Page 110 - Tales from the Yawning Portal

DEAD IN THAY

EAR THE VILLAGE OF DAGGERFORD o:,.; keep the vault hidden, warp the magic fueling the Doom-
the Sword Coast, the Red Wizards of vault, and power his pursuit of godhood.
Thay plotted to extend the evil reach of
their land and its master, the lich lord CHARACTERS' GOALS
Szass Tam. At a site called Bloodgate Over the course of the adventure, the characters try to
Keep they built a powerful portal. accomplish the following tasks:
fueled by elemental nodes, that could
allow Thayans to instantly transport Explore the Doomvault and deal as much damage to
hole armies into the very heart of the Sword Coast. the Thayans as possible.
- "ith this power, the Red Wizards would surely over- Learn how to access the Phylactery Vault, and destroy
. row and take control of the North. the phylacteries within it.
However, groups of heroes recently assaulted Blood- The villains' goals are straightforward: defend the
=ate Keep and its master, the lich Tarul Var. With the Doomvault and kill the intruders. Not all of the charac-
~e1p of a renegade Red Wizard named Mennek Ariz, this ters' potential foes share these goals, so the opportunity
ault was successful. Bloodgate Keep fell, and Szass exists to turn enemies into allies, or at least useful tools.
Tam's plans of invasion were crushed.
What no one expected, though, was that despite the THE DOOMVAULT
.. all of the keep itself, parts of the Bloodgate Nexus (an
After the fall of Bloodgate Keep, a Red Wizard named
nrerconnected series of teleportation circles) survived,
Syranna, a leader in the Thayan Resurrection resis-
nd a Thayan Resurrection cell leader named Syranna
tance movement, saw an unusual opportunity. Her
e\'ised a way to use it against Szass Tam. Syranna
ad been part of the team that originally assembled the knowledge of the secret portal network of which the
3loodgate Nexus, and knew that remaining nodes al- Bloodgate was a part gave her the ability to open portals
_owed direct access to a secret Thayan training ground directly into the Doomvault.
-:nown as the Doomvault.
This adventure takes place in the Doomvault. It is de- PLACING THE ADVENTURE
s.gned for 9th-level characters. By the end of the story, This adventure takes place in the Forgotten Realms, but it
ey are likely to advance to 11th level or perhaps higher can easily be transplanted-the site and the story alike-
_ if they don't end up dead in Thay. into another setting.
Dragon/ance. On Krynn, the Doomvault is likely to be the
work of renegade wizards, perhaps of more than one color,
SYNOPSIS with magic as their only alliance and moral compass. The
·· azit Gui, a Thayan archmage, built the Doomvault to dungeon might exist underneath a ruined Tower of High
·iphon the souls of those who perished within it for use Sorcery, or it could be a haunt of Fistandantilus before his
.n his dark experiments. One of these was the creation failed attempt at godhood. If it is part of ruins, it could
of an extradimensional vault in which he stored his even be the Tower of I star, which Nuitari took at the end of
the Chaos War. Or it might be the same tower, after Mina
phylactery. Eventually, Szass Tam and his followers de- raised it and the black-robed wizards took it for their own.
'eated and enslaved Gui. They changed the Doomvault Eberron. The Doomvault, lying beneath the Mournland,
.mo a monstrous menagerie and arcane laboratory. might be the secret project of King Kaius of Karrnath.
_.\.!though the space is still called the Phylactery Vault Kaius I hid in the dungeon from the time the lich Vol made
f Ka zit Gui, it now also holds the phylacteries of Szass him a vampire until he returned to take the throne from
-:'am and all his elite lich servants. his grandson. He's trying to become powerful enough
Syranna knows that if the characters can make their to thwart Vol's influence on him and become the preem-
•. ·ay through the Doomvault and find the entrance to the inent monarch of Khorvaire. Kai us is draining powerful
phylactery vault, they could strike a deathblow to Szass dragonmarked scions instead of Chosen. Alternatively, the
Doomvault could be the Blood of Vol's headquarters in
Tam's hold on power. She can provide them access and Khorvaire. Vol uses the dungeon to harvest the power of
a little bit of guidance, but the bulk of the work is in their dragon marks so she can become an undead god.
hands. They must assault the Doomvault quickly-the Greyhawk. Perhaps Rary the Traitor found the Doom-
more word gets out about their activities, the more the vault-yet another vestige of ancient Sulm-under the
site's guards will be on alert. Bright Desert. Rary takes any chance to increase his power,
Eventually, the characters will discover that Szass even as he claims the desire to destroy the accursed Scor-
:-am is siphoning the power of members of the Chosen, pion Crown and return Sulm to its fertile state. Since his
mortals who have been invested with the power of the betrayal of the Circle of Eight and the subjugation of the
gods so as to help shape the Realms to match the will of people of the Bright Desert, Rary has made countless en-
their divine benefactors. The lich is using that pm.•.:er to emies who want him to fail even at noble aims. If he suc-
ceeds at destroying the crown, his tyranny will still remain.

CHAPTER 5 DEAD TN THAY
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