Page 271 - Waterdeep - Dungeon of the Mad Mage_Neat

13. GRAND VESTIBULE under his command avoid the shrine, finding the yugo-
loths' presence insulting and their motives suspicious.
Blood. Blood leaks down the walls and across the decor The room has a flat, 10-foot-high ceiling. Although
of this once grand hall.
blood often flows from gaps between the room's wall
Pi11ars. Four stone pillars buttress the 30-foot-high tiles (see "Regional Effects," page 265), Aximus and
vaulted ceiling. The middle third of each pillar is Exekarus regularly use prestidigitation cantrips to clean
carved to look like a scowling dwarf with bulging it away. The room's other contents are as follows:
muscles that supports the column's upper third on
its broad shoulders. Blue sapphires glitter in the Haze. A thin, smoky haze fills the room. (The haze
dwarves' eyes. doesn't obscure the room's other features.)
Double Door. The doors in the east wall stand 18 feet Braziers. Alcoves in the north wall contain two braziers
high, a carving of a mighty waterfall spanning their fashioned from melted-down iron armor and weapons.
surfaces. Mithra! inlays make the carved falls look Each is alight with burning coals that shed bright
like they are running with molten metal. light in a 10-foot radius and dim light for an addi-
Curtain. A 40-foot-long, 20-foot-high curtain of black tional 10 feet.
dragon scales hangs from an iron rod bolted to the Altar and Shield. Between the alcoves, an iron al-
west wall. (The scales have become brittle with age tar traced with silver and shaped like a giant anvil
and are not valuable.) rests beneath a round, 10-foot-diameter iron shield
Hanging Horn. Suspended from the ceiling by iron mounted on the north wall. The shield bears the sym-
chains is a 20-foot-long iron horn with etched Dwar- bol of a broken arrow with a jagged arrowhead. Stand-
vish runes coiling around it. ing before the altar are a pair of duergar (Aximus and
Exekarus) in drab robes.
The giant horn weighs 2 tons. It dangles 20 feet above
the floor on three thick, 5-foot-long iron chains. The To prepare for their roles, the arcanaloths learned
Melairkyn dwarves forged the horn and placed it here to everything they could about Laduguer's principles of
conduct. To their surprise, Aximus and Exekarus found
guard the treasure in this hall (see "Treasure" below).
A detect magic spell or similar magic reveals an aura these principles compelling. Some of the arcanaloths'
of conjuration magic around the horn. A character who favorite maxims include:
understands Dwarvish can translate the horn's runes • "No matter how much wealth and power you have, it's
not all of which are visible from the floor. The runes ' never enough."
visible from the floor read, "If you blind us." A character • "The fight never ends. Take what you deserve and de-
must fly up to the horn or climb above it to read the mes- stroy all who stand in your way."
sage in its entirety, which is "If you blind us, shall we • "Let no emotion rule you. Abandon joy, love, pride,
not revenge?" anger, and ambition, for they are signs of weak-
Removing one or more gemstones from the pillars ness. Know your role and perform it to the best of
causes the horn to magically emit a somber tone. As your ability."
the horn sounds, the spirits of thirteen dwarf warriors
appear in unoccupied spaces throughout the hall and Laduguer's dogma guides Aximus and Exekarus as
attack all other creatures in the area. These unaligned much as it does any duergar, and the yugoloths try to im-
spirits use the champion statistics (see appendix A), pose these principles on all who claim to serve Fazrian.
except that they wield greataxes instead of greatswords. If the characters haven't encountered Fazrian, Aximus
and Exekarus insist on taking them to meet the plane-
They understand Dwarvish but can't speak, and they
can't leave the hall. They disappear after 1 hour or when tar, whom they admire. Those who refuse to accompany
they drop to 0 hit points. Once the horn has sounded, it the arcanaloths are left behind as Aximus and Exekarus
can't sound again until 7 days have passed. If no gem- proceed to area 23b to inform Fazrian that visitors have
stones remain in the pillars when this time elapses, the arrived. Obedience to Fazrian is all that matters to Ax-
horn becomes nonmagical and can no longer summon imus and Exekarus- at least until someone convinces
the arcanaloths to switch allegiances.
dwarven spirits. Removing the instrument from the hall
also renders it nonmagical. The arcanaloths' attitude toward the characters is
indifferent at the start, though the fiends quickly turn
TREASURE hostile if attacked. The arcanaloths' attitude changes to
Eight blue star sapphires (1,000 gp each) are embedded friendly if the characters appeal to their love of magic by
in the eyes of the dwarf carvings-two gemstones per giving them a single very rare magic item, multiple rare
pillar. Each gem is set 18 feet above the floor and can be magic items, or a spellbook containing at least one spell
pried out with a dagger or similar tool. of 6th level or higher. Aximus and Exekarus make their
love of all things magical known to anyone that seeks
14. SHRINE OF LADUGUER their assistance. If their attitude toward the characters
is changed in this way, the arcanaloths repay the party's
As a gesture of goodwill toward its new duergar allies, kindness any way they can-short of placing themselves
Fazrian had this waiting chamber converted into a in harm's way. Their helpfulness doesn't last long, how-
shrine of Laduguer, the duergar god of labor and slavery. ever. After 24 hours, the arcanaloths' attitude toward
Presiding over the shrine are two arcanaloths named
the party becomes indifferent once more, and further
Aximus and Exekarus. These fiends use alter self spells bribes are needed to regain their assistance.
to appear as duergar priests. Valtagar and the duergar

LEVEL 21 I TERMINUS Ll!VEl.
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