Background
Over a century ago, an evil and reclusive mage from Waterdeep named Keilier constructed Blue Alley for his own amusement. He filled it with rich treasures and deadly traps, and enticed adventurers to brave its dangers while he gleefully watched from a hidden location.
Although everyone knows Blue Alley is a deathtrap, it has become a rite of passage for young adventurers seeking to establish a reputation.
The dungeon is regularly replenished with treasure, often stolen from the affluent noble houses of Waterdeep. Keilier occasionally leaks details of these treasures to the public, and wealthy patrons sometimes sponsor adventuring parties to enter the complex and retrieve a pilfered item.
Some speculate that other, darker powers may have supplanted the wizard as lord of Blue Alley. Regardless, those entering the complex usually end up just wanting to find a way out.
Area Information
Blue Alley winds its way between several windowless stone buildings in the Sea Ward. There are several doors along the alley, leading to interior corridors and rooms.
The cobblestones underfoot are made from glittering blue stone. The alley walls are made of sandstone and are 20 feet high, while the interior corridors and rooms are generally 9 feet high.
Except where specified, all doors are made of wood and reinforced with iron.
There are several locked doors and chests in Blue Alley. If someone attempts to pick a lock and fails, the lock is too complicated for them and they cannot attempt to pick it again until they gain a level. The same is true if someone attempts to force open a locked door.
Traps and Puzzles
A permanent
wall of force covers the top of the alley, preventing anyone from flying or climbing in and out. There are many traps and puzzles in the Blue Alley complex, and these are detailed in the numbered areas below.
Creatures
There are several creatures in the Blue Alley complex, and most of them are hostile. More details are available in the numbered areas below.
A group of six
boggles roams through the entire complex, picking up rubbish and taking it to the incinerator (area 21). If adventurers take a short rest, there is a 25% chance that the boggles chance upon them. If adventurers take a long rest, there is a 100% chance this happens. The boggles spend one round trying to snatch random items from the adventurers' packs, after which they race off to the incinerator and throw in any items they stole.
Map Locations
1. Guest Book
The alley is 10 feet wide with cobblestones of blue stone and 20-foot sandstone walls. A tin sign on the western wall has the words “BLUE ALLEY” painted on it.
A podium of gleaming stone stands a few feet inside Blue Alley. Atop the podium lies a quill beside a heavy book bound in blue leather.
The book is full of hundreds of names, each written in a different hand. About a quarter of the names have a neat line drawn through them.
A permanent 20-foot high
wall of force blocks the alley about 10 feet in from the entrance. If anyone writes their name in the book on the podium, they can pass north through the wall and so enter Blue Alley.
The quill and book are protected by an explosive
glyph of warding. Anyone taking either item more than 5 feet from the podium triggers the glyph. Another explosive
glyph of warding also triggers if the podium is moved. If the quill and book are destroyed, they are magically replaced a tenday later.
2. Mural of Mutilation
The alley splits into branches running east and west. A brightly colored mural is painted on the northern wall of the intersection. It depicts numerous adventurers falling victim to every conceivable form of trap. Scything blades, spiked pits, collapsing roofs, jets of fire, poison gas, and more are all featured.
At the top of the mural, the word “SILVER” is painted above an arrow pointing east, while the word “GOLD” is painted above an arrow pointing west.
Anyone examining the mural and making a successful DC 12 Wisdom (Perception) check finds a depiction of themselves being mutilated by various grisly traps.
Anyone making a successful DC 17 Wisdom (Perception) check notices the following small sentence hidden in the mural: “FIFTY FEET SOUTH OF THE BARRED WINDOW IS A SECRET DOOR.”
3. Ivory Door
The door is made of ivory-coated iron and is carved with the figures of carnivorous animals eating their prey. The door is locked and can be opened with the ivory key in area 4. The lock can be picked with a successful DC 15 Dexterity (
Thieves' Tools) check. The door can be forced open with a successful DC 25 Strength (Athletics) check.
The stone walls of this room have been whitewashed and painted with images of treasure chests of varying sizes. The pictured chests are all open, revealing rows of sharp teeth. Inscribed on the west wall are the words, "THIS TOOL WITH". There is a reinforced wooden
chest sitting against the southern wall. The lid is closed but it appears to have no lock.
