waterdeep dragon heist

EMERALD ENCLAVE

Characters who are members of the Emerald Enclave

can learn the location of Xanathar's lair by speaking

with]eryth Phaulkon at Phaulkonmere.Jeryth tells

them that she has been sending awakened rats into the

sewers to find the beholder's Lair, and that they recently

discovered a secret staircase in the Castle Ward sewers

leading down to it (area Xl). She has one of the awak-

ened rats lead them there. This rat has an Intelligence

score of 10 and can speak Common.

ZHENTARIM

Characters who are members of the Zhentarim can

approach Yagra Stonefist at the Yawning Portal (see

"Familiar Faces,'' page 20). She recentJy learned

about a "back door" to the beholder's lair from a

drunken blabbermouth with ties to the Xanathar Guild.

Yagra offers to lead them to a secret staircase in the

sewers under the Castle Ward (area Xl). "Trust me," she

says, "it's safer than the route through Undermountain

and Skullport."

Yagra will join their descent if the characters promise

to pay her at least 1,000 gp. Otherwise, she wishes them

well and heads back to the Yawning Portal. If you're

tracking experience points, Yagra gets an equal share of

the XP while a member of the adventuring party.

AREAS OF THE LAIR

The following areas correspond to the labels on map

5.1. This lair has two levels connected by staircases and

secret doors.

XI. STAIRCASE OF EYES

Characters are most likely to enter Xanathar's lair by

this route: a spiral staircase accessible from the Castle

Ward's sewers and hidden behind a secret door. This

staircase circumvents a more difficult route th rough

Undermountain and Skullport, which is described in

Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage.

When the characters find the staircase, read:

l

T~e walls of this narrow, spiraling staircase are carved I

with opened eyes that glow with a faint, magical light.

Characters feel as though they're being watched as they

descend the stairs, and the feeling doesn't go away once

they enter the beholder's lair. The dimly lit staircase

descends for hundreds of feet, ending before a circular

stone door that swings open into area X2.

X2. WATCHED HALL

This magically lit hall has the following features:

The walls are carved with eyes of all shapes and sizes.

Many of the orbs have stone eyelids that open and

close at irregular intervals.

• Characters who succeed on a DC^14 Wisdom (Percep-
  tion) check notice a ghostly eyestalk (scrying sensor)
  protruding from the ceiling directly in front of the dou-
  ble door to the south.


• A secret door is hidden in the west wall.

C HAPTER 5 I SPRING MADNESS

B/Jnkin' Eyes. The blinking eye carvings are slightly

unnerving but harmless.

Scryin' Sensor. The ghostly eyestalk is a magical

sensor that allows one of the apprentice wizards in area

X16 to monitor this hall. The eyestalk functions as an

extra eye with dark vision out to a range of^60 feet. A

character can ascertain the eyestalk's function with a

successful DC 10 Intelligence (Arcana) check but can't

determine who's peering through it, or from where. The

eyestalk can't be damaged but is destroyed by a dispel

magic spell. The sensor is suppressed within the area of

an antimagic field.

Secret Door. The secret door can be found with a

successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check. To open

it, one must press a nearby wall carving shaped like an

eye. When this is done, the secret door swings inward,

revealing a curved hallway (area X8) beyond.

X3. B EHOLDER ZOMBIE GUARD

A beholder zombie guards this magically lit room. Sur-

rounding it are four gas spores, which look like imma-

ture beholders at first glance. All five creatures float in

the middle of the room.

The beholder zombie is all that remains of a beholder

that arose from the Underdark to challenge Xanathar's

supremacy. After defeating its rival, Xanathar had the

corpse animated and transformed into a lair guardfan.

The gas spores were added later.

The beholder zombie allows creatures that brandish

the symbol of Xanathar to pass unmolested. Otherwise,

it attacks. The gas spores don't attack but explode if they

take any damage. The beholder zombie is immune to

their Death Burst trait.

X4. TUNNEL TO SKULLPORT

This magically lit tunnel extends 300 feet eastward off

the map. It ends at a staircase that climbs 20 feet to the

Guts & Garters Inn, an establishment located in the sub-

terranean town of Sku II port, which is under Xanathar's

control. See Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage for

more information on the inn and Skullport.

X5. HORROR'S ALCOVE

A suit of animated armor with Xanathar's symbol

embossed on its breastplate s tands in this alcove, ap-

pearing at a glance to be an ornate but inanimate suit of

armor on display. It remains inert until it takes damage

or is summoned to area X6 by Xanathar. (The beholder

uses it to keep the spectators in the arena from getting

too rowdy.)

X6. PIT OF BLOOD AND FORTUNE

Xanathar has turned this room into a gladiatorial arena.

It also uses this location to dispose of underlings it no

longer trusts in a manner that it considers entertaining.

This area has the following features:

A magically lit, circular chamber has a thin layer of

blood-soaked sand covering the floor and stone but-

tresses supporting its 40-foot-high domed ceiling.

• Ten-foot-high stone bleachers hug the northwest half
  of the room. Staircases lead from the bleachers to
  other areas of the lair, and a tunnel under the bleach-
  ers leads west to the monster cell block (area X7).