Chapter 12: The Tower of Vengeance

Offered an alliance by the drow archmage Vizeran DeVir, the adventurers travel to his tower in the depths of the Underdark. There, they learn more about what he knows of the threat posed by the demon lords-and potentially forge a pact with him to deal with that threat. They must be cautious, however, as their potential ally has his own interests at heart and his own agenda where his fellow drow are concerned.

If the characters rebuffed Vizeran’s overtures to an alliance in Gravenhollow (see chapter 11), the drow archmage subsequently sends Grin Ousstyl (see later in this chapter) as a peace envoy, renewing the offer and leading the characters to Araj if they accept it. Further exploration of the Underdark on their own might convince the adventurers to at least hear what Vizeran has to say. If they find the means to communicate his offer to their allies on the surface world, those allies encourage the characters to forge an alliance with the drow archmage.

Reaching the Tower

Vizeran’s tower lies on the edge of the Wormwrithings, about ten days from Menzoberranzan. The map and directions the archmage provides the adventurers in chapter 11 allow them to find the cavern where the tower stands without getting lost. Use random encounters from chapter 13, “The Wormwrithings,” on the way to the tower.

Wormwrithings Encounters

The final stretch to reach the tower is through a narrow passage off a side tunnel, concealed by a magically protected secret door. If Vizeran’s map comes within 10 feet of the door, soft purple light outlines the word “Araj”-a drow word for “vengeance”-across its surface in spidery Elvish script. Touching the map to the door causes it to open for 1 minute or until the map is more than 100 feet away from it. If the characters travel with Vizeran, the secret door opens on his command.

The adventurers can travel to Araj with the full complement of their expeditionary force. Vizeran allows only the player characters within the tower, though the cavern around it offers space to camp and no risk of encounters. However, if the characters are riding giant lizards or other mounts, those mounts are unable to navigate the narrow route to the tower, and a separate camp farther from the tower will need to be established.

The passage behind the secret door is narrow enough that you need to move through it single file, occasionally turning sideways to squeeze. It takes about an hour to navigate its pitch-black darkness, and the journey is filled with a constant echo of distant sounds. The passage then widens, opening out into a cavern whose far walls and ceiling are out of sight in the darkness. Bits of quartz and mica in the stone glimmer as they catch the light, showing a footpath worn into the stone floor. At the end of that path, a vast, dark shape rises-an enormous stalagmite carved into a bleak, black tower.

Araj: Vizeran’s Tower

Vizeran’s tower is a enormous stalagmite, carved with a spiraling series of chambers leading up to its peak. The center of the stone spike is hollowed out to form an open vertical shaft. A stone staircase spirals around the shaft, with landings leading to chambers on the upper levels:

Level 1 has a broad antechamber and audience hall.

Level 2 contains kitchens, storage, and currently disused servants' quarters.

Level 3 houses guest bedchambers and a torture chamber for “special guests.”

Level 4 contains Vizeran’s library and laboratory.

Level 5 contains the archmage’s private chambers.

Level 6 is Vizeran’s sanctum at the tower’s peak, where he spends his time in contemplation and study.

The sanctum features a permanent teleportation circle that Vizeran can use to return to his home if his need is great. (He uses it only as a last resort, however, given the risks involved in teleporting in the Underdark; see “Faerzress” in chapter 2.) Vizeran doesn’t reveal this circle’s existence to outsiders unless absolutely necessary, and he never gives away its sigil sequence.

Vizeran’s Tower: General Features

The following features are found throughout the tower. Light. The cavern outside the tower is dark, for the inhabitants of Araj require no light. Inside the tower, occasional driftglobes shed dim light, with the rest of the place in darkness.

Guards and Wards. The interior of the tower is under the effect of a permanent guards and wards spell to thwart intruders. Vizeran suspends the spell’s effects for his guests, allowing them to enter unhindered, but those trying to sneak into the tower must deal with the spell’s effects (see “Stealing into Araj”). Additionally, the tower is warded against scrying. Divination spells cast from outside cannot cross the tower’s walls unless Vizeran allows it, and he immediately knows if the tower’s wards thwart a divination spell.

