What Dwells Here?
Aside from hungry monsters, a bandit gang has made its home here, as have
bugbears and
goblins in league with the beholder crime lord known as Xanathar.
The Undertakers
A gang of neutral evil
human bandits calling themselves the Undertakers prey on gullible adventurers, demanding a toll of 10 dragons per adventurer for safe passage through this level of the dungeon. The bandits have taken over areas 6 through 8 and have spies watching area 1 to report on intruders.
The bandits are failed actors and singers who use
disguise kits to appear as
vampires. These disguises are elaborate and convincing (including wigs, theatrical clothing, makeup, fake fangs, and fake nails), but adventurers can see through the ruse with a successful DC 14 Wisdom (Insight) check.
The leaders of the gang, Uktarl Krannoc and Harria Valashtar, were lovers once, but their relationship soured recently. They’re fed up with each other, and each is plotting to eliminate the other and take control of the gang. Harria is the likely winner of this conflict, because she recently acquired a
flesh golem that wandered up from level 2. Struck by Harria’s resemblance to its creator, the golem has been pressed into service.
The Undertakers are aware that
bugbears and
goblins are spying on them. If they encounter adventurers whom they can’t extort or defeat, the bandits try to orchestrate a conflict between the adventurers and the goblinoids, which they hope will get rid of one or both groups.
Xanathar Guild
Nine
bugbears (five of them under the control of
intellect devourers) represent the Xanathar Guild on this level. They’re charged with keeping adventurers from reaching the lower levels and thereby interfering with guild business. With the help of several
goblins, the bugbears have set up guild watch posts in areas 23, 28, and 39.
The bugbears and their goblin minions are plotting to kidnap one of the leaders of the Undertakers and take that person back to
Skullport to have an intellect devourer implanted in their skull, so that Xanathar can take control of the bandit gang. The bugbears have been spying on the bandits and will shortly begin testing their defenses. They are frightened by the
flesh golem, though, and will offer to grant safe passage to any adventurers who promise to dispose of it. The bugbears don’t keep their end of the bargain, but the goblins readily will do so out of self-preservation if all the bugbears and intellect devourers are dead.
Wandering Monsters
Monsters wander this level in search of food or treasure. These creatures include
black puddings,
carrion crawlers,
ghouls,
giant spiders,
goblins,
stirges, and
wererats. If adventurers take a long rest on this level or pass through here after it has been cleared, there is a 50% chance that they will face an encounter on the table below.
Carrion Crawlers
Three
carrion crawlers, one creeping along the floor and two attached to the ceiling, approach and attack the first adventurers to come within reach of their mucus-coated tentacles. If a carrion crawler paralyzes an adventurer with its tentacles, it continues to make bite attacks against that adventurer on subsequent rounds as it feeds. The carrion crawlers are too stupid and hungry to flee in the face of certain death.
Goblin Skull Hunters
Pibble and Groin, two argumentative
goblins with no affiliations of note, are scouring the dungeon for intact skulls to claim as trophies. Their constant bickering can be heard up to 60 feet away, and they flee when confronted by adventurers. If one or both goblins are captured, they can lead adventurers to the nearest Xanathar Guild watch post as well as describe its defenses, since they have observed the comings and goings of the guild’s goblinoids for some time.
Shield Guardian
The Dungeon Level is home to a meandering, defective
shield guardian operating under the delusion that it’s a wizard’s apprentice, even to the extent of pretending to cast spells. The guardian returned to this level after its wizard master perished while exploring level 4; the shield guardian’s amulet can be found there (level 4, area 16a). A rune on the shield guardian’s head matches a rune inscribed on the back of its amulet.
When the shield guardian sees adventurers, it wastes its actions on feeble gesticulations that suggest it’s trying to cast harmful spells at them. It reverts to making normal attacks only if one or more adventurers enter its reach and make melee attacks against it. If adventurers keep their distance and avoid harming the shield guardian, it ends its “attack” after a few rounds and wanders off, looking for other denizens to terrorize.
Exploring This Level
1. Entry Well
At the bottom of the Yawning Portal entry well is a dark, 40-foot-square room.
The only exit appears to be a tunnel that leads south before bending west (there’s also a one-way secret door to the north). A thin layer of sand covers the floor. Dented, rusty
shields adorn the walls, which are also covered with graffiti.
A one-way secret door built into the north wall can’t be opened from the south without the aid of a
knock spell or similar magic. Anyone who finds the secret door also notices a 1-inch-diameter hole bored through it at a height of 5 feet. On the north side of the secret door, a
human bandit quietly listens at the hole for sounds of newcomers descending the shaft. Upon hearing creatures enter the area, the bandit retreats to warn its confederates in areas 6, 8, and 9. Adventurers in the room can hear the bandit’s soft, retreating footfalls with a successful DC 20 Wisdom (Perception) check.
A search of the sand yields two
iron spikes, an empty
waterskin, a
tinderbox, a pair of pants sized for a Medium humanoid, and a cookbook entitled
Overlooked Sausages (15 dragons), dropped by a frightened adventurer.
Sixty old shields hang on the walls; they break apart if disturbed in any way. Written in blood on the wall, concealed behind one of the shields, is the following message in Elvish: “Beyond the pillar forest, the Mad Mage waits. Casting spells behind magic gates.”
2. Hall of Many Pillars
At the west end of a 20-foot-wide hall (area 2a), stairs descend 10 feet to a room lined with pillars (area 2b). Similar staircases descend into the room from 10-foot-wide tunnels leading north, west, and south.
2a. Demon Carvings
Every 10-foot section of the wall has a 9-foot-high, 4-foot-wide, 3-inch-deep door-shaped alcove containing a carving of a
demon. Each carving depicts a different kind of demon. A
kenku skeleton lies on the floor, one of its thin arms pointing toward a carving of a
nalfeshnee demon on the south wall (
Halaster artfully placed the skeleton here to help adventurers find the secret door to area 3).
The carvings on the north wall of area 2a depict (from east to west) a
balor, a
barlgura, a
chasme, a
dretch, a
glabrezu, a
goristro, and a
hezrou. The carvings on the south wall depict (from west to east) a
marilith, a nalfeshnee, a
quasit, a
shadow demon, a
vrock, and a
yochlol. The alcove that contains the nalfeshnee carving has a secret door leading to area 3. The alcove that contains the dretch carving has another secret door, which leads to area 4. The dretch carving has half-inch spy-holes for eyes. These holes are detected when the secret door is found.
2b. Pillar Forest
Two
bugbears hide behind pillars (each bugbear is host to an
intellect devourer in its skull cavity). The skeleton of a
giant constrictor snake coils up the top half of the northernmost pillar. The snake skeleton is harmless and falls apart if disturbed, clattering loudly as it hits the floor. The words “Certain death this way!” are carved in Common on the southeast wall, with an arrow pointing toward the southern exit.
