Preface

Welcome to Tales from the Yawning Portal. Within this book you will find seven of the deadliest dungeons from the history of D&D, updated for the current edition of the game. Some are classics that have hosted an untold number of adventurers, while others are newer creations boldly staking their place in the pantheon of notable D&D adventures.

Just as these dungeons have made an impression on D&D players, so too have tales of their dangers spread across the D&D multiverse. When the night grows long in Waterdeep, City of Splendors, and the fireplace in the taproom of the Yawning Portal dims to a deep crimson, adventurers from across the Sword Coast-and even some visiting from other D&D worlds-spin tales and rumors of lost treasures.

• A wanderer from the distant Shou Empire speaks of strange, leering devil faces carved in dungeon walls that can devour an explorer in an instant, leaving behind not a single trace of the poor soul’s passing.
• A bald, stern wizard clad in blue robes and speaking with a strange accent tells of a wizard who claimed three powerful weapons from a city on the shores of a lake of unknown depths, who spirited them away to a slumbering volcano and dared adventurers to enter his lair and recover them.
• A one-eyed dwarf spins tales of a castle that fell into the earth, and whose ruins stand above a subterranean grove dominated by a tree that spawns evil.

These are only a few of the tales that have spread across the Sword Coast from the furthest reaches of Faerûn and beyond. The minor details change with the telling. The dread tomb of Acererak shifts its location from a dismal swamp, to a searing desert, to some other forbidding clime in each telling. The key elements remain the same in each version of the tales, lending a thread of truth to the tale.

The seeds of those stories now rest in your hand. D&D’s deadliest dungeons are now part of your arsenal of adventures. Enjoy, and remember to keep a few spare character sheets handy.

Using This Book

Tales from the Yawning Portal contains seven adventures taken from across D&D’s history.

The introduction of each adventure provides ideas on adapting it to a variety of D&D settings. Use that information to place it in your campaign or to give you an idea of how to adapt it.

These adventures provide the perfect side quest away from your current campaign. If you run published D&D campaigns, such as Storm King’s Thunder, the higher level adventures presented here are an ideal way to extend the campaign beyond.

About the Adventures

The Sunless Citadel

The Sunless Citadel, written by Bruce R. Cordell, was the first published adventure for the third edition of the D&D game. It is designed for a party of four or five 1st level player characters.

Ever since its publication in 2000, The Sunless Citadel has been widely regarded as an excellent way to introduce new players to the game. It’s also a great starting experience for someone looking to be a Dungeon Master for the first time.

The Forge of Fury

The Forge of Fury, written by Richard Baker, was published in 2000 shortly after The Sunless Citadel. Characters who succeeded in that mission and advanced to 3rd level were now ready to take on the challenges of a ruined dwarven fortress.

Like its predecessor, The Forge of Fury is tailored to provide increasingly tougher threats as the characters make their way through the fortress. Those who survive the experience can expect to advance to 5th level-seasoned adventurers ready to strive for greater glory and renown.

The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan

The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan, written by Harold Johnson and Jeff R. Leason, made its debut under the title Lost Tamoachan at the Origins game convention in 1979, where it was used in the official D&D competition. The first published version of the adventure was produced in 1980.

The updated version of the adventure presented herein is designed for a group of four or five 5th-level player characters.

White Plume Mountain

Lawrence Schick, the author of White Plume Mountain, related in the 2013 compilation Dungeons of Dread that he wrote the adventure as a way of persuading Gary Gygax to hire him as a game designer. Not only did he get the job, but White Plume became an instant favorite when it was first published in 1979.

The version of the adventure in this book is tailored to a group of characters of 8th level.

Dead in Thay

Dead in Thay, written by Scott Fitzgerald Gray, was created when the fifth edition D&D game was in the testing stages. In its original form, it was used as the story of the D&D Encounters season in the spring of 2014. Featuring an immense and lethal dungeon known as the Doomvault, the adventure serves as a tribute to Tomb of Horrors, Ruins of Undermountain, and other “killer dungeons” throughout the history of the game.

The version of Dead in Thay presented here is modified for use in home campaigns. It is designed for characters of 9th to 11th level.

