Chair. A bloodstained wooden chair with iron wrist-
clamps bolted to its armrests sits in a forward alcove.
A pool of sticky blood covers the floor around it.
Secret Compartment. A character who searches the
cabin for secret doors and succeeds on a DC^15 Wis-
dom (Perception) check finds a small hatch built into
the floorboards. This hatch conceals a shallow com-
partment containing Captain N'ghathrod's spellbook.
N'ghathrod straps captives to this chair before devour-
ing their brains. A creature shackled to the chair can
use an action to try to escape, doing so with a success-
ful DC 20 Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobat-
ics) check.
Treasure. Before he was transformed into an illithid
by the process known as ceremorphosis, Captain
N'ghathrod was a spacefaring elf. Although it has no
memories of its former life, the mind flayer retains its
elven fondness for celestial beauty. The paintings, which
illustrate worlds that N'ghathrod has visited, are worth
100 gp each.
N'ghathrod's spell book is bound in leather, its contents
written in a Braille-like script. The mind flayer uses its
tentacles to read the script, which other creatures can
decipher with a comprehend languages spell. The book
contains all the spells N'ghathrod has prepared, plus
animate dead, Bigby's hand, and Evard's black tentacles.
13E. STARBOARD CREW CABIN
This cabin contains two sets of bunks stacked three
tiers high.
13F. PORT CREW QUARTERS
This cabin is furnished like area 13 e and also contains
a dead orog lying face down on the floor. Examination
of the corpse reveals that the orog's skull was cracked
open and its brain s ucked out. Lying at the orog's feet is
a greataxe.
13G. BRIDGE
The door to the bridge stands slightly ajar. N'ghathrod,
ther mind flayer captain, is here (see the "Captain
N'ghathrod" sidebar). The features of the bridge are
as follows:
Windows. Two circular, 9-foot-diameter windows of
bulging, transparent crystal rest in bronz.e fixtures.
Celestial Chart. Painted on the sloped ceiling are famil-
iar cons tellations and unfamiliar planets.
Grooves. Grooves in the middle of the floor suggest that
a piece of furniture once rested there.
Characters who examine the grooves and succeed on
an Intelligence (Investigation) check can ascertain that
they're designed to secure a heavy chair or chair-shaped
object to the floor. The grooves conform to the footprint
of the ship's spelljamming helm, which can be found
on level 23.
The chart on the ceiling has the sun at its center, with
elongated rings showing the paths of the eight planets
that orbit it: rocky Anadia; Coliar the gas giant; Tori I and
the small asteroid cluster orbiting it called the Tears of
Selt1ne; the water worlds Karpri and Chandos; the nox-
ious ringed planet Glyth; the asteroid cluster of Garden,LEVEL 19 I CAVERNS OF OOZFwhich is held together by an enormous plant; and the
wheel-shaped H'catha. Beyond the planets are the con-
stellations of Realmspace, all visible in the night skies of
Tori I at various times of the year.13H. OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN!
The floor here is covered with shattered glass and brine,
the remains of jars that once held pickled humanoid
brains. The curved walls bear empty shelves where Cap-
tain N'ghathrod stored its emergency food reserves. The
mind flayer was forced to eat the pickled brains after its
crew fled and now hungers for fresh food.14. OOZE DEN
This^10 -foot-high cave has become the lair of a Huge
gray ooze (see "Huge Gray Ooze," page 244), which
lurks in the northernmost alcove to the right of the en-
trance. If the characters already fought this ooze in area
12 , the cave is empty.- STANDING GATE TO LEVEL^17
Rising out of a 2-foot-deep pool of ooze is a pair of
15-foot-tall standing stones topped with a lintel, carved
into which is a symbol of an arrow. The standing stones
form a magic gate (see "Gates," page 12 ). Its rules are
as follows:
- If an arrow or a crossbow bolt is shot between the
standing stones, the gate opens for 1 minute. - Characters must be 14th level or higher to pass
through this gate (see "jhesiyra Kestellharp," page
10). The first creature to pass through the gate trig-
gers an elder rune (see "Elder Runes," page 12). - A creature that passes through the gate appears in
area 8b on level 17 , in the closest unoccupied space
next to the identical gate located there.
16. TUNNEL TO LEVEL 20
------
At the top of the tunnel that descends to level 20 is an
18-foot-high, ring-shaped cavern created by a purple
worm that Halaste r disposed of long ago.Aftermath
The characters have a couple of reasons to return to this
level after exploring it:
If they acquire the phylactery of the lich Ezzat, the
characters must come back to the Caverns of Ooze
with the phylactery to claim their prizes from the
marid in area le or the dao in a rea llb. Giving the
phylactery to one genie makes an enemy of the other.
If the characters recover the spelljamming helm that
was stolen by Ha laster, they can return it to the Scav-
enger and use a wish spell to expel the vessel from
Undermountain.
The level changes little in the characters' absence,
at least in the short term. If Ichthyglug or jarfik is set
free, Halaster might trap an efreeti on this level and
pit it against whichever genie was denied Ezzat's phy-
lactery, setting up the new a rrival in a cave befitting its
fiery nature.