The library of Gravenhollow is a bastion of peace and order in an Underdark gone mad. Carved out long ago from the bones of the world and protected by ancient and potent magic, the library possesses a kind of awareness. It blocks and misdirects those unworthy of reaching its gates, even as it facilitates finding the way for those who need it.
The adventurers need to find the library in their quest to learn what has happened in the Underdark. Before obtaining the answers they seek, however, they must come to understand Gravenhollow and its keepers—three stone giants who reside within the library. These librarians are tasked with recording and maintaining the lore of their own kind, as well as all the echoes of the past, present, and future haunting the library’s halls.
Gravenhollow is a place where visitors will most certainly find answers. However, those answers might not be the ones the characters wanted-or might even be things they never wanted to know.
Gravenhollow: General Features
Not even the current librarians know who built Gravenhollow. All they know is that the library has existed since the dawn of giantkind.
Power Node. Gravenhollow was carved from a titanic geode whose crystals are imbued with magic that concentrates faerzress. The magic that suffuses the library profoundly affects time and space, altering the perceptions and reality of all beings within its walls.
Bigger on the Inside. The notion of space works strangely in Gravenhollow. The interior of the library continually expands as lore is added to it, but visitors can still traverse all its floors and chambers with ease. Only the most absentminded and scatterbrained become lost in Gravenhollow.
Universal Language. While in Gravenhollow, all creatures gain the benefit of the comprehend languages spell.
Hidden from Magic. Gravenhollow is a window into the passage of time and history, and the magic permeating the library blocks it off from the real world around it. Though divination magic works normally within the library, no divination effect used outside the library can discern any creature, object, or location within it.
A Place of Peace. Visitors to the library of Gravenhollow are expected to conduct themselves with decorum, and to refrain from arguments and violence. Creatures that incite conflict quickly draw the attention of the basilisk Veldyskar, who is quick to use his Petrifying Gaze on troublemakers. If a threat arises that Veldyskar can’t handle, the library generates
Willful Navigation. Finding anything in Gravenhollow is an effort of will. Whenever a character seeks a specific location in the library (a particular floor or period of history, for example), the character must make a successful DC 14 Wisdom check to find that location. On a failure, the character takes a wrong turn and must make additional checks until successful. If led by one of the library’s keepers, characters don’t need to make checks to find the location they seek.
Going to Gravenhollow
The objective of the adventurers' return to the Underdark is to find Gravenhollow. Ancient legends state that every event that has ever occurred in the Underdark is recorded on the countless tablets and cylinders in Gravenhollow’s halls. As such, it might be the key to discovering the cause of the demon lords' arrival.
The stone library lies west of the Wormwrithings, 360 miles from Mantol-Derith and 120 miles from Gauntlgrym. Only one tunnel leads to the library, and the magic surrounding Gravenhollow can change where the tunnel’s entrance appears among the surrounding passageways, even as that magic allows visitors to locate its entrance. Fortunately for the characters, the library’s awareness—in tune with all events in the Underdark—knows that they are coming. As such, the ring obtained from the Zhentarim in Mantol-Derith (see chapter 9) allows them to find the secret site. The journey from Mantol-Derith to Gravenhollow takes 60 days. If the characters teleport back to Gauntlgrym and start there, the trip takes 20 days. See chapters 2 and 10 for information on traveling in the Underdark.
Finding the Way
The characters can find the route to Gravenhollow using Ghazrim DuLoc’s ring. If they don’t have the ring, there are a couple other options available to them.
Ghazrim’s Ring
The star ruby in Ghazrim’s ring has a white, star-shaped core that guides its wearer along the safest, shortest route to Gravenhollow.
Society of Brilliance
If one or more members of the Society of Brilliance are traveling with the party (see the “Society of Brilliance” random encounter in chapter 2), they can find the way to Gravenhollow, having found it once before. Any Society of Brilliance member who comes within a day’s travel of the library can make a DC 15 Intelligence check to find the passage leading to Gravenhollow. If its check fails, it can try again after 8 hours of searching and contemplation.
Stone Giant Guide
If the characters don’t have the ring to guide them, a duergar NPC (for example, Ghuldur Flagonfist in Mantol-Derith) might suggest that they talk to Stonespeaker Hgraam in Gracklstugh. If the characters helped the stone giants by putting an end to the horrid derro rituals in the Whorlstone Tunnels (see chapter 4), Stonespeaker Hgraam is willing to assign them a guide - a stone giant named Jaal - who can lead them to Gravenhollow. As he guides the expeditionary force through the Underdark, Jaal periodically stops to press his hands against ancient stone, as though communing with the rock itself. His mystical connection to the Underdark allows him to find the safest, shortest route to the stone library.
Veldyskar the Basilisk
When the characters are within a day’s travel of Gravenhollow, they hear someone singing strange tunes in various languages, the voice echoing down adjacent tunnels. Approaching the sound reveals a basilisk named Veldyskar resting in an intersection. No ordinary basilisk, Veldyskar has an Intelligence of 10 (+0) and speaks Common, Dwarvish, Giant, and Undercommon.
A small group of characters scouting can sneak up on Veldyskar with a successful DC 10 group Dexterity (Stealth) check. Any characters who observe the basilisk can note that it keeps its eyes downcast, as if consciously trying to control its petrifying gaze. When Veldyskar becomes aware of the characters, he calls them over, speaking in all the languages he knows until he determines that the characters understand Common.
A many-legged reptile stretches out as if it has been sitting for a long while, avoiding your eyes as it looks to the rocky floor at your feet. “About time you lot arrived! Come! The library bid me guide you to the gates, and I’ve waited too long for you already.”
After his initial greeting, Veldyskar speaks only if spoken to, and his answers are brief. With the basilisk as their guide, it takes the characters another eight hours to reach the gates of Gravenhollow. Untold years ago, a visiting stone giant druid presented the librarians with a gift: Veldyskar, an intelligent basilisk trained to serve the keepers as a guardian and general-purpose helper. The basilisk adapted readily to the timeless nature of the library and embraced his new duties with great dedication.
Veldyskar is committed to the protection of the library and its librarians. If trouble arises, his philosophy is to petrify first and ask questions later. Initially, this presented a problem for the stone giant librarians, as the basilisk had some difficulty reconciling his temper and bestial nature with the recognition of what trouble might actually look like. The stone giants taught Veldyskar how to cast
Gates of Gravenhollow
A pair of massive basalt doors mark the entrance to Gravenhollow, flanked by stone giant statues that are actually stone golem. The doors are opened simply by pushing, after which the entire expeditionary force can enter along with the characters. The golems turn their heads to watch new arrivals but otherwise remain still. The basilisk Veldyskar guides the characters in through the gates, instructs them to continue straight ahead, then quickly disappears down a side passage.
Walking across the threshold of Gravenhollow is like stepping into another realm. The oppressive gloom of the Underdark is replaced by light and a sense of openness that brings back memories of the surface world. The corridor beyond the gates is wide enough for ten people to walk side by side, and the ceiling’s height reminds you of the great halls of Gauntlgrym.
The corridor opens into a central well, with walkways crossing its span to the opposite side. You can barely see the ends of the level to your right and left, with doors opening into so many rooms that you doubt you could explore them all in a single day.
The ceiling is bright, with rainbows trapped in hundreds of crystal formations combining to create a warm and inviting illumination. Looking down is a dizzying experience. Staircases connect to different levels below, and you soon lose count of how far down they go.
A stout, rocky creature detaches from the perfectly smooth wall to your left, leaving an imprint of its body in the wall that quickly smooths out and fades from sight. “Trravelerrrrsss. I am Hourm. The masterrrsss arre occupied. Therre arre rroomsss forr all of you. Choose yourr own. The rresourrcesss of Grravenhollow arre at yourr disssposssal. You need only asssk.”
Hourm, a friendly galeb duhr, answers any questions the characters have about Gravenhollow to the best of its ability, including how navigate its levels, and how to access the library’s knowledge. After leading the party to living quarters one level below the library’s main level, it merges into another wall and disappears.
The Stone Library
When the characters first enter Gravenhollow, the library appears to be a simple arrangement of great cavernous halls carved out from the stone of the Underdark. However, the library is suffused with magic that warps the space within it, and which makes navigating and exploration a unique challenge (see the “Gravenhollow: General Features”).
Each room on each level of Gravenhollow is part of either the Archives of the Past, the Archives of the Present, or the Archives of the Future. Galeb duhr assistants pick up tablets as Gravenhollow’s three stone giant librarians carve and catalog them, but the classification system the giants use to organize the library’s information is known only to them.
Residents
The library is quiet and peaceful, and visitors are free to move within it as they wish. If anyone has a need to find any other character within Gravenhollow (including one of the librarians), the library subtly directs the character toward its target within minutes.
The three stone giant who serve as Gravenhollow’s librarians don’t specifically welcome visitors-or even notice their comings and goings-unless the library directs them to do so. The characters need to seek the keepers out.
Ulthar
Ulthar is the Keeper of the Past. He sorts and files ancient texts, maintaining the immeasurably vast catalog that organizes them. When not crossreferencing his expanding collection, he composes epic poetry and is responsible for curating and restoring wall carvings throughout the library.
Ulthar is infinitely patient, always welcoming any chance to discuss history with visitors. Of the three librarians, he is the most willing and likely to spend time with the library’s guests. He treats surface dwellers as if they were figments out of dreams, but makes it obvious he believes that such dreams have wisdom to share.
Urmas
Urmas, the Keeper of the Present, is the busiest of all the librarians. He commands a vast network of magically augmented subterranean beasts, which he uses as messengers, bringing and sending news from giants throughout the Underdark and sometimes from the “dream” of the surface world. Urmas exchanges messages with Stonespeaker Hgraam (see chapter 4), keeping abreast of events as they pertain to the stone giant community in the duergar city of Gracklstugh.
Though Urmas is patient, it quickly becomes obvious that he suffers the characters' questions and presence out of duty and politeness, seeking to return to his work as soon as possible. The giant is distracted by the increasingly dire news brought in by his messengers, including reports from stone giant mystics, as well as elemental servitors such as galeb duhr and xorn. However, if the characters bring news about the demon lords in the Underdark, they have Urmas’s immediate and full attention.
Ustova
The Keeper of the Future, Ustova is a seer who spends most of her time in constant meditation, transcribing her visions onto stone tablets as she experiences them. Like Urmas, she focuses her efforts on the fate of the different giant communities and clans, sorting through the various threads of destiny and possibility for omens presaging the resurgence of the giants' once-great civilization.
The irruption of the demon lords into the Underdark has sent powerful ripples of indescribable chaos through Ustova’s visions. All she sees of the future is fire, blood, and death, shot through with signs and portents based upon the natures of the demon lords-the bloody spirals and twin-forked symbols of Demogorgon, the excessive growth and rot of Zuggtmoy, visions obscured and clouded by the slime of Juiblex, and so on. She gladly helps any characters who can offer clarity in what she is seeing, treating such information as beneficial visions from the dream that is the world outside the Underdark.
Galeb Duhr Assistants
The library draws in elemental spirits to animate earth and stone, forming galeb duhr to serve as assistants for the keepers. These creatures are humorless but diligent.
Echoes
Gravenhollow “remembers” all who have walked its halls, as well as those who will visit the library in the future. As the characters explore the library, apparitions constantly flicker in and out of existence around them-the echoes of those who have come or will come to Gravenhollow in search of knowledge.
The time-displaced echoes in Gravenhollow are a prime opportunity to introduce great NPCs of Faerûn in a way that will not negatively impact the story you want to tell, nor steal the spotlight from the characters. The echoes offer characters the chance to receive advice from experienced adventurers and heroes, and for the players to interact with some of their favorite characters from the Forgotten Realms.
An echo is a quasi-real duplicate of the original creature, except it has 1 hit point and can’t attack or cast spells. An echo reduced to 0 hit points vanishes.
It’s impossible to tell at a glance whether an echo is from the past or the future. Clothing and equipment might help, or characters can simply ask. Interacting with an echo is the same as interacting with the original creature, but because most echoes are in the midst of their own search for knowledge, they prefer to be left alone.
Echoes appear so often that the characters find one every time they go looking for any information in the library. Use the Echoes in Gravenhollow table to determine who the characters encounter, or place echoes as you see fit.
Echoes in Gravenhollow
| d20 | Echo |
|---|---|
| 1-2 | Alustriel Silverhand |
| 3-4 | Andarin Zarith |
| 5-6 | Bruenor Battlehammer |
| 7-8 | Elminster |
| 9-10 | Graz’zt |
| 11-12 | Hgraam |
| 13-14 | Jalynfein Oblodra |
| 15-16 | Society of Brilliance |
| 17-18 | Xetzirbor |
| 19-20 | Yauln |
Illustrious Visitors
The time-displaced echoes in Gravenhollow are a prime opportunity to introduce some of the great adventurers and personalities of Faerûn in a way that will not negatively impact the story you want to tell, nor steal the spotlight from the characters. The echoes offer them the chance to receive advice from experienced adventures and heroes, and for the adventurers to meet some of their favorite characters from the world of the Forgotten Realms.
The echoes belong to those who managed to find Gravenhollow, coming there to seek knowledge for whatever all-important purpose or quest drove them there. Each echo is also from a specific point in time (possibly including the future).
Alustriel Silverhand
This legendary wizard and leader appears as a human female in her early twenties. She interacts with the characters with kindness and a certain whimsy, but doesn’t disclose what time period she’s from, admonishing characters who try to learn too much of the past or future.
Andarin Zarith
This human Red Wizard of Thay will visit Gravenhollow nearly a century in the future. He treats the characters as annoying apparitions and refuses to deal with them.
Bruenor Battlehammer
The dwarf king’s red hair has turned mostly white, and he leans heavily on a thick crystal cane. He is old, frail, and quite senile, and he can’t remember why he came to Gravenhollow or what he’s looking for.
Elminster
This echo of the future claims to be searching for a long-forgotten spell. If the characters ask the venerable human archmage about the demonic incursion, Elminster reveals that the demonic incursion was the unintended result of a spell cast by Gromph Baenre, a former Archmage of Menzoberranzan. Elminster doesn’t reveal what happened to Gromph, for he’s reluctant to divulge too much information about the future. If the characters press him for details, Elminster says only that many great heroes were lost to the demonic tide, but several powerful demon lords were driven back to the Abyss.
Graz’zt
This echo of Graz’zt is gathering all the information it can about the Underdark. The Dark Prince asks the characters what part of the Underdark they come from. If they mention the surface world, Graz’zt eyes widen as his curiosity is piqued.
Hgraam
This younger version of Stonespeaker Hgraam (see chapter 4, “Gracklstugh”) treats the characters as spirits and asks them philosophical questions about the nature of dreams. If the characters engage him in conversation, he bids them farewell with the words, “I will remember you.”
Jalynfein Oblodra
This young male drow was cast out of Menzoberranzan after he lost his sight, yet he survived and found his way here. The blind drow came to the library hoping to overcome his blindness and take revenge on his family. Characters familiar with drow lore or history know, with a successful DC 14 Intelligence (History) check, that House Oblodra was all but wiped out years ago.
Society of Brilliance
The characters encounter echoes of all five members of the Society of Brilliance (see the “Society of Brilliance” random encounter in chapter 2). Any members of the society traveling with the party know that these are echoes from the past.
The Society of Brilliance came to Gravenhollow years ago on a pilgrimage of enlightenment. If the characters mention the demonic incursion and postulate a theory of drow involvement, the Society of Brilliance echoes confirm that such an event is inevitable, “given the drow propensity for demon summoning and the inherent unpredictability of faerzress.” These echoes don’t have much else to offer, although they can explain how the library works (see “Gravenhollow: General Features”).
Xetzirbor
This mind flayer regards the characters with interest. Xetzirbor refuses to disclose its timeline but hints that it knows about the demonic incursion. The mind flayer tries to entice the characters into telling it what they have discovered, but of its own purpose, Xetzirbor reveals only that it came to Gravenhollow to find a way to save a dying elder brain it calls Cyrog.
Yauln
A male stone giant from an ancient past, Yauln came to Gravenhollow to seek answers on whether his clan should enter an alliance with the bearer of the Cairngorm Crown (see chapter 4, “Gracklstugh”).
Living Quarters
Each level of Gravenhollow features rooms reserved for habitation. The galeb duhr keep the rooms clean, and can provide food and drink magically created by the library if asked.
Librarians' Quarters
Urmas and Ustova live on the top level of the library, taking up all the living quarters at either end of that level. Their rooms reflect their duties and personalities. Urmas’s quarters contain a collection of carved tablets, as well as actual books and scrolls found nowhere else in the library. Ustova’s quarters feature a collection of musical instruments and divination tools, including crystal orbs, bags of bones, and a large mithral basin.
Ulthar lives on a lower level that he claims is “near the bottom of the library,” though such a distinction is meaningless given how distorted distance and direction can be in the library (see the “Gravenhollow: General Features” sidebar). His quarters are a work of art, covered with murals and wall carvings of his own design, along with workshops where he engages in crafting.
Guest Quarters
The guest quarters appear bare until a visitor chooses a room. The next time that room is entered, it is fully furnished according to the character’s taste and needs. Characters don’t need to make any check to find their guest rooms after exploring the library: they need only wish to return, and the next set of stairs they come to leads them to the appropriate level.
Walkways
The walkways that surround the central well are wide and mostly empty, with the occasional galeb duhr or visitor echo wandering about. Each level consists of a well opening surrounded by a wide walkway connecting the rooms dug into the surrounding wall. Bridges cross the well at regular intervals, and also connect to stairs to the levels above and below. No matter how far down visitors go, there always appear to be more levels below.
Archives
Gravenhollow’s records are organized by rooms attuned to the past, the present, or the future. Each level has a random number of rooms, arranged without any apparent system other than the library’s intuitive ability to direct visitors to where they want to go-or to where the library thinks they need to go.
Accessing the Records
The library keeps its records on stone and crystal slabs, monoliths, and stelae fitting neatly in niches carved into the walls of every room. Thanks to the library’s comprehend languages effect, anyone can easily decipher and understand the runes and glyphs carved into the stone.
These records contain only what the librarians were able to write down. Even with their network of messengers and informants, and the visions they receive using the powers of the library, the stone giants are still mortal creatures. As such, the giants' own understanding might limit the characters' ability to locate information in the library.
The library’s written records deal only with events in the Underdark and the history of giants. Like most stone giants, the librarians consider the surface world a realm of dreams, and what happens there is deemed less important than events in the Underdark.
To acquire information not inscribed in the records (including any events outside the Underdark), the characters need a stonespeaker crystal, after which they must find an appropriate archive to query events in the past, present, or future.
Archives of the Past
Every room devoted to the records of the past has the same inscription carved above the doorway in runes that anyone who knows Dwarvish or Giant understands:
The past is a crystal, for it can be seen from many facets yet it always remains the same.
These rooms contain crystals of many colors. Ulthar and his assistants periodically move tablets, cylinders, and stelae from the Archives of the Present into these rooms. Some of the records here date back to the mythic times of the earliest giant gods.
Annals of History. Characters can research the backgrounds of the primary settlements of the Underdark and any well-known characters who dwell there. This lets them know what to expect if they visit those sites in the future, or to better understand some of the events that occurred during a previous visit. For example, they can learn more information about Themberchaud, about the drow siege and demonic assault of Blingdenstone, or any other part of the wellknown history of Faerûn.
Archives of the Present
The rooms that contain the works of Urmas have inscriptions carved above the doorway that anyone who knows Dwarvish or Giant can translate:
The present is like sand, ever flowing and escaping one’s grasp without mercy or respite.
The records in these rooms detail the current state of the Underdark and the giant kingdoms.
Current Affairs. Reading the tablets in these archives provides a good overview of what is going on in the Underdark at the present time. The latest news has a delay of a few days and is often incomplete, becoming more detailed as Urmas obtains more information from his messengers and informants. The reports about the demons' invasion are sketchy and incomplete, but characters can still get a rough idea about which demon lord arrived where. They can learn that Zuggtmoy might be on the move to an undisclosed location, or follow the ravaging paths of Yeenoghu and Baphomet as they gather and rally the races that worship them. Unlike the bits and pieces of news about the other demon lords, a significant amount of information is known about the cults of Demogorgon festering under Gracklstugh, as events there directly affect the resident stone giant clan.
Archives of the Future
The rooms with Ustova’s prophetic writings have inscriptions above the doorways that anyone who knows Dwarvish or Giant can decipher:
The future is a song we remember, but we cannot rush to its end lest we destroy the melody.
Unlike the other rooms in the library, these archives echo with the sound of running water. The wall niches containing the stone cylinders Ustova favors for scribing are also fountains, where water shimmers over crystals as it falls.
Prophetic Visions. The information in the Archives of the Future is uncertain, not only because Ustova focuses on prophecies but also because her visions detail potential futures, not definite outcomes. Urmas and Ustova compare notes often to validate their visions. The prophecies in these rooms are limited to the future of giantkind-and the trials still to come for those oncegreat races-because this is Ustova’s sole interest.
The Enemy of Our Enemy
As the characters explore the library, ideally after encountering an echo or two, they meet the venerable drow archmage Vizeran DeVir, accompanied by Kleve, a death slaad bodyguard in its natural form. Vizeran is an archmage with the following statistical modifications:
- Vizeran’s alignment is neutral evil.
- Vizeran’s fey ancestry gives him advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can’t put him to sleep.
- Vizeran can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components: dancing lights at will, darkness once per day, faerie fire once per day (spell save DC 15), and levitate (self only) once per day.
- While in sunlight, Vizeran has disadvantage on attack rolls, as well as on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.
When the characters first encounter Vizeran and Kleve, read the following boxed text to the players.
Two figures approach-a withered drow clad in dark flowing robes, and a hulking gray-skinned monster resembling a spiky humanoid toad, its wide mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. The drow’s pinched and lined face speak to his great age, and his red eyes narrow and appraise you carefully as he approaches.
Vizeran greets the adventurers cautiously, introduces himself and his companion, and asks what business brings them to Gravenhollow. He remains cool and polite, trying to avoid any tension for fear of inciting violence in this place.
If the characters are willing to talk to him, Vizeran tells them he has opposed the tyranny of Lolth and her priestesses for centuries. He believes that some kind of demonic invasion of the Underdark is underway, and he has come to Gravenhollow to confirm his suspicions and make plans to combat it.
The drow archmage suggests that the adventurers make their own inquiries - and that they look in particular into Menzoberranzan and its archmage, Gromph Baenre. Vizeran then returns to his quarters, telling the adventurers how to seek the librarians if they don’t already know how to do so.
During their time in the library, the characters can meet with Vizeran several times to exchange notes. The drow archmage already knows a lot of what has transpired since the demon lords arrived. He isn’t, however, using the library to delve into specific events, so he welcomes the characters' input while remaining tight-lipped about his own intentions and goals.
If the characters threaten Vizeran, Kleve looms menacingly nearby even as the archmage tries to keep things civil, pointing out that there is nothing to be gained by fighting. If the adventurers attack him or Kleve, Vizeran casts time stop and departs before Veldyskar shows up (see “A Place of Peace” in “Gravenhollow: General Features”). Kleve becomes invisible and follows his master out of Gravenhollow. Despite their attack upon him, the archmage contacts the characters again in an attempt to forge an alliance (see chapter 12, “The Tower of Vengeance”).
Approaching the Librarians
If the characters set out to find a librarian, Ulthar is the one they find first. He and Urmas agree that current events in the Underdark are a serious concern, but their roles as record keepers prevent them from acting in any way other than to provide information. Ulthar will speculate that this is likely why the library allowed Vizeran and the characters to find it so easily.
Urmas has been following recent events that might have led to the current crisis. He bids the characters to tell him about their own experiences in the Underdark—specifically, their encounters with the demon lords.
Ulthar offers the characters one of the library’s
Stonespeaker Crystals
A creature attuned to a stonespeaker crystal gains the ability to peer through the veils of time and receive visions of the past, present, and future-but only while in Gravenhollow.
A creature attuned to a stonespeaker crystal gains the following additional benefits while in the library:
- While standing in the Archives of the Past with the crystal in hand, the creature can choose to experience a vision of the past. After receiving this vision, the creature can’t experience another vision of the past until it finishes a long rest.
- While standing in the Archives of the Present with the crystal in hand, the creature can choose to receive a vision of something happening at that moment. After receiving this vision, the creature can’t experience another vision of the present until it finishes a long rest.
- While standing in the Archives of the Future with the crystal in hand, the creature can choose to receive a glimpse of what might happen if the demon lords aren’t stopped. After receiving this vision, the creature can’t experience another glimpse of the future until it finishes a long rest.
- While standing in the appropriate archive, the creature can expend 2 of the crystal’s charges to ask a question pertaining to the past, present, or future and receive a truthful answer in the form of a vision.
Characters can expend charges to confirm suspicions, fill in gaps in their knowledge, and see for themselves the events that brought the demon lords into the world. Such research might take several days. Ulthar doesn’t give them another stonespeaker crystal to speed up the process, but the characters can try to steal one, as the trusting librarian keeps them on a shelf in his quarters. The giant discovers the theft in 1d4 days, at which point the characters are confronted by Veldyskar and a host of galeb duhr, who politely ask them to leave Gravenhollow at once.
Possible Visions
The following are the most relevant visions the characters can receive as answers to their questions. Elaborate upon or modify these as needed, and improvise visions for other questions the characters ask based on the information in the adventure.
Gromph’s Folly
If the characters inquire about Gromph Baenre or the arrival of the demon lords, they receive a vision of how everything started.
An imperious drow archwizard in spider-silk robes casts a mighty conjuration spell. As the ritual draws toward its conclusion, a web of faerzress energy expands outward. The wizard seems alarmed by this, his efforts to complete the spell growing more crazed as he realizes he’s lost control.
And then, madness! Rifts open in the web of energy around him. These cracks stretch and widen, and through them come horrific fiends that scream, shriek, and howl as they are wrenched from the Abyss and cast into the Underdark.
A woman’s deep, dark laugh echoes in your mind as the drow wizard shrinks away from the demonic hordes he has unwittingly unleashed.
If a character receiving this vision has a passive Wisdom (Perception) score of 13 or higher, he or she sees a drow insignia on the wizard. If the character is a drow or otherwise familiar with the iconography of Menzoberranzan’s drow houses, he or she recognizes the symbol as representing House Baenre. The character can also recall the symbol well enough to draw it, so that another more knowledgeable character can discern its significance.
Zuggtmoy’s Arrival
The characters can inquire about Zuggtmoy or the events in Neverlight Grove.
A cavern of peculiar beauty opens up before you, with lights of every color shining from the pure essence of life, diffused and amplified by the glow of faerzress. The glow pulses, and you can feel the life in the cavern rotting away, bursting with infection. A mushroom grows in the center of the cave, ever larger and taller, pustules forming and seeping as its stem thickens and its cap reaches to the cavern’s ceiling, forming a vast fungal tower.
Two myconids approach the site in awe, not minding the carpet of rot under their feet. You sense their minds come alive in wonder, and as they kneel in worship, you know they are doomed. A voice sounds out within clouds of spores that fall like snow. The voice tells the myconids to prepare for a gift unlike any they have ever known.
If the characters visited Neverlight Grove, they recognize one of the myconids as Sovereign Phylo, while somehow knowing that the other is Yestabrod before it became mutated.
Juiblex and the Pudding King
As much as the characters learned from fighting the Pudding King in Blingdenstone, they might decide to seek more knowledge of the mad svirfneblin or his fiendish master, Juiblex the Faceless Lord.
A deep gnome spurned by others of his kind weeps as he wanders the dark tunnels, talking to the things that crawl and seep from the walls. You see him adopt two slick patches of ooze, sensing his innate power over them. He plays with them as if they were children, chasing them through the gloomy depths.
Something changes, and the oozes flow away. The deep gnome runs after them, fearful of being alone once again. You feel a great hunger seize him. He experiences visions that pass into your vision, showing what appears as a paradise to him but an oozing nightmare for all others. The great hunger speaks to him, his already broken mind a shield against the hunger’s shattering power. That power seems to recognize and acknowledge something in the gnome that will serve it well.
The great hunger has a name-Juiblex. And its power… oh, such great and terrible power! It grants the gnome the ability to command the little hungers-his children-so that they can return to the place that cast them out and devour it all!
Sundered Blades
The corruption in Gracklstugh slowly rots duergar society from within, leading it toward a brutal fate.
You see a circle of small hooded figures, their forms hunched and emaciated. Their gestures and movements are jerky, indicative of the madness possessing them. They are chanting, swaying to their own words. And then they stop as the glow of faerzress rises around them, whispering to them in unintelligible sounds. The derro cackle and dance, their hands glowing with a power that isn’t theirs. The vision shifts, and suddenly gray dwarves stare down at the red-hot metal on their anvils. The constant rhythm of their hammering falters. Suddenly, brother turns against brother as minds turn inward upon themselves. Sparks fly and a city burns.
Demogorgon’s Altar
One of the first brushes the characters might have had with the demon lords was in Sloobludop, where they witnessed the rise of Demogorgon, the so-called “Deep Father” of the mad kuo-toa.
You see a kuo-toa swimming in the gloomy depths of a dark, subterranean lake, uncertain. It turns left and right, trying to find something, even as it’s surrounded by a fanged creatures resembling manta rays. The kuo-toa smiles, its needle teeth gleaming even in the darkness. It has seen something. It understands a new secret, and its already unhinged mind plunges further into madness.
The kuo-toa curls in on itself, arms extended in worship. Then from the circle of rays, two tentacles emerge-followed by two howling baboon heads.
Fraz-Urb’luu and the Gem
Characters might be curious to know more about the source of the discord in Mantol-Derith, leading to a revelation about Fraz-Urb’luu.
A rift formed by faerzress opens wide, illuminating a dark tunnel. The rift spits out a black gem that clatters as it tumbles across the tunnel floor. The gem is picked up by a gray-skinned dwarf, who inspects it closely.
The vision shifts to a brightly lit cavern full of crude merchant stalls, where the duergar hands the gem to a svirfneblin for appraisal. The gnome refuses to return the gem, instead giving it to one of her svirfneblin apprentices. The young apprentice skulks away with the gem in his clutches, but is ambushed by a gargoyle. The gargoyle snatches the gem, flies away, and gives it to a female drow. The drow gazes into the black gemstone and sees a hideous demonic face looking back at her. Thoughts of murder and carnage fill her thoughts as she hides the gemstone on her person, draws her shortsword, and coats the blade with poison.
Cyrog Lives! Hail Orcus!
Although Orcus doesn’t have a significant role in this adventure, players might wonder what the Demon Lord of Undeath is up to.
In the heart of a alien cavern glistening with slime, scores of mind flayers gather around an enormous brain resting in a pool. The brain is dead. You can hear the illithids' incomprehensible thoughts as they mourn its passing. One word echoes louder than the others: Cyrog.
Suddenly, faerzress bathes the dark and twisted hall in purplish light. A rift opens, and a hulking, horned figure that reeks of putrescence steps out. It raises a skulltipped wand and points it at the dead elder brain. The elder brain begins to pulsate, and you see intermittent flashes of purple light under its rotting flesh. The mind flayers are aghast as the elder brain speaks to them once more, telling them that Orcus has saved Cyrog, and commanding them to follow it into undeath.
The librarians of Gravenhollow know that Cyrog is the name of distant mind flayer settlement. Vizeran DeVir and every member of the Society of Brilliance also knows that Cyrog is named after an ancient elder brain that commands the settlement, which lies deep in the Underdark, thousands of miles to the east.
Baphomet, the Horned King
The demon lord Baphomet doesn’t play a significant role in this adventure. However, a character seeking clues to the Horned King’s whereabouts receive the following vision.
The smell of blood fills your nostrils as you wander a maze of Underdark tunnels, moving with purpose as your giant hooves crush stones underfoot. Faerzress light reveals that your shadow is monstrous, suggesting a hulking beast with a crown of horns. With your bloody glaive, you carve a swath through a forest of towering zurkhwood mushrooms that stands in your way. The tunnels beyond would confuse an ordinary mind, but you instinctively know the path you must walk. Every step brings you closer to a magma-filled chasm, lodged in which is an enormous contraption of metal and stone-a weapon capable of reshaping the Underdark itself.
This vision provides a brief glimpse of the Maze Engine, an arcane device located in the heart of the Labyrinth (see chapter 14).
Spawn of Yeenoghu
A character that tries to learn more about Yeenoghu, the Demon Lord of Gnolls, receives the following unsettling vision.
A hunched and rotting creature with the head of a fiendish hyena swings a triple-headed flail at a beholder, crushing it. As the eye tyrant falls to the floor, a pack of hyenas leaps onto the corpse and tears off its eyestalks while the demon lord licks the gore off his weapon. As the hyenas feed, they transform into slavering, cackling gnolls before your eyes.
Lolth, Demon Queen of Spiders
If the characters inquire about Lolth, they receive a vision of her home in the Demonweb Pits, confirming that at least one demon lord didn’t escape the Abyss.
You behold the true form of the Demon Queen of Spiders-that of a black, bloated arachnid with the head of a female drow. Nestled in the webs all around her are thousands upon thousands of gray eggs. Lolth knows she is being scried, her fury tangible as her mind reaches out to find you. Her shriek of rage as she’s shut out by the powerful wards of Gravenhollow echoes in your mind as the vision is suddenly torn away to darkness.
This vision offers a glimpse of Lolth’s plan to drive her rivals out of the Abyss and repopulate its layers with her own demonic offspring. The character experiencing the vision must succeed on a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw or gain one level of madness (see “Madness” in chapter 2).
Other Visions
The other visions the characters might look for depend on what they experienced during their escape from the Underdark, and what you want the adventure to focus on (including the activities of other demon lords).
Returning to Vizeran
When the characters have discovered all they are looking to find out, they can go to Vizeran. If they don’t, he seeks them out, having finished his own research.
“That fool Gromph brought the demon lords down upon us, with his demon queen pulling his strings all the while. He has given Lolth free reign in the Abyss. My own research leads me to believe Gromph used faerzress to achieve such a summoning, though I am sure he didn’t intend this result. Imbecile!
“I can save you months of research-time we clearly don’t have. The information I found here has confirmed my theories, and I know how to banish the demon lords back to the Abyss. We can do this only if we work together, if you are willing and daring enough to directly challenge the demon lords. Or perhaps foolhardy is the better word.”
If the characters seem hesitant to work with Vizeran, he reminds them of the peril facing the surface world should the demon lords escape from the Underdark. If the characters accuse Vizeran of having ulterior motives, the drow smiles thinly and agrees. Still, he insists his goal is the same as the characters' own, and he doesn’t ask them to involve themselves in his other plans. He points out that he is by far the most inconsequential of the many evils that the characters must contend with.
Vizeran invites the adventurers and their NPC followers to Araj, his tower and stronghold, where they can discuss the matter further. There, he can demonstrate what he intends to do and why he needs the heroes' help. He refuses to discuss plans in detail in Gravenhollow, saying, “The walls here literally have ears, and echoes linger forever.” Only his home is secure enough to serve as the place from which to plan the demon lords' defeat.
Leaving Gravenhollow
As long as the characters remain respectful guests, the librarians don’t mind them staying in Gravenhollow as long as they like. However, the library stops providing new visions after the characters learn the most essential information. If the players persist beyond that point, their efforts prove fruitless, and the librarians or their assistants suggest there is no more they can learn at this time.
The characters can travel with Vizeran, or he provides them with a map and precise directions to guide them to Araj if they want to deal with other matters in the Underdark first. He emphasizes that time is of the essence. Every day the characters tarry allows the demon lords' power and influence in the Underdark to grow. See chapter 12, “The Tower of Vengeance,” for more information about Araj.
The last favor the library provides for the adventurers is to have the tunnel out directly connect with routes leading to the characters' desired destination, whether that destination is Araj, Blingdenstone, Menzoberranzan, Gracklstugh, Mantol-Derith, the edge of the Darklake, or somewhere else.
XP Awards
The characters should leave Gravenhollow with a clear picture of what is happening in the Underdark under the influence of the demon lords, and the roles that Gromph Baenre and Lolth have played in creating the crisis. Each character gains 5,000 XP for learning the truth.