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If he or his thugs are attacked, Shunn Shurreth calls
for bugbear reinforcements from area 9d. Shunn's goal
in any conflict is to capture his enemies and haul them
to S kullport as trophies. Once there, the prisoners are
brought to Skull Island and left to the tender mercies of
Commander Sundeth (see "Skullport," page 303).
Supplies. The barrels and crates here contain enough
water and dry food to sustain a single person for 600
days or Shunn's gang for 30 days.
Treasure. The thugs carry a total of 14 gp in coin. On
a black cord around his neck, Shunn wears a silver key
(5 gp) that unlocks the silver-bound chest in area 9c.9C. GANG'S TREASURE
Barrels. Stone racks spanning the walls contain barrels
that are so rotted and old that they fall apart when
handled. (The ale and water once stored in them have
long since evaporated.)
Table and Chest. A large stone table in the middle of the
room is draped with cobwebs. A silver-bound wooden
chest rests atop it.
Treasure. The chest has a built-in lock that Shunn
Shurreth's silver key opens. The Jock can also be picked
with thieves' tools and a successful DC 15 Dexterity
check. The chest contains 100 gp, which Shunn uses to
pay his gang.9D. BUGBEAR BARRACKS
Ten bugbears sleep on the dusty floor of this room.
They investigate any commotion they hear in area 9b.- OOZE TEMPLE
These four rooms comprise a temple devoted to water
and oozes. All doors leading to these rooms are deco-
rated with symbols of water, and each door forms an
airtight seal when shut.
lOA. SKULL IN THE CUBE
Clean. This 30-foot-high room is swept clean, with no
trace of dust or debris.
Frescoes. The walls are carved with frescoes depicting
horrific cyclopean cities of black stone submerged be-
neath raging seas.
Giant Ooze. A gelatinous cube measuring 30 feet on a
side is trapped in the room. The monster is situated in
the northeast corner when the characters first arrive.
Floating in the center of it is a dwarven skull sheathed
in glass. Any character who succeeds on a DC 15 Wis-
dom (Perception) check can tell that the skull is sus-
pended in an enormous gelatinous cube, not levitating.
A detect magic spell reveals an aura of transmutation
magic around the skull, which belonged to a duergar.
Halaster preserved within the skull the duergar's magi-
cal ability to enlarge itself. The skull now has the power
to enlarge the gelatinous cube, and the skull's glassy
coating protects it from the cube's digestive acid. Re-
moving the skull from the gelatinous cube causes the
cube to shrink to its normal size (10 feet on a side). The
skull has no magical properties other than its ability to
enlarge gelatinous cubes (and potentially other oozes, at
your discretion).LEVEL 2 I ARCANE CHAMBERSWhile enlarged by the duergar skull, the gelatinous
cube has the following modified statistics:- The cube is Gargantuan and can hold up to nine Large
creatures or up to thirty-six Medium or smaller crea-
tures inside it at a time. - It can make up to four Pseudopod attacks on its turn,
and it makes Strength checks and Strength saving
throws with advantage. - When the cube shrinks back to normal size, any crea-
tures that it can no longer contain are expelled into
unoccupied spaces around it.
lOB. FLOODED ROOM
This laboratory, with a 20-foot-high ceiling, is com-
pletely filled with 24,000 cubic feet of salt water created
by a spell gone awry. Opening the door causes the water
to empty into area lOa. Creatures within 20 feet of the
opened door are caught in the deluge and must make a
DC 12 Strength saving throw. Any creature that fails the
saving throw is knocked prone and takes 5 (ldlO) blud-
geoning damage.
Once the water is released, it fills both rooms to a
depth of half an inch. Swept into area lOa with the water
is the putrid, rotting corpse of a human wizard in green
and purple robes. This is what remains of Salamanth,
one of Halaster's more foolish apprentices.
Treasure. A search of the room reveals overturned
tables, waterlogged books destroyed by salt water, and
a glass wand (the dead wizard's arcane focus), which is
worth 25 gp.10C. ALTA R TO jUIBLEX
False Altar. In the middle of this 20-foot-high room is
a limestone altar topped with a misshapen mound of
gold that looks like it was poured on the altar in mol-
ten form and left there until it cooled and hardened.
(The mound of gold is an ochre jelly of unusual color
trapped in magical stasis.)
Wall Carvings. Black mildew drips from lidless eyes
and gaping mouths carved into the walls. (The wall
carvings represent the all-consuming demon lord
Juiblex. Though ghastly, the depictions are harmless.)
Close examination of the altar reveals that it bears an
inscription in Abyssal that reads, "A gift of flesh, will-
ingly given, can feed our eternal hunger." A character
who inspects this "mound of gold" can ascertain its true
nature with a successful DC 12 Intelligence (Nature)
check. A detect magic spell reveals an aura of trans-
mutation magic around the ochre j elly, suggesting the
presence of the stasis field.
The stasis field immobilizes the ooze but also renders
it impervious to damage. This magic is dispelled when it
comes into contact with flesh or is targeted by a success-
ful dispel magic spell (DC 17). Freed from its stasis, the
ochre jelly attacks.lOD. CAVED-IN ROOM
This room has partially caved in, but someone has
bored tunnels through the collapsed sections, granting
access to dungeon hallways south and east of here. The
floor is covered with dust and debris, but the room con-
tains nothing of interest.