The Canopic Being

• An Adventure for 13th-level Characters

• Developed & Edited by Scott Fitzgerald Gray & Christopher Perkins

• Written by Jennifer Kretchmer

In this adventure, the player characters investigate the disappearance of a Candlekeep sage and disrupt the plans of a mad oracle bent on domination.

_The Canopic Being_arrived at Candlekeep nine months ago, wrapped in yellow cloth embroidered with the image of an eye. It was delivered with a handwritten note reading, “As fate wills it,” signed by Xemru Thaal, a high priest of Savras, god of divination and fate. As preservers of the teachings of Alaundo the Seer, the Avowed of Candlekeep were keen to study what they expected to be a book exploring the divinatory arts. When its horrific contents were revealed, _The Canopic Being_was relocated to the library’s vaults, where it currently resides.

The book is the record of a ritual that allows the transplanting of a mummy lord’s organs into living vessels to forge a dark connection between donor and recipient. The end of the book contains a list of those recipients—which includes the names of all the characters.

Beginning the Adventure

This adventure begins with the characters being tasked with finding a Candlekeep scholar who has not returned from a research expedition to the distant eastern realm of Tashalar. The characters can be in Candlekeep already doing research of their own, or they might be summoned there if they are known to the library and its scholars.

Read or paraphrase the following when you’re ready to begin the adventure, replacing Great Reader A’lai Aivenmore with another scholar of the characters' acquaintance if you so choose:

A’lai Aivenmore’s mood is dark as they pace before you. “Mayastan Sadaar, one of our finest sages, had been studying a particular tome, held in the vaults.” So saying, A’lai gestures to a book on a cluttered desk whose cover appears to be of made translucent crystal.

A’lai describes the book as a treatise on dark rituals and tells how it arrived at Candlekeep as a donation from a high priest of Savras. She talks of how Mayastan came to her, clearly bothered by something she had read in The Canopic Being, and saying that she wanted to continue her research with the help of the oracle of the House of the All-Seeing Orb in Tashalar, east of Chult. Mayastan went there by way of teleportation. Shortly after Mayastan left, A’lai consulted the tome, hoping to gain some sense of what was troubling the sage.

A’lai pushes the book toward you, opening it to a page near to the end that is filled with a list of names in a half-dozen different hands. Across the top of the page in the rushed script that fills the rest of the book is written the legend: “Those Who Have Been Bestowed—The Willing Sacrifices.” At the bottom of the page is Mayastan Sadaar’s name—followed by the names of each of you.

Book Description

The Canopic Being has a cover and spine made of thin crystal sheets, with gems that represent eyes embedded in them. Every so often, the eyes move, shifting their gaze between different locations. The book’s pages are edged in a protective crystalline finish and filled with a hurried, nearly illegible scrawl. Xemru Thaal’s note (see the accompanying area player handout) still accompanies the book and is tucked in an envelope that bears the seal of the House of the All-Seeing Orb, a temple of Savras in Tashluta, the capital city of Tashalar.

The book describes rituals relating to the creation of a mummy lord. One is a unique and horrific process by which a mummy lord’s organs, normally stored in sacred canopic jars during mummification, can be magically preserved and transplanted into living humanoids. The transplant recipients come under the control of the mummy lord, either as living supplicants or mindless golems through which the mummy lord can see and speak. The book also hints of a ritual that can free a servant after the mummy lord is destroyed.

The last page of the book appears to be a list of those who have undergone this rite to become a mummy lord’s servants—but it also includes the names of the missing Candlekeep sage and of the characters.

Named by an Oracle

Before arriving at Candlekeep, The Canopic Being was stolen from the person who has most recently made use of it. Valin Sarnaster is an honored oracle of Savras, based in the House of the All-Seeing Orb in Tashalar. In accordance with visions she experienced years before, the oracle has embraced undeath by becoming a mummy lord, using the rituals described in the book. The list of names in the back of the book is written by many hands, since it includes creatures bonded to other mummy lords before the tome came to Valin. The names Valin has added at the end are those of the oracle’s current and intended victims, as seen in her visions:

• Alessia Baseer, Valin Sarnaster’s longtime attendant (and the unwitting custodian of Valin’s heart)
• Xemru Thaal, the high priest who sent the book to Candlekeep (now a golem serving Valin)
• Zeren Zoradius, a human mage (who now serves Valin as a golem)
• Okuzor, a tiefling gladiator (and another of Valin’s golem servants)
• Mayastan Sadaar, the dragonborn sage
• Each of the characters, using whatever names they are best known by

The sections that follow have more information on Valin Sarnaster’s servants.

Player Handout: Xemru’s Note

Author’s Note

When we began this journey, only the oracle of the All-Seeing Orb, the great Valin Sarnaster, had an inkling where it might lead. It is my honor to have been selected as the first donor and recipient. By giving Valin a piece of myself and receiving a piece of her in return, I can help the fate of the world unfold as she has foreseen.

It is my honor to protect the oracle in her sanctuary, ensuring that only donors and recipients may visit her. I have no need of the rite of reclamation, for I believe in the vision and perfection of Valin Sarnaster.

For clarity’s sake, I offer this record of the procedures performed on the donors and recipients, whose fates and organs are now bound to the oracle. May she serve the All-Seeing for centuries to come.

