Description
General feature
Unless otherwise noted, each area of Entropis has the following features:
Ceilings. The vaulted halls of Vecna’s tower have 30-foot-high ceilings.
Doors. All doors are made from exquisitely decorated adamantine. They are 10 feet high and 1 foot thick.
Magical Tower. The tower’s ceilings, walls, and floors are enchanted to maintain the tower. Any damaged walls and floors immediately regrow and repair themselves at the start of the next turn of the creature who damaged them.
Noise. Vecna has designed their tower to prevent travel of sound, both to ensure a productive study environment and prevent eavesdropping. Creatures in one area can’t hear creatures outside that area.
Protective Ward. Except for Vecna, creatures can’t teleport into the tower from outside it or pass through the tower doors or walls using supernatural means (such as a passwall spell).
The welcome
This antechamber welcomes the Lich lord’s esteemed guests. It has the following features:
- The walls of this circular chamber are decorated in delicate wooden filigree, and glowing flowers bathe the room in gentle light.
- An adamantine door shimmers on the east wall, flanked by a pair of enormous dragon status. Elvish hymns emanate from the status.
- The welcome is home to a pair of death knights.
Death Knights. Sealh and Salix, twin death Knights, act as Vecna’s gatekeepers. They treat all arrivals in the antechamber as honored guests but are secretly skeptical of unexpected parties. A character can convince the knights to grant them entry without an appointment by succeeding on a DC 25 Charisma (Deception, Intimidation, or Persuasion) check. If the character fails the check or is caught trying to sneak further into the tower, the knights attack, fighting until destroyed.
Statues. A detect magic spell reveals that the statues radiates an aura of necromancy magic. When a creature who isn’t a Fiend or Undead looks at the statues, they must make a DC 20 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the target becomes powerfully hexed. Whenever a creature hexed in this way takes damage, they take an extra 11 (2d10) fire damage. Only a heal spell or similar magic can remove the hex. On a successful save, the target is immune to the statue’s effects for 24 hours.
Gallery
The door to this area from the welcome is locked by the arcane lock spell and trapped. The door has no mechanical locks, but it can be forced open with a successful DC 25 Strength check. Vecna and his death knights in the Welcome in the welcome can unlock the door. The door has AC 23, 36 hit points, a damage threshold of 10, and immunity to poison and psychic damage.
The symbol spell with the death effect (save DC 22) has been cast on the side of the door facing the welcome. When a creature who isn’t one of the knights or Vecna touches this side of the door, the symbol is triggered.
This area has the following features:
- This room contain a maze of paining and spectral illusion depicting Vecna's glory.
- The sound of childish laughter fills the halls, as spectral images of young elves chase each other.
Spectral Children. The illusions depict Vecna fondest memories of childhood, acting out a scene every 5 minutes.
The first illusion depicts Vecna at school with other elf children; Vecna raises a hand to answer their teacher’s question before anyone else.
In the second, Vecna leads a recital of an ancient elven play.
In the final area, a teenage Vecna whispers a promise while holding their best friend’s hand. A character who succeeds on a DC 22 Wisdom (Perception) check overhears the illusionary Vecna whisper, “We’ll seize eternity together, Aethilen.” The name Aethilen is one of the passwords used to open the phylactery sanctum (area L8).
War Room
The war room celebrates Vecna’s martial accomplishments. It has the following features:
- A company of undead soldiers stand guard along the walls.
- A 15-foot-diameter table with an intricately detailed map of the continent stands at the center of the room. Miniature figures mark the locations of Vecna's culist.
- Statues of elves ready for battle stand around the room. Most depict the same elf in various heroic poses, but one statue shows a different elf, bowing to the other statues.
Guards. Four undead guard this chamber. If the characters have permission to be in the tower, the undead tell the characters to wait below in the gallery for High Mage Vecna to see them. If the characters refuse to leave the area, the undeads attack. Before attacking, one of them opens the door to the armory and calls for reinforcements, allowing a death knight to join the fray.
Map Table. The miniatures depict Vecna’s cult current status, and plan for conquest.
Statues. Most of the statues depict Vecna. A character who succeeds on a DC 18 Intelligence (History) check recognizes the bowing statue as Lieutenant Kas, a renowned Lieutenant queen who fought with Vecna. The name Kas is one of the passwords used to open the door to the phylactery sanctum.
Armory
The tower armory has the following features:
- A statue of Vecna's lieutenant, Kas wearing a gold medal and wielding a spear and shield stands at the north end of the chamber.
- (If the death knight from this area wasn’t pulled into combat in the war room) A death knight inspect racks of swords, polearms, and longbows.
Quartermasters. Unless the undead in the war room called for reinforcements, a death knight inspect the weapons in this chamber.
