Xanathar Guild Hideout
The Xanathar Guild has hideouts throughout Water-
deep's sewers. The floor plan of this locale (see map 1.2)
can be reused for other hideouts.
The boss of this hideout is a half-ore named
Grum'sbar. When the characters arrive, Grum'shar is
interrogating Floon Blagmaar in area Q7. His display of
torture techniques is a ploy to impress his other guest: a
mind flayer named Nihiloor (see appendix B).
All the doors in the hideout are unlocked. Grum'shar
assumes that only those who have guild business will be
able to find their way here.Ql. CENTRAL HUB
The characters approach this area from the east. slog-
ging through 1-foot-deep water and sewage.The main sewer tunnel expands into a circular hub with
a pair of arrow slits carved into its outer walls, directly
across from each other. Two passages continue on to the
north and south. A stone door is set into the back wall of
a stone ledge to the west.If the characters talk loudly or otherwise make a lot of
noise here, the goblin sentries in areas Q2a and Q2b
awaken and shoot arrows at them through the arrow
slits. The slits provide the goblins with three-quar-
ters cover.SECRET DOOR
A secret door in the wall of the tunnel that leads south
can be found with a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Percep-
tion) check.Q2. WATCH POSTS
Two goblins are stationed here, one in area Q2a and
one io Q2b. Allies of the Xanathar Guild, they came here
from Undermountain. The goblins rely on dark vision
to see and are supposed to be watching area QL but
both have dozed off. Characters who succeed on a DC
9 Dexterity (Stealth) check can sneak past the s leeping
goblins without waking them.TREASURE
Each goblin carries ld6 cp in a small pouch.
Q3. MESSY ROOM ~~~~-
Rusty weapons and threadbare clothing Utter the floor
of th is area, which serves as a coat room and armory. It
contains nothing of value.
_Q,4. EMPTY SLEEPING AREA ~~~~
This room contains six tattered, straw-stuffed mat-
t resses and nothing of value. If the occupant or occu-
pants of area Q5 have not been dealt with already, the
characters hear the sounds of activity in that room
through the thin wooden door that separates these
two chambers.
CHAPTER l I A FRIEND IN t{EED
Q5. SLEE PINGAR_ E_ A ___ _
This room contains six tattered, straw-stuffed mat-
tresses and a hostile member of the Xanathar Guild,
a duerga r named Zemk. If Krentz (CE human bandit)
escaped from the Yawning Portal after the tavern brawl
that kicked off the adventure, he's here as well.
When the characters arrive, Zemk is using pieces of
furniture to barricade the door to area Q6. If Krentz is
here, he's trying to explain that Zemk's approach won't
work, and is telling him to plug the gap at the bottom of
the door with blankets. Neither of them notices intrud-
ers right away unless the interlopers make a lot of noise.
Once combat starts, Zemk fights to the death. How
Krentz reacts to the adventurers depends on how they
treated him earlier. If they helped him, he gives them a
chance to leave in peace, but he fights alongside Zemk if
they refuse to withdraw. If the duergar is killed, Krentz
flees if he can or surrenders if he must.
Neither Zemk nor Krentz carries any treasure. Both
report to Grum'shar (see area Q7).Q,6. LAVATORY
This room has a hole in the floor that opens into a cess-
pit. A gr ay ooze has emerged from the pit and killed
two goblins that were sent into the room to dispose of it.
The goblins' bones float amid the ooze's gooey form, and
their pitted weapons lie on the floor nearby. None of the
gear is salvageable.Q7. Boss FIGHT
Threadbare curtains hang on the east wall of a long
hall, in the middle of which a muscular half-ore in dingy
robes stands with his foot on the chest of a male human
with wavy red-blond hair. Fire burns around the ore's
clenched fist, and his victim cries and squirms helplessly
beneath him.
Seated on a raised platform to the south is a nightmar-
ish figure wearing black robes. It has large white eyes and
rubbery purple skin, with four tentacles encircling its in-
human mouth. It cradles and gently caresses what looks
like a disembodied brain with feet.The tentacled creature is Nihiloor (see appendix B), a
mind ft.a yer that is caressing an intellect devourer.
Upon seeing the adventurers, Nihiloor rises from the
stone chair, sets .its pet down, and glides across the
room, intending to leave through the double door in the
west wall. The mind fl.ayer expects Grum'shar and the
intellect devourer to cover its escape.
Nihiloor carries a 3-incb-diameter stone orb carved
to resemble an eyeball, similar to what one might see
al the end of a beholder's eyestalk. This stone eye is the
key to activating the magic portal in area Ql 1. The mind
flayer uses it to return to Xanathar's lair (described in
chapter 5). It uses dominate monster to control some-
one who gets in its way and turns any such individuals
against their allies.