Against the Giants

The three linked adventures that make up Against the Giants were created and originally released in 1978, during the time when Gary Gygax was still writing the Player’s Handbook for the original AD&D game. Despite being (in a sense) older than the game itself, these adventures continue to hold a special place in the hearts and memories of D&D players of all ages.

The compilation of Steading of the Hill Giant Chief, Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl, and Hall of the Fire Giant King was published in 1981 as Against the Giants. The version presented here is designed to be undertaken by characters of 11th level.

Tomb of Horrors

Before there was much of anything else in the world of the D&D game, there was the Tomb of Horrors.

The first version of the adventure was crafted for Gary Gygax’s personal campaign in the early 1970s and went on to be featured as the official Dungeons & Dragons event at the original Origins gaming convention in 1975. The first publication of Tomb of Horrors, as a part of the Advanced D&D game, came in 1978.

As a proving ground for characters and players alike, fabricated by the devious mind of the game’s cocreator, Tomb of Horrors has no equal in the annals of D&D’s greatest adventures. Only high-level characters stand a chance of coming back alive, but every player who braves the Tomb will have the experience of a lifetime

Running the Adventures

To run each of these adventures, you need the fifth edition Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Monster Manual. Before you sit down with your players, read the text of the adventure all the way through and familiarize yourself with the maps as well, perhaps making notes about complex areas or places where the characters are certain to go, so you’re well prepared before the action starts.

Text that appears in a box like this is meant to be read aloud or paraphrased for the players when their characters first arrive at a location or under a specific circumstance, as described in the text.

The Monster Manual contains stat blocks for most of the monsters and NPCs found in this book. When a monster’s name appears in bold type, that’s a visual cue pointing you to the creature’s stat block in the Monster Manual. Descriptions and stat blocks for new monsters appear in appendix B. If a stat block is in that appendix, an adventure’s text tells you so.

Spells and nonmagical objects or equipment mentioned in the book are described in the Player’s Handbook. Magic items are described in the Dungeon Master’s Guide, unless the adventure’s text directs you to an item’s description in appendix A.

Creating a Campaign

While these adventures were never meant to be combined into a full campaign-over 30 years separates the newest from the oldest-they have been selected to provide play across a broad range of levels. With a little work, you can run a complete campaign using only this book.

Starting with The Sunless Citadel, guide your players through the adventures in the order that they are presented in this book. Each one provides enough XP that, upon completing the adventure, the characters should be high enough level to advance to the next one.

The Yawning Portal, or some other tavern of your own invention or drawn from another D&D setting, provides the perfect framing device for the campaign. The characters hear rumors of each dungeon, with just enough information available to lead them to the next adventure. Perhaps a friendly NPC drawn from the upcoming adventure visits the tavern in search of help, or some element of a character’s background pushes the group down the proper road. In any case, these dungeons are designed to be easily portable to any campaign setting.

The Yawning Portal

Amid the bustle of Waterdeep, within the Castle Ward where barristers, nobles, and emissaries battle with word and contract, stands an inn not quite like any other. Before there was a Castle Ward or even what could be recognized as an ancestor of the City of Splendors, there was a dungeon, and in that dungeon begins the tale of the Yawning Portal.

In ages past, the mighty wizard Halaster built his tower at the foot of Mount Waterdeep and delved deep into tunnels first built by dwarves and drow in search of ever greater magical power. Halaster and his apprentices expanded the tunnels they found, worming out new lairs under the surface for reasons of their own. In time, their excavations grew into the vast labyrinth known today as Undermountain, the largest dungeon in all of the Forgotten Realms. Halaster eventually disappeared, as have all his apprentices, but the massive complex he built remains to this day.

For untold years, the secrets of Undermountain remained hidden from the surface world. Everyone who entered its halls failed to return. Its reputation as a death trap grew to the point that criminals in Waterdeep who were sentenced to die were forcibly escorted into the dungeon and left to fend for themselves.

All of that changed with the arrival of two men, a warrior named Durnan and a ne’er-do-well named Mirt. The duo were the first adventurers to return from Undermountain, laden with riches and magic treasures. While Mirt used his wealth to buy a mansion, Durnan had different plans. Durnan retired from adventuring and purchased the land on which sat the deep, broad well that was the only known entrance to the dungeon. Around this well he built a tavern and inn that caters to adventurers and those who seek their services, and he called it the Yawning Portal.

