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The Lords of Waterdeep didn't make things easy for
Vanrak Moonstar in the years that followed. They hired
waves of adventurers to descend into Undermountain to
bring Vanrak and his followers to justice. Although none
of these adventurers succeeded, they winnowed down
Vanrak's army to the point where he could no longer
threaten the city.
Halaster Blackcloak compounded Vanrak's woes
by urging other Undermountain dwellers to invade
Vanrakdoom from time to time. In a desperate move,
the few remaining priests of Shar performed rituals to
harness the despair of Vanrak's shadow dragon mount,
Umbraxakar, and use him to transport Vanrakdoom
into the Shadowfell. In the end, Halaster's magical hold
over Undermountain proved too strong to overcome, yet
a small section of Vanrakdoom crossed over into the
Plane of Shadow and became ensconced there.
Confronted by failure, Vanrak came to believe that
Shar had deceived him and had orchestrated his down-
fall solely to spite her nemesis, Se!One. Vanrak had lost
his family, his title, and most of his army, and he was
in danger of losing hold over his domain. In the Year of
Silent Shadows (1436 DR), he renounced his faith in
Shar and begged SelOne's forgiveness for the destruc-
tion of her temple and its followers. In a desperate act of
redemption, the death knight destroyed his undead form
using a sun blade. A vampire cleric of Shar named Ker-
esta Delvingstone has ruled Vanrakdoorn ever since.
With the shadow of Vanrak faded from memory,
House Moonstar has prospered. The Waterdavian fam-
ily is currently overseen by the once shrewd but now
senile Lady Wylynd Moonstar, a venerable human noble-
woman who, by last estimate, is well over a century old.
Although she has no children of her own, Wylynd is sur-
rounded by distant relatives, including a savvy half-drow
grandnephew named Helion Moonstar, whom she has
chosen to be her heir. The family's business interests lie
in cartography and exploration, and Wylynd has been
known to fund expeditions to Undermountain from time
to time for reasons she prefers to keep to herself.What Dwells Here?
This level is controlled by servants of Shar and crea-
tures of shadow.KERESTA DELVINGSTONE
Keresta Delvingstone grew up in the streets of Water-
deep and is no stranger to hardship. Hoping to make
a better life for herself, she became an adventurer and
sought fame and fortune in Undermountain. Keresta
met her end in the lair of a vampire and became a vam-
pire spawn under its command.
After Vanrak destroyed the vampire and conquered its
lair, he took Keresta under his wing. Consumed by dark-
ness and loss, Keresta was drawn to Shar like a moth to
a flame and rose to become a vampire cleric of the evil
god. She now leads Shar's debased cult in Vanrakdoom
and intends to send the group on a mission to destroy
the Spires of the Morning, the temple of Lathander
(god of birth and renewal) in Waterdeep. She also has
her sights set on destroying the House of the Moon-LEVEL 18 I VANRAKDOOMWaterdeep's temple of SelOne, whom she blames for the
destruction ofVanrak Moonstar.
Keresta is a vampire, with these changes:- Keresta summons giant centipedes instead of wolves.
- She gains the Spellcasting feature described below.
Spel/casting. Keresta is a 9th-level spellcaster. Her spellcasting
ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 15 , +7 to hit with spell at-
tacks). She has the following cleric spells prepared:
Cantrips (at will): guidance, mending, resistance, thaumaturgy
1st level (4 slots): bane, command, inflict wounds, ray of sickness
2nd level (3 slots): blindness/deafness, ray of enfeeblement,
spiritual weapon
3rd level (3 slots): animate dead, bestow curse, dispel magic,
spirit guardians
4th level (3 slots): blight, death ward, divination
5th level (1 s lot): antilife shell, destructive wave
REGIONAL EFFECTS
Vanrakdoom is Keresta's lair, and the following regional
effects are noticeable throughout it:- Fog creeps into areas of dim light or darkness. It van-
ishes when light is brought to bear on it but reappears
when the light passes. A permanent fog hangs in some
areas regardless of light, as noted in the descriptions
of those areas. - Rats and bats are plentiful. In areas where they are
not specifically mentioned, droppings and guano be-
tray their presence, and they can be heard constantly
scuttling and shrieking in the distant darkness.
If Keresta is destroyed, the fog disperses, and the
rats and bats gradually die off until only a scattered
few remain.
UMBRAXAKARThe shadow dragon Umbraxakar used to be a lawful
good bronze dragon named Glyster. Fond of assuming
human form, Glyster was Vanrak Moonstar's friend
and companion, remaining by the noble's side even
after Vanrak's fall from grace. Glyster tried to turn
Vanrak away from the worship of Shar, to no avail, and
the dragon sank into despair. In this forlorn state, he
allowed Shar's priests to transform him into a shadow
dragon to better serve Vanrak in the battles to come.
Thereafter, Glyster became known as Umbraxakar
("shadowborn" in Draconic).
The death knight and the shadow dragon fought side
by side for many years, expanding their domain and
then defending it against adventurers and other invad-
ers. By this time, Umbraxakar had stopped caring about
anything except his friendship with Vanrak. The friend-
ship finally ended when Vanrak destroyed himself with
a sun blade, leaving Umbraxakar and the remnants of
Shar's wicked cult to fend for themselves.VISIONS OF UMBRAXAKAR
As characters explore areas ofVanrakdoom, they expe-
rience magical visions of terrible things that the dragon
experienced long ago. These visions, byproducts of
Umbraxakar's despair, provide clues that can help free
the dragon from his dark curse. A character does not ex-