The bugbears detect the approach of adventurers with the aid of the intellect devourers’ Detect Sentience trait and therefore can’t be surprised. As intruders approach their location, the bugbears withdraw down the southern tunnel and circle around to warn the goblinoids in area 23 of intruders. The bugbears know the perils of the western tunnel (area 21) and avoid it. Anyone whose passive Wisdom (Perception) score equals or exceeds the bugbears’ Dexterity (Stealth) checks notices the hiding or fleeing bugbears.
When a bugbear drops to 0 hit points, the intellect devourer in its skull teleports out to seek a new host.
An inspection of the southernmost pillar reveals a loose stone in its base. Behind the stone is an empty compartment, its contents discovered and plundered long ago.
3. Slanted Room
A secret door opens to reveal an empty 10-foot-square cubicle with a 5-foot-wide tunnel of rough-hewn stone leading away from it. The tunnel descends slightly until it reaches a room that smells like a sewer.
The floor of the room tilts - its west end is 6 feet lower than its east end. Foul sewer water covers the floor, barely reaching the east wall but deepening by 1 foot for every 10 feet of travel westward. A wide alcove in the north wall contains a life-size statue of a
sahuagin, submerged up to its chest in sewer water. The statue emits a dim purple radiance, its head is completely turned around, and one of its arms has broken off and is nowhere to be seen. A
psychic gray ooze lurks beneath the murky water, north of the statue (it’s invisible while underwater).
The
ooze uses its Psychic Crush action option to attack anyone who approaches the statue.
The purple aura around the sahuagin statue is harmless, and casting
dispel magic on the statue removes it. The statue’s arm broke off long ago and rests now against the west wall, concealed beneath the dark water.
The statue’s head is hollow, with holes for eyes and a larger hole for its fanged mouth. Further inspection reveals that the head has screw threads and is removable. Previous adventurers managed to unscrew it halfway before being scared off by the gray ooze. Unscrewing and removing the head exposes a hidden, charred compartment in the statue’s neck. The compartment contains melted wax from candles that were used to illuminate the statue’s head like a jack-o’-lantern.
The water seeps through cracks in the ceiling of the alcove, drips down the walls, and accumulates in the west end of the room before slowly leaking out through smaller cracks in the floor. The water is warm, and not fit for drinking unless a
purify food and drink spell is cast on it.
4. With Sword in Hand
An unadorned wooden armor stand rests in the middle of the room, with a faintly glowing
longsword stabbed into it. At the base of the stand lie the skeletal remains of a hand, amid stains of dried blood. Echoes of distant voices occasionally fill the room, emanating from 10-inch-long, 5-inch wide vents in the ceiling. A secret door leading south is obvious from this side (no ability check required). It has two eye-holes bored into it at a height of 5 feet, allowing a creature to peer into area 2a beyond.
The longsword is easy to remove from the armor stand, requiring no ability check. A
detect magic spell reveals that the sword is a magical
longsword of vengeance. The sword is cursed and possessed by a vengeful spirit. The skeletal hand on the floor belonged to the
orc who last held the sword.
Vent shafts in the ceiling connect to shop cellars in the city above. These passages carry voices from Waterdeep, but the sound is distorted so badly that words at one end can’t be discerned by creatures at the other end. If the grills that cover the vent shafts are pried loose, a Tiny or gaseous creature could crawl through a shaft to escape Undermountain.
5. Grell Hideout
At the end of a long hall is a 50-foot-square room with five pillars made of mortared humanoid bones, painted black. Two
grells float in separate alcoves to the north and the east. The floors of the alcoves are littered with the gnawed bones of past meals (mostly
goblins and
gricks).
The deep alcoves and black pillars provide cover for the grells. As adventurers move into the room, they can spot one or both grells by succeeding on a Wisdom (Perception) check contested by the monsters’ Dexterity (Stealth) checks. The grells are hungry and eagerly pursue fleeing prey. They have no treasure.
6. Undertaker's Watch Post
Several members of the Undertakers gang dwell here in their
vampire disguises. If the
bandit keeping an eye on area 1 through the secret door retreats here with news of the arrival of adventurers, add that individual to the forces arrayed here (one
bandit captain, six bandits, and two
doppelgangers). Once alerted, these forces gather in area 6a and wait for adventurers to arrive so they can extort money from them.
6a. Hall of Three Lords
Standing atop stone plinths in the middle of the room, facing east, are three 6-foot-tall statues depicting male Waterdavian nobles clad in decorative
plate armor. Lying at the base of the central statue are the bones of a long-dead
hobgoblin and a white wooden
quarterstaff broken in half.
Carved into the stone base of each statue is a name: Elyndraun (south statue), Ruathyndar (central statue), and Onthalass (north statue). These names have been crossed out with
chalk; beneath them, new names have been added in Goblin: Smelly Bottom, Stupid Skull, and Born Toothless, respectively.
A
detect magic spell reveals the faintest, lingering trace of magic within both fragments of the quarterstaff. The quarterstaff can be repaired with a
mending cantrip. The first time the intact quarterstaff is held, it wails, “Help! Thief! Criminal!” before its magic fades forever. If the wailing occurs here, the creatures in areas 6b and 6c hear the noise and come to investigate.
6b. Rigged Secret Door
Piled up against the west side of this secret door, undetectable from the east side, is a stack of old ceramic plates that fall and break when the door is opened, alerting any bandits in areas 6a, 6c, and 6d.
6c. Urktarl's Room
Unless they have been encountered elsewhere, four members of the Undertakers sit around a decrepit wooden table near the door: Uktarl Krannoc (NE
Ulutiun human bandit captain), two
human bandits, and a
doppelganger, all disguised as
vampires. They play cards using a deck that Uktarl carries around, and each has a stack of coins on the table. The entire northern wall is one large stone painting depicting a rugged mountain, hollowed out with caverns containing tiny sculpted figures of
dwarves. Behind the mountain, carved rays of brilliant sunlight fan out to the edges of the wall. Beneath the mountain painting, carved into the floor, is a large stone tub 8 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 2 feet deep.
Uktarl lies and cheats for fun, and he is quick to blame others for his failings as a leader. If he takes damage or sees any of his underlings slaughtered, cowardice compels him to retreat to area 7. The others flee to area 8 and team up with any bandits remaining there.
Anyone who inspects the stone painting and succeeds on a DC 13 Wisdom (Perception) check discovers that one of the tiny dwarf figures is the top of a stone key slotted into a hole that hides its teeth. The key is easily removed from the painting and unlocks the stone box in area 14b. The bandits are unaware of the key’s presence.
Uktarl keeps his
bedroll inside the stone tub, along with a set of
thieves’ tools and enough stolen gear to create one
explorer’s pack.
On the table is a set of
playing cards, stacks of coins totaling 220 nibs, 91 shards, and 85 dragons, and a silver ring (25 dragons) engraved with dwarven symbols commonly associated with fertility and sexual potency.