Some of the magic Durnan looted on his successful foray into Undermountain granted him a life span that exceeds even that of an elf. And for decades Durnan left delving into Undermountain to younger folk. Yet one day, something drew him back. Days of waiting for his triumphant return from the dungeon turned to months and then years. For nearly a century, citizens of Waterdeep thought him dead. But one night, a voice called up from the well. Few at first believed it could be Durnan, but folk as long-lived as he vouched it so. The Yawning Portal had passed into the hands of his ancestors, but Durnan returned with enough riches for them to quietly retire. Durnan took his customary place behind the bar, raised a toast to his own safe return, and then began serving customers as if he’d never left.

Adventurers from across Faerûn, and even from elsewhere in the great span of the multiverse, visit the Yawning Portal to exchange knowledge about Undermountain and other dungeons. Most visitors are content to swap stories by the hearth, but sometimes a group driven by greed, ambition, or desperation pays the toll for entry and descends the well. Most don’t survive to make the return trip, but enough come back with riches and tales of adventure to tempt other groups into trying their luck.

The Green Dragon Inn

The Yawning Portal is not the only renowned tavern in D&D lore. In the Free City of Greyhawk stands the Green Dragon Inn, which has been the starting point for some of the most successful expeditions to Castle Greyhawk and beyond. The place is crowded and smoke-filled. Patrons talk in low voices, and anyone attempting to strike up a conversation without making a clear intent to pay can expect a cold reception. Paranoia and suspicion run rampant here, as befits a free city that stands at the nexus between a devil-haunted empire, a vast domain locked in the irontight grip of a demigod of evil, and a splintered, bickering host of kingdoms nominally committed to justice and weal. In the battered, weary world of Greyhawk, profit and power take precedence over heroics.

Features of the Yawning Portal

The Yawning Portal’s taproom fills the first floor of the building. The 40-foot-diameter well that provides access to Undermountain dominates the space. The “well” is all that remains of Halaster’s tower, and now, devoid of the stairways and floors that formed subterranean levels, it drops as an open shaft for 140 feet. Stirges, spiders, and worse have been known to invade the Yawning Portal from below.

Balconies on the tavern’s second and third floors overlook the well, with those floors accessed by way of wooden stairs that rise up from the taproom. Guests sitting at the tables on the balconies have an excellent view of the well and the action below.

Entering the Well

Those who wish to enter Undermountain for adventure (or the daring tourists who just want to “ride the rope”) must pay a gold piece to be lowered down. The return trip also costs a piece of gold, sent up in a bucket in advance. Once the initial payment is made, a few stairs takes one to the top of the waisthigh lip of the well. The rope that hangs in the center of the well is levered over to the lip by a beam in the rafters, and when those who have paid are ready, they mount the rope and take the long ride down.

Oddities on Display

A staggering variety of curios and oddities adorn the taproom. Traditionally, adventurers who recover a strange relic from Undermountain present it to Durnan as a trophy of their success. Other adventurers leave such curios to mark their visits to the tavern, or relinquish them after losing a bet with Durnan, who likes to wager on the fate of adventuring bands that enter the dungeon. Occasionally, something that strikes Durnan’s fancy can be used to pay a bar tab.

Yawning Portal Taproom Curios

(See also Template in the next Story)

A Typical Evening

On quiet nights, guests in the Yawning Portal gather around a large fireplace in the taproom and swap tales of distant places, strange monsters, and valuable treasures. On busier nights, the place is loud and crowded. The balconies overflow with merchants and nobles, while the tables on the ground floor are filled with adventurers and their associates. Invariably, the combination of a few drinks and the crowd’s encouragement induces some folk to pay for a brief trip down into Undermountain. Most folk pay in advance for a ride down and immediately back up, though a few ambitious souls might launch impromptu expeditions into the dungeon. Few such ill-prepared parties ever return.

Groups seeking to enter Undermountain for a specific reason generally come to the tavern during its quiet hours. Even at such times, there are still a few prying eyes in the taproom, lurkers who carry news of the comings and goings from Undermountain to the Zhentarim, dark cults, criminal gangs, and other interested parties.

