed in
their corresponding indentations, a magic mouth spell
counts down from 20 seconds (in Common). At the end
of the countdown, there is an ear-splitting whine, and a
powerful spell deals^150 force damage to every creature
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