The large iron shield hanging on the wall weighs 750
pounds and bears the broken arrow symbol of Ladu-
guer. Any duergar recognizes the symbol right away,
while non-duergar recognize it with a successful DC
15 Intelligence (Religion) check. Any humanoid that
touches the shield becomes cursed with the flaw: "I take
no joy or pleasure in anything." This flaw supersedes
any opposing flaw. Casting a remove curse spell or simi-
lar magic on the creature ends the curse on it.
TREASURE
Aximus and Exekarus hide their spellbooks in the folds
of their robes. Each book contains all the spells the
arcanaloths have prepared, plus eyebite, forcecage, and
incendiary cloud.
- VALTAGAR'S Q "'-U_A_R_T _E_R_S __
The walls and floor of this 15-foot-high chamber are
covered with interlocking stone tiles. The room contains
the following:
Valtagar. When the characters first arrive, Valtagar
Steelshadow (see below) is reading his spellbook-a
bound stack of mithral plates. The book rests atop a
stout, stone lectern in the middle of the room.
Golem. Standing in the south corner is an iron golem
that looks like a 10-foot-tall duergar. The golem under-
stands Dwarvish and obeys Valtagar's commands.
Masks. Dozens of iron masks hang from hooks on the
southeast wall (see "Iron Masks" below).
Other Furnishings. Against the northwest wall stands
a low double bed. In the middle of the room, a locked
iron strongbox rests atop a low marble table flanked
by two stone chairs.
VALTAGAR STEELSHADOW
Valtagar wears a black robe with a cowl that obscures
his face. Suspicious and volatile, he is a duergar arch-
mage, with these changes:
- Valtagar is lawful evil.
- He has the Otiluke's resilient sphere spell prepared
instead of banishment. - He has these racial traits: He speaks Common, Dwar-
vish, Infernal, Terran, Troglodyte, and Undercommon.
His walking speed is 25 feet, and he has darkvision
out to 120 feet. He has advantage on saving throws
against poison and resistance to poison damage. He
gains the Enlarge and Invisibility action options de-
scribed below.
Enlarge (Recharges after a Short or Long Rest). For 1 minute,
Valtagar magically increases in size. While enlarged, Valtagar is
Large, doubles his damage dice on Strength-based weapon at-
tacks, and makes Strength checks and Strength saving throws
with advantage. lfValtagar lacks the space to become large, he
attains the maximum size possible in the space available.
Invisibility (Recharges after a Short or Long Rest). Valtagar
magically turns invisible for up to 1 hour or until he attacks, he
casts a spell, he uses his Enlarge, or his concentration is bro-
ken (as if concentrating on a spell). Any equipment he wears or
carries is invisible with him.Archmages are exceedingly rare in duergar society,
and Valtagar's gift for wizardry never sat well with the
clans of Gracklstugh. He doesn't put himself in harm's
way unless he has a clear tactical edge. If the characters
threaten him after they gain entry to his quarters, he or-
ders his golem to attack while he grabs his spellbook off
the lectern, casts teleport, and joins his wife in area 18d.
Valtagar has faced adventurers before and has a
healthy fear of them. If the characters are willing to
engage in civil discourse, he tries to hire them to slay
Fazrian. The patience of his duergar followers is wear-
ing thin, and he loses nothing by setting the adventurers
loose against the planetar. In exchange, Valtagar guar-
antees safe passage through his domain whenever they
need it and promises to tell them the location of a secret
staircase that descends to the next level of Undermoun-
tain (see area 19a). To establish trust, he tells them
about the secret vault hidden behind Fazrian's throne
(see area 24) and shares what he knows about Fazrian
and its allies:- A powerful cleric summoned a celestial being of im-
mense power named Fazrian, then directed it to slay a
host of monsters that once haunted the Deep Mines. - That act of slaughter corrupted Fazrian. After slaying
many monsters, it decapitated the cleric and installed
itself as lord of the Deep Mines. Fazrian rarely leaves
its throne hall and keeps the cleric's headless corpse
as a memento. - Fazrian takes advice from four yugoloths. These
fiends arrived shortly after Fazrian's madness took
hold. Aximus and Exekarus can be found in the
nearby shrine of Laduguer (area 14). Raxxus is at
Fazrian's side (area 23b). Valtagar says that Xindulus
roams where it will, choosing not to reveal that the
ultroloth guards the secret staircase down to the next
level of Undermountain (area 19a).
IRON MASK S
The iron masks are visors taken from the helmets of
duergar warriors who followed Valtagar throughout his
exile, only to fall in battle. Valtagar displays them not for
s entimental reasons, but to reinforce his determination
to return home.TREASU RE
The mithral spellbook on the lectern weighs 30 pounds.
It contains all the spells Valtagar has prepared. Its
cover is embossed with a broken arrow, the symbol
of Laduguer.
The iron strongbox contains 600 pp. Minted in
Gracklstugh, these coins bear the stern visage of Deep-
king Horgar Steelshadow V on one side, the mind flayer
skull symbol of Deep Duerra (the duergar god of con-
quest and psionics) on the other, and a Dwarvish motto
on the rim that translates as "As low as we can go."- FIRE AND !RON
The duergar use the forges in areas 16a and 16b to mold
iron into 10-pound bars, which are stored in area 16c.
Area 16d is an old overseer's office that the duergar have
turned into a barracks. A total of fifteen duergar work
and sleep in these areas.
LEVEL21 ITERMINQSLEVIL