2D. KALABASH'S BEDROOM
The door to this room bears a sign written in Common
that reads, "Kalabash's Room. Do not enter unless your
name is Halaster." The room contains the following:
Furnishings. A dusty bed stands with its headboard
against the north wall. At the foot of the bed rests a
locked wooden chest (see "Trapped Chest" below). A
desk in the southeast corner has stacks of musty old
tomes atop it (see "Treasure" below).
Summoning Circle. An old rug woven with arcane sym-
bols lies in the middle of the floor. (Beneath the rug,
painted on the stone floor, is a IO-foot-diameter sum-
moning circle that has been partially erased.)
The summoning circle hidden under the rug radiates
an aura of abjuration magic under the scrutiny of a de-
tect magic spell, but three of its activation glyphs have
been erased. A character who examines the circle and
succeeds on a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana or Investiga-
tion) check can reconstruct the circle and, with blood or
paint, reapply the missing glyphs in ldlO minutes.
If the circle is completed, it immediately summons
Kalabash (CE male Calishite human m age). Appearing
in the middle of the circle, Kalabash attacks any crea-
tures he sees. He is intoxicated and suffers the effects
of the poisoned condition until he sobers up or until the
condition is ended with a lesser restoration spell or sim-
ilar magic. Erasing part of the completed circle causes
Kalabash to be whisked back to his pocket dimension.
The only item of value Kalabash has is his spellbook,
which contains all the spells he has prepared. He also
carries around an empty wine flask.
Trapped Chest. The wooden chest is of solid con-
struction, and its steel l ock is warded with a magic trap.
Picking the Jock requires thieves' tools and a successful
DC 15 Dexterity check. If that check does not succeed,
or if anyone tries to break or smash the lock, the mech-
anism releases a small bolt of lightning that deals 10
(3d6) lightning damage to the creature tampering with
it (no saving throw). The chest is empty except for a note
in Common that reads, "Retirement fund. Don' t spend
this on ale, Kalabash!"
Treasure. The desk has twenty old books on it. Each
book is blank and can be sold for 10 gp.
- HALASTER PUPPET
Both doors to this room are difficult to open because
furniture inside has been piled against them. A success-
ful DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check forces open either
door. Apart from these crude barricades, the room con-
tains the following:
Automaton. An animated, life-size puppet of Ha laster
Blackcloak is hard at work on an experiment. The
puppet is made primarily of wood and canvas, with a
shoddy gray cloak draped over its shoulders. Dozens
of cloth eyes have been sewn into the cloak.
Table. The puppet looms over a stone table covered
with dusty alchemical equipment and vials of various
solid and liquid substances, but nothing valuable or
dangerous.
The puppet responds to any movement within 20 feet
of it and threatens any creature that comes closer, shout-
ing in Halaster's voice, "Terrible and painful magical
death! Fireballs and lightning bolts! Begone!" It speaks
and understands Common, but voices nothing but empty
threats and a desire to continue its "work" undisturbed.
If asked what it's working on, it shouts, "Magic!" and
chuckles. A character who watches the puppet work
and succeeds on a DC 10 Intelligence (Arcana) check
ascertains that the puppet isn't doing anything other
than mixing harmless substances while muttering
gobbledygook.
The puppet is a Medium construct with AC 10, 8 hit
points, a walking speed of 20 feet, immunity to poison
and psychic damage, and ability scores of 10. It can' t
be charmed or frightened, and it is not subject to ex-
haustion. It speaks and understands Common, has no
attacks, and falls to pieces if reduced to 0 hit points or
if a successful dispel magic spell (DC 15) is cast on it.
Hidden inside the puppet is a flask of alchemist's fire
that shatters as the puppet falls to pieces, causing its
remnants to catch fire. The breaking flask does no harm
to nearby creatures.
If the puppet is destroyed, Halaster's voice magically
calls out, "Auugh! Now who will find the cure to filth
fever?!" before trailing off into silence.4. ABANDONED CAMP
The Xanathar Guild had a base camp here, but it was
forced to abandon the place after a run-in with the Fine
Fellows of Dagger ford.
This room is strewn with rotten supplies and the
remains of a fire pit. Three bugbear corpses and an
intellect devourer's body are heaped in the northeast
corner. Searching the corpses reveals a scrap of parch-
ment with the following phrase written on it in Com-
mon: "As many as there are stars in the sky." This is the
pass phrase to safely enter the Xanathar Guild outpost
at area 9.- ARCH GATE TO LEVEL 4
This dusty room is hidden behind a secret door dis-
guised to look like a plain section of wall.
Embedded in the middle of the room's north wall is
a stone arch, its frame engraved with images of falling
coins. The arch's keystone has a tiny slot in it. This is
one of Halaster's magic gates (see "Gates," page 12),
and its rules are as follows:
- Feeding a gold coin into the slot in the keystone
causes the coin to disappear and the gate to open for
1 minute. Other coins placed in the slot disappear but
don't open the gate.
Characters must be 8th level or higher to pass through
this gate (see "Jhesiyra 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 l lc on level 4, in the closest unoccupied space
next to the identical gate located there.
LEVEl. 2 I ARCANE CHAMBERS