Levitation Shaft. The central shaft of the tower has a permanent levitate spell in effect, such that any creature that steps into the shaft (or that falls off the stairs) is suspended in midair. A creature that speaks the command word aluhal’kafion (“descend”) drops 20 feet per round until it reaches the bottom of the shaft. If the word ku’lam (“rise”) is spoken, a creature rises 20 feet per round until reaching the top level. Movement stops immediately if the creature says ilkalik (“halt”). While in the tower, Vizeran can deactivate or reactivate the levitation effect as an action.

Meeting with Vizeran

Assuming the adventurers arrive as Vizeran’s guests, they find the door to the tower open to them. If they arrive under other circumstances, see “Stealing into Araj” at the end of this chapter.

Past the heavy iron door that is the tower’s only visible entrance, a short tunnel extends through five feet of solid rock into a cool, dark chamber. As you enter, a floating orb of pale violet light brightens before you, revealing an opening in the vaulted ceiling and a spiral stone staircase with no railing, climbing up into darkness.

Around the stairs, the light reveals a circular audience chamber with cold, unlit lanterns hanging from brackets set into the stone wall, heavy carpets covering the smooth stone floor, and a throne-like stone chair on a raised dais to the left of the entrance.

The ball of violet light floats to a stop beneath the center of the open shaft, beyond the foot of the stairs. It then hovers there as if waiting for you.

The orb of magical light attempts to guide the characters up the shaft to Vizeran’s sanctum at the top of the tower. Characters can climb the stairs if they wish, but any creature that steps past the stairs and into the open shaft activates a magical levitation effect imbued into the shaft (see “Vizeran’s Tower: General Features”). If the adventurers arrive in Vizeran’s company, he informs them of the command words for the levitation effect.

Vizeran DeVir

Vizeran DeVir is one of the greatest magical talents produced by the drow city of Menzoberranzan. Unfortunately for him, his rise to power came at the same time as one of the other great arcane talents of the City of Spiders, Gromph Baenre. A scion of the First House and as gifted a schemer as he is a mage, Gromph engineered Vizeran’s disgrace and exile as an unbeliever in Lolth. Ironically, this might have saved Vizeran’s life, as House DeVir was wiped out not long thereafter by its rival, House Do’Urden.

Consigned to solitude in the Underdark, Vizeran didn’t perish as most assumed he would. Instead, he put his arcane powers to work to create a safe haven for himself, and spent the following centuries in isolated study, furthering his mastery of the magical arts. He has watched from afar as countless events unfolded in the Underdark and across Faerûn, gathering information and making plans for his eventual return. After waiting for centuries, Vizeran now believes that time has come.

Vizeran harbors a thirst for vengeance against his only living rival-Gromph Baenre, the drow Archmage of Menzoberranzan. As a follower of the Elder Elemental Eye, Vizeran also despises Lolth and her influence over the drow. He would like nothing more than to show up Gromph and prove to the drow that Lolth has used them for her own gain. Of course, he also wants to learn whatever arcane secrets have allowed Gromph to tap into magic powerful enough to summon the demon lords to the Underdark.

Vizeran makes a powerful but dangerous ally. His plans and goals are entirely self serving, and he will sacrifice the characters without hesitation to further his schemes. Moreover, Vizeran isn’t as immune as he believes to the demonic madness growing in the Underdark, which has been feeding his megalomania and his thirst for vengeance against his fellow drow. 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.

Kleve

Vizeran holds the control gem of a death slaad he calls “Kleve.” The slaad serves as the archmage’s bodyguard, and is close by at all times. Kleve can change its form to appear as any Small or Medium humanoid, sometimes taking on the appearance of a deep gnome servant or a drow assistant to Vizeran if it wants to blend in. It can also cast invisibility to observe silently from hiding, and relies on its true form when it wants to intimidate other creatures. Although cruel by nature, Kleve takes no action to harm anyone without Vizeran’s permission.

Kleve’s control gem is a smoky crystal that Vizeran wears on a chain around his neck, beneath his robes. As long as Vizeran possesses the gem, the death slaad must obey him and can’t be charmed.

Grin Ousstyl

The only other person in Araj is Grin Ousstyl, Vizeran’s drow mage apprentice. A clever troublemaker from an out-of-favor house, Grin worked his way into the outlawed alliance of drow mages known as the Council of Spiders, but was careless and nearly executed for his ambition. Exiled from Menzoberranzan, he was taken in by Vizeran, who plays the role of a shadowy patron of the council. The young drow has continued his magical training under the archmage’s tutelage.

Grin is loyal to his master but not well suited to such a solitary existence. He longs for the opportunity to return to Menzoberranzan, supporting the notion of an uprising to overthrow the matron mothers and end their rule. He is less enthused about the potential of turning his old home into a battlefield for the demon lords, however, and he eventually betrays Vizeran’s confidence to the adventurers in an effort to prevent that outcome (see chapter 15, “The City of Spiders”).

Other Inhabitants

No other living creatures dwell in Araj, but the tower features a number of magical inhabitants the adventurers might interact with.

Each level of the tower has a permanent unseen servant in effect to attend to Vizeran, Grin, and the archmage’s guests. Two dozen decorative suits of armor are also on display throughout the tower, all of which are suits of animated armor that move and fight at Vizeran’s command. Between one and three suits guard each room and corridor of the tower. If Vizeran is threatened, he uses them to run interference, buying him time to escape or counterattack.

A character who pokes around the tower and succeeds on a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check notes signs that other humanoid creatures were recently present in Araj, including discarded clothing, moldering foodstuffs, and chains and manacles embedded into the walls in some of the tower’s rooms. Vizeran dismisses any questions about such matters, but Grin Ousstyl confides to the characters that Vizeran once kept bound minor demons and humanoid slaves in his service. Vizeran banished the demons with the arrival of the demon lords in the Underdark, fearing some hidden connection between the creatures of the Abyss. The slaves held by the drow archmage (most of them acquired from Gracklstugh) are all dead-either lost to madness and killed by Vizeran, or sacrificed as part of the preparations for the archmage’s dark ritual. Grin Ousstyl doesn’t speak directly of that latter fate, saying only that Vizeran’s work can be hard on his assistants.

Vizeran’s Scheme

Vizeran DeVir invites guests to settle into his study while unseen servant bring trays of dried mushrooms, smoked rothe meat, and goblets of spicy liquor. The drow archmage takes a cup for himself and makes a point of drinking first, although he scoffs at any suggestion that he would try to poison his guests, given all the trouble he has taken to arrange their meeting.

Within the safe haven of his tower, Vizeran continues the discussion he began with the characters back at Gravenhollow, speaking more on what he knows of the demon lords.

“The only one of my kind who could ever match me in the Art is Gromph Baenre. I think we knew from the moment we met that we were destined to be rivals. But where I sought only to master the Art, Gromph was also an astute political manipulator. No more devout than I in the service of the Spider Queen, he arranged for my disgrace and exile. Deprived of my considerable skills, my house fell to our rival, House Do’Urden. Gromph became the Archmage of Menzoberranzan under the auspices of his own house, the First House of the Ruling Council.

“Gromph and I only ever had two things in common: our passion for the Art, and our hatred of the manner in which our fellow mages suffer at the hands of the matron mothers and mistresses of the drow. Gromph has always hungered for power, and not even becoming Archmage of Menzoberranzan was enough to satisfy him.

“From this tower of exile, I kept watch on Gromph’s activities. This was no easy task given his suspicious and circumspect nature. Nonetheless, my observations revealed that he was crafting a unique ritual-one that somehow drew on the energy of faerzress to channel incalculable arcane power. When Gromph performed this ritual, the walls between the planes shuddered. Then, as you have by now realized, the demon lords were wrenched from their layers of the Abyss and cast about here in the Underdark. What we all witnessed in Gravenhollow confirms this.”

Vizeran answers questions from the characters as best he can, then makes his proposal. Use the points laid out in the following sections to play out the negotiations, utilizing whatever combination of ability checks and roleplaying you prefer. Vizeran is sincere in his willingness to help, even if his motives are entirely selfish. As such, he’s inclined to reach an accord with the characters.

What Vizeran Knows

The characters can learn the following information from Vizeran by asking the right questions; he doles out information sparingly, but a successful DC 20 Wisdom (Insight) check might yield additional information if the archmage becomes cagey:

