Page 190 - Waterdeep - Dungeon of the Mad Mage_Neat

The folded gray blanket upon which the box rests is, in Slime Pool. In the middle of the floor is a shallow oval
fact, the carefully removed skin of a doppelganger. Other pool filled with dark, foul-smelling slime. (The slime
items on the table include a jar of cockatrice tongues, a has a soothing effect on mind flayers but no magical
block of soft clay (the material component for the stone properties to speak of.)
shape spell) wrapped in moist cloth, and a wooden cof- Assistant. Standing in the eastern corner of the room,
fer labeled "Polymorph" containing a dozen caterpillar facing the corner, is a male human wearing nothing
cocoons (material components for the polymorph spell). but a leather harness and a loincloth.
The harness-wearing human is Ellix Gaspar (NE
TREASURE
male Tethyrian human mage with no spells prepared).
Hidden in the floor under the table is a small secret
compartment that can be discovered with a successful He holds a half-eaten loaf of bread. Arcturia pulled him
DC 20 Wisdom (Perception) check. It contains a jade out of Dweomercore (level 9) a few months ago to serve
as her assistant, only to find him too obnoxious to bear.
circlet worth 1,500 gp (the material component for a
shapechange spell) and a spell scroll of polymorph. She cast a feeblemind spell on him and gave him to her
mind flayer assistant, who promptly forced him to don
30. HIDEOUS TRANSMUTATION new apparel befitting his station.
In his current state, Ellix is vacant-eyed and barely
Carrion Ogre. Lying on the floor in the middle of the responsive, with a tendency to trip over his own feet
room, held down with chains, is a creature that has and drool uncontrollably. He has a tenday left before he
the body of an ogre and the head of a carrion crawler. can attempt another saving throw to end the feeblemind
Body Parts. The ogre's severed head and the carrion effect. If he regains his senses, he smartly tries to fle.e
crawler's decapitated body lie discarded in the north- Undermountain with the last shreds of his sanity and
ern corner of the room, where they have begun to pu- dignity. He doesn't know what happened to his spell-
trefy and emit a dreadful stench. book (Arcturia hid it in area 40b), but once his faculties
Key Ring. Hanging from a stone peg on the northwest return, he recalls the layout of this level and how to re-
wall is an iron ring with three keys. turn to the surface.
The creature chained to the floor is alive, having sur-
vived a ghastly magical ritual that can't be reversed or 32. D EATH'S HEAD B ARRACKS
undone. It is malnourished and must feed on carrion to Hobgoblin forces are quartered in these rooms, which
survive. The chains around it are looped through iron are engulfed in a permanent antimagic field similar to
rings bolted to the floor and secured with three heavy that created by an antimagic field spell (the result of a
padlocks, which can be unlocked with the keys hanging magical experiment gone awry).
on the wall. If released, the creature rushes over to the
rotting remains of its former bodies and begins de- 32A. SOLDIERS' QUARTERS
vouring them. Thirty hobgoblins rest in wooden bunk beds stacked
The creature is an ogre, with these changes: three tiers high. There are enough beds to accommo-
date sixty guards. The hobgoblins sleep in their armor;
• While lashed to the floor, the creature is prone and re-
strained. It also suffers from two levels of exhaustion. their weapons and shields hang from hooks on the cor-
ners of their bunks.
• It has an Intelligence of 1, and it can't speak or under-
stand any language.
32B. GUARD POST
• Replace the ogre's action options with the following
Four hobgoblins stand guard here-two flanking the
action options.
door to area 32a, and two flanking the door to area 32c.
Multiattack. The creature makes two attacks: one with its ten- Any battle here brings reinforcements from those areas,
tacles and one with its bite. as well as from area 20.
Tentacles. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one
32c. CAPTAINS' QUARTERS
creature. Hit: 4 (ld4 + 2) poison damage, and the target must
Two hobgoblin captains converse quietly in this room,
succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned
which contains three beds. Other furnishings include
for l minute. Until this poison ends, the target is paralyzed.
a stone table surrounded by six wooden stools, with an
The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its
unlit iron chandelier suspended above it.
turns, ending the poison on itself on a success.
The captains are worried about the recent abnormal
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach S ft., one target. behavior of their warlord commander (see area 33) and
Hit: 7 (2d4 + 2) piercing damage. contemplating what to do about it. So far, the captains
have hidden Doomcrown's bizarre preoccupations from
31. lLLITHID'S ASSISTANT the rest of the hobgoblin legion and remain, for the time
This room was reserved for Arcturia's mind flayer assis· being, loyal subordinates.
tant, which met a grisly end in area 29. It has the follow-
ing features: 33. DOOMCROWN'S QpARTERS
Decor. The stone walls are sculpted to resemble tenta- Monsters. If he hasn't been drawn elsewhere, Doom-
cles entwining around and through bleached human crown the hobgoblin warlord is here, attended by a
skulls embedded in the stone. ftumph that speaks to him telepathically.

LEVEL 14 I ARCTURIADOOM