Starting the Story

Kicking off a dungeon adventure can be as simple as having a mysterious stranger offer the characters a quest while they are at the Yawning Portal (or some other tavern). This approach is a cliché, but it is an effective one. Use the following two tables to generate a couple of details, then tailor the particulars of the quest and the quest giver to suit the adventure you plan to run.

Mysterious Stranger Quest

Mysterious Stranger Secret

(See also the Template below)

Durnan

The proprietor of the Yawning Portal is something of an enigma. Blessed with a seemingly limitless life span by treasures he brought back from his expedition nearly two centuries ago, he is as much a fixture in the tap room as the well.

Durnan is a man of few words. He expects to be paid for his time, and will offer insight and rumors only in return for hard cash. “We know the odds and take our chances,” he says, whether he is breaking up a card game that has turned violent or refusing the pleas of adventurers trapped at the bottom of the well who are unable to pay for a ride up. Despite his stony heart, he is an excellent source of information about Undermountain and other dungeons, provided one can pay his price.

Personality Trait: Isolation

It’s a cruel world. All people have to fend for themselves. Self-sufficiency is the only path to success.

Ideal: Independence

Someone who can stand alone can stand against anything.

Bond: The Yawning Portal

This place is my only home. My friends and family are long gone. I love this place, but I try not to get attached to the people here. I’ll outlive them all. Lucky me.

Flaw: Heartless

If you want sympathy, the Temple of Ilmater is in the Sea Ward. No matter how bad things are, you’ll be gone in a blink of an eye.

Other Denizens

The Yawning Portal is host to a variety of regular visitors, most of whom offer services to adventurers. Chapter 4 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide provides plenty of resources for generating nonplayer characters. The following table provides some possibilities for why an individual is visiting the Yawning Portal.

Denizens

Dead In Thay

Near the village of Daggerford on the Sword Coast, the Red Wizards of Thay plotted to extend the evil reach of their land and its master, the lich lord Szass Tam. At a site called Bloodgate Keep they built a powerful portal, fueled by elemental nodes, that could allow Thayans to instantly transport whole armies into the very heart of the Sword Coast. With this power, the Red Wizards would surely overthrow and take control of the North.

However, groups of heroes recently assaulted Bloodgate Keep and its master, the lich Tarul Var. With the help of a renegade Red Wizard named Mennek Ariz, this assault was successful. Bloodgate Keep fell, and Szass Tam’s plans of invasion were crushed.

What no one expected, though, was that despite the fall of the keep itself, parts of the Bloodgate Nexus (an interconnected series of teleportation circles) survived, and a Thayan Resurrection cell leader named Syranna devised a way to use it against Szass Tam. Syranna had been part of the team that originally assembled the Bloodgate Nexus, and knew that remaining nodes allowed direct access to a secret Thayan training ground known as the Doomvault.

This adventure takes place in the Doomvault. It is designed for 9th-level characters. By the end of the story, they are likely to advance to 11th level or perhaps higher… if they don’t end up dead in Thay.

Synopsis

Kazit Gul, a Thayan archmage, built the Doomvault to siphon the souls of those who perished within it for use in his dark experiments. One of these was the creation of an extradimensional vault in which he stored his phylactery. Eventually, Szass Tam and his followers defeated and enslaved Gul. They changed the Doomvault into a monstrous menagerie and arcane laboratory. Although the space is still called the Phylactery Vault of Kazit Gul, it now also holds the phylacteries of Szass Tam and all his elite lich servants.

Syranna knows that if the characters can make their way through the Doomvault and find the entrance to the phylactery vault, they could strike a deathblow to Szass Tam’s hold on power. She can provide them access and a little bit of guidance, but the bulk of the work is in their hands. They must assault the Doomvault quickly-the more word gets out about their activities, the more the site’s guards will be on alert.

Eventually, the characters will discover that Szass Tam is siphoning the power of members of the Chosen, mortals who have been invested with the power of the gods so as to help shape the Realms to match the will of their divine benefactors. The lich is using that power to keep the vault hidden, warp the magic fueling the Doomvault, and power his pursuit of godhood.

