Page 275 - Waterdeep - Dungeon of the Mad Mage_Neat

their weapons drawn. The battle cry also awakens the 20. POISONOUS MINE
guards sleeping in area 19b, who collect their weapons
and investigate. If her gorgon mount is killed or she is These chambers have 15-foot-high ceilings, with 10-foot-
taking too much damage as a duergar, Stalagma uses high tunnels connecting them. The sounds of picks
her next action to revert to her true form. Other duergar s.triking stone echo throughout, becoming louder as one
who see Stalagma in her true form flee unless Valtagar approaches areas 20b and 20c.
is present to reassure them that the dragon is their ally. Noxious gas seeps into this mine through small fis-
Stalagma controls the xorn by feeding them treasure sures in the walls, filling areas east of the door to area
from the broken-down mine cart. In addition to Dwar- 19a and south of the door at area 20d, except for area
vish and Draconic, she speaks Terran, so the xorn can 21. The gas is invisible, but characters can smell the
understand her. toxic fumes and hear a faint hissing. It takes 1 minute
Xorn. The xorn are initially hostile toward Stalagma's for the gas to build up in a creature's system, after which
enemies. They quickly become indifferent toward char- the creature must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution sav-
acters who offer them gems as food, preferring such del- ing throw or become poisoned. A creature that holds its
icacies to the coins that Stalagma usually feeds them. breath for the whole minute has advantage on the saving
Treasure. The mine cart has two broken axles. It con- throw, while a creature that doesn't need to breathe au-
tains 2,000 sp and 3,200 gp. tomatically succeeds. A creature can end the gas's effect
on itself by finishing a short rest in a location with clean
19. O UTPOST air. A lesser restoration spell or similar magic also ends
the effect on a creature.
These chambers guard the stairs to level 22. The ceil-
ings are 20 feet high throughout. 20A. HALASTER'S WATCHING!
The characters encounter one of Halaster's scrying
19A. WAY TO LEVEL 22
eyes (see "Halaster's Lair," page 311) in this otherwise
Debris. In the west side of the room lie the crumbling empty cave. The scrying sensor watches them until they
remains of a stone table and four stone stools. leave, then disappears.
Pillars. Three stone pillars in the east side of the
room are streaked with glittering mithral veins that 20B. POISONED MINERS
look like lightning bolts shooting up from the floor. Three poisoned duergar (two males and one female) use
(Any attempt to extract the mithral from the pillars picks to chip iron ore from the walls of this cave. If out-
proves futile.) numbered, they turn invisible and join their fellows in
Xindulus. An invisible ultroloth named Xindulus area 20c. Otherwise, they attack. The males are named
guards a secret door leading to a 10-foot-wide spi- Orn and Thumrok. The female is named Durundra.
ral staircase that descends to level 22 (see "Secret
Door" below). 20C. POISONED MINERS
Eight poisoned duergar (six males and two females)
If anyone opens the secret door, the ultroloth appears
lethargically swing their picks, working iron veins in
and tries to slay them. It ignores those who leave these-
the cavern walls. They are hostile toward non-duergar.
cret door alone, allowing them to move through the area
They're bold if they outnumber their foes but flee to area
unmolested. If threatened by three or more enemies, it
21 if that situation changes. The males are named Hrok,
tries to summon ld6 mezzoloths, ld4 nycaloths, or an- Jarazk, Krod, Mraginar, Nori, and Rok. The females are
other ultroloth (see the "Variant: Yugoloth Summoning" named Bralith and Sunmerva.
sidebar in the "Yugoloths" entry in the Monster Manual).
The cave is strewn with old mining equipment: shov-
Xindulus won't negotiate with adventurers unless they els, broken picks, rusty iron sleds for dragging ore, and
offer it something immensely valuable, such as a legend- so forth. A casual search also yields a pair of empty
ary magic item or an artifact. water skins, a shattered wooden ale cask, and a 20-foot-
Secret Door. A fresco that depicts dwarves battling
long coil of hempen rope too old to be of much use.
a black pudding conceals the secret door in the north
wall. Bloodstains mar the carving, making the dwarves 20D. EMPTY ROOM
look horribly wounded and giving the ooze a disgust- Dwarves dug through the south wall of this room, hop-
ingly realistic sheen. The secret door stands in a section ing to find rich veins of mithral. Instead, they found iron
of wall that bears the image of a dwarf wizard wielding and poisonous gas. The room is empty, though charac-
a staff. The staff is made of real iron and is partially em- ters can hear the miners working in areas 20b and 20c.
bedded in the stone.
An arcane lock has been cast on the secret door. A 21. C LEAN A I R STATION
knock spell causes the door to swing inward, revealing
a dusty tunnel that ends at a downward-spiraling stair- The duergar come here to shake off the effects of the
poison gas. Runes are chiseled into the smooth gray
case. Forcing open the magically locked door requires a
walls. A character who studies the runes and succeeds
successful DC 25 Strength (Athletics) check. Touching
an iron object to the iron staff in the fresco suppresses on a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check realizes they are
the arcane lock spell for 1 minute. part of an ancient spell that continually and perpetually
freshens the air in this room while hedging out poison-
19B. EMPTY BARRACKS ous gases and similar effects, magical or otherwise.
This room is empty.

LEVEL 21 I TERMINUS LEVEL
274