Waterdeep - Dungeon of the Mad Mage

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WANDERING MONSTERS
Most of the ooze that flows through this level is harm-
less elemental waste, but this level is a lso home to
meandering Ghaunadaur worshipers and orog space
pirates looking for food. You can use the following en-
counters to harry restless or resting adventurers.

HUGE GRAY OOZE
The characters encounter six Ghaunadaur-worshiping
duergar who were transformed by Halaster's magic into
a single gray ooze with a challenge rating of 8 (3,900
XP) and these changes:


  • The ooze is Huge, with 152 (16d12 + 48) hit points and
    a Strength score of 18.

  • As an action, it can make two attacks with its pseudo-
    pods (+7 to hit). On a hit, a pseudopod deals 21 (6d6)
    acid damage, or 42 (12d6) acid damage while the ooze
    is enlarged.

  • The ooze has the Enlarge and Invisibility traits below.
    Enlarge (Recharges after a Short or Long Rest). For 1 minute,
    the ooze magically increases in size. While enlarged, the ooze
    is Gargantuan, doubles its damage dice with it s pseudopod
    attack, and makes Strength checks and St rength saving throws
    with advantage.


Invisibility (Recharges af t er a Short or Long Rest). The ooze
magically turns invisible for up to 1 hour until it attacks, it uses
its Enlarge, or its concentration is broken (as if concentrat ing
on a spell).

INTELLIGENT BLACK PUDDINGS
The characters encounter two Ghaunadaur-worshiping
drow who were transformed by Halaster's magic into
black puddings , with these changes:


  • The black puddings understand Elvish and Undercom-
    mon, but can't speak.

  • Each pudding has an Intelligence of 14 and the follow-
    ing Innate Spellcasting trait:
    Innate Speffcasting. The pudding's spellcasting ability is Intelli-
    gence (spell save DC 12, +4 to hit with spell attacks). It can cast
    the foll owing spells, requiring no components:


At will: dancing lights, mage hand
3/day each: darkness.faerie fire, shield
1/day: Melfs acid arrow


SPACE 0ROGS
The characters encounter ld4 + 1 orogs hunting for
easy prey. These orogs were raised in deep caverns on
H'catha, a wheel-shaped planet ruled by beholders and
the farthest world from Toril's sun. The orogs wear
bucket helms resembling bulbous mind flayer heads,
with large, glass-covered eye holes and tentacle-like
breathing tubes.
In addition to its armor and weapons, each orog car-
ries a tangier grenade. The orogs use these grenades to
restrain foes before charging into melee.
Tangier Grenades. A tangier grenade is an alchem-
ical, nonmagical item with an ovoid resin shell that
shatters on impact. An as action, a creature can throw
a tangier grenade at a point up to 60 feet away. Each
creature within 10 feet of a shattered tangier grenade


LEVEL 19 I CAVERNS OF OOZE


ELEMENTAL OOZE
The orb in area 4 weeps a steady stream of ooze channeled
from the Swamp of Obl ivion, the border realm between
the Elemental Planes of Earth and Water. This ooze is a
thick, viscid brown effluvium with streaks of orange, green,
yellow, and black. It smells like rotten eggs and sticks to
anything it touches. The ooze is never more than 5 feet
deep in any given location and is difficult te~rain. It moves
slowly in the direction indicated by the wavy arrows on
map 19 and also behaves like it's alive, occasionally extrud-
ing harmless pseudopods or amorphous shapes that bear
passing resemblances to famil iar creatures.

must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or be
restrained by sticky white webs. As an action, a crea-
ture can try to free itself or another creature within its
reach from the webs, doing so with a successful DC 20
Strength (Athletics) check. A gallon of alcohol dissolves
the webs produced by a single tangier grenade. Other-
wise, the webs dissolve on their own after 1 hour, free-
ing any creatures restrained by them.

Exploring This Level

The following encounters are keyed to map 19. Many of
the caverns and tunnels are natural formations, while
purple worms dug others long ago. The ooze that flows
through much of the level smells foul but is harmless
(see the "Elemental Ooze" sidebar).


  1. THE RESPLENDENT GROTTO OF
    !CHTHYGLUG THE VOLUMINOUS
    Halaster has used his magic to tailor these caves to the
    satisfaction of Ichthyglug the marid.


lA. SHIPWRECK
This 50-foot-high cavern contains the wreck of a cog
(a 54 -foot-long cargo vessel with a single mast). The
wreck's features are as follows:
Hu ll. The ship has broken in half, the shattered bow
aiming northward and the aft section leaning against
the east wall. The oak hull is soft and waterlogged, as
though the vessel has been underwater for years, and
both halves are encrusted with barnacles.
Ma s t and An chor. The mast and anchor have broken off
and lie in the middle of the cave, with the mast point-
ing toward a shimmering curtain of water to the west.
No S ails, No Rigging, No Crew. The ship's square sail,
rigging, and crew are all missing. (The sail and the
rigging disintegrated long ago.)
Characters who search the wreck discover its name
carved over the barnacle-encrusted rudder: the Blue
Opal. A character who learns the ship's name and suc-
ceeds on a DC 20 Intelligence (History) check recalls
that the Blue Opal sank in Waterdeep's harbor a few
years ago under mysterious circumstances, and that
the crew was rescued by merfolk who live in the harbor.
Armed with this knowledge, a character can examine
the hull for signs of foul play and, with a successful
DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check, discover a
square, smooth-cut hole in the aft section below what
would have been the water line. A successful DC 16
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