6d. Sleeping Quarters
Eight
bedrolls are spread out on the floor. Two battered and rusty
oil lanterns, also on the floor, light the chamber. Unless they’re encountered elsewhere, four
human bandits sleep in their bedrolls. A
doppelganger sits on another bedroll, keeping watch.
Each bandit carries 1d6 dragons in a pouch. The doppelganger has no interest in treasure and carries nothing of value.
7. Vampire Haven
These chambers once served as a true
vampire’s lair. The Undertakers use the crypt to hide from the dungeon denizens they can’t rob or kill.
Anyone who finds the secret door leading to this area notices a 1-inch-diameter hole bored through it a few inches above the floor. This hole allowed the ancient vampire to enter and leave its lair in mist form.
7a. Hall of Retreat
If they are forced to retreat to this hall, Uktarl (area 6) and Harria (area 8) make their final stand here, still blaming each other for their failures.
A dozen empty
bedrolls lie on the dusty floor. Faded paintings cover the walls, depicting villagers and farmers being terrorized by a
giant bat.
7b. Crypt
This area contains a cobweb-draped wooden coffin resting on a 2-foot-high block of gray stone. The coffin is intact and has an obvious 1-inch-diameter hole bored into its foot panel. The coffin’s lid is unlocked.
A thin layer of grave dirt inside the coffin has been flattened down, suggesting that a creature once slept here. A
flask of
holy water rests atop the dirt. The coffin is otherwise empty.
8. Bandit Headquarters
Dominating the area is a throne hall (area 8a). Side chambers (areas 8b and 8c) serve as a base for members of the Undertakers, who investigate loud noises in the throne hall.
8a. Hall of the Bone Throne
In the middle of the room lie the bones, skull, rotted leather wing flaps, and stinger of a
wyvern, intermingled with shards of clear crystal. At the south end of this 70-foot-high vaulted room, marble steps form a dais upon which stands a large, high-backed throne made of interwoven, bleached bones. Each of the throne’s bone armrests is carved to resemble a fanged snake. Empty
torch brackets made of grooved, discolored bronze protrude from the walls.
Halaster trapped the wyvern in a floating crystal sphere and left it here as a guardian, but adventurers released and slew the creature long ago. The wyvern’s remains lie alongside the fragments of its crystalline prison.
The throne is impervious to all damage. Its velvet seat cushion serves as the hinged lid of an empty hidden compartment. Whatever treasure the compartment once held was stolen by adventurers long ago.
The throne’s serpent armrests magically animate and bite anyone who sits on the throne or raises the seat’s lid. Each snake makes a single melee weapon attack (+8 to hit) and deals 1d4 + 1 piercing damage on a hit. Any creature bitten by a snake must make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw, taking 7d6 poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. After each snake makes one attack, the armrests revert to their inanimate state until triggered again.
8b. Harria's Room
Unless awakened by loud noises, Harria Valashtar (NE
Illuskan human bandit captain) sleeps on a cot against the south wall. She is disguised as a
vampire but doesn’t wear her fangs while sleeping. A
flesh golem under Harria’s control stands guard in the middle of the room. Other furnishings include a lit
lantern, which rests atop a wooden
chest painted with pictures of clowns; a frayed circular rug; and a folding wooden privacy screen. The chest is unlocked and contains a
disguise kit, as well as a small selection of vampire-themed
costumes and props.
Harria is a greedy, treacherous, and vengeful young woman who considers herself the world’s most underrated actress and singer. She isn’t able to control the golem once it goes berserk, and she retreats to area 7 if things turn bleak.
8c. Masters of Disguise
Sitting in chairs around a long stone table are five
human bandits (members of the Undertakers, all disguised as
vampires) and a
doppelganger (disguised to look like a sixth human vampire). Two glowing
oil lanterns hang from
chains above the table. On the table are three
disguise kits and three
backpacks. Each backpack is stuffed with 11 days of
rations.
Posing as vampires, the bandits and the doppelganger try to extort money from passing adventurers. If that doesn’t work, they attack until it becomes clear they’re outmatched, whereupon they flee to area 6 in search of reinforcements.
Each bandit carries 1d6 dragons in a pouch. The doppelganger has a similar pouch, plus a
tiger eye tucked into its boot.
9. Plundered Halls
This corner of the dungeon sees little traffic, though other adventurers have plundered it in the past.
9a. Pillared Way
Six pillars pockmarked with tiny indentations stretch the length of the hall (the indentations held gemstones, which were stolen long ago). An alcove in the northwest corner contains a rusty pile of armor (the remains of a suit of
animated armor that was destroyed years ago by adventurers).
9b. Rotted Corpse
The maggot-ridden corpse of a dead
human lies facedown on the floor next to a discarded
scimitar, a
light crossbow, and a money pouch.
During a battle to rid area 12 of giant spiders, the Undertakers lost one of their own. They left his body here to rot. A successful DC 10 Wisdom (Medicine) check reveals that the bandit died from spider bites and the ensuing poison. The bandit’s
leather armor is punched full of holes, but his weapons are intact. The money pouch is empty.
10. Cubicle of Skulls
Skulls tumble into the hall when the door to this 10-foot-square room is pulled open. The entire room is filled to the ceiling with the skulls of dead adventurers and other humanoids who crossed
Halaster. Thousands of skulls have accumulated here; they’re harmless, if a bit gruesome. The cubicle contains nothing else.
11. Room of Secrets
A green copper helm with a protective visor lies on the floor, draped in cobwebs. Against the back wall, atop a marble riser, stands a slender throne also made of green copper and covered with cobwebs.
There is nothing remarkable about the copper throne or helm, and neither object detects as magical. But if anyone wears the helm while sitting on the throne, a tube-shaped compartment in the ceiling above opens and a
wand of secrets falls out onto their head (which the helm conveniently protects).
12. Hall of Heroes
Life-size granite statues of
human warriors, facing inward, stand atop two rows of pedestals that run through the hall. The ceiling of this long hall is 20 feet high, arched, and lightly obscured by thick webs. Three
giant spiders lie dead at various points in the hallway, riddled with
crossbow bolts (members of the Undertakers killed them).
The hall holds thirty-eight statues, nineteen in each row. Their nameplates have been severely chipped or defaced, as have many of the statues’ features.
Halaster has placed an elder rune on the double door leading to area 16, set to trigger when the doors are opened. The elder rune targets a random creature in this hall and within 60 feet of the doors.
13. Empty Room
At the end of this hall is a door leading to an empty 10-foot-square room.
14. Little Box of Horrors
Halaster has placed some nasty surprises in this corner of the dungeon.
14a. Sloping Tunnel
This room is empty. The north tunnel gradually slopes down 20 feet to area 14b.