Characters' Goals

Over the course of the adventure, the characters try to accomplish the following tasks:

• Explore the Doomvault and deal as much damage to the Thayans as possible.
• Learn how to access the Phylactery Vault, and destroy the phylacteries within it.

The villains' goals are straightforward: defend the Doomvault and kill the intruders. Not all of the characters' potential foes share these goals, so the opportunity exists to turn enemies into allies, or at least useful tools.

Placing the Adventure

This adventure takes place in the Forgotten Realms, but it can easily be transplanted-the site and the story alike-into another setting.

Dragonlance

On Krynn, the Doomvault is likely to be the work of renegade wizards, perhaps of more than one color, with magic as their only alliance and moral compass. The dungeon might exist underneath a ruined Tower of High Sorcery, or it could be a haunt of Fistandantilus before his failed attempt at godhood. If it is part of ruins, it could even be the Tower of Istar, which Nuitari took at the end of the Chaos War. Or it might be the same tower, after Mina raised it and the black-robed wizards took it for their own.

Eberron

The Doomvault, lying beneath the Mournland, might be the secret project of King Kaius of Karrnath. Kaius I hid in the dungeon from the time the lich Vol made him a vampire until he returned to take the throne from his grandson. He’s trying to become powerful enough to thwart Vol’s influence on him and become the preeminent monarch of Khorvaire. Kaius is draining powerful dragonmarked scions instead of Chosen. Alternatively, the Doomvault could be the Blood of Vol’s headquarters in Khorvaire. Vol uses the dungeon to harvest the power of dragonmarks so she can become an undead god.

Greyhawk

Perhaps Rary the Traitor found the Doomvault-yet another vestige of ancient Sulm-under the Bright Desert. Rary takes any chance to increase his power, even as he claims the desire to destroy the accursed Scorpion Crown and return Sulm to its fertile state. Since his betrayal of the Circle of Eight and the subjugation of the people of the Bright Desert, Rary has made countless enemies who want him to fail even at noble aims. If he succeeds at destroying the crown, his tyranny will still remain.

About the Original

Dead in Thay, by Scott Fitzgerald Gray, was originally produced in 2014 as an adventure for the D&D Encounters organized play program. At that time, it also served as a playtest for the rules that eventually became the fifth edition of the game. This version of the adventure has been modified for home play.

Featuring an immense and lethal dungeon, the adventure is a tribute to Tomb of Horrors, Ruins of Undermountain, and other killer dungeons from the game’s history.

Dungeon Characteristics

Locations in the Doomvault are identified on map 5.1. The following characteristics are common to all the areas, unless otherwise noted in a specific description.

Because of Szass Tam’s suspicious nature, and the existential threat that discovery of the Phylactery Vault would pose, movement within the Doomvault is regulated with what one might call excessive precautions.

Sectors, Zones, and Areas

The Doomvault is divided into nine sectors that each focus on a different theme. A sector is split into four zones, that each explore one facet of that theme with a number of areas detailing a particular example. Magic gates separate zones from one another.

Sectors are labeled on the map: Abyssal Prisons, Blood Pens, Masters' Domain, Far Realm Cysts, Forests of Slaughter, Ooze Grottos, Predator Pools, Golem Laboratories, and Temples of Extraction. Zones are also labeled on the map. Areas are identified by numbers.

Dimensional Barriers

Magic secures the dungeon. No spell or trait allows anyone to evade the dungeon’s security. For instance, a wizard might use a dimension door spell to teleport from one part of a zone to another, but no spell permits teleportation out of the zone in which the spell was cast. Similarly, a wizard might cast a passwall spell to burrow from one area to another. If the tunnel would pass from one zone to another, circumventing security, then the tunnel ends halfway between the origin point and the possible exit point. In any case, the caster knows why the spell didn’t work as intended. Further, an incorporeal or ethereal creature can’t pass between zones.

A detect magic spell can’t penetrate the structure of the Doomvault to sense the dimensional barriers.

Magic Gates

Two types of magic gates, white and black, secure the Doomvault. Magic keys allow the manipulation of them.