Statue. A detect magic spell reveals that the statue radiates an aura of necromancy magic. When a creature who isn’t a Fiend or Undead looks at the statue, they must make a DC 20 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the target becomes powerfully hexed. Whenever a creature hexed in this way takes damage, they take an extra 11 (2d10) fire damage. Only a heal spell or similar magic can remove the hex. On a successful save, the target is immune to the statue’s effects for 24 hours.
Treasure. The weapon racks contain twenty longswords, twenty longbows, twenty quivers that each hold twenty arrows, ten halberds, and ten pikes. The statue holds a spellguard shield bearing the crest of Lorien. The statue’s gold medal is worth 500 gp and embossed in Elvish text that reads, “Given by Vecna in recognition of the valor of Kas, now named Vecna's Lieutenant.” The name Kas is one of the passwords used to open the phylactery sanctum.
Library
This area has the following features:
- Skull with coninual flames are placed over shelves filled with hundreds of books and scrolls.
- A desk covered in candles and a century’s worth of melted wax dominates the west side of the room.
- (Secret) The melted wax conceals a trapped drawer in Vecna’s desk.
- (Secret) A secret door in the north wall hides a staircase that leads to Vecna's treasure.
Desk. A character who inspects the desk notices that the melted wax covers a desk drawer. The wax can be cleared away with 10 minutes of work. The drawer is trapped with a canister of flesh-melting gas connected to the bottom and front of the drawer by a chain. When the drawer is pulled open, the canister is pulled apart. A creature who succeeds on a DC 19 Intelligence (Investigation) check notices the chain. A character who succeeds on a DC 19 Dexterity check using thieves’ tools disarms the trap, but on a failed check, the trap triggers.
If the trap is triggered, the canister releases its gas, and each creature in the library must make a DC 20 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes 55 (10d10) necrotic damage and spends ten Hit Dice, if available, without any benefit. On a successful save, a creature takes half as much damage and suffers no other effect.
The drawer contains Vecna’s diary from before their obsessions set them on the path to undeath. The final few pages discuss Vecna’s defeat of devil Geherel and her discovery of the Book of Vile darkness. The name Geherel is one of the passwords necessary to open the phylactery sanctum.
Secret Door. A character who succeeds on a DC 23 Intelligence (Investigation) check notices the outline of the secret door.
Treasure. Most of the books discuss arcane theory and the history of the kingdom of Lorien. A character who searches the collection for 10 minutes finds a spell scroll of forbiddance, a spell scroll of mirage arcane, and a spell scroll of scrying.
Mortuary
Vecna conducts their necromantic experiments in this chamber. It has the following features:
- The north of this chamber is filled with alchemical and arcane tools and supplies scattered over several tables.
- Blood and grim covers much of the floor, but where the floor is bare, glimpses of a circle of magical runes peek through.
- To the south, four beds hold corpses in varying states of decay, and beside them stand tables of dissection tools and embalming jars. Plants have enveloped one of the corpses.
- (Secret) One has been implanted with a cursed seed.
Necromancy Tables. When a living creature gets within 5 feet of the corpses, the corpse engulfed by plants erupts into a thornblood and attacks.
Alchemical Experiments. A creature who examines the supplies on the tables in the north end of the chamber and succeeds on a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check notices the supplies are unstable and explosive. The first time any of the tables take force, fire, lightning, or thunder damage, the supplies on all of them explode. Each creature within 20 feet of an exploding table must make a DC 20 Dexterity saving throw, taking 44 (8d10) force damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
Magic Circle. Vecna uses this circle to summon and bind their undead soldiers. A character who succeeds on a DC 20 Intelligence (Arcana) check knows that the circle allow Vecna to create new undeads loyal to the lich.
If a creature casts dispel magic on the circle as a 9th-level spell, or if they cast that spell at any level and succeed on a DC 19 ability check using their spellcasting ability, the circle loses its magic.
The circle has AC 19, 50 hit points, and immunity to fire, poison, and psychic damage. If destroyed, the circle unleashes a wave of magic. Each creature within 10 feet of the circle must make a DC 20 Dexterity saving throw, taking 55 (10d10) force damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
Treasure. The north tables hold a potion of flying, a potion of invisibility, and a potion of mind reading.
Vecna’s Treasures
This area has the following features:
- “Four exquisite wooden chests, each decorated in golden filigree, sit in this hall.”
“At the south end of the hall, a thick adamantine door is carved with intricate Elvish script.”
(If any characters can read Elvish) “The inscription reads, ‘Speak three names that made me.’”
(Secret) The chests are trapped and teleport creatures to Vecna’s winter throne (area L9).
