- MAGICAL REPOSITORY
Ceiling. This room has a 30-foot-high vaulted ceiling.
Statues. Four statues, each one carved to look like a
20-foot-high purple worm bursting up through the
floor, fill the corners of the room. (These statues are
harmless.)
Dome. A deep, 20-foot-high alcove in the north wall con-
tains four invisible stalkers trapped inside an invis-
ible, dome-shaped wall of force rising from the floor.
(Any items that Halaster removed from the mine carts
in level 15, area 1, lie on the floor inside the dome. The
dome appears to contain nothing else.)
The dotted circle on map 23 marks the edge of the
dome, which was created by a wall of force spell made
permanent by Halaster. The dome can't be dispelled by
dispel magic, but a disintegrate spell destroys it, freeing
the invisible stalkers within.
The invisible stalkers attack any creature other than
Halaster that enters the dome using magic (such as a di-
mension door or misty step spell). They also attack if the
dome is destroyed. The stalkers like to gang up on one
opponent at a time. - WIZARDLY WARDS
A trapped hall (area 6a) guards two of Halaster's vaults
(areas 6b and 6c).
6A. LIGHTNING PILLARS
This two-chambered hall has a 20-foot-high ceiling
supported by ten copper-plated pillars of iron. The pil-
lars generate arcs of magic lightning, as well as bolts
that leap from one pillar to another. Creatures standing
outside the hall are safe, as are creatures within the
20-foot-square space marked on map 23. A creature that
ends its turn in any other space in the hall is struck by
lightning from the nearest pillar and must make a DC
15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 22 (4d10) lightning
damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a
successful one.
A character who uses an action to study the pillars
and succeeds on a DC 20 Intelligence (Investigation)
check notices a pattern in the lightning discharges and
gains advantage on saving throws made against the pil-
lars. In addition, the character identifies the safe space
in the middle of the hall.6B. ANGELIC SHIELD
Mounted on the door to this chamber is a bronze
knocker shaped like Halaster's mad visage, his beard
entwined around the knocker's ring-shaped handle. A
tiny bronze plaque mounted below the knocker reads in
Common, "Knock first before entering."
Using the knocker triggers a glyph of warding spell
cast at 8th level. The glyph creates a 20 -foot-radius
sphere of magical flame. Each creature in the area must
make a DC 22 Dexterity saving throw, taking 45 (10d8)
fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage
on a successful one. The tiny glyph can be found on the
backside of the knocker's handle with a successful DC
22 Intelligence (Investigation) check.
LEVEL 23 I MAD WIZARD'S LAIRS hield. The room is empty except for a steel shield
hanging on the south wall. The shield is cast in the form
of a serene, angelic visage wreathed in bronze feathers.
A detect magic spell reveals an aura of abjuration
magic around the otherwise ordinary shield, inside
which is trapped a pit fiend named Kastzanedes. Any
ability that detects the presence of fiends, such as a pala-
din's Divine Sense class feature, reveals the presence of
such a creature bound within the shield.
If an identify spell is cast on the shield, or if it is
brought within 10 feet of its sister shield in area 9b,
the pit fiend is released. It appears within 5 feet of the
shield's bearer or in the nearest unoccupied space. The
freed pit fiend attacks any other creatures it can see, tar-
geting celestials above all others.
While trapped in the shield, the pit fiend can commu-
nicate telepathically with the shield's wielder. It pretends
to be a sentient magic item that is unwilling to disclose
its secrets, trying to goad the characters into casting
identify on it. If that tactic doesn't work, the pit fiend
tries to talk the shield's wielder into undertaking a quest
to find its sister shield. The pit fiend suspects that the
other shield is nearby, but does not know its location.6c.COMPONENTSSTOREROOM
This room contains wooden trestle tables laden with
material components for spells, including linen-wrapped
slabs of butter, casks of licorice root shavings, bottles of
snake tongues, a terrarium filled with glowworms, and
wax-sealed jars of rotting eggs.- ThLEPORTATION PILLARS
Eight black marble pillars form a circle in this 20-foot-
high room. Carved into each pillar is a symbol repre-
senting one of the eight schools of magic (Abjuration,
Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation,
Illusion, Necromancy, and Transmutation).
The first time a character enters the circle of pillars, a
magic mouth spell activates on the floor and speaks the
following riddle in Common before vanishing:
A crown festooned my dwarven brow.
I rest beneath the mountain now.
Who am I?
The answer is "Melair," the dwarf king who is buried
on level 6. The characters can use divination magic to
determine the correct answer if they can't work it out.
Speaking Melair's name aloud while standing in the
room causes the symbols on the pillars to glow bright
colors. The symbols continue to glow for 1 minute.
During that time, any creature that enters the area in-
side the pillars or starts its turn there is teleported to a
similar location in area 8, along with anything it is wear-
ing or carrying. - ThLEPORTATION PILLARS
Eight black marble pillars stand in a circle near the
walls of this 20 -foot-high room. A fist-sized yellow sap-
phire is embedded in each of the five easternmost pillars
at a height of 10 feet, such that all five gemstones face
inward. Each of the remaining three pillars, in the west
side of the room, bears an empty indentation where a