Axeholm

A Dungeon for 5th Level Characters

Overview

Thrust out from the base of a dark gray mountain is the entrance to this dwarven fortress - a dark, fifteen-foot-wide passageway flanked by forty-foot-high bulwarks of smooth, seamless stone. An iron portcullis covered with rust blocks the entrance. Arrow slits carved into the bulwarks are dark.
Axeholm is a dwarven fortress carved into the base of a mountain fifteen miles south of Phandalin. The site was abandoned and sealed up long years ago after being haunted by a banshee - the restless spirit of a moon elf ambassador named Vyldara who tried and failed to foment civil unrest among the dwarves. The dwarves imprisoned the elf and sent messages to her people, asking that they come to collect her. Before envoys could be sent, Vyldara killed two guards trying to escape, only to be cut down by dwarven axes before she could succeed.
When the elf’s evil spirit started filling Axeholm’s halls with deathly wails, the dwarves abandoned their stronghold, but not before several dwarves slain by the banshee arose as ghouls to feed on their kin. Ghouls and other creatures now prowl Axeholm, while the banshee continues to haunt the fortress’s upper halls. The banshee senses the arrival of adventurers with its Detect Life trait. In its twisted spectral mind, they are invaders who must be destroyed for their trespass.

Axeholm Features

In the dwarves' absence, Axeholm has become a dark, sullen tomb, full of dust and bad memories. It's quiet most of the time, except when the sorrowful waits of the banshee fill the place. The following features are common throughout.

Arrow Slits

When using an arrow slit for protection, a creature gains three-quarters cover against outside threats. A Medium creature can't squeeze through an arrow slit, but a Small creature can with a successful DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check.

Ceilings

Ceilings throughout are fifteen feet high and flat, unless otherwise noted.

Chimneys

Fireplaces throughout Axeholm have chimneys cut from seamless stone. Some of those chimneys can be used to gain access to the fortress.
Anyone who searches for an entrance other than the portcullis in area A1 can attempt a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check. A successful check spots numerous stone chimneys protruding from the mountainside. but an earthquake after Axeholm was abandoned closed off most of those to anything but Tiny creatures. Only the chimneys leading down to area A21 and area A23 can be accessed by the adventurers. Scaling the mountain requires a successful DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check, as there are plenty of handholds and footholds.
Crawling down a chimney to area A21 or area A23 requires another successful DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check. If this check fails, the creature falls 20 feet to the bottom of the chimney, landing in the sooty hearth and taking 2d6 bludgeoning damage. Anyone who uses climbing gear to scale the mountain and lower themselves down a chimney has advantage on their checks.

Doors

Regular doors are made of thick, sturdy oak reinforced with iron bands and fitted with iron hinges and handles.

Light

The walls are lined with torch sconces, but the torches burned down long ago. Adventurers require darkvision or their own light sources to see inside.

Stench

A foul stench lingers in Axeholm, becoming stronger as one gets closer to the resident ghouls.

Keyed Locations

A1. Outer Gaunlet

Axeholm's primary entrance and exit is this defensible passage, which is blocked by a sturdy portcullis. Arrow slits are spaced along the walls and murder holes line the ceiling, enabling fortress defenders to shoot ballistas at invaders or pour boiling oil on top of them. With the dwarves gone, the only remaining defenses are the portcullis and the double doors to the south, which are barred shut.
The portcullis is too heavy to lift, and its bars are too narrowly spaced for even Small creatures to squeeze through. However, a Small creature can squeeze through an arrow slit into area A2 or A3, then attempt to raise the portcullis using the winches there. The winches are rusty and require a successful DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check to turn. Each successful check allows the portcullis to be raised 5 feet.
Anyone hoping to get through the double doors must break them down, which takes a single creature 1 hour. Multiple creatures working together can reduce the time proportionately. The noise created by smashing down the doors is loud enough to alert all the dwarf ghouls in the fortress, which gather in area A4 and attack once the doors fall. The fortress contains twelve dwarf ghouls and one ghast. If this group is killed here, no more of them are encountered in the fortress.

A2. Western Bulwark

This area contains seven ballistas pointed at arrow slits, a winch that raises and lowers the portcullis, and a stone staircase leading up to area A22. Each ballista is equipped with five bolts.

A3. Eastern Bulwark

This area has the same features as area A2.

A4. Mustering Hall

This great hall has a 40-foot-high ceiling supported by four thick stone pillars. A thick layer of dust covers the flagstone floor. In the middle of each wall past the entrance is a double door. slits are set high up in the north and south walls, and a small stone balcony protrudes from the wall above the east exit, 20 feet above the floor.