The entire ceiling is a
mimic. As soon as someone comes within 5 feet of the chest it drops and attacks everyone in the room.
The chest is unlocked and contains 24 dragons, 267 shards, a small bronze
bell, and a silver key wrapped in a velvet cloth. The bell is silent when shaken and then rings five minutes later. It is worth 15 dragons. The silver key unlocks the door in area 14.
4. Grab the Bull by the Horns
There are three chambers that comprise this area. The 20-foot by 20-foot square space is filled with illusions that make it appear to be a pasture area of the same size, complete with lush grasses, a water trough, and a clear sky overhead (despite the fact that the chamber is only ten feet tall).
Two “silos” border the pasture, and inside each of them is a single silver-plated
ox skull; runes cover the skull’s horns. If the skulls are removed from these rooms, they crumble to worthless dust. The interior of both silos has been covered in an ivory paint and a crazy geometric pattern; a successful DC 12 Intelligence (Investigation) check reveals that the pattern is simply that of a key, repeated over and over again.
When someone first grasps the horns of one of the skulls, the southern door shuts, and a faintly echoing moo can be heard. If someone is touching the horns on the other skull while the first is still being touched, the sky over the pasture darkens and a very angry
minotaur appears at a random location in the pasture. It is unsettled by the teleporting, and all melee attack rolls against it have advantage.
If at any point someone stops touching either skull, the minotaur fades away with a look of great relief. Should it be teleported back in, it returns with full hit points as if it had not been previously summoned.
The minotaur wears an ivory key around its neck. Until the minotaur is slain, the key is bound by the same magic as the minotaur is.
5. A Sticky Situation
The stairs are blanketed by an exquisite
Calishite rug covered in geometric patterns and rich colors. The stairs rise 10 feet from the bottom level to the top, and the hallway is 5 feet wide and has an 8-foot ceiling.
The center 5-foot space of the rug, from the base of the stairs all the way to the top, is covered in specially-formulated
sovereign glue. Anything that contacts the sticky surface immediately adheres to it.
One round after a creature becomes stuck, a
magic mouth opens at the top of stairs and says “Laughter is the best medicine. MAKE ME LAUGH!” If someone tells a joke and succeeds on a DC 12 Charisma (Performance) check, the
magic mouth deems their comments humorous, and it looses a stone-shaking uproarious laugh. It then intones a command word, “sedso,” causing the glue to become inert. The glue activates again one minute later.
The glue can be spotted with a DC 14 Wisdom (Perception) or DC 14 Intelligence (Investigation) check. Once spotted, it’s easy enough to squeeze past the sticky surface and still climb the stairs.
6. Winery
The secret door to this room may be found with a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check.
Racks of wine bottles line the outer walls of this 10-foot by 30-foot chamber. Inscribed on the west wall are the words, "STRENGTH CANNOT".
There is a 2-foot high gold-plated door in the northwest corner, behind a wine rack. The door is locked and can be opened with the “golden” coin in area 18. The lock can be picked with a successful DC 30 Dexterity (
Thieves' Tools) check. The door can be forced open with a successful DC 30 Strength (Athletics) check.
Though most of the bottles have been broken or are simply empty, there are still five bottles of
Patxaran wine.
A successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check locates two
potions of healing among the discarded bottles.
If the gold door is opened, it reveals a tiny cavity beyond containing a
lantern of revealing.
7. Hovering Blade
There is a raised dais in the center of the room. Atop it lies a glittering gem, and an ornately decorated
longsword hovers in the air above it, point-down and slowly rotating in place. The ceiling is domed and nearly 40 feet high, with brilliant murals of wizards and warriors across the plaster-covered stonework.
Around the rim of the dais are the words “Power pulses within me, and only a living warmth may move me.” Until someone touches the gem, the
flying sword is not a threat. The first person to touch the gem is attacked by the sword that hovers above it. The sword has advantage when attacking the person that touched the gem, and it must attack that person if possible though it avoids provoking attacks of opportunity if it can.
The gem cannot be moved except by the hand of a living humanoid creature.