In transparency,

Xemru Thaal, High Priest of Savras

House of the All-Seeing Orb, Tashluta

Mission to Tashluta

A’lai Aivenmore asks the characters to travel to the city of Tashluta in Tashalar, find Mayastan Sadaar at the House of the All-Seeing Orb, and bring her back. The First Reader has no proof that Mayastan is in danger, but the implications of her name appearing in The Canopic Being are alarming. A’lai expects that the characters have their own reasons to investigate, having seen their names in the book. If they need further incentive, she offers the party 5,000 gp or the future services of Candlekeep to undertake the mission.

Mages at Candlekeep can set up the characters' journey by casting the teleportation circle spell to reach a permanent teleportation circle at the House of the All-Seeing Orb. This is the same destination to which Mayastan Sadaar traveled the previous day.

House of the All-Seeing Orb

Tashluta is the busy port-city capital of Tashalar, set between sea, mountains, and jungle. It is a welcoming stopover point for travelers, merchants, and traders in the south. Tashalar is a land known for warm, breezy weather, bright, flowing garments, and spicy, delicious foods. It is also famous for the obsession its citizens have for divining the future; most Tashlutans claim to have some amount of skill with personal prognostication.

One of the most notable sights in Tashluta, the House of the All-Seeing Orb is an immense compound dedicated to the study of magical divination. Clerics, mages, and other scholars work at the institution’s Celestial Observatory, its Library of Ultimate Truth, and its College of Divination.

When the characters arrive at the temple, read or paraphrase the following:

The teleportation circle is surrounded by a courtyard garden and several buildings. The day is warm, with a mild breeze. Yellow-robed sages and priests, some carrying tomes or mysterious-looking magic devices, bustle about the immense compound. The largest building is patterned with inscribed eyes. A larger, more detailed eye is carved above the building’s main doorway.

The large building is the compound’s main temple, home to the priests and oracles of Savras. Despite its elaborate exterior, the interior of the temple is simple, containing only an altar, modest living quarters, a kitchen, and a dining area. The building’s only noteworthy feature is its reflecting pool, which is filled with holy water.

Entering the Temple

When the characters enter the temple, read:

Several priests are present in the temple, all with a third eye tattooed on their foreheads, and all wearing simple yellow robes belted at the waist with a sash. Many carry elaborately carved and decorated staffs. Some are at work sweeping or scrubbing the temple’s floors, while others gaze into scrying bowls or scrutinize tea leaves.

The priest who sits at the largest table has her tattooed eye decorated with gemstones. Her dark green hair is close-cropped, with a mark shaved into it that matches a sigil on her cherrywood staff. She looks up toward you as she pours from a steaming pot of tea.

“More visitors from Candlekeep. Most delightful. I trust that your journey was not too taxing?”

The figure with the bejeweled third eye is Shir Endellion (a lawful neutral human priest), currently the highest-ranking official in the temple. While engaged in her divinatory studies a tenday ago, she foresaw the arrival of both Mayastan Sadaar and the party, but she does not know the purpose of the characters' visit.

If the characters join her, Shir offers them tea, then calls for fine Tashlutan wine, pastries, and other finger foods to be delivered to the table. The priest knows the following information, which she is happy to share:

• Mayastan arrived yesterday, intending to speak with the oracle Valin Sarnaster. The sage was taken to Valin’s sanctum and has not returned.
• Valin Sarnaster is known to all who serve Savras, and her works have long been an inspiration. She has lived alone for decades now, so that the influence of the outside world will have no effect on her divinatory abilities.
• If The Canopic Being is discussed, Shir doesn’t recognize the name of the book. If its contents are described, she is horrified, but she says that the dark rituals the book describes have nothing to do with Savras’s work. If she is told that Xemru Thaal sent the book to Candlekeep nine months ago, she has no idea why that happened.
• If the characters ask to see Xemru, Shir says that the high priest went through the portal to visit Valin eight months ago and has not come back. Messages received from him through Valin’s attendant, Alessia, say that he continues to study with Valin and plans to remain with her for the foreseeable future. (Xemru accepted the future in which he saw himself becoming Valin’s servant. But a sense of misgiving caused him to send The Canopic Being to Candlekeep as evidence of what Valin had become—as Valin had already foreseen.)
• Valin lives in a secret sanctum, since she would otherwise be sought out by too many people seeking her wisdom and counsel. A portal hidden in the temple complex is the only means of reaching her. The oracle sends her attendant, Alessia, through the portal regularly to convey and receive messages.
• Three other people have traveled through the portal to seek Valin’s guidance within the past three months: Zeren Zoradius, a human mage; Okuzor, a tiefling gladiator; and Mayastan Sadaar, the Candlekeep sage. As with Xemru Thaal, none of the other visitors have yet returned.

The Oracle’s Portal

Behind the main temple stands a nondescript and locked shed, within which is the portal that leads to Valin’s sanctum. The shed is quietly watched at all hours by faithful acolytes, and an alarm spell regularly cast on the door by the temple’s mages sounds out if the door is opened by anyone except Shir Endellion or Alessia Baseer (see area area T1 of Valin’s tomb). Shir and Alessia carry keys that can unlock the door from inside or outside. The door can also be unlocked with a successful DC 25 Dexterity check using thieves' tools, or forced open with a successful DC 25 Strength (Athletics) check.

