Page 188 - Waterdeep - Dungeon of the Mad Mage_Neat

under stony cowls and their arms raised toward the spell. The umber hulk reverts to its true form and at-
iron disk. tacks when its scorpion form is reduced to 0 hit points.
This room is one large timekeeping device. Every day 23B. BAD BLADES
at dawn and at dusk, the wizard statues exert invisible
magical force upon the suspended iron disk, causing it A corroded steel helm rests atop a pile of rusty swords
in the middle of the room. When another creature en-
to flip over within its circular frame like a coin. During ters the room, the pile of swords gathers into a vaguely
the day, the sun symbol is visible on the disk's under- humanoid form with the helm surmounting it and at-
side; at night, the disk displays the moon symbol on
tacks. This assemblage of rusty steel has the statistics
its underside. When the disk rotates, half of it swings
of animated armor, except that its attacks deal piercing
up into the dome-shaped concavity in the ceiling. The
damage instead of bludgeoning damage.
lower half swings downward, with 10 feet of clearance
between its outer edge and the floor. 23c. RODENT OF UNUSUAL SIZE
A detect magic spell reveals auras of evocation magic
and transmutation magic around the statues, which Monster. A giant two-headed rat (use death dog statis-
tics) is trapped here. This rodent is the size of a hu-
defy all attempts to move or break them. If a creature at-
man and is hostile toward all intruders.
tempts to turn the disk manually, the statues discharge
Meat Chute. In the ceiling near the north wall is a rect-
lightning that fills the room. All creatures in the room
angular opening, 12 inches long by 6 inches wide, that
at that moment must make a DC 18 Dexterity saving
throw, taking 22 (4d10) lightning damage on a failed forms the mouth of a stone chute leading up.
save, or half as much damage on a successful one. Crea- Every few hours, a brick of rotting meat slides down
tures in direct contact with the iron ring or the disk, as the chute from a hidden chamber above. The meat hits
well as creatures clad in metal armor, have disadvan- the floor with a wet smack and is promptly eaten by
tage on the saving throw. the monstrous rodent. A Tiny or gaseous creature can
access this small, hidden chamber by climbing up the
22. ARCANE SCRIBBLINGS chute. There are no exits from the upper room, which
contains only hundreds of bricks of pink, rotting meat
Chalkboards. Mounted on the walls are several black-
and a magical mechanism that pushes them down the
boards on which arcane phrases and formulas are
written in chalk. chute at random intervals. It's impossible to discern
Table Trap. A wooden table in the middle of the room what sort of creature the meat has been harvested from.
bears a collection of dusty flasks and beakers. The
23D. GUFFAW THE STONE EATER
table is draped in cobwebs and obviously hasn't
This room contains the smashed remains of a dwarf
been disturbed in a long time. The paraphernalia
statue and a plump deep gnome (svirfneblin) named
is meant to distract viewers from the polymorph
Guffaw Gravelstock, who was plucked from his Un-
trap upon which the table rests (see "Polymorph derdark gem mine by Arcturia. He is unfamiliar with
Traps," page 180).
Undermountain.
The chalk scribblings were left by one of Arcturia's Arcturia's magic has given the gnome an insatiable ap-
failed apprentices. Any character who studies the mark- petite for carved stone. He uses his war pick to break up
ings and succeeds on a DC 16 Intelligence (Arcana) the statue and is devouring it slowly, one piece at a time.
check can tell that they are attempts by one individual He can't keep himself from stopping to eat any carved
to unravel the secrets of spells beyond their comprehen- stone he sees-and there's no end to how much he can
sion. Spellcasters who have the disintegrate and Resh consume. He begs to be left alone so he can finish his
to stone spells on their spell lists can tell that those are meal in peace. A successful dispel magic spell (DC 19)
the spells being researched, though neither spell can be cast on Guffaw rids him of his unique magical malady.
learned from these incomplete scribblings. Treasure. The instant he is cured of his malady, Guf-
Sounds of battle in this room can be heard by the faw coughs up two diamonds (5,000 gp each). He is just
hobgoblin guards in area 25, who investigate if alerted. as surprised to see the gemstones as anyone else, and
(They approach from the east.) he offers them to the characters as a reward for "saving"
him. He then seeks out a way back to the Underdark,
23. EXPERIMENTS wanting nothing more to do with Undermountain.
The doors to these rooms have arcane Jock spells cast
24. EMPTY CLASSROOM
on them that allow Arcturia alone to pass. A door can be
forced open with a successful DC 25 Strength (Athlet- Chalkboard. A blackboard covers the entire east wall.
ics) check. Written across it in big chalk letters are the words
"YOU ALL FAIL!" in Common.
23A. SHOE HULK Desks. Whenever a creature enters the room, seven
Lying in the middle of this room is an old shoe with a stone desks magically rise from the floor, facing the
scorpion hiding in it. If the shoe is disturbed, the scor- blackboard in an arc. (The desks sink back into the
pion scuttles out and attacks the nearest creature. floor when all creatures leave the room.)
The scorpion is, in fact, an umber hulk under the Secret Door. A secret door in the south wall pushes
effect of a polymorph spell made permanent with a wish open to reveal a dusty, web-choked passage between
this room and area 25.

LEVEL 14 I ARCTU'RlADOOM