There are three secret doors in this room. A successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check reveals all of them.
The gem can be retained by adventurers while they are in Blue Alley. Once removed from the pedestal and upon close inspection, two things become apparent: first, it contains a small set of iron gates inside; and second, it is a low-quality gem and not actually worth any amount of gold. Adventurers may not realize it, but it does have another value - it is the key for activating the teleporter in area 22.
8. "Broken" Trap
In the center of this small 10-foot by 10-foot room is a
light crossbow mounted on a tripod. The string on the crossbow has long since snapped, leaving the single silver
crossbow bolt unfired.
Inscribed on the west wall are the words, "CAN DO".
With a successful DC 12 Intelligence (Investigation) check, someone can discern that the silver bolt is actually holding down a very tiny pressure switch in the crossbow. Removing the bolt causes the room to fill with toxic fumes; any living creature that is exposed (breathing is not necessary due to the acidic nature of the fumes) must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or take 1d6 acid damage and be poisoned for 1 minute. The fumes dissipate after 1 minute.
The silver bolt is worth 2 dragons.
9. Panic Room
This room measures 20 feet by 20 feet was at one time a comfortable study or library. A fire still blazes in the hearth, the couch still feels warm, and perched on top of the table are a bowl of 9
goodberries and a small, plain-looking wooden box. The walls are reinforced with steel and there is a framework of iron beams across the ceiling that is both decorative and sturdy; this would make an excellent place to rest.
Inscribed on the west wall are the words, "WHAT MIGHT AND".
Anyone who makes a successful DC 14 Intelligence (Investigation) check notices faint runes carved into the perimeter of the table. These runes can be identified by anyone proficient in arcana or that can cast spells as being transmutation runes. An
identify spell reveals that they reverse the magic of anything contained inside their space.
Should someone eat a
goodberry from the bowl, they immediately lose 1 hit point and must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or gain one level of exhaustion as they feel the effects of starvation setting in. No matter how many berries they eat, no more than one level of exhaustion can be gained this way.
Should someone remove the plain wooden box from the runed area, it immediately reveals that it was containing something else: a
will ‘o wisp. The runes dampened the creature’s electric powers, but once moved from that space it regains full power and attacks immediately, bursting forth from the box with haste. While within the runes, it simply appears to be a large ball of very plush fuzz in the bottom of the box.
10. A Quiet Place
Measuring 10 feet by 30 feet, the walls, ceiling, and floor are all comprised of perfectly smooth, featureless stone - almost as if this place were shaped from a single large rock and then transported here. When the door is shut, no sound escapes back into the main chamber (area 7).
Inscribed on the west wall are the words, "A SOFT TOUCH".
The door automatically attempts to close after being open for 1 minute, and it can only be held open by a successful DC 16 Strength (Athletics) check. Once it closes and so long as the door remains sealed, the trap becomes apparent: it’s supernaturally quiet in here. So quiet, in fact, that adventurers can hear the blood in their ears and every sound seems to be much more amplified. Every minute that someone remains here, they must succeed on a DC 10 Wisdom saving throw or else gain one short-term madness. Anyone that gains three short-term madness effects instead gains an indefinite madness. After ten minutes, the door pops back open.
The secret door can be forced open with a successful DC 16 Strength (Athletics) check, or by anyone who succeeds on a DC 14 Dexterity (
Thieves' Tools) check.
11. Skeletal Secret
On the west wall of the alley is a relief sculpture of a humanoid skeleton, with outstretched arms and a mouth open as if screaming.
Anyone examining the skeleton and making a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check notices a small iron button in the skull. Pressing the button causes the secret door in the west wall to swing inwards.
12. The High Way
The stone walls are decorated with colorful frescoes depicting a skyscape filled with all manner of flying creatures, from bumblebees to
rocs. The ceiling is 20 feet high. About 15 feet above the floor, a row of short copper rods protrudes from either wall. Lightning arcs between these rods the entire length of the corridor.
Exactly halfway down the corridor is a 5-foot wide pressure plate. Applying 30 pounds or more of pressure to this plate causes everything in the corridor to levitate for three rounds, at the rate of 5 feet per round.
Any creature touching the lightning must make a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw, taking 1d10 lightning damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
A successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check reveals the pressure plate.
13. The Low Way
The corridor has walls of smooth stone and thick cobwebs cover everything. There is a pit blocking the way, 10 feet deep and 20 feet long. The bottom of the pit is lined with jagged and menacing spikes.
An adventurer can safely climb down and up the wall of the pit with a successful DC 8 Strength (Athletics) check. On a failure, the adventurer falls and takes 1d6 piercing damage. Once on the bottom, it is an easy matter to walk across the pit while avoiding the spikes.
There is a 5-foot wide pressure plate along the eastern side of the pit. Applying 30 pounds or more of pressure to this plate causes the pit spikes to shoot upward explosively. Anyone in the pit must make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw, taking 1d10 piercing damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
A successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check reveals the pressure plate.
14. The Silver Door
The east door is made of silver-plated iron and engraved with circles of varying sizes.
The door is locked and can be opened with the silver key in area 3). The lock can be picked with a successful DC 20 Dexterity (
Thieves' Tools) check. The door can be forced open with a successful DC 25 Strength (Athletics) check.
The small chamber behind the door is completely filled with polished steel spheres, ranging in diameter from 6 inches up to 2 feet. If the door is opened the spheres come tumbling out, and everyone in the room must make a successful DC 12 Dexterity saving throw or be knocked prone and take 1d10 bludgeoning damage.
15. Bear Traps and Bones
The walls of this chamber are lined with rough and dirty tan-colored bricks. Rubbish litters the floor, including trinkets, coins, equipment, and weapons, alongside bones and dried up gore. The
boggles do not enter this room, as it is too dangerous.
The secret door in the east wall may be found with a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check.
The whole area is thickly littered with invisible
hunting traps which are firmly bolted to the floor. For every 10 feet of movement, an adventurer must make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw. On a failure, the adventurer triggers a trap, taking 1d4 piercing damage and becoming restrained. A hunting trap becomes visible when it is triggered. Anyone can make a DC 13 Strength check, freeing itself or another creature within its reach on a success.
The first time a hunting trap is triggered, the secret door opens and six
skeletons emerge and attack.
If someone spends a few rounds searching the room, roll on the table below. No more than eight items may be found in this way.
16. Chamber of Shadows
A large mural wraps around the walls of this chamber, depicting numerous humanoid skulls of varying sizes scattered across a wasteland. The sun is setting behind a low range of hills, and the skulls each cast long shadows.
There is a small altar made entirely of dark, splintered humanoid skulls. The eye sockets of three skulls have been filled with semi-precious gemstones.
There are normally six
skeletons in this chamber, who emerge when a trap is triggered in area 15.
If a gemstone is pried from the altar, a
shadow squeezes out of the empty eye socket and attacks.
The following gemstones are in the altar:
17. Bladed Blitz
The walls of this long corridor are lined with rough and dirty tan-colored bricks. Dried gore is splattered over the floor, walls, and ceiling.
As soon as the south door is opened, dozens of whirling blades emerge from deep grooves in the floor, while scything blades swing back and forth up the entire corridor.
An adventurer moving through the corridor must make a successful DC 15 Dexterity saving throw every round or take 1d10 slashing damage. If an adventurer takes the dash action, this saving throw is made with disadvantage. If an adventurer moves half their speed or less, the saving throw is made with advantage.
18. Hidden Gold
This dome-shaped room has walls of polished, white marble.
In the center of the room is a 3-foot high marble pedestal with a ridged column. A plush red pillow sits on top.
Sitting on the pillow is a single nib. If anyone picks it up, a
magic mouth on the pedestal says “Congratulations!” in a sarcastic voice.
Anyone examining the coin sees the following words around the edge: “Minted in 1364 DR, golden anniversary of the reign of Lord Piergeiron the Paladinson.”
This coin is the key that unlocks the golden door in area 6.
19. Former Reception Room
At one time this room was exquisitely luxurious, but it has now fallen into disrepair. Even so, the overstuffed couches appear very comfortable and the carpet has obviously been cared for (even if there is an obvious travel path worn into it). There is a door to the east that is stuck shut and requires a successful DC 14 Strength (Athletics) check to open.
While not an actual trap, if adventurers spend more than ten seconds in this chamber, they hear a faint voice from behind the eastern door. Anyone with a Passive Perception of 14 or higher identifies that the voice exclaims “Entertain me!” This message does not repeat itself.
20. Statue of Keilier
A solid bronze statue of the wizard Keilier (so it says on the statue’s base) is placed within a
wall of force. The statue has been enchanted to make it appear as if the eyes follow anyone in this room, and several broken
vials lie on the floor. On the wall is a phrase, scrawled in Common: “Utter madness. PURE RUBBISH!”
The eyes of the statue have a secondary enchantment: they alert the
boggles of intruders in Blue Alley. If the boggles have not been killed or otherwise ejected from the premises, they arrive in 1d4 rounds, prepared to clean the debris, re-paint the wall, and repair the door - and possibly eject the intruders.
The statue is itself something of an entity: if someone speaks the wizard’s name, the statue responds. It has but a sliver of Keilier’s personality, but it responds to questions with haughty quips and terrible puns if possible.
After a few moments of conversation, the statue says, “Well, do you have a riddle for me?” If someone says, “What might and strength cannot get through, this tool with a soft touch can do,” the statue then says, “The answer, of course, is a key.” A
wand of secrets then appears at the adventurer’s feet.
Inscribed along the wand's edge, in Abyssal, is the phrase: "All that is yours is mine, and what is mine cannot be hidden."
21. Incinerator
The walls of this chamber are lined with red clay bricks. At the far end is a 40-foot deep circular pit with a diameter of 8 feet. The room is hot, humid, and smells of ash. The pit glows a fiery red.
At the bottom of the pit are two
magmins, standing in a deep pile of ashes. These creatures incinerate anything thrown into the pit, whether living or dead. Although they can melt ordinary metal, they cannot harm metal magic items.
If someone speaks Ignan and calls down from the top of the pit, one of the creatures, named Fusilis, is willing to talk. It says they were summoned into the pit by a “great wizard”, who occasionally visits to retrieve any metal or gems that have been cast in.
At the bottom of the pit, covered by ashes, is an easily located mound of gold, silver, and copper slag, worth 34 dragons in total. A successful DC 12 Wisdom (Perception) check locates a
moonstone.
22. The Gates of Paradise
This rectangular room is built of stone and is featureless save for the black iron gates set into the southern wall. If a creature touches the gates and is not holding the gemstone from area 7 in one hand, a
magic mouth materializes in the ceiling and intones “Beyond these gates lies paradise. Enter them as you entered life, and you may yet find it; grasp the jewel and grasp the iron, then be whisked away to the truest of rewards.”
If someone holds the gem from area 7 and takes hold of the iron bars, they are immediately teleported out of Blue Alley to area 28.
The gem remains in Blue Alley, clattering to the floor after someone disappears. If no creatures remain in the room, the gem instead teleports back to the pedestal in area 7.
23. Vault Room
While in the hallway, adventurers read this phrase above the unlocked doorway to this room: “TAKE ONLY WHAT YOU CAN TRULY AFFORD.” The room is filled to the brim with coins of all types. At a glance, anyone can easily determine that thousands of gold pieces are scattered across the room. Anyone that succeeds on a DC 14 Intelligence (Investigation) or Wisdom (Perception) check identifies that the coins are arranged in such a way that the stacks spell out the words “ALL FAKE”. Anyone proficient with
jeweler's tools automatically knows that something is ‘wrong’ with the treasure, and similarly, anyone proficient with Arcana knows that the coins are enchanted with spells of the enchantment and transmutation schools.
Upon leaving the room, each coin taken weighs one pound and anyone that took more than 100 coins finds that they are cursed: they have disadvantage on skill and ability checks until they spend five days performing community service or receive a
remove curse spell.
On the other hand, anyone that took nothing is affected by a
bless spell that lasts for one hour.
Either way, a
magic mouth forms in the hallway and tells adventurers of their curse or blessing, and the details thereof. The voice is snide and inserts as many puns as possible, saving the following to anyone that has been cursed.
- "What did the greedy gold digger say? Mine, mine, mine."
- "I suppose it all makes CENTS now, doesn’t it?"
- "Looks like the loot is giving you the boot!"
The coins have no value and crumble to dust upon leaving Blue Alley.
24. Twisty and Narrow
This room has a winding path of bright yellow tiles that lead from the western door to the northern one. The walls have all been decorated with intensely detailed murals depicting the funerary rituals of
Kelemvor as well as a dozen mages, all holding the holy symbol of
Mystra, hiding in the background.
Inscribed on the west wall are the words, "GET THROUGH".
If a creature steps off the yellow tiles, the holy symbols carried by the mages in the paintings all flare as the creature is subjected to a
fear spell (DC 14 failing this saving throw causes the creature to use its reaction to run for the western hallway. Succeeding on the saving throw causes two of the mages to step free of the wall as
specters while the paintings on the walls change and show the priests of Kelemvor being defeated by all manner of spectral undead running amok in the once-peaceful scene.
25. The Celestite Unicorn
All the surfaces in this chamber are made of a single magic mirror that has been shaped to become walls, floor, and ceiling. Standing in the middle of the room is a 3-foot tall statue of a rearing
unicorn. When the door to area 24 is closed, the words “Everything you see is mine” are magically written across it. The mirror has been magically hardened and is immune to all damage, though a single
shatter spell breaks it.
The statue cannot be removed from the room unless adventurers can devise some way to take it without their reflections seeing it. Keilier has enchanted the room to claim “ownership” of anything that a visitor can see, so once a visitor leaves the room, anything that they are wearing or carrying is teleported to the center of the room as the wizard’s boisterous laughter rolls through the chamber.
Some potential solutions include:
- Painting the mirrors black
- Simply closing their eyes as they pick up the statue and leave
- Casting shatter on the mirror and flipping all the shards upside down
The Celestite Unicorn can be sold for 350 + 10d10 dragons.
26. Swinging Peril
The walls of this chamber are lined with red clay bricks. Seven circular metal platforms, each 5 feet in diameter, hang from great iron
chains attached to the ceiling. The floor is 20 feet below but is hidden by a thick blanket of smoke that pours from several magic smoking pots (which are too large to move).
A window in the south-west corner is protected by iron bars, which are too thick for adventurers to bend.
Jumping to a wooden disk requires a successful DC 12 Strength (Athletics) check. On a failure, the adventurer falls to the floor and takes 2d6 bludgeoning damage.
Every time an adventurer leaps to a new disk, there is a 25% chance that 1d6
smoke mephits emerge from the smoke and attack. There are 8 mephits in total.
Anyone fighting from a disk has disadvantage on all attacks, due to the need to balance. Anyone taking damage must make a successful DC 6 Dexterity saving throw or fall to the floor and takes 2d6 bludgeoning damage.
Dangling from the westmost disk by a short copper
chain is a
moon-touched scimitar. It is visible from the barred window.
27. Spare Parts
Rows of workbenches line the room, each covered in the waste of experiments long since finished. Scorch marks dot the scene and the stench of fire and
acid assail the senses.
vials and
buckets of unidentifiable arcane goo can be seen around this area.
This room is packed with volatile alchemical reagents and moving between the workbenches is treated as difficult terrain. Any activity that would disturb the reagents (such as knocking a bench over, using an area of effect spell, or so on) is a dangerous prospect: each square of an affected workbench explodes in a 5-foot radius, causing each creature in the affected space to make a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw or take 1d10 fire damage and 1d10 acid damage; success on the saving throw reduces the damage by half.
The room is filled with things to inspect, so a successful DC 16 Intelligence (Investigation) check is required in order to find anything of actual use. If successful, the adventurer can recover one
potion of greater healing.
Failing the Investigation check by 5 or more results in an explosion.
28. The Bums Rush
This dead-end is laden with piles of refuse such as rags, old
crates, empty bottles, rotting food, and worse. The stone walls are covered in graffiti and stained with filth. The smell of dried vomit and
human waste is overpowering.
Any adventurers are transported here from area 22 find themselves half-buried in a mound of trash.
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