A5. West Hall

The floor is strewn with bits of armor and the gnawed bones of dwarves who were killed and eaten by ghouls. Lurking in the hall are three ghouls. The ghouls pursue prey that flees.

A6. Armory

The dwarves took all the weapons and armor from this area when they left. All that remains are empty stone weapon racks, wooden mannequins upon which armor once hung, and iron hooks in the walls that once bore shields.

A7. Main Barracks

Dozens of meager cots lie scattered about the floor. A pair of fireplaces stand cold and dark, their rubble-choked chimneys rising 120 feet through the mountain.

A8. Privies

Tattered wool curtains conceal three neglected privies, each with a wooden bench set against the back wall.

A9. Stirge in the Smithy

Standing before two blackened hearths are a pair of rusty anvils, which dwarves once used to fashion and repair their armor and weapons.
A fluttering noise can be heard coming from the southernmost fireplace, indicating the presence of a stirge near the bottom of the 200-foot-high chimney. If anyone shines a light up there, the stirge panics, flies out, and attacks the nearest creature. It ignores creatures otherwise.

A10. Tool Storage

Dwarven armorsmiths and weaponsmiths stored their tools here, which still hang from hooks along the walls. Though a bit rusty, the tools are in serviceable shape if anyone wishes to use them. There are a total of four sets of smith's tools in this room.

A11. Inner Gauntlet

Four arrow slits line the walls of this corridor leading to Axeholm's throne room (area A14).

A12. West Guard Post

Two ballistas point toward arrow slits in the east wall. Each ballista is equipped with five bolts. The guard post is otherwise empty.

A13. East Guard Post

The gnawed bones, torn armor fragments, and rusty battleaxes of two dead dwarf guards lie in the middle of the room. The guards were trapped here by ghouls, killed, and eaten.
Two ballistas aimed at arrow slits in the west wall come equipped with five bolts apiece.

A14. Throne Room

The stench of death hangs heavy in the air of this dusty, pillared hall, which has a dark, soot-stained fireplace at the east end. A deep alcove in the south wall contains a dais, atop which rests a limestone throne flanked by granite statues of dwarf warriors. Between the throne and the fireplace is a hallway with stairs leading up.
Hiding behind the throne is a ghast. This undead creature is all that remains of Axeholm's dwarf commander, who stayed behind to seal up the fortress after most of the garrison fled. The ghast is the source of the hall's foul stench. which gets stronger closer to the throne. The hidden ghast can be detected with a successful DC 13 Wisdom (Perception) check.
If anyone inspects the throne. the ghast lets out a shriek and attacks. Its shriek is heard by the ghouls in area A26, which crawl down the chimney and clamber out of the fireplace. This group contains five soot-covered ghouls. After the first round of combat, these ghouls join the battle.
The ghast commander wears a signet ring that bears the Axeholm crest: a handaxe clutched in a dwarven gauntlet. The signet ring unlocks the chest in area A29.

A15. Dining Room

In the middle of this room, a carved stone dining table (15 feet long by 5 feet wide) is flanked by a pair of equally long wooden benches. Above the table hang two iron chandeliers, their candles long since melted away. North of the seating area is a sooty fireplace and an alcove containing a rough-hewn pit that descends 60 feet.
Abundant handholds and footholds allow anyone to climb up or down the pit with a successful DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check. The bottom of the pit contains moldy animal bones and other refuse discarded by the dwarves after their meals.

A16. Kitchen

The dusty room has all the trappings one expects to find in a dwarven kitchen, including metal dishware, utensils, and drinking tankards. A stone sink is equipped with a faucet which, when turned, spouts hot water channeled from a naturally heated underground spring.

A17. East Hall in Ruins

The earthquake that hit Axeholm triggered a ceiling collapse that left this hall in ruins. The eastern half of the hall is strewn with debris and is difficult terrain. The stench of death hangs heavy here, becoming stronger as adventurers move toward area A19.

A18. Empty Room

This 15-foot-square room was cleaned out by the dwarves before they evacuated Axeholm. Only dust remains.

A19. Ghoul Den

Adventurers can reach this area by following the naturally formed tunnel from area A17 or by descending the stone staircase from area A24. The door to the north has been smashed open. and its remains are strewn on the floor.
The stench of death and decay grows stronger as adventurers approach this room, and they can hear the hisses and snarls of the four ghouls that lair here.
This chamber was once a shrine, as evidenced by wall carvings that depict dwarves observing religious rites. However, the eastern section of the room has collapsed, filling the area with rubble. Gnawed bones scattered among the debris are the remains of a number of dwarves.
Anyone who searches through the rubble in the eastern portion of the room finds two treasures:

• A holy symbol of Moradin (the dwarven god of creation) that bears his symbol: a hammer and anvil. Any dwarf recognizes the symbol immediately, while a non-dwarf recognizes it with a successful DC 10 Intelligence (Religion) check.
• A small box is packed with silt, nestled in which is a potion of superior healing.

