LEVEL 7: MADDGOTH'S CASTLE
ADDCOTH'S CASTLE IS DESIGNED FOR FOUR
9th-level characters, who should amass
enough XP to reach 10th level. The
characters can forge tenuous alliances
with several of the monsters on this
level. Award XP for these creatures
as if the characters had defeated them
in combat.
The level is named after a miniature, one-twelfth-
scale fortress in one of its caverns. This castle serves
as the home base of Maddgoth, a serial killer who lures
other wizards to his lair to murder them and keep their
arcane focuses and spellbooks as trophies. Maddgoth
isn't home when the adventurers first arrive, but he
might show up later (see "Aftermath," page 108). Most
creatures are reduced to one-twelfth their normal size
as they approach Maddgoth's castle, enabling them to
better fit inside. Either by design or because of some
failing, the shrinking magic doesn't affect all creatures,
as adventurers who explore the castle will discover.
THE 0RICINAL MADDCOTH' S CASTLE
Undermountain: Maddgoth's Castle, written by Steven E.
Schend and published in 1996 , was the second of three
modules in the short-lived "Dungeon Crawl" series of
adventures designed for the second edition D&D game.
Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage borrows some of the
ideas from that earlier adventure while presenting an alter-
native version of Maddgoth's Castle scaled for fifth edition
and this product.What Dwells Here?
Maddgoth comes and goes from Undermountain with
the aid of a horned ring similar to the one worn by
Halaster Blackcloak. While he's away, his homunculus
watches over his castle. A faerie dragon has also discov-
ered the castle and claimed it as its lair. To reach the
castle, adventurers must travel through caverns inhab-
ited by a family of forgetful stone giants.STONE GIANTS
Ten years ago, Halaster lured a family of stone giants
to Undermountain and stripped them of most of their
memories. The giants remember who they are and can
recall events that happened within the last 8 hours, but
everything that occurred before then is lost in a haze
and soon forgotten. All their memories of the surface
world and its inhabitants faded long ago.
The stone giants are irritable and self-serving, but
not evil. They treat any invasion by humanoids as aver-
min infestation, nothing more, and attempts to parley
with them fall on deaf ears for the most part. They are
unaware of the miniature castle in the heart of their
domain because it floats in the middle of a great cavern
beyond the range of their darkvision.
The giants are tormented by the faerie dragon that
lairs in Maddgoth's castle. It emerges while invisible and
uses illus ion spells to close off passages, create false
tunnels, and make temporary alterations to the giants'
caves. The faerie dragon's mischief has only heightened
the stone giants' irritability, and the gi ants, having neverLEVEL 7 1 ~1ADDGOTH'S CASTLE
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