Page 132 - Waterdeep - Dungeon of the Mad Mage_Neat

Circle. A 20-foot-diameter magic circle inscribed on 37. PROFESSOR BRING
the floor has glyphs that shed dim purple Hght. Seven
Desks. In the northwest half of the room, ten stone
human corpses cocooned in burlap are piled in the
middle of the circle. desks are arranged in a semicircle facing inward.
Nester. Floating next to the circle is a skull with pin- Orb in Hand. In the middle of the room, a spectral hand
pricks of purple light in its eye sockets and two skel- holds aloft a gray crystal orb.
etal arms hanging below it, one of which clutches a TREASURE
bone dagger. (This is all that remains of Nester, one of
The orb is a rare wondrous item called a professor orb.
Halaster's oldest apprentices.)
Each professor orb takes the form of a smooth, solid,
The seven human bodies were obtained from a source 5-pound sphere of smoky gray quartz about the size of a
in Skullport and are waiting to be turned into zombies. grapefruit. Close examination reveals two or more pin-
They are presently inanimate and harmless. pricks of silver light deep inside the sphere.
A professor orb is sentient and has the personality of
NECROMANTIC CIRCLE a scholar. Its alignment is determined by rolling on the
A detect magic spell reveals a strong aura of necro- alignment table in the "Sentient Magic Items" section
mancy magic around the circle. A character who studies in chapter 7 of the Dungeon Master's Guide. Regardless
the circle and succeeds on a DC 20 Intelligence (Ar- of its disposition, the orb has an Intelligence of 18, and
cana) check can ascertain its properties. The check is Wisdom and Charisma scores determined by rolling
made with advantage if the character is a wizard whose 3d6 for each ability. The orb speaks, reads, and under-
arcane tradition is the School of Necromancy. stands four languages, and can see and hear normally
Any skeleton or corpse animated inside the circle out to a range of 60 feet. Unlike most sentient items,
becomes an undead with hit points equal to its hit point the orb has no will of its own and can't initiate a conflict
maximum. In addition, the undead gains advantage on with the creature in possession of it.
saving throws against any effect that turns undead. A professor orb has extensive knowledge of four nar-
row academic subjects. When making an Intelligence
NESTER check to recall lore from any of its areas of expertise, the
Nester's efforts to transform into a lich met with limited orb has a +9 bonus to its roll (including its Intelligence
success. Rather than follow the prescribed method, he modifier).
devised his own technique and botched the ritual spells. In addition to the knowledge it possesses, a professor
Consequently, his phylactery was shattered, and his orb can cast the mage hand cantrip at will. It uses the
body and mind have slowly crumbled away. The floating spell only to transport itself. Its spellcasting ability is
skull and hanging skeletal arms are all that remain of Intelligence.
him; they move like they're attached to an invisible body. Prof essor Bring. The orb found in this room is lawful
Nester educates Dweomercore's pupils in the art neutral and introduces itself as Professor Bring. It has a
of necromancy, but his knowledge has become frag- Wisdom of 11 and a Charisma of 6. It speaks, reads, and
mented, and his mind tends to wander. He assumes the understands Abyssal, Common, Dwarvish, and Terran.
adventurers are students sent to learn the darkest of the It strings its words together into long, seemingly endless
magical arts and begins telepathically lecturing them
sentences and speaks in a drearily monotonous tone. It
about zombies, often repeating himself. He attacks any- has the following four areas of expertise:
one who tries to leave the lecture before its conclusion.
Nester is an archmage, with these changes: • The history of Undermountain (see "Dungeon His-
tory," page 6)
• Nester is undead and chaotic evil. • The grooming habits of shield dwarves
• He understands Auran, Common, Draconic, • Gemstone identification
Dwarvish, Giant, and Terran, but can't speak. (He • Xorn (as described in the Monster Manual)
uses Rary's telepathic bond to communicate.)
• He has the animate dead spell prepared instead of fly, 38. "!JUST MET A GIRL NAMED
the blight spell prepared instead of banishment, and
the Rary's telepathic bond spell prepared instead of SKRIANNA"
scrying. He doesn't need material components to cast Carvings. The walls of this hall are carved to look like
any of his prepared spells. tree trunks. The arched, 10-foot-high ceiling resem-
• He has darkvision out to a range of 60 feet. bles a canopy of dead boughs and branches.
Skrianna Shadowdusk. The first time the characters
36. WIZARDS' LIBRARY enter this hall, they encounter Skrianna Shadowdusk,
a female human mage (see "Skrianna Shadowdusk,"
This 10-foot-high chamber contains rows of 8-foot-tall
wooden bookshelves packed with hundreds of arcane page 118). She is leaving the study hall (area 39)
textbooks and dusty spellbooks. The spellbooks contain and heading to her quarters (area llb), or vice versa.
virtually all known wizard spells of 4th level and lower. A light can trip cast on the top of her staff lights her
A character who pores over the books for 1 hour can path. Skrianna's shield guardian marches a few steps
find a particular spell by succeeding on an Intelligence behind her. Floating nearby is a grell valet that has
(Investigation) check with a DC of 10 + the spell's level. Skrianna's spellbook wrapped in its tentacles.

LEVEL 9 I DWEOMERCORE
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