Page 49 - Waterdeep - Dungeon of the Mad Mage_Neat

value. In short, the two are enjoying themselves at each 8B. MAD D RIDER
other's expense. A drider driven mad by the wailing winds covers its
If he must, Narizmar can free himself from the leather ears in a futile attempt to block out the noise. When the
straps with a successful DC 15 Dexterity (Sleight of characters enter the room, it begins shrieking, "Make
Hand) check. Once free, he tries to arm himself. He it stop!" in Elvish. If the characters cast a silence spell
obeys Sylkress above all others and would willingly sac- around the drider, it enjoys the respite and allows them
rifice his life to save hers. to pass through its cave unharmed. Otherwise, it attacks
Sylkress defends herself, but if she is reduced to half them in a demented rage.
her hit points or fewer, she calls for mercy and supplies
characters with the following information in exchange 8C. PIRATE R HYME
for her freedom: This cave abuts the sluggish River Sargauth and is filled
with web curtains that undulate in the howling wind.
• The drow invasion of the Sargauth Level is just a pre-
cursor to a full-scale attack on Skullport. Behind these curtains, carved into the west wall, is an
• Sylkress's older sister, T'rissa, is breeding giant old pirate rhyme:
spiders to bolster the drow forces on this level (see If Skullport's where ye wish to be,
area 6). T'rissa believes her experimental new incu- With the Sargauth's flow go ye.
bation method will create larger and more formida- If pirate booty is what ye crave,
ble spiders. Fight the surge to the captain's grave.
• Sylkress's twin sister, Melith, has taken a small force Downriver. Characters who follow the river south-
down to the Twisted Caverns (level 4) to establish a west eventually reach Skullport.
presence on that level.
Upriver. The river's current is not particularly strong,
and characters can easily make their way upriver to area
7E. WHIPPING ROOM
9 to find the "pirate booty."
Unless combat in area 7c draws their attention, two
female drow named Pellanonia Auvryndar and Ghirith 9. C A PTAIN'S G RAVE
Nhilran are engaged in a consensual act of torture in
this room, which has the following additional features: Skull port was once a haven for pirates, one of whom
came here to hide her treasure-only to die from a poi-
Drow. A large, rotating platform with leather straps soned cask of ale shortly thereafter.
takes up most of the room. Pellanonia is strapped to
the platform while Ghirith lashes her with a scourge. 9A. RIVER'S EDGE
Gear. Lying on a chair in the northeast corner are Pella-
This cave at the river's edge contains a weathered back-
nonia's armor and weapons.
pack left by an adventurer who met a grisly end in area
Pellanonia and Ghirith are lovers. If she must, Pella- 9b. A crowbar and a 50-foot coil of hempen rope are
nonia can slip free of her bonds with a successful DC 15 strapped to the outside of the backpack. Inside the pack
Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check. Once free, she tries are five torches too damp to light, a hammer, a tinder-
to arm herself. As a daughter of House Auvryndar, she box, a skillet, a half-empty water skin, and seven days'
uses her status in the house as a shield, claiming that worth of spoiled rations.
she's worth more alive than dead. If captured or cor-
nered, she is willing to divulge the following information 9B. DEMON-GUARDED T REASURE
in exchange for her freedom: Two barlguras crawled out of the Underdark and made
a home here. Alerted by approaching light or the echoes
• House Auvryndar's main stronghold in Undermoun-
of footfalls, they turn invisible and wait to ambush
tain is in Muiral's Gauntlet (level 10) and is under the
newcomers.
direct command of her mother, Vlonwelv.
Treasure. Slumped against the west wall is the moldy
• Her oldest sister, T'rissa, has orders from their mother skeleton of a human pirate clutching a rusty shortsword
to secure the Sargauth Level as a prelude to a full- in one hand and a wooden tankard in the other. A shat-
scale attack on Skullport.
tered wooden cask lies nearby. Careful examination of
• Another of her older sisters, Melith, has gained a foot-
the wall above the skeleton reveals a slot carved into
hold in the Twisted Caverns (level 4) and is waging a
the stone. The slot has the same width and depth as the
campaign of violence against the kuo-toa on that level.
pirate's rusty blade. If this shortsword or one like it is in-
serted into the slot, a loose rock in the ceiling falls away,
8. W AILING TuNNELS
and with it comes a moldy old chest. The chest splinters
Drow who fail the Test of Lolth (see area 7c) and trans- when it hits the floor, spilling out its contents: 500 sp,
form into driders are banished to these tunnels. Foul a sharkskin pouch containing five moss agates (10 gp
magic of the demon goddess Lolth creates howling each), a pair of bone dice (1 gp), a 6-inch-tall empty
winds in these passages that mimic the anguished wails obsidian bottle carved in the shape of a wizard's tower
of drow who failed her divine test. with a removable cork roof (50 gp), a pearl necklace
(250 gp), and a shriveled sea elf's head with a potion of
8 A. WEBS IN THE WIND water breathing stuffed in its mouth (with the vial's cork
The winds are loudest here, stirring the thick webs that sticking out).
fill this cave and evoking ghostly shapes.

LEV.EL 3 J SARGAUTH LEVEL