Chests. A detect magic spell reveals that each chest radiates an aura of conjuration magic. A creature who succeeds on a DC 23 Intelligence (Investigation) check finds that each chest has a minuscule arcane symbol carved into its side. If a creature casts dispel magic on a chest as a 9th-level spell, or if they cast that spell at any level and succeed on a DC 19 ability check using their spellcasting ability, the chest loses its magic and its trap is disarmed. Alternatively, a creature who succeeds on a DC 23 Dexterity check using carpenter’s or thieves’ tools carefully scratches the symbol out and disables the chest’s trap. On a failed check, or if a creature other than Vecna opens a chest, the chest’s trap is triggered.
When a creature triggers a chest’s trap while Vecna is alive, the creature is teleported to the winter throne (area L9). When a creature triggers a chest’s trap once Vecna is destroyed, they are teleported 300 feet directly up into the air outside the tower.
Vault Door. The door to the phylactery sanctum is magically sealed and immune to all damage. It can be opened only by speaking the three names Vecna has chosen as the password: Aethilen, Phadanar, and Geherel. The characters can learn the name of Aethilen, Vecna’s best friend, in the gallery and area L2. They can learn the name of Phadanar, Vecna’s commander, in areas L3 and area L4. Finally, they can learn the name of Geherel, from whom Vecna learned about lichdom, in the library.
Vecna’s Treasures. The wooden chests contain the bulk of Vecna’s collected wealth.
Vecna’s Hoard
The most valuable spoils of the lich’s conquests are kept in the chests in his treasure room. The hoard contains the following items:
- Spear of Gael Wode
- Well of many worlds
- 2 feather tokens (tree)
- Tube of sovereign glue
- Tube of universal solvent
- Spell scroll of astral projection
- Spell scroll of geas
- Spell scroll of symbol
- Magical inks for scrolls and spell books (worth 5,000 gp)
- Obsidian hourglass that only flows in moonlight (worth 10,000 gp)
- Painting of Vecna in their prime, which repaints itself if damaged (worth 10,000 gp)
- Archdevil’s quill that can only write lies (worth 20,000 gp)
- Assorted rubies, sapphires, and emeralds (worth 20,000 gp in total)
- Glowing platinum diadem (worth 20,000 gp) set with four astral sapphires (each worth 10,000 gp) and a large
- diamond (worth 25,000 gp)
- Golden scepter and orb (worth 35,000 gp)
- 214,475 gp and 10,103 pp
phylactery Sanctum
This area has the following features:
- This octagonal chamber has sheer icy walls.
- A stone pedestal in the room’s center bears a sphere of ice.
- (Secret) The icy sphere and pedestal are protected by a glyph of warding.
One Last Horror. Vecna cast a 9th-level glyph of warding spell on the phylactery. It triggers when a creature touches the phylactery and succeeds on the Constitution saving throw to avoid dropping to 0 hit points, casting the true polymorph spell (save DC 22) on the creature and turning them into a camel. The glyph also triggers if a creature other than Vecna touches the stone when the lich’s soul isn’t within it
phylactery. The pedestal in the center holds Vecna’s phylactery. Inside the phylactery’s ice sphere are the frozen hearts of Vecna and their best friend Aethilen.
If Vecna is destroyed but their phylactery is intact, their soul retreats into the stone. While Vecna’s soul is in the stone, a creature who can see the stone at the start of their turn must succeed on a DC 20 Charisma saving throw or be charmed by the stone until the end of their next turn.
While charmed in this way, the creature must do everything in their power to move toward and touch the stone, avoiding obvious hazards.
If a creature touches the stone while Vecna’s soul is inside, the creature must make a DC 20 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the creature drops to 0 hit points and Vecna reforms with all their hit points in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the phylactery. On a successful save, the creature loses half their hit points and Vecna reforms with half their hit points in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the phylactery.
The phylactery has AC 19, 50 hit points, and immunity to all damage except force and thunder.
Vecna's Throne
Frozen Pool. This 20-foot-diameter pool of magic ice is used by Vecna to cast the scrying spell, thereby gathering the intelligence necessary to plan their conquests. The pool is difficult terrain, and a detect magic spell reveals that it radiates necromancy magic. When a creature who isn’t Vecna touches the pool for the first time on a turn or starts their turn touching it, they must succeed on a DC 22 Constitution saving throw or take 19 (3d12) necrotic damage and fall prone.
The ice has AC 21, 100 hit points, and immunity to necrotic, poison, and psychic damage. If a creature casts the dispel magic spell as a 9th-level spell, or if they cast that spell at any level and succeed on a DC 19 ability check using their spellcasting ability, the ice loses its magic and melts into a puddle of water.
Hallow Spell. Vecna has cast the hallow spell on this chamber, except it allows Fiends and Undead to enter. In addition, any creature who isn’t a Fiend or Undead who enters the chamber is subject to the spell’s Energy Vulnerability effect (save DC 22), giving them vulnerability to necrotic damage.
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