• Lolth is behind the plot to bring the demon lords to the Underdark through her manipulation of Gromph Baenre. The Spider Queen is using the drow as pawns in her schemes to dispose of her demonic rivals and seize power in the Abyss.
• The demon lords of the Abyss-along with many of their lesser servants and legions-have been set loose in the Underdark following Gromph’s ritual.
• The presence of the demon lords is warping the fabric of the Underdark. The faerzress that permeates so much of the subterranean realm has become a conduit through which the insanity of the demon lords spreads.
• Gromph Baenre vanished following the ritual. Vizeran has not been able to detect any trace of his rival archmage using any of the resources at his command.
• Demogorgon, the Prince of Demons, arrived in the Claw Rift of Menzoberranzan and rampaged through the city before escaping into the wider Underdark.
• The intended purpose of Gromph’s ritual is unclear, but Vizeran believes that his rival meant to summon and bind one specific demon lord. Vizeran finds it difficult to believe that even Gromph could be arrogant enough to think he could bind all the demon lords of the Abyss at once.
• The fact that the summoning originated in Menzoberranzan remains largely unknown. If the other races of the Underdark knew, they would have already moved against the drow. The dark elves almost certainly wish to keep this information a secret-assuming they even know it themselves.
• Vizeran knows of no means by which Gromph Baenre’s ritual can be reversed. However, he believes there might be a different means of sending the demon lords back to the Abyss (see “Vizeran’s Plan”).

What Vizeran Wants

Like any other sane creature, Vizeran has no wish to see the Underdark become home to the denizens of the Abyss. He points out that once the demon lords establish domains here, nothing will stop them from surging up to Faerûn to spread their madness and chaos. Indeed, such an outcome is inevitable given enough time.

Vizeran wants desperately to destroy his old rival. But even more so, the archmage dreams of thwarting Lolth and of having the Demon Queen of Spiders revealed to the drow as the treacherous creature she is. His deepest, burning desire is to watch Menzoberranzan destroyed by a demonic rampage. Then the ragged survivors of the drow will turn away from Lolth and her priestesses to seek Vizeran’s guidance, letting him take his rightful place as a wise leader among his people.

What Vizeran Offers

Vizeran DeVir offers the adventurers his insight, his arcane power, and various magical resources that can help them deal with the demon lords. This includes the following benefits:

• Vizeran offers each character a drow piwafwi.
• Each character will be provided with an amulet that can be used one time as a scroll of protection from fiends.
• Vizeran offers the use of Araj as a safe haven in the Underdark, as long as his alliance with the characters lasts. The archmage won’t countenance an army being housed within his home, but he opens it to the adventurers and their allies as they need it.
• Most important of all, Vizeran can offer a plan to defeat the demon lords-but he needs the adventurers' help to make it happen (see “Vizeran’s Plan”).

Vizeran is willing to negotiate other reasonable agreements, including tutoring wizards and providing them with opportunities to learn spells from his library. However, the archmage uses any such teaching opportunities to attempt to subtly corrupt his students.

Vizeran’s Plan

At the first sign that the adventurers are open to working with him, the drow archmage explains his plan.

“Demons are creatures ruled by madness and hatred, even the greatest and most powerful of them. They war ceaselessly upon each other in the Abyss, and have already begun to do so here. We can play them against each other, and then deal with the weakened victors.

“I believe I have the ability to devise and cast a ritual, similar to Gromph’s but nowhere near as dangerous or foolish, that will draw the most powerful demon lords together to the site of the original summoning. Once they are brought together, they will try to destroy each other. But though the demon lords might destroy each other’s physical manifestations here in our world, their essence cannot be extinguished. They will thus be cast back into the Abyss, as effectively as if they had been banished.

“The ritual needs certain components to produce the talisman that will draw the demons. Then a rite to empower and activate it. Then blood and battle such as this world has never seen. Any survivors among the demon lords will be sorely weakened, and should be far easier to destroy.

“All I need are the necessary ingredients,” Vizeran says, “and, ideally, a look at Gromph’s grimoires and notes from his sanctum.” Where the drow archmage watches you, a thin smile curls one corner of his mouth.

The characters can refuse Vizeran at any time, at which point the archmage tells them to leave his home and wishes them good luck surviving in a world dominated by the demon lords. He says he will find other means to deal with the problem on his own.

If the adventurers are willing to ally with him, Vizeran further outlines his needs. He explains that the ritual is powered by a unique talisman he calls “the dark heart.” The talisman’s creation requires a number of unique components:

• The intact and unhatched egg of a purple worm, for channeling great physical power.
• The central eye of a beholder, to break down magical resistance and overcome magical forces.
• Six feathers from six different angels-the authority of the celestial realms and a force to enrage fiendish creatures.
• The heart of a goristro, to reach and influence the hearts of other demons.
• Thirteen timmasks, also known as “devil’s mushrooms,” sprouted from the footprint of a marilith, a balor, or a goristro-a lure to draw demons in.
• A few drops of blood or ichor from a demon lord, to connect with the demons the ritual will call.
• Gromph Baenre’s grimoires and notes on his ritual, to assist in better understanding the power that summoned the demon lords.

In his research, Vizeran has located potential sources for all these components, and he can direct the characters to retrieve them as detailed in subsequent chapters. The purple worm egg and the eye of the beholder can be found in the Wormwrithings (see chapter 13). The angel feathers and the demon heart can be claimed in the Labyrinth (see chapter 14). The grimoire is found in Menzoberranzan, the City of Spiders (see chapter 15). Being able to acquire the timmask mushrooms and blood from a demon lord depends on the adventurers' resourcefulness and on the opportunities found in other chapters of the adventure.

You can modify the components list if you wish, using the encounters in chapters 13 through 15 as guidelines and opportunities. Additional encounters can easily be inserted into chapters 13 and 14 for any other elements you want to add to the ritual.

Vizeran provides the means for the adventurers and their allies to gather the components for the talisman and encourages them to get started immediately. See chapters 13 through 15 for the sources Vizeran has found, then chapters 16 and 17 for the endgame battles against the demon lords.

Victory without Vizeran

It is up to you whether or not the adventurers can succeed against the demon lords without Vizeran’s aid. They might be able to implement his plan on their own, particularly once he has supplied them with the necessary components and information. The dark heart talisman to be crafted for the ritual (see chapter 15) can be placed anywhere to draw the demons to it. Likewise, the ritual can be performed in any location in the Underdark imbued with faerzress. Vizeran has kept this information from the adventurers only because he sees the ritual as his chance to destroy Menzoberranzan and take his revenge on the drow who cast him out.

A player character spellcaster might be able to reproduce Vizeran’s work to create and perform the ritual, setting up the scenario in chapter 17, “Against the Demon Lords.” Regardless of how the plan unfolds, though, the adventurers should get the opportunity to choose what they’ll do about Vizeran when they learn that the drow archmage has not been entirely truthful with them. See chapter 15, “The City of Spiders,” for details.

Stealing into Araj

If the characters don’t take warmly to Vizeran’s initial offer, they might want to enter Araj covertly instead of at the archmage’s invitation. Likewise, once they realize that they are being used by Vizeran to advance his plan to destroy Menzoberranzan, the characters might decide to steal the archmage’s secrets and resources to use against the demon lords-or even to slay him just for the sake of looting the place.

Wards

Getting to the tower undetected is all but impossible. Vizeran knows whenever the secret door accessing the passage to Araj opens, by way of a permanent magical effect similar to a powerful alarm spell. Intruders also have to deal with the guards and wards spell active within the tower, which places arcane lock spells on all the doors and sets web spells across the central shaft and stairways. Doors within the Tower of Vengeance (including the main door) have AC 16, 25 hit points, a damage threshold of 5, resistance to thunder damage, and immunity to poison and psychic damage.

A magic mouth spell at the entrance to the tower activates when intruders try to open the door, shouting: “You dare to enter here unbidden? Flee for your lives now, while you still can!” Another magic mouth placed outside Vizeran’s sanctum repeatedly calls out: “Intruders! Beware!” when any intruder approaches within 20 feet of the sanctum door.

The tower’s twenty-four suits of animated armor attack anyone who enters Araj without Vizeran’s permission, and continue attacking until they are destroyed or he calls them off. At the first sign of trouble, the death slaad Kleve stalks intruders invisibly and attempts to attack with surprise. If Kleve is reduced to half its hit points, it retreats to its master’s side.

Vizeran casts his protective spells before entering combat, along with invisibility (renewing the death slaad’s invisibility as well if he has time). As a last-ditch escape, Vizeran casts time stop and uses the opportunity to flee or make a risky teleport attempt to a bolt-hole shelter he has hidden in another Underdark location of your choice.

In the event the characters have the opportunity to loot Araj, they find the items listed under “What Vizeran Offers,” along with other treasure suitable for a foe of the archmage’s power. See chapter 7, “Treasure,” of the Dungeon Master’s Guide for guidelines on creating Vizeran’s treasury, keeping in mind that the wily drow has likely trapped his most powerful magic items. If he survives and escapes, Vizeran adds those who dare to threaten him and loot his home to the list of people who will suffer his revenge.