Gate Features

Each gate is a 10-foot-wide circle of runes, drawn on the floor. This circle creates a magical energy field in its space from floor to ceiling. Someone who touches the edge of a gate’s field can assess its nature with a successful DC 10 Intelligence (Arcana) check. The field can be disabled by the use of a glyph key (see below).

A creature that enters an active gate’s energy field while not holding a properly attuned glyph key is pushed back 10 feet. The first time a creature does so on a turn, the creature takes 5 (2d4) force damage.

White Gates

White gates are placed in the dungeon to block passage between zones. When the characters see a white gate for the first time, read:

A ten-foot-diameter circle of runes and clear quartz fragments is set into the floor. Within the circle, a luminous white mist shimmers, obscuring what lies beyond.

Thereafter, you can shorten the description of the gates they encounter to avoid repetition.

A white gate’s misty energy field, when active, gives off dim light and renders its area heavily obscured. This field is also an impenetrable magical force that blocks passage (material and ethereal), sound, and scent.

If a glyph key attuned to the zone on either side of the gate is applied to the gate’s field, the mist dissipates and the energy field becomes inactive while the key remains within the gate. Therefore, a creature that has a properly attuned glyph key can hold a white gate open for others.

Black Gates

The black gates were part of the Doomvault’s original construction. They connect different areas of the complex. When the characters see a black gate for the first time, read:

A ten-foot-diameter circle of runes and black onyx fragments is set into the floor. It exudes wisps of shadowy energy that look like curling black smoke.

Thereafter, you can shorten the description of the gates they encounter to avoid repetition.

When a black gate’s magical field is active, it gives off shadowy energy that lightly obscures the field’s area.

A creature can render a black gate’s field inactive by holding any glyph key to the field, whereupon the smoky energy dissipates. If the key is attuned to a zone containing a different black gate, then the creature holding the key can also open a magical portal that leads to the other black gate’s area. While the portal is open, the destination gate’s field also becomes inactive. A black gate’s field remains inactive until no glyph key is applied to it. A portal created within a black gate remains open until the creature that opened the portal leaves the area of either connected black gate.

As the adventure progresses, the characters learn that disrupting a number of black gates is essential to reaching the Phylactery Vault, where the party can upset Szass Tam’s plans and loosen his grip on power in Thay. Szass Tam’s channeling of Chosen life force has created instability in the black gates' magic. To reach the Phylactery Vault, six black gates must be disrupted. Once those gates are disrupted, any black gate can be forced to connect the Temples of Extraction to the Phylactery Vault, which is otherwise accessible only to Szass Tam.

Once the characters learn that they need to disrupt the gates, anyone who understands the nature of the gates knows how to perform the disruption. As an action, a character who has the glyph key attuned to a black gate’s zone can disrupt the gate. To do so, the character must touch the edge of the gate’s energy field and succeed on a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check. A dispel magic spell cast on the gate up to 1 minute beforehand grants advantage on this check. On a failure, the character performing the check takes 7 (2d6) force damage.

Creatures patrolling the Doomvault don’t notice the disruption, since a disrupted black gate continues to function normally. However, the gate’s active field deals 10 (3d6) force damage (instead of 2d6).

Gatehouse

Thanks to Syranna, the Red Wizard rebels maintain control of an unmapped magic gatehouse, which is how the characters first arrive in Thay and enter the Doomvault. The gatehouse contains several permanent teleportation circles. Syranna can key these circles to any entry point (listed below). Further, any creature that possesses a glyph key can use a black gate to teleport from the Doomvault to a permanent teleportation circle in the gatehouse.

The gatehouse also has a huge physical gate, facing east into Thay just west of Lake Thaylambar. This gate is built into a cliff about 30 miles northwest of Eltabbar and about 30 miles south of Keluthar. Syranna usually keeps this gate sealed, opening it only for emergencies. She raises this gate to allow characters out of the gatehouse and into Thay only if you decide she does so.

Entry Points

Choose a starting location for the party from among the seven entry points in the Doomvault. Black gates in the following areas have entry points labeled on the map: area 1 (Abyssal Prisons), area 23 (Blood Pens), area 33 (Masters' Domain), area 38 (Far Realm Cysts), area 49 (Forests of Slaughter), area 61 (Ooze Grottos), and area 77 (Predator Pools).