The shed holds unused gardening equipment and has a hidden trapdoor that can be found with a successful DC 18 Wisdom (Perception) check if not revealed by Shir. Below the trapdoor is a 5-foot-diameter stone-walled well with a sturdy wooden ladder. The well descends 20 feet before opening up into a 40-foot-square chamber whose walls and floor are worked stone. The portal that leads to Valin’s sanctum is on the wall opposite the well’s ladder.

The plain gray stone of the wall diffuses into a swirling ellipsoid of blue-and-white light, edged by translucent crystals. From across the room, the portal resembles an enormous eye.

This portal is a permanent magical effect set up by Valin Sarnaster. It connects to the crystalline demiplane that serves as the mummy lord’s tomb.

What Is and What’s to Come

The presence of the characters' names in The Canopic Being points to the mummy lord oracle, Valin Sarnaster, having seen them in visions of the future. The particulars of that future and the oracle’s interest in the characters is left to your determination.

Valin has long plotted to usurp the role of Savras, acquiring power through her dark rituals that will enable her to become a new demigod of fate. In her visions, she has seen that the characters will thwart her plans—so she has arranged the events that cause them to come to her, so she can end their threat before it begins. In the course of their fight to expose and destroy Valin, the characters might gain glimpses of the future or hear coded threats from her about the fate she sees for them. Especially if your campaign is built around an epic story line, these oracular insights can help you foreshadow what’s to come.

Valin’s Tomb

Valin’s tomb exists on its own demiplane. The site was once a temple and was long abandoned until the oracle’s magic rediscovered it. It is filled with the signs and symbols of Savras, but whether it was built as a temple to the god or whether it was constructed by Savras when he was still a mortal, not even Valin has been able to determine.

The former temple is built entirely of clear, sparkling crystal. Though the complex has its own gravity and is not fully transparent, moving through it can sometimes create the unsettling sense of floating in space.

Characters who look outside the temple see the demiplane beyond as a shifting space of glowing crystals. The demiplane does not enter into the adventure, and its full details are left to your determination.

Valin’s Victims

If a creature dies after one of its vital organs is replaced by Valin’s organs, it can be returned to life by a wish spell or in one of the ways described below.

Rite of Reclamation: A ritual known as the rite of reclamation involves claiming some of the dust of Valin’s body after she has been reduced to 0 hit points. The ritual describes a process for mixing the dust with wax to create a magic candle, then floating the lit candle in a vessel of holy water. If a creature imbued with one of Valin’s organs spends an entire long rest within 5 feet of the candle, the candle is consumed, Valin’s organ is destroyed, and the creature’s missing organ is restored. The rite of reclamation is known to Valin and detailed on a scroll found in area area T5. The characters might also be able to learn the ritual through research or a side quest.

Replacing What’s Lost: A more direct restoration can be undertaken if the creature imbued with one of Valin’s organs has been killed and the characters have access to the creature’s original organ. Removing Valin’s organ from the creature’s body reveals it to be shriveled, glassy, and pulsing with unnatural life. If the creature’s original organ is replaced within 1 hour of its death at the same time Valin’s organ is destroyed, the creature returns to life immediately as if targeted by a resurrection spell. A character who removes one of Valin’s organs from a dead host creature and succeeds on a DC 17 Wisdom (Medicine) check intuits how this process works.

Canopic Golems

Three of the creatures that have received Valin’s organs—Okuzor, Xemru Thaal, and Zeren Zoradius—have been transformed into canopic golems by the dark rituals the oracle learned from The Canopic Being. Valin can see through these golems' eyes and can speak through them as she wishes. Mayastan Sadaar, the Candlekeep sage, would have become a golem if she had not destroyed her transplanted organ and died. Her body is in area area T7.

Organ Recipients

Tomb Features

Valin’s tomb has the following features:

• Walls and Floors. The crystal from which the temple was constructed glows with a bright light that fills all areas, even as it allows the characters faint glimpses of what lies beyond it. The magic of the walls obscures certain features, however, so that secret passages and rooms can’t be seen from outside them. The crystal that makes up the tomb can’t be damaged by any means available to the characters.
• Ceilings. Hallways and smaller chambers in the tomb are 15 feet high with flat ceilings. The ceilings in larger chambers are 20 to 30 feet high.
• Doors. All doors in the tomb are made of crystal, and most of them are unlocked. A character can use an action to try to open a locked door, either by using thieves' tools and succeeding on a DC 20 Dexterity check, or by forcing open the door with a successful DC 25 Strength (Athletics) check. A door has AC 15, 60 hit points, and immunity to poison and psychic damage.
• Eyes of Savras. The walls of the tomb are adorned with decorative eyes that serve as magical sensors, following the movements of visitors who explore the site. Valin Sarnaster controls the eyes, which have truesight out to a range of 120 feet and allow her to surveil the characters from anywhere in the tomb. She must maintain concentration (as if concentrating on a spell) to do so. The eyes are free-floating in area area T9 and are prevented from functioning in area area T3.
• Extradimensional Interference. The tomb is warded against teleportation, and creatures inside it can’t travel using teleportation or by extradimensional or interplanar means.

Tomb Locations

The following locations are keyed to the map of the tomb of Valin Sarnaster.

T1. Portal

The portal beneath the House of the All-Seeing Orb brings the characters to this location. The portal is not affected by the wards against teleportation magic that fill the tomb.

Stepping through the portal brings you into the center of a square room, its walls, floor, and ceiling made of glowing crystal set with images of unblinking eyes. A crystal door stands closed, but you can just make out the long corridor beyond it, and a lone, yellow-robed priest of Savras waiting for you.

As the characters move around in the room, the eyes in the walls turn to follow them.

The guard is Alessia Baseer, a lawful good human priest of Savras (see the “area Alessia Baseer” sidebar). A premonition of someone arriving through the portal brought her here to await the characters. When she sees them, she assumes they have been summoned by or have important business with Valin, and she freely answers any questions put to her.

Power of Disbelief

Alessia scoffs in response to a suggestion that Valin might be involved in improper activities or evil plots, and insists that the characters will know better once they speak with her. If the idea that Valin might be a mummy lord is mentioned, Alessia confirms that she sees the oracle regularly and that Valin appears quite normal. (This is a product of the mummy lord’s diadem, which functions as a hat of disguise.)

Having escorted all the recent visitors to the temple, Alessia is under the impression that they are communing with Valin in the observatory of fate (area area T9). She explains that time passes differently in the observatory, making it not unusual that those visitors have apparently been gone from the world for months. (This is a lie told to her by Valin.) She thus does not understand that the canopic golems have been created from Valin’s visitors. She has not been through area area T7 in a few days, and so likewise does not know Mayastan Sadaar’s fate.

Alessia’s Aid

Alessia does not wander the temple except as directed by Valin, who sends orders to the attendant through her canopic golems. She tells the characters that they have free run of the temple, and that they will find Valin when fate determines it. She does warn them against the dangers they might face in certain areas, including the mirrors of fortune (area area T3), the testing chamber (area area T4), and the phasing passage (area area T7). She also knows why the sword hilt has been hidden in the dais in area T4, but does not share that information until Valin’s true nature is revealed to her.

With suitable roleplaying or a successful DC 15 Charisma (Persuasion) check, Alessia agrees to escort the characters through area T3, but then returns to her quarters (area area T2).

Alessia keeps the key to her quarters and the key to the portal door on a leather thong around her neck.

T2. Alessia’s Quarters

The door to this room is locked, and Alessia carries the key.

This room is furnished with a simple cot, a small footlocker, a round table and chair, and a wooden cupboard with one door ajar. Small figurines of cats set along the top of the cupboard are the room’s only decoration. A folding screen obscures the far corner of the room.

Alessia’s collection of cat figurines include sculptures made of glass, ceramic, and wood. She has collected them since childhood, though they are not valuable. The footlocker holds the attendant’s modest personal effects, including a stuffed cat with green button eyes and a bracelet with five charms. One of those charms is the key that unlocks the door to the antechamber (area area T8).

Cupboard

This magic cupboard radiates an aura of conjuration to a detect magic spell. It generates food and drink for Alessia and any visitors to the tomb. It currently contains empty glass flasks, half a loaf of bread, and three peaches.

If the cabinet door is closed, a bell rings. When the door is reopened, the previous contents are gone and the cabinet’s shelves are filled with foodstuffs—fresh bread, dried meat, flasks of clear water, fruit, sweet cakes, and more. Once used, this property of the cabinet cannot be used again for 24 hours.

Folding Screen

The folding screen in the corner of the room conceals a magic self-cleaning toilet.

Alessia Baseer

Alessia’s curly brown hair is tied into a long braid. She is dressed in the simple yellow robes, belted sash, and leather sandals of the priesthood of Savras, and bears the customary third-eye tattoo on her forehead.

Naive curiosity paired with a lack of conversational practice makes Alessia honest to a fault. She remains unaware of Valin’s evil nature—and of the fact that she is the living canopic vessel for Valin’s heart. Alessia’s own heart was removed three years ago as part of the unique ritual described in The Canopic Being. The magic of the ritual allows her to remember being involved in a ceremony that bound her to Valin’s service, but she recalls no details of the transfer. The ritual likewise leaves no physical signs behind.

Personality Trait: “I serve my masters in faith willingly, and I let fate and faith command me.”

Ideal: “I yearn to see the best of all possible futures, so that I can help those futures come to pass.”

Bond: “I faithfully serve Valin Sarnaster, the living embodiment of the divine will and power of Savras.”

Flaw: “I never question orders.”

T3. Mirrors of Fortune

The crystal floor, walls, and ceiling of this room are obscured by hanging mirrors whose brightness intensifies as they catch your reflection.

This chamber was once used by the priests of the temple for meditation, and its magic is still intact. Two-sided mirrors set along the outside walls of this area reflect everything inside and outside it, causing the area to appear empty from the outside. From the inside, the mirrors block the eyes of Savras, preventing Valin from looking within.

The magic mirrors that cover this area and hang as freestanding walls inside it show a super-realistic reflection of everything in the room, including the other mirrors—quickly creating a confusing cascade of images. Any creature that enters the area and can see normally is overwhelmed by multiple visions of itself. Each creature that passes through this area must succeed on a DC 20 Dexterity saving throw or accidentally make contact with a mirror. A creature that makes contact with a mirror for the first time on a turn or starts its turn in contact with one takes 22 (4d10) psychic damage.

A creature that passes through the area without taking damage earns a gift of supernatural insight that lasts until it finishes a long rest. While it has this gift, the creature can roll a d8 and add the number rolled to one ability check, attack roll, or saving throw it makes. The creature can wait until after it rolls the d20 before deciding to use the number, but it must decide before the DM says whether the roll succeeds or fails. A creature can’t gain this gift again until it finishes a long rest.

Creatures that have blindsight or truesight can move through the area normally, as can Alessia. If the attendant leads the characters through the area, she tells them to follow her closely, and doing so grants them advantage on their saving throws.

Secret Panel

A hidden panel along one wall of the room can be noted with a successful DC 25 Wisdom (Perception) check. It slides open to reveal a meditation room (area T3a) that holds a number of rotting cushions and two Potion of Superior Healing.

Hidden Hallway

Any character who has a passive Wisdom (Perception) score of 20 or higher, or who succeeds on a DC 20 Wisdom (Perception) check while moving through the room, notices that one of the mirrors near the corner of the room has a shimmer in its reflections. A creature that touches that mirror takes no damage and causes the mirror to turn sideways, revealing an empty chamber (area T3b) and a hallway that leads to area area T11.

T4. Testing Chamber

The wide corridor you are following leads into a huge square chamber whose only feature is a large crystalline dais at its center.

This area was once used by priests and acolytes to sharpen their mental acuity against harmful psychic energy. Valin has turned it into a formidable hiding place for a powerful weapon.

As soon as any character enters this area, they feel a sudden pulse of psychic energy radiating from the dais, which can’t be sensed from the corridors beyond. The effect of this numbing energy causes any creature in the room to suffer visible tremors and have its speed halved.

A creature that has a passive Wisdom (Perception) score of 18 or higher, or that succeeds on a DC 18 Wisdom (Perception) check made to observe the dais, spots an ornate sword hilt embedded within it (see “Treasure” below). The hilt can be noted automatically by anyone within 5 feet of the dais.

Genie Guardians

Obtaining the hilt requires smashing through the dais, which has AC 18, 50 hit points, and immunity to poison and psychic damage. If the dais is attacked or touched by any creature, two dao wearing bejeweled necklaces are conjured above it and immediately attack any creatures in the room.

On their first turn in combat, the genies target intruders with their phantasmal killer spells, maintaining concentration on these spells for as long as possible while attacking with their mauls on later turns. When a dao dies, its body disintegrates into crystalline powder. A slain dao leaves behind its maul and its necklace (see “Treasure” below).

The dao do not pursue creatures that leave the room. If the characters all leave the area, any dao that wasn’t defeated vanishes after 1 minute but returns with full hit points if the dais is touched again.

Shattered Dais

The hilt (see “Treasure” below) can be easily claimed once the dais is destroyed. The first creature to pick it up must make a DC 16 Intelligence saving throw, taking 14 (4d6) psychic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. A character wearing gloves or other protection has advantage on the saving throw.

The shattered dais repairs itself 1 hour after being destroyed. If the hilt (or any other object) is left amid the rubble, it is trapped inside the dais when it re-forms. The dais can’t re-form around creatures and can’t repair itself while one or more creatures occupy its space.

A character who studies the rubble of the shattered dais and succeeds on a DC 17 Intelligence (Arcana or Religion) check determines that its original function was allowing acolytes to focus their divinations in the presence of low levels of psychic energy, and that its power has now been corrupted.

Treasure

The hilt in the dais is a sun blade placed there by Valin. It came into her possession years before, after she had received two visions about it—one in which she used the weapon to slay a great enemy, and one in which it was used to slay her. Not willing to destroy the weapon for fear of thwarting the first vision, she has kept the hilt hidden in an attempt to keep the second vision from coming to pass.

Each dao wears a golden, gem-encrusted necklace worth 2,500 gp.

T5. Scrying Pool

This chamber was once used to conduct scrying training and rituals, but it has been desecrated by Valin’s corruption, as can be confirmed by a detect evil and good spell or similar magic.

Dark swirls of noxious steam fill this circular chamber, whose floor is taken up mostly by a large reflecting pool. Runes carved into the pool’s rim glow faintly, and heat shimmers off its fetid water. On the far side of the pool’s edge, a figure moves, its two bright ochre eyes piercing the fog.

Okuzor, a tiefling gladiator, sought out Valin expecting to persuade the oracle to offer up predictions for Okuzor’s success in the arena. Instead, Valin enticed Okuzor into undergoing the ritual that transferred Valin’s eye into the gladiator and turned her into a canopic golem (see the accompanying stat block).

Valin Sarnaster controls Okuzor and uses her to interact with the characters. The oracle speaks through the golem, greeting the characters warmly and asking why they’ve come to the temple. She describes the golem as one of her servants, and responds to any talk of her illicit activities by saying that such rumors were no doubt started by enemies of the House of the All-Seeing Orb. She offers to have her golem servant escort the characters to her location if they seek an audience. Okuzor then leads the characters to the false tomb in area area T6, where she and the other two canopic golems there attack at once.

If the characters attack Okuzor, the golem fights until reduced to 30 hit points or fewer. She then tries to flee to area area T6, hoping to draw the characters to the false tomb and the other golems waiting there.

Toxic Steam

The room is heavily obscured by the dark steam coming off the scrying pool. At the end of each minute a creature spends here, it must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or take 14 (4d6) poison damage.

Scrying Pool

Any character who has proficiency in the Arcana skill, or who succeeds on a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check, recognizes that the runes along the edge of the pool once channeled divination magic, but have been corrupted. Though the 10-foot-deep pool once held holy water, the liquid is now unpleasantly odorous and boiling. Any creature that starts its turn in the water takes 36 (8d8) fire damage. A creature that drinks the water must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1 hour.

A character can spend 1 minute trying to undo the corruption of the runes, doing so with a successful DC 19 Intelligence (Arcana) check. If this occurs, the noxious smell dissipates as the water cools and reverts to holy water over the course of 1 hour.

Divine Insight

Any character who has a background involving Savras, or who succeeds on a DC 20 Intelligence (History or Religion) check, understands that once its corruption is undone, the pool can bestow a blessing on anyone who meditates here. A character who finishes a long rest in this area can roll a d20, taking note of the number rolled. The character can then substitute that roll for one attack roll, saving throw, or ability check made by them or another creature they can see. This benefit is lost if the substitution isn’t made before the character finishes another long rest.

Treasure

A small cabinet that stands against the back wall of the room can’t be spotted through the fog until a creature is within 5 feet of it. It holds a collection of dusty divination ritual components. A character who searches the cabinet and succeeds on a DC 20 Wisdom (Perception) check discovers a locked compartment in its false back. A character can use an action to try to open this compartment, either with thieves' tools and a successful DC 15 Dexterity check, or by forcing it open with a successful DC 20 Strength (Athletics) check.

The cabinet contains twelve sticks of incense (5 gp each), several candles, a bowl of polished stones, and an amethyst pendant inscribed with an open eye (500 gp). The secret compartment in the cabinet holds a crystal ball of true seeing and a scroll describing the rite of reclamation (see the “area Valin’s Victims” sidebar earlier in the adventure).

T6. False Tomb

Adjust the following boxed text if Okuzor fled here from area T5:

This huge chamber is edged by a broad floor surrounding a sunken lower-level gallery, reached by way of sloping ramps. The center of the lower level is a diamond-shaped pit that descends some hundred feet. Flanking the opening are two tall, crystalline figures whose amber eyes watch you.

The crystalline figures guarding the pit are two Canopic Golem (see the accompanying area stat block) who were once the high priest Xemru Thaal and the mage Zeren Zoradius. Zeren came to Valin hoping to become a master of divination. Instead, she showed him a very different future.

The golems attack intruders at once, while Valin speaks through them to challenge the characters. She arrogantly proclaims that no one will ever break through her sarcophagus to face her, hoping to entice the characters to approach the magically warded sarcophagus at the bottom of the pit.

Canopic Gallery

The gallery below the main platform houses eight canopic jars, four on either side of the room. It can be reached by descending the steep ramps, dropping a rope down from above, or any other way the characters might devise. Each canopic jar is ceramic and approximately 2 feet tall. Five hold organs from the servants currently under Valin’s control, and each jar is carved with a symbol that represents the former owner, as summarized in the Canopic Jars table.

Canopic Jars

The other three jars are empty. At your discretion, you can have the empty jars scribed with symbols representing three of the characters, as if Valin has prepared those vessels for sacrifices to come. The jars can be easily shattered, but the organs inside (with the exception of Mayastan Sadaar’s) can’t be destroyed as long as the matching organ from Valin remains in its host.

See “Treasure” below for more information on Okuzor’s canopic jar.

Sarcophagus

Whenever the characters are in a position to see down into the pit, read:

At the bottom of the pit is a dais resembling an enormous eye peering up. A ten-foot-long black onyx sarcophagus forms the pupil of the eye.

Valin placed her sarcophagus at the bottom of the pit not for security, but as a deadly trap. The sarcophagus is presently empty. Valin returns to it only if she is slain and re-forms, and uses the dimension door spell to leave it afterward.

The sarcophagus radiates auras of abjuration and evocation magic to a detect magic spell. Its first ward triggers when any creature that is not a construct or an undead moves within 20 feet of it, filling the area of the well to a height of 30 feet above the floor with a noxious gray fog equivalent to the effect of a stinking cloud spell. The vapors vanish after 1 minute, and this ward resets after 1 hour.

The sarcophagus’s lid weighs 550 pounds. When opened, the sarcophagus vents a blast of stale air and triggers its second magical warding. Each creature within 5 feet of the sarcophagus that is not a construct or an undead must make a DC 17 Charisma saving throw, taking 27 (6d8) necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. This ward resets when the lid of the sarcophagus is closed again.

Treasure

Okuzor’s canopic jar also contains eyes of minute seeing and an eye patch set with a sapphire-and-moonstone eye (2,500 gp). Okuzor lost her right eye in an early gladiatorial bout, and she used both of these items while she was alive.

T7. Meditation Room

The ceiling of this room is supported by four crystal columns with eye-shaped capstones. A dozen thick cushions are scattered around the room, in the center of which a dragonborn lies in a pool of dried blood on the floor. A dagger and an oblong rock broken into two pieces lie near the body’s outstretched arms.

The fallen figure is Mayastan Sadaar, the scholar who came to the temple to confront Valin, and who became another unwilling recipient of the mummy lord’s rituals. Though she remembered nothing of the ritual, Mayastan’s recollection of her mission and what she had read in The Canopic Being allowed her to successfully guess what had happened to her. She thus chose to end her life by carving out Valin’s pancreas from where it had been placed in her and destroying it, rather than submit to the oracle’s dark will.

Turning the body over reveals the horrible abdominal wound that killed Mayastan. Any character who has proficiency in the Medicine skill, or who succeeds on a DC 20 Wisdom (Medicine) check, recognizes that the shape of the rock resembles a pancreas, which shows signs of being hacked nearly in half before it petrified. A character who has proficiency in the Medicine skill and examines the wound notes that the body’s pancreas is missing.

If the characters need information on how to permanently slay a mummy lord, any search of Mayastan’s body reveals a sheaf of papers in an inside pocket. These are pages copied from a tome of lore regarding mummy lords, and they note the fact that a mummy lord’s heart must be destroyed to keep the mummy lord from re-forming.

T8. Antechamber

Both doors to this area are locked, and each can be opened with the key charm from area area T2.

The walls of this room converge in a high peak overhead. Through the wall opposite the door, the room beyond can be vaguely seen—a vast, cubic chamber filled with shimmering points of light.

Any character who has a passive Wisdom (Perception) score of 18 or higher, or who succeeds on a DC 18 Wisdom (Perception) check to scan the interior of the chamber beyond this one, notices a strange motion within.

The points of light in the chamber beyond are shifting slowly, like dust motes stirred by a gentle breeze. At the center of the haze of light, a flash of yellow marks the presence of a figure clad in the robes of the faithful of Savras. The figure circles slowly at the apex of the room, motes of light swirling behind it.

The door into area T9 opens automatically whenever any creature moves within 10 feet of it.

T9. Observatory of Fate

Valin Sarnaster sanctum is a gravity-free chamber whose magic focuses her oracular sight. Having watched the characters progress through her lair, the mummy lord (see the “area Valin Sarnaster” sidebar for changes to her statistics and roleplaying notes) is fully prepared to face them for a final showdown—but the characters might find fighting in this strange environment to be a challenge.

Each of the thousands of motes of light that fill this cube-shaped room takes the form of a tiny eyeball, all of them shifting to stare at you as they drift past.

Unusual Gravity

When any character enters this area, a strange sense of lightness fills them, and they feel their feet begin to lift gently from the floor. A zero-gravity effect in this chamber grants any creature a flying speed equal to its walking speed while in the area, but it might take a bit of practice for characters to get used to the effect. A creature that starts its turn in this area must make a DC 15 Dexterity check. On a failed check, the creature has disadvantage on the first attack roll it makes on its turn. On a successful check, the character has become acclimated to the local gravity and does not need to make checks on subsequent turns.

Valin’s Stand

When any character moves more than 10 feet into the room, read or paraphrase the following:

A woman in yellow robes floats in the mote-filled void. She wears a diadem that frames her third-eye tattoo, which glows with a pulsing white light. “I have waited for so long,” Valin Sarnaster says with a thin smile. “Now we will discover if you are ready.”

Valin challenges the characters, saying that she has already seen their defeat written in their past and future. As you like, she can share key details from your campaign’s past to indicate that she has been watching the characters—and might even reveal secrets that the characters have yet to figure out. She can also offer visions of futures that might have been before the characters fell into her trap. You can have the oracle describe a key encounter or challenge you expect to play a part in your campaign’s future, or use the Consider the Ideal Climax; Adventure Climax in the Dungeon Master’s Guide to come up with an idea you can then direct the campaign toward.

Valin Sarnaster

Valin Sarnaster has been thoroughly corrupted by visions of a future in which she sees herself as the immortal heir of Savras’s realm. The Canopic Being came into her possession years ago, and an obsession with the dark rituals therein set the oracle on her present course.

Valin has become a powerful undead as the first step on her path to godhood, and is now a mummy lord with these changes:

• She has the clairvoyance, dimension door, and scrying spells prepared instead of animate dead, guardian of faith, and insect plague.

• While her heart remains in Alessia’s body, Valin’s Rejuvenation trait causes her to re-form inside the sarcophagus in area area T6.

• Valin can use her lair actions in any area of the tomb.

Personality Trait: “I have seen the future. Therefore, nothing surprises me.”

Ideal: “To know all things is the goal of the most powerful oracles. And I will be the most powerful oracle of all.”

Bond: “This temple was made for me. It has come to me. It is part of me.”

Flaw: “Each future that allows a chance for my failure to occur must be tracked, must be focused on, and must be destroyed.”

Fate’s Boon

All creatures in the room experience glimpses of the immediate future flashing through their minds. At the start of the second round, each creature in the room can use a bonus action to focus on the future, granting advantage on its next attack roll, ability check, or saving throw. (The characters are aware of the effect and the benefit it imparts. Describe the boon to the players so that their characters are aware of it and can use it.) Once a creature uses this boon, it can’t do so again until it finishes a long rest.

Endgames

If Valin is reduced to 0 hit points but her heart has not been destroyed, she snarls out a threat before turning to dust:

“I still have lessons yet to teach you. But you will learn…”

Unless her heart is destroyed within 24 hours of her defeat, Valin re-forms in her sarcophagus (in area area T6) after that time. See the “area Conclusion” section for more information.

If the characters destroy Valin’s heart before defeating her, she says the following before dying:

“Fate defies me. So be it. But though you defeat me, I promise you will not survive the future I have seen…”

The validity of Valin’s threat is up to you and the needs of your campaign.

Treasure

Valin’s diadem remains behind when she turns to dust. It functions as a hat of disguise. A search of the dust that was Valin’s body also turns up a large adamantine key (50 gp) that opens the door to area T10.

T10. Treasure Room

The door to this room is locked and can be opened with the key in Valin’s possession (see area T9). A glyph of warding cast on the door triggers if the door is opened any other way. A character who searches the door for traps spots the tiny glyph with a successful DC 17 Intelligence (Investigation) check. When triggered, the glyph erupts with magical energy in a 20-foot-radius sphere centered on it. The sphere spreads around corners. Each creature in the area must make a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw, taking (31) 7d8 thunder damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

A large pile of clear, crystalline gems fills one corner of this room, gleaming in the light given off by the walls. Hovering in the middle of the room are three objects: a six-foot-long staff made of transparent crystal, a shiny steel helm embossed with lidless eyes, and a tiny blue rhomboid about the size of a piece of candy.

Treasure

Though most of the crystals piled in the corner are of no value, a 10-minute search of the pile yields ten fine gemstones worth 500 gp each. One of these crystals radiates an aura of transmutation magic under the scrutiny of a detect magic spell. If this crystal is crushed (destroying it), its powdered remains magically coalesce into a ring of spell storing that holds the spells bless and revivify.

The objects hovering in the middle of the room cease to float as soon as they are grasped. The blue rhomboid is an Ioun Stone, Awareness. The crystal staff is a staff of fate, and the embossed steel helm is a watchful helm (see the “area New Magic Items” section for descriptions of these two items).

T11. Observatory of History

The shell of this large, spherical chamber begins to shimmer with color, forming patterns and images.

Creatures that enter this area feel their feet begin to lift gently off the floor. As in area area T9, a zero-gravity effect grants any creature a flying speed equal to its walking speed while in this chamber. Because there is no combat in this area, characters do not need to worry about acclimating to the unusual gravity.

Visions of the Past

The images that begin to flow and ebb along the spherical wall of the chamber are random at first—creatures and places unfamiliar to the characters. But any creature that remains in this area for 1 minute feels their mind open up as the room establishes a connection with them.

As an action, a character can use the room to replay up to 10 minutes of any past event they are aware of, whether personal or historical. The event plays back in perfect detail along the wall of the chamber for all to see and hear. When the vision ends, the character must make a DC 20 Intelligence saving throw. On a failed save, the character gains the following flaw, which lasts until removed with a greater restoration spell or similar magic: “I obsess about the past, and I’m constantly trying to go back to undo my mistakes.”

New Magic Items

The new magic items described below wait to be claimed in area area T10 of Valin’s tomb.

• Staff of Fate
• Watchful Helm

Conclusion

Although the treasures in Valin’s tomb technically belong to the House of the All-Seeing Orb, the temple priests allow the adventurers to keep what they find as their reward for defeating the mummy lord.

Destroying Valin

Valin Sarnaster is permanently destroyed only if the characters reduce her to 0 hit points and also destroy her heart before she re-forms. Once Valin is destroyed, the priests of the House of the All-Seeing Orb can convert the tomb back into the temple it once was. If the characters can’t find Valin’s heart, spells such as commune or divination can lead them to the truth about Alessia Baseer.

Valin’s Vengeance

If Valin Sarnaster heart is not destroyed, the mummy lord re-forms 24 hours after her defeat, appearing in the sarcophagus in area area T6. If the characters are still in the tomb at that point, you can set up the terms of the rematch. As soon as she is restored, Valin is able to see through the eyes of Savras throughout the tomb, and she uses dimension door to move directly from her sarcophagus to the characters' location provided they’re still in the tomb.

If the characters leave the tomb before Valin re-forms, the mummy lord oracle might hunt them down, becoming a recurring villain. If the characters bring Alessia with them but don’t remove Valin’s heart from her, the vengeful mummy lord tries to recover her heart by the most direct means.

Mayastan Sadaar

Word of Mayastan Sadaar’s death hits the scholars of Candlekeep hard. At your discretion, the characters can return the scholar’s body to Candlekeep so that she can be returned to life (perhaps with the characters performing the rites). Alternatively, you might decide that the nature of Valin’s ritual prevents Mayastan from being restored to life even with a resurrection spell. The characters might thus be charged with a side quest to learn more about the ritual, with the knowledge they gain eventually allowing the sage to be resurrected.

Alessia

Characters who learn the rite of reclamation from the scroll in area area T5 and retrieve Alessia’s heart from the canopic jar in area area T6 can perform the rite, destroying Valin’s heart and saving Alessia. If the characters rescue Alessia, the young priest is overwhelmed by the realization of what was done to her but grateful to the characters for their actions. She might remain in the House of the All-Seeing Orb, return to Candlekeep to take up a place among the scholars there, or stay with the characters (especially if the party has a base of operations and other NPC followers).