A20. Narrow Tunnel

Ghouls dug this winding, rubble-strewn tunnel connecting the upper and lower levels of Axeholm. The tunnel is 2 feet wide, 5 feet high, and 60 feet long.

A21. East Upper Barracks

The ghouls trashed this room, Leaving behind wrecked cots, chairs, tables, and other furnishings. A blackened fireplace is set into the east wall, its chimney rising 20 feet to the outside. Creatures can use this chimney to enter or exit the fortress.

A22. Upper Bastion

This large chamber extends over the outer gauntlet of the main entrance (area A1) and contains many former defensive measures. Arrow slits to the north allow outside light to enter, filling the northern half of the room with sunlight or moonlight depending on the time of day or night.
Thick webs are strung between the walls and pillars. Lurking among them are three giant wolf spiders. The spiders are spread throughout the southern half of the room and move to attack all interlopers.
Other defenses include two fireplaces, which were used to heat cauldrons full of oil that the dwarves poured through narrow slits in the floor. Three empty cauldrons are lined up along one of these slits. Arrow slits along the south wall open up onto area A4. and stone staircases descend to areas A2 and A3.

A23. West Upper Barracks

A fireplace is built into the west wall of this room. Hanging from a hook above its mantelpiece is a nonmagical shield bearing the symbol of Axeholm: a dwarven gauntlet clutching a handaxe. Creatures can use the fireplace's soot-stained chimney to enter or exit the fortress.
The room's other furnishings - cots, tables, chairs, and empty footlockers - are intact but covered in dust.

A24. Haunted Hall

The luminous, wispy form of a banshee floats in the dusty hallway in the east-west stretch of this L-shaped hall, its face wreathed in a tangle of silky hair, its body clad in spectral rags that flutter around it. When intruders enter the room, the apparition's face becomes a mask of rage as it screams. "Get out of my house!"
If adventurers flee the banshee's presence of their own accord, it lets them go. If they advance toward the undead, attack it, or attempt to parley, it turns violent.
In the first round of combat, the banshee uses Horrifying Visage. On the second round, it uses Wail. After wailing, it withdraws to area A27, passing through the closed door as though it weren't there. In area A27, the undead makes its final stand.

A25. Upper East Hall and Balcony

The earthquake caused part of this empty hall to collapse. A double door in the west wall leads to a small stone balcony overlooking area A4.

A26. Ghoul Bath

Five ghouls gather here. The ghouls enter and leave the room through a 2-foot-diameter hole in the east wall, which breaks into the chimney of area A14.
In the middle of this room stands a carved stone tub filled with gnawed dwarven bones. The tub is equipped with a faucet which, when turned, spouts hot water channeled from a naturally heated underground spring. A stone plug seals the drain in the tub's bottom.

A27. Banshee's Bedchamber

This bedroom was set aside for honored guests, but its furnishings have decayed with age and are covered with dust and cobwebs. Vyldara once stayed here, but the elf's possessions were taken during her captivity, leaving nothing of value.

A28. Commander's Bedchamber

A stone-framed bed with a moldy mattress stands in the middle of this room, covered in dust and cobwebs. Set into the south wall is a soot-stained fireplace. Three stirges nest in the rubble-choked chimney and attack anyone who pokes around in the fireplace.
The back wall of the fireplace is a secret door. Anyone who searches the interior of the fireplace and succeeds on a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check notices dwarven handprints in the soot on the back wall. Pushing on the secret door causes it to swing open on hidden stone hinges, revealing area A29 beyond.

A29. Secret Vault

Against the south wall of this otherwise empty room rests an iron chest with clawed feet. Its built-in lock bears a tiny circular indentation instead of a traditional keyhole. Close inspection of the indentation reveals a tiny symbol of a handaxe clutched in a gauntlet. This symbol matches the one on the commander's signet ring (found in area A14), but reversed. If the commander's signet ring is placed in the indentation, the chest unlocks and remains unlocked until its lid is closed tight. The chest can also be unlocked with a successful DC 20 Dexterity (Thieves' Tools) check, or by a knock spell or similar magic.
The chest contains a potion of healing and a pair of gauntlets of ogre power.

A30. Privies

Rusty curtains made from chain mail conceal a pair of privies, each with a wooden bench set against the back wall. The chutes for these privies descend deep into the mountain, passing just east of area A10.

Type

Fortress

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