14b. Heart in a Box
The room’s domed ceiling is 15 feet high at the edges and 30 feet high in the middle. The dome is filled with sizzling
acid that defies gravity as it floats 15 feet above the floor. An 8-foot-tall statue of a four-armed fish monster (a petrified
sahuagin baron with no
trident) stands in the middle of the room, facing north. Its webbed hands clutch an ornate, 1-foot-square stone box with a lid and a keyhole. At the north end of the east wall is a secret door.
The acid floating in the domed area overhead is held there by magic. Opening the stone box without using the proper key causes the acid to fall. When the acid falls, each creature in the room takes 2d10 acid damage. Any creature that starts its turn in the acid takes the same damage again. The acid floods the room to a depth of 5 feet and flows 40 feet out into the hall leading back to area 14a before slowly draining out through tiny holes in the floor, losing 1 foot of depth per minute.
The box can be unlocked and opened while the statue holds it. Prying it from the statue’s grasp requires a successful DC 20 Strength (Athletics) check and causes the petrified sahuagin baron to revert to flesh, attacking with its teeth and claws.
The box’s key is hidden in area 6c. The box can also be opened with a
knock spell or unlocked with
thieves’ tools and a successful DC 15 Dexterity check. Opening the box without the proper key, however, causes the acid overhead to plunge.
The box’s interior is lined with thin sheets of lead to thwart certain forms of divination magic, including the
detect magic spell. Inside the box is the dry, withered heart of a tiefling wizard (see area 24b). A
detect magic spell reveals an aura of necromancy magic around the heart, while an
identify spell or similar magic reveals its magical properties. A creature that has a heart in its own body can attune to the withered heart as though it were a magic item. When it does so, the withered heart switches places with the attuned creature’s living heart, which has the effect of killing the creature instantly. The creature’s living heart then withers and dies, and it gains the same properties as the tiefling’s heart, allowing it to be passed on in the same way.
14c. Secret Room
This 10-foot-square room is empty.
15. Armory
Cobwebs enshroud rows of old weapon racks, many of which have collapsed under their own weight. A door in the south wall has a
handaxe embedded in it.
Although its presence might be mistaken for a warning, the handaxe is ordinary and signifies nothing. It can easily be pulled free from the door.
Behind the door with the handaxe is a 10-foot-square room with a 1-foot-thick, 5-foot-diameter stone sharpening wheel set into the floor. Pressing down on a stone pedal previously turned the wheel, but the mechanisms under the floor have seized up with age, and the wheel no longer turns.
16. Manticore Den
Three
manticores dwell here. They immediately attack anyone who isn’t
Halaster or his “food
troll” (see area 18). Three large piles of soiled, torn tapestries and curtains, intermixed with humanoid bones and broken bits of stone, serve as beds for the manticores. If adventurers leave after killing the manticores and later return, they find one of Halaster’s scrying eyes floating in the middle of the chamber. It studies them for a minute or two before disappearing without a sound.
A search of the manticores’ nests yields the following: a
chain shirt, a
flail, a wooden flute (2 dragons), a pouch containing 14 shards and 29 nibs, a pouch containing 21 dragons, and a silver necklace with a
bloodstone pendant (250 dragons).
17. Stone Temple Pileup
A wide foyer (area 17a) leads to a desecrated temple that feels more like a tomb (area 17b).
17a. Foyer
The desiccated corpse of an unusually large
basilisk lies in the middle of the floor on its back, its shriveled tongue hanging out and all six feet sticking up in the air. Clutched in one of its clawed feet is a transparent orb.
The basilisk was killed by previous adventurers and left here. Anyone who inspects the corpse discovers that the basilisk died from wounds consistent with weapon attacks and destructive spells. Two
giant centipedes reside in the corpse. If the basilisk is disturbed, the centipedes emerge and attack the nearest creature.
The basilisk clutches a
driftglobe. The creature’s claw must be pried open to release the globe.
17b. Desecrated Temple
The ceiling is 60 feet high. Eleven lifelike statues in a variety of poses are clustered together in the south end of the room (these statues are petrified creatures). Alcoves along the walls once held six statues, but five of them lie toppled and smashed to pieces on the floor. The sixth statue, located in the middle alcove along the east wall, remains intact and appears to be made of glistening black stone (the sheen is due to a
black pudding that coats the statue).
The black pudding is held in stasis by
Halaster’s magic. The stasis ends and the pudding attacks if it is touched or harmed.
The statue’s stone features are impossible to discern while the black pudding covers it. Once the pudding sloughs off, anyone who succeeds on a DC 15 Intelligence (Religion) check realizes that the statue depicts
Gond, the god of invention. Anyone who worships Gond automatically succeeds on the check. The five toppled statues once depicted other gods, but now they lie smashed beyond recognition.
The assembly of petrified creatures includes five unfortunate adventurers (a male
human, a male
half-orc, a female
elf, and two male
halflings) and six unlucky monsters (two
kobolds, three
goblins, and a
carrion crawler). All are partially eaten and die if they are freed by the
greater restoration spell or other magic.
A copper crown with six arrowhead-shaped
malachite spires (75 dragons) hangs from one of the carrion crawler’s stony tentacles.
18. Troll's Den
A filthy, 30-foot-square room lies at the end of a long hall, and a putrid stench fills both the room and the hallway.
A voracious
troll hunkers in the room’s southwest corner and attacks interlopers on sight. It can’t be surprised by adventurers who are noisy or who approach with uncovered light sources.
Halaster charmed the troll so that once a day it is compelled to fetch food from area 19a and deliver it to the
manticores in area 16. A successful
dispel magic cast on the troll (DC 15) ends the charmed condition on it but has no effect on its vile disposition. The troll pursues any fleeing prey.
19. Ye Olde Feast Halls
These rooms each have two 20-foot-long, 5-foot-wide stone tables standing in the middle of the room, flanked by stone benches. Iron rods designed to hold tapestries are bolted to the walls near the ceiling of each room. The tapestries have long since turned to dust, leaving the rods bare.
19a. Servents' Feast Hall
This room reeks. A
detect magic spell reveals auras of conjuration magic around the tables. Every day at dawn, piles of rotting meat materialize atop the tables, courtesy of
Halaster. Sometime between dawn and dusk, the
troll in area 18 visits the room, spends an hour devouring half of the meat, and dutifully delivers what’s left to the
manticores in area 16.
19b. Guards' Feast Hall
Under one of the tables in this room is a copper
tankard with a hinged lid (25 dragons).
19c. Nobles' Feast Hall
The door to this room doesn’t open easily. Inside, propped against the door, is the maggot-eaten corpse of a female
dwarf adventurer wearing tattered
leather armor and a matching leather skullcap. In one skeletal hand, she clutches a
dagger; in the other, an empty tin
flask. On a bench in the room is her
burglar’s pack, complete except for the
lantern and the flasks of
oil.