Entry Points

Glyph Keys

A magic crystal pendant on a bronze chain, a glyph key allows creatures to manipulate a handful of specific magic gates within the Doomvault. A glyph key is attuned to a zone or zones, allowing manipulation of gates within the attuned areas. For example, a glyph key attuned to the Temple of Chaos (areas 4 through 7) allows its user to use a functional black gate to open a portal to the black gate in area 7, as well as to pass through the white gates between area 4 and area 2, between area 6 and area 8 or area 16, and between area 7 and area 12.

Touching a glyph key provides a telepathic sense of the name of its attuned zone or zones. Thus, when the characters find glyph keys, they know which zones the keys are for.

A glyph key can hold multiple attunements, and attunements can be passed from one key to another. Only one attunement can be passed at a time. To pass an attunement, one creature must hold the originating key and another creature must hold the target key. The keys must touch. Then, as an action, the creature holding the originating key must make a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check. If the check succeeds, each key shares the chosen attunement. If the check fails, the attunement remains in the originating key and each key’s holder takes 2 (1d4) force damage. Also, if the check fails by 5 or more, the originating key is destroyed.

Temples of Extraction Glyph Keys

The Temples of Extraction are the site of Szass Tam’s dark experiments with the Chosen of the gods, and security there is tighter than anywhere else in the Doomvault. Only four glyph keys to this sector, one for each zone, are outside the Temples of Extraction sector. They are in area 10, area 25, area 31, and area 63. The characters need to find these glyph keys to gain access to the temples.

Common Features

This section details further generalities about the Doomvault. Descriptions in specific areas take precedence over this overview.

Atmosphere

Abjuration magic keeps the dungeon dry and at a comfortable temperature. A detect magic spell reveals this magic as a faint aura on all the Doomvault’s surfaces.

Construction

Regular rooms and their features are of worked and finished stone, mostly marble. Caverns are rough-hewn stone.

Ceilings rise from 20 feet to vaults of 30 feet. Caverns have natural ceilings roughly 30 feet high. Corridor ceilings are 20 feet high.

Contact Stones

Each zone contains a circle of magical glyphs displayed on a wall or an object. These locations serve as contact stones, allowing someone who has a glyph key to contact the gatehouse. The characters can use any contact stone to contact Syranna and have her attune glyph keys to the zone where the contact stone is located.

When the characters see a contact stone on a wall for the first time, use the following description.

Glowing glyphs form a circle on the wall about three feet off the floor.

Thereafter, you can shorten the description of the contact stones they encounter to avoid repetition.

Normal Doors

The Doomvault’s doors are wood reinforced with steel, and they open easily. Most doors lack latches, bars, or locks. Those that are locked require a successful DC 15 Dexterity check to pick or a successful DC 20 Strength check to force open.

Secret Doors

A successful DC 20 Wisdom (Perception) check is required to find a typical secret door.

False Doors

A character must succeed on a DC 20 Intelligence (Investigation) check to determine that a door is real or false without opening it.

Light

Insubstantial magic orbs provide bright light in areas that indicate no other illumination conditions. Boxed text meant to be communicated to the players assumes that someone can see the described area.

Pit Traps

A typical pit trap is under a 5-foot-square section of floor, which forms a lid hinged on the inner side and lined with lead. A character within 5 feet of the lid might notice it with a successful DC 20 passive Perception check. A character who searches the area notices the lid with a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check. A lid can be jammed so that it remains closed by a character who makes a successful DC 15 Dexterity check. Otherwise, the lid falls open when a Small or larger creature places weight on it.

A creature that triggers the lid must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or fall 20 feet onto a bed of stone spikes, taking 7 (2d6) bludgeoning damage and 13 (2d12) piercing damage. The pit walls are smooth stone. The lid closes magically 5 minutes after being triggered. The lead on the lid prevents the magic of a closed trap from being detected.

Dungeon Denizens

The Red Wizards, aided and abetted by their Thayan servants, hold sway over the Doomvault. In addition to battling the monstrous residents of the dungeon, the characters will need to contend with these humanoids.