20. Beyond the Green Door
Set into the wall of a dead-end tunnel is a door made of green wood. Mounted on the front of the door is a cast-iron carving of a smiling, bearded face. Although vaguely sinister in appearance, the ornament is harmless, as is the door.
Behind the door is an empty 10-foot-square room.
21. Hall of Mirrors
Alcoves, each 3 feet deep, line the north and south walls. Mounted on the back wall inside each one is a large, oval glass mirror in a heavy stone frame - sixteen mirrors in all. The blackened end of a burnt-out
torch lies on the floor in the middle of the corridor.
Five of the sixteen mirrors are magical and radiate auras of illusion magic while in the area of a
detect magic spell. When a humanoid passes between the two westernmost mirrors, a
shadow duplicate of that creature emerges from each of those mirrors. These duplicates are hostile toward all creatures except each other. A duplicate reduced to 0 hit points or targeted by a
dispel magic spell vanishes in a wisp of inky smoke. Otherwise, each duplicate disappears after 1 minute. The shadows can’t create more undead shadows.
Three other mirrors are empty frames containing illusory glass that has no substance. These false mirrors conceal small shelves that are carved into the walls behind them. Casting
dispel magic on one of these mirrors ends the illusion and reveals the hidden shelf beyond.
Two of the shelves are bare. The third holds a bronze mask molded to resemble
Halaster’s visage (50 dragons).
22. Empty Room
A few burned
torch stubs and discarded potion
bottles suggest that adventurers stop here from time to time, perhaps to rest. The room is otherwise empty.
23. Worg's Eye Watch Post
The Xanathar Guild maintains a watch post here, called “Worg’s Eye” by the bugbears that command it. The goblinoids stationed here, two bugbears and fifteen
goblins, can’t be surprised if they know trouble is on the way. If the two
bugbears in area 2b managed to make it this far, add them to the roster of enemies.
23a. Nimraith's Fate
Six bored
goblins play here. The goblins have turned a
human skeleton into a marionette and dangled it from ropes attached to the ceiling so that they can make it dance around the room. The goblins chant “Nimraith! Nimraith! Nimraith!” as it bobs about. Two halves of a cloven wooden
shield lie in the room’s northwest corner. Each half of the cloven shield has letters etched into it. One half reads “Nimr.” The other reads “aith.”
The goblins fearfully obey the
bugbears in area 23b. If their leaders are killed, the goblins flee to area 28 (by way of areas 24 and 25).
Held together with moldy string, the yellowed skeleton is all that remains of Nimraith, a human adventurer who perished in Undermountain over a century ago.
23b. Shattered Statue
Two
bugbears stand guard. Each bugbear has an
intellect devourer in its skull cavity. The
goblins in the adjoining room (area 23a) are noisy enough to be heard here. The remains of a shattered statue lie in the middle of the room (the bugbears are trying to reassemble it).
The bugbears detect the approach of adventurers with the aid of the intellect devourers’ Detect Sentience trait and therefore can’t be surprised. When a bugbear drops to 0 hit points, the intellect devourer inhabiting its skull teleports away to seek a new host.
This nonmagical statue has broken into seventeen fist-sized chunks of black stone (restoring it will take the bugbears a month). Anyone who succeeds on a DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check can ascertain what the statue depicted: three male
human warriors standing together on a stone mound, facing outward and clutching swords.
23c. Goblin Den
Unless the watch post is on alert, nine
goblins sleep on the floor, their weapons and
shields in easy reach.
The goblins fearfully obey the
bugbears in area 23b. If their leaders are killed, the goblins flee to area 28 (by way of areas 24 and 25).
24. Halls of Hopelessness
Goblins and
bugbears pass through these rooms often. No creatures live here, however.
24a. Old Gate
Two stone pillars with a 10-foot-wide arch between them support the 20-foot-high ceiling. Near the base of each pillar are the skeletal remains of two
orcs (adventurers killed and robbed these four orcs long ago, leaving nothing of value).
One of
Halaster’s magic gates once stood between the pillars but was destroyed during the Spellplague. The gate’s destruction left behind a lingering aura of wild magic that can be perceived with a
detect magic spell. When a creature passes between the pillars, roll a d12 and consult the following table to determine what happens.
| d12 | Effect |
|---|
| 1-2 | The creature must make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw against the lingering magic, taking 4d10 force damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. |
| 3-7 | Nothing happens. |
| 8-11 | The creature, along with anything it is carrying or wearing, turns invisible for 1 hour. The effect ends if the creature attacks or casts a spell. |
| 12 | For the next 24 hours, each nonmagical weapon carried by the creature glows with a faint purple light and becomes a +1 weapon. |
24b. Dead Mage
Moldy bones have been swept into a deep alcove in the south wall. Hanging from rusty manacles on the back wall of an alcove to the east is a
tiefling skeleton missing its legs. Written on the wall above the skeleton in dried blood are the following words in Infernal: TALK TO ME.
A tiefling mage was cast out of Dweomercore, the secret academy on level 9, for spell theft and for being a suspected agent of the Arcane Brotherhood (a society of renegade wizards based in
Luskan).
Halaster killed the tiefling as a precaution and hung its skeleton here as a macabre decoration. If a
speak with dead spell is cast on the skeleton, it answers whatever questions it must to satisfy the conditions of the spell and then intones, “Look for the little
dwarves under the mountain! One of them hides the key to my heart!” This clue refers to the stone painting in area 6c and the magic heart in area 14b.
25. Excavation Site
Goblins in league with the Xanathar Guild dug a tunnel that connects a dead-end hallway (area 25a) with a partially collapsed hall (area 25b).
25a. Dead Goblin
A dead
goblin lies on the floor (a
bugbear caved in its skull for falling asleep on the job). Three
pickaxes and two
shovels rest atop piles of rubble at the mouth of a 5-foot-wide, 5-foot-high tunnel that meanders through the collapsed stone.
25b. Headless Statue
Half-buried in stone debris at the north end of this partially collapsed hall is a headless stone statue of a nude woman. Anyone who takes time to clear the rubble finds the statue’s head, which resembles the head of a cobra with its fangs bared.
26. Clean Tunnels
These tunnels are 10 feet high with flat ceilings. They’re swept clean on a regular basis by the
gelatinous cube that adventurers first encounter in area 26c.
Halaster has also placed a gate to level 10 here (see area 26d).
26a. Hall of Many Candles
The hall is brightly lit by flickering tallow
candles that float in shallow alcoves along the walls. The candles produce heat but no smoke. The corridor is noticeably free of dust and debris.
Each of the twenty-five alcoves contains two lit candles. Although wax runs down the sides of the candles, it never drips off them onto the alcove, nor do the candles ever seem to be diminished or consumed.
A
dispel magic cast on any candle causes all the candles to extinguish, then fall to the floor and break upon impact. A candle taken from its alcove becomes an ordinary candle that doesn’t float and burns down as any normal candle would.
26b. Empty Closet
Behind this door is an empty, 10-foot-square room.
26c. Ooze Your Janitor?
Just around this corner is a
gelatinous cube. The first creature to walk around the corner is surprised by the cube unless that creature has a passive Wisdom (Perception) score of 15 or higher.
26d. Mirror Gate to Level 10
This tunnel comes to a dead-end, mounted on the north wall of which is a mirror gate to level 10. Worked into the mirror’s stone frame is the graven image of a
human wizard wielding a wand. The rules of this gate are as follows:
- The gate opens for 1 minute when the mirror is touched with a magic wand that has at least 1 charge remaining.
- Adventurers must be 11th level or higher to pass through this gate. The first creature to pass through the gate triggers an elder rune.
- A creature that passes through the gate appears in area 8 on level 10, in the closest unoccupied space next to the identical gate located there.
27. Hidden Demiplane
Carved into the back wall of this room is a shallow alcove containing a sculpture of a nude, heavyset man playing a
harp. Lying on the floor of the room is a broken half of a 10-foot
pole.
Close inspection of the sculpture reveals the following inscription carved into the harp, in Common: "Gaze upon me with bronzed visage, and secrets shall I reveal."
A
detect magic spell reveals a strong aura of conjuration magic in the alcove. Anyone who steps into the room wearing the bronze
Halaster mask found in area 21 is transported to a demiplane. Any nonmagical object anchoring the character to the Material Plane, such as a rope or a pole held by another creature, is sheared or snapped off as the character crosses the threshold.
The demiplane looks like a 30-foot-square stone room.
A mist-filled open doorway leads back to the dungeon alcove on the Material Plane. The other half of the broken 10-foot
pole lies on the floor just inside the doorway. Hanging upside down on one wall is a tall, wood-framed painting of
Halaster Blackcloak. Seated in a high-backed oak chair in front of the painting is a simulacrum of the Mad Mage himself (created by the
simulacrum spell).
When it meets an adventurer for the first time, Halaster’s simulacrum says, “Well, don’t just stand there like a fool. Ask me three questions about Undermountain. Two of my answers will be true, and one will be false.”
The simulacrum knows everything that Halaster knows and makes good on its offer, answering the first question with a lie and the second and third questions with the truth. After answering three questions, it turns to slush and is destroyed. The simulacrum won’t provide any additional information and can’t leave the demiplane. The demiplane remains even after the simulacrum is destroyed.
Removing the Halaster mask does not affect the demiplane. By tossing the mask through the misty doorway, anyone inside the demiplane can enable others to use it to enter from the Material Plane.
28. Grick Snack Watch Post
The Xanathar Guild maintains a watch post here, called “Grick Snack” by the
bugbears that command it. Two bugbears and six
goblins are stationed in this area.
28a. West Chamber
Two
bugbears stand guard in this empty room. When confronted by any threat, they retreat along the curved northern tunnel to area 28c, gather reinforcements, and make their stand in area 28b.
A secret door in the north wall opens into a tunnel leading north. The watch post defenders are unaware of it.
28b. Obelisk of the Eye
In the north end of this room stands a 14-foot-tall granite obelisk with a lidless eye carved near its top on the south-facing side. The bottom half of the obelisk is covered with dirty, bloody handprints. Wide alcoves surround the obelisk to the west, north, and east. They contain a dozen
goblin beds made of bundled rugs and torn fabric (the beds have nothing of value).
A
detect magic spell reveals a faint aura of divination magic surrounding the obelisk, and the goblinoids believe (incorrectly) that Xanathar can see through the obelisk’s eye to keep watch on them.
The first adventurer to touch the obelisk with a bare hand receives the following telepathic message in Common: “I cast my eye into the future and see in yours a perilous descent. South of here, beyond a secret passage, waits the Two-Headed King. Look to his left. There you will see the path you are destined to take.” These words seem to emanate from within the obelisk and are meant to sound soothing, but anyone who hears the words can discern a hint of subdued madness in them with a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Insight) check (the obelisk was created by
Halaster and sounds just like him). The obelisk’s “vision” refers to the secret passage at area 38, the two-headed statue in area 39a, and the stairs west of the statue that lead down to level 2.
Casting
dispel magic on the obelisk renders it nonfunctional. Toppling the obelisk requires a successful DC 25 Strength (Athletics) check and causes it to break into myriad pieces on the floor.
28c. East Chamber
Unless they are led elsewhere, six
goblins cower behind broken halves of a stone table tipped on its side (they peer around the table’s edges with their bows aimed at the rough-hewn tunnel leading east). Lying on the floor between the goblins and the tunnel are two dead goblins (one headless) and a dead
grick, riddled with goblin
arrows. A secret door in the north wall opens into a tunnel leading north and east. The watch post defenders are unaware of it.
The goblins have orders to kill any gricks that emerge from the eastern tunnel. Having lost several of their companions to the gricks in area 36, the goblins are jittery and afraid for their lives.
28d. Concealed Spike Pit
The 10-foot-square section of floor at the end of this tunnel doubles as the lid of a 30-foot-deep pit with stone spikes at the bottom. Any creature weighing 50 pounds or more that stands on the lid falls into the pit as the lid swings open, taking 3d6 bludgeoning damage from the fall and 2d10 piercing damage from the spikes. The lid remains open for 1 hour, then automatically snaps shut as the trap resets.
Anyone searching the tunnel for traps spots the pit with a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check. Hammering spikes between the edges of the lid and the surrounding walls keeps the pit from opening.
A dead
goblin is impaled through the head by a spike at the bottom of the pit. A
scimitar,
shortbow, and a
quiver with 9
arrows lie near the goblin’s impaled corpse. The dead goblin also has a lucky charm: a dried
dwarf thumb.
29. Eye See You!
Sixteen old
shields bearing emblems from long-forgotten
human,
dwarven, and
elven realms hang on the north and south walls of this tunnel. As adventurers traverse the corridor, a large floating eye surrounded by glowing motes of light appears ahead of them. This is one of
Halaster’s scrying eyes. It studies the adventurers for a minute or two before disappearing without a sound.
30. Mad Elemental
This area consists of a zigzagging hall (area 30a) and a guard room (area 30b). A berserk
air elemental is trapped here. Its howls can be heard throughout the area.
The elemental can tell when someone opens the door at either end of the zigzagging hall or the secret door in the guard room. As soon as it hears a door open or feels a slight change in air pressure, it rushes toward the open doorway, attacking all creatures in its path.
30a. Zigzagging Hall
This hall was designed to thwart archers by reducing their line of sight. Other than a few scattered bones on floor, it contains nothing of interest.
30b. Guard Room
Lying on the floor is a battered helm, a tattered suit of
leather armor, two halves of a shattered wooden
shield, a rusty
longsword, a rotting
quiver, several broken
arrows, and a
longbow with a snapped string.
A secret door in the west wall leads to a dusty tunnel that connects to area 31.
31. Delver's Hall
A female
Tethyrian human wererat named Sylvia Featherstone scours the hall in her
giant rat form. Cobweb-covered statues of
dwarves stand atop 2-foot-high pedestals in alcoves (one of the northernmost statues has been pushed aside, leaving grooves in the floor and clearing a path to a secret door that opens into a tunnel connecting with area 30b).
If cornered, Sylvia assumes her hybrid form and claims that she is searching the dungeon for food. If accused of lying, she explains that she is looking for treasure to buy food in Skullport (which is another lie). In fact, Sylvia is one of Xanathar’s spies and is searching for secret doors that lead to unexplored areas of the dungeon - information the
beholder considers valuable. If threatened, she tries to rejoin her companion in area 35. If captured, she takes every opportunity to try to escape. She wears no armor, carries no weapons, and has nothing of value on her. She is familiar with levels 1, 2, and 3 of Undermountain but lies about what’s there unless magically compelled to speak the truth.
32. VIP Suite
The Melairkyn
dwarves built these rooms for honored guests in the Underhalls. The door to this suite is carved with the image of a stern, heavily armored dwarf warrior locked in a defensive stance behind a
shield.
32a. Empty Bedchamber
Every wall of this empty room is carved with a floor-to-ceiling painting of a cavern wall, giving the room a cave-like quality.
32b. Bathroom
The southern half of the room contains a sunken basin with a drain at the west end and a stone drain plug nearby. A heavy stone spigot sticks out of the south wall above the basin.
Surprisingly, this facility still works. When the spigot is turned, clean, hot water pours into the basin. The water is supplied and heated by natural sources below.
33. North Dormitory
Carved into the walls, 2 feet off the floor, are eleven bare stone shelves meant to serve as beds. Each shelf is 7 feet long and 3 feet deep with an arched ceiling 4 feet above it.
34. South Dormitory
This room is identical to area 33 except for one detail: lying in one of the beds is an
elf skeleton draped in cobwebs. It wears
hide armor and clutches an oak
quarterstaff, both in serviceable condition.
35. Hall of Rats
The door to this room hangs slightly ajar, and the sound of squeaking
rats emanates from within.
Ten
giant rats scour the room for food. An obese giant rat is sleeping on the seat of a crumbling stone throne that stands on a dais opposite the door (this creature is a male
Tethyrian human wererat named Flyndol Greeth in his giant rat form). Not visible from the door are two semicircular fountains built into the south wall, one in each half of the room.
Flyndol Greeth is a lazy wererat who serves Xanathar out of fear, not loyalty. He’s waiting for his companion, Sylvia, to return (see area 31). If threatened, Flyndol commands the giant rats to cover his escape. If escape is impossible, he surrenders but won’t give his captors any useful information unless they charm him. He carries nothing of value.
Each fountain consists of a blue marble basin enclosed by a 1-foot-high stone retaining wall with drainage holes on the inside of the rim to prevent overflow. Carved above each basin is a bas-relief of a
dwarf’s face with an open mouth. Water from an underground river once flowed out of the mouths and into the basins, but no longer. Both basins are dry, and the dwarves’ stone beards are stained and discolored.
36. Lost Halls
These halls are connected by 5-foot-wide, tube-like passages of rough-hewn stone that slope up and down. Dust hangs in the air here.
36a. Gricks!
Two
gricks in the middle of this partially collapsed hall attack all who enter. The floor is littered with small rocks and pebbles, broken statuary, and jagged chunks of masonry big enough to crush a man’s skull.
36b. Trapped Fellow
Five
gricks lurk in the diagonal hallway to the south. They attack all who enter. The sound of weeping comes from behind a closed door in the west wall (leading to a 10-foot-square closet). A small hole has been drilled through the middle of the door.
An adventuring party called the Fine Fellows of
Daggerford descended into Undermountain one tenday ago. One of its members, a thief named Kelim the Weasel (NE male
Tethyrian human spy), wandered off, snuck into this corner of the dungeon, found a
spellbook left behind by a long-dead adventurer, and inadvertently aroused the gricks. With his escape route cut off, Kelim sealed himself in the closet to avoid being eaten. He drilled a small hole in the door so that he could peer out of it and get some fresher air. He wants to sneak out while the gricks are asleep or distracted, but he’s too scared to leave. He has been without food or water for two days.
If rescued, Kelim gives his saviors his stolen spellbook as a token of gratitude. Beyond that, he’s an unreliable coward who will betray anyone to save his own skin. He doesn’t know where the rest of his adventuring party is (see level 2) and doesn’t seem to care.
The stolen spellbook contains the following spells:
blight,
burning hands,
comprehend languages,
darkvision,
dispel magic,
false life,
feign death,
gust of wind,
invisibility,
lightning bolt, and
sleep.
Kelim also carries an
explorer’s pack (with its perishable supplies mostly depleted) and a pouch containing 5 suns, 24 dragons, and 4 shards.
36c. Upside-Down Thrown
A
grick alpha is coiled up in the southernmost section of the room and appears to be asleep. The creature recently gorged itself on goblins and is not hungry. If adventurers stay at least 10 feet away from it and cause it no harm, it ignores them. Directly above the grick, on the 20-foot-high ceiling, is an upside-down stone throne, seated upon which is a mummified
minotaur with gems embedded in its eyes. A
greataxe lies at the foot of the throne. Stone debris is strewn across the floor and ceiling. A secret door is hidden in the east corner of the north wall. The gricks can’t open it.
The top half of the room is under the effect of a permanent
reverse gravity spell. The effect takes hold of any creature or object more than 10 feet off the floor. A successful
dispel magic (DC 18) ends the effect, causing creatures and objects on the ceiling to fall if there’s nothing to counteract the effect of normal gravity on them.
The mummy is inanimate, and its greataxe is nothing special. One of the gemstones in the mummy’s eyes is a
banded agate, the other a
zircon.
37. Map Room
Four members of an adventuring party called the Fine Fellows of
Daggerford rested here several days ago. An argument between them turned violent, leading three members to kill and dispose of the fourth.
A 30-foot-wide, floor-to-ceiling map is carved into the west wall. In the middle of the room is a 10-foot-square open pit. A
revenant is trapped in the pit and can be heard moving around inside it. A secret door is hidden in the south wall. It opens into a curved tunnel (area 38).
This elaborate image is a cross-section map of Undermountain, with what is clearly Mount Waterdeep and the City of Splendors at the top, and twenty-three hollowed-out dungeon levels stacked below it. Each dungeon level has its own stylistic side view, but no names or details are included to suggest what a level is called or what it contains. Three features stand out, and close inspection reveals that these are buttons that can be pressed:
- Next to the third level is a carving of a flaming skull. This carving represents Skullport. Each time this button is pressed, a magical, disembodied male voice fills the room and says in Common, “Gate access to Skullport disabled.”
- Next to the sixteenth level is a carving of a comet. This carving represents Stardock, the asteroid orbiting Toril that is connected by a gate to level 16. Each time this button is pressed, a magical, disembodied male voice fills the room and says in Common, “Gate access to Stardock from level 16 only.”
- Next to the twenty-third (lowest) level is a carving of a tower with a tiny rune engraved above it. This carving represents Halaster’s extradimensional tower, and the tiny glyph above it is Halaster’s rune. If this button is pressed, a magical, disembodied male voice fills the room and says in Common, “Gate access to Halaster’s Tower from level 23 only.”
The open pit used to be 30 feet deep, but now the bottom 10 feet of the hole are filled with stone rubble. Its sides are smooth and can’t be ascended or descended without magic or climbing gear.
When a
half-elf cleric of
Waukeen named Halleth Garke accused his adventuring companions of withholding treasure from him, the other members of the Fine Fellows of Daggerford (not including Kelim in area 36b, who had already wandered off) beat Halleth to death and threw his body into the pit. Halleth “awoke” the next day as a revenant, compelled to find and kill the three who murdered him. Unfortunately for him, he is unable to climb out of the pit without assistance and has been pacing down there for days.
If adventurers pull him up, Halleth points to the secret door in the south wall and offers to join the party until he locates his “friends,” a
shield dwarf named Copper Stormforge and two
humans named Midna Tauberth and Rex the Hammer. Halleth no longer has access to his cleric spells, and his companions stole his gear (including his
holy symbol), along with a wholly incorrect map of the Sargauth Level (level 3). He is willing to let adventures keep the map once they help him confront his killers and retrieve it. He believes the map is authentic and accurate. When the three Fine Fellows die, Halleth becomes a corpse again. See level 2 for more information on Halleth’s killers.
38. Secret Tunnel
This curved corridor is hidden behind secret doors and connects areas 37 and 39. Humanoid footprints in the dust suggest that a lot of traffic passes through here.
39. Big Ears Watch Post
These chambers house the level’s main Xanathar Guild watch post, called “Big Ears” by the
bugbears that command it. The watch post’s defenders include three bugbears, nineteen
goblins, and two
ettins.
39a. Hall of the Two-Headed King
A deformed granite statue stands on the east side of a large stone column, facing eastward. West of the statue, stairs descend 200 feet to level 2 (these stairs are not immediately visible to anyone entering through the secret door). The sound of squabbling
goblins emanates from a tunnel leading north.
The statue is life-size and depicts a
dwarf king standing atop a 3-foot-high stone pedestal. Sprouting from the king’s neck is a deformed, mostly featureless second head with an elongated, toothless mouth. The inscriptions on the pedestal have been worn away. On the king’s brow rests an engraved stone circlet, and his large hands grasp the handle of a stone
warhammer, the head of which is planted at his feet.
Halaster used
stone shape spells to create the statue’s second head and rub away the inscriptions on the pedestal. Even the Mad Mage is unaware, however, that the statue hides a secret. Anyone who examines the statue and succeeds on a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check notices that the king’s warhammer is a separate piece of stone that can be rotated. When the warhammer is turned so that the weapon’s backside faces forward, the pedestal rises another 3 feet, revealing an open cavity that contains a magic circlet identical to the one worn by the statue - but fashioned from gold rather than stone.
The gold circlet is a
circlet of blasting.
39b. Bugbear Den
Three
bugbears sit in the middle of the floor, eating from a sack of dead
rats and
stirges. One of them has an
intellect devourer in its skull, which is controlling it like a puppeteer. Because of the intellect devourer’s Detect Sentience trait, the bugbears can’t be surprised by other creatures. When the intellect devourer’s host drops to 0 hit points, the intellect devourer teleports away to seek a new host.
39c. Goblin Hall
Nineteen loud, mean, starving
goblins bicker and fight over scraps of moldy food in this long hall. A twentieth goblin lies dead on the floor, the victim of an argument that ended badly.
39d. Old Forge
Two
ettins, a female named Krung-Jung and a male named Bokk-Nokkin, live in this foul-smelling room. Branded on each of their foreheads is the symbol of Xanathar: a circle with ten equidistant spokes radiating outward from it and a dot in the center. A blackened forge dominates the north wall. The magic that once heated the forge expired long ago. The ettins keep their treasure inside it. An iron anvil stands atop a 3-foot-high circular stone dais in front of the hearth. Hanging above the anvil from thick iron
chains is a 7,000-pound stone
hammer, 10 feet long and 8 feet wide. Carved into one side of its stone head are the Dwarvish runes for earth and water; the other side is carved with similar runes for air and fire. A 10-foot-wide, 20-foot-long, 2-foot-high slab of stone dominates the southeast corner of the forge. The ettins’ latest trophies - two dead and rotting
carrion crawlers - lie atop it.
The ettins lived in the Underdark until Xanathar’s minions found them. The brands on the ettins’ foreheads signify their servitude under the
beholder.
Stored at the back of the forge are two large sacks. One sack contains 1,400 nibs and 350 shards. The other contains 120 iron ingots worth 1 shard each. Each ingot weighs 1 pound and is stamped with a hammer on one side and an anvil on the other.
40. Fearful Mimicry
This T-shaped hall has three alcoves, two to the north and one to the south. In each alcove is a beautifully carved granite statue depicting an 8-foot-tall, helmed
elf warrior hefting a
spear. Stone rubble is piled up behind the statue in the southernmost alcove. The spear held by this statue appears to be made of gold.
Both this statue and its spear are a
mimic. The creature uses its fake gold spear as a lure. It knocked over the original statue and pushed the broken pieces into the back of the alcove, assuming the shape of the statue afterward.
41. Cracked Ceiling
A 5-foot-wide, 30-foot-long, 45-foot-deep crack has opened in the middle of the 30-foot-high ceiling, spilling rubble onto the floor. Twenty
stirges roost at the top of this fissure. Old
pickaxes and
shovels are stored in two stone wheelbarrows parked in the northwest corner.
The stirges hang like bats in the ceiling fissure and descend en masse to feed on creatures that make too much noise or shine light up at them.
Bugbears come here occasionally to catch and kill stirges for food.
Aftermath
Defeating the Undertakers means that future parties of adventurers can explore this level of the dungeon without paying tolls for safe passage. The gang’s removal, however, also allows
bugbears,
goblins,
wererats, and other Xanathar Guild operatives to set up new watch posts in the bandits’ former hideouts.
Destroying the Xanathar Guild outposts makes this level a much safer place for a while, but it also spells the end of the force that kept the
grells, the
gricks, and other predatory monsters in check. Such creatures begin to expand their territory, occasionally bumping up against one another with predictably bloody results.
One thing that never changes is the steady influx of new blood from the Yawning Portal. At any time, another group of adventurers might descend to seek their fortune in Undermountain.
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