Thayans as Foes

Thayan humanoids in the dungeon, especially Red Wizards, prefer to survive encounters with the characters. (All Thayans in the dungeon are non-good in alignment, and most of them are lawful.) When hard pressed, a few might be convinced to surrender, by the use of Charisma (Intimidation or Persuasion) checks. Under interrogation, however, most of these villains lie or otherwise mislead the characters, aiming to kill them with misinformation. Thayans who escape the characters' assault and have no other purpose either leave the Doomvault through the gatehouse or join patrols that attempt to hunt down the characters.

Prisoners

Most humanoid prisoners are terrified and have only enough strength to avoid battle. Prisoners do hard labor or end up as food for the dungeon’s monsters. They have no glyph keys and can’t leave their zone without help. If able, freed prisoners beg for aid in escaping. If given glyph keys, they head to the gatehouse. Use the commoner for prisoners if needed.

Reduced-Threat Monsters

A reduced-threat monster uses a normal monster’s statistics, but it has half the normal hit point maximum and takes a -2 penalty on attack rolls, ability checks, saving throws, and saving throw DCs.

A reduced threat creature that is based on a creature bigger than Large is instead Large. Some specific reduced-threat creatures also make changes to the abilities they can use. A reduced-threat creature is worth half the normal XP earned for defeating it.

Dungeon State

This adventure describes each area as it exists when the characters first arrive in the Doomvault. As they explore, they change the dungeon’s state. Record the state each area is in when the characters leave. You need to track which rooms have been explored, which monsters have been defeated, which secrets remain undiscovered, what treasure has been taken, and so on. If the characters return to an area, your notes can remind you what is different from the original text.

Resting

The incursion into the Doomvault is intended to be a fast-paced assault in which the characters have little time for typical rests. A few areas of the dungeon offer access to special magic that allows characters to gain the benefit of a rest.

The adventure assumes the characters stay in or close to the dungeon for the duration of their exploration. If you want the characters to be able to leave and return to the Doomvault, Syranna can use the circles in the gatehouse to send the party just about anywhere (except the Temples of Extraction or the Phylactery Vault). She can also allow the characters to return by giving them spell scrolls of teleportation circle keyed to the circles in the gatehouse. If you allow the characters to leave the Doomvault through the gatehouse, the characters can take normal rests outside the dungeon. Doing so has an effect on the alert level.

Resting within the Doomvault is risky, because of random encounters and the rising alert level (see below).

Alert Level

The Doomvault is an active complex. As effects of the characters' assault grow more widespread or easily detected, the alert level of the dungeon’s inhabitants rises. This level starts at 0 and can go no lower than 0. It increases by 1 every 4 hours the characters spend inside the dungeon, including resting. The alert level affects the frequency and difficulty of random encounters.

For each 24 hours the characters spend outside the dungeon, the alert level decreases by 1. During this time, the Doomvault returns to a state more stable than when the characters left. Monsters might be recaptured or replaced, and new challenges could be set up to foil incursions. Alter the dungeon’s contents as you see fit to account for the returning party’s previous actions and the reactions of their foes.

A few other events specified in the adventure can raise or lower the alert level.

Dread Warriors

Szass Tam devised the ritual that enables the creation of dread warriors. The lich has since altered the process to make it possible for a Red Wizard to take control of a dread warrior. The effect creates a psychic link between the dread warrior and a Red Wizard, who can, for a time, experience the world through the dread warrior’s senses, speak with its mouth, and cast spells through it. A powerful wizard can control more than one dread warrior at a time.

When a party in the Doomvault encounters a dread warrior that isn’t in the company of a Red Wizard or Tarul Var, a special interaction may occur. If the dread warrior survives until end of the third round (or for more than 20 seconds), Tarul Var (see area 10) becomes aware of the group’s presence. Var’s attention raises the overall alert level by 1. In addition, Tarul Var takes control of the dread warrior by the start of its next turn. Instead of allowing the warrior to attack, Var uses the warrior’s actions to cast his spells through it.

When Var becomes aware of the group through a dread warrior, the warrior’s eyes glow with pale light. If someone casts counterspell or dispel magic on the dread warrior during this time, and successfully dispels a 5th-level spell, Var’s connection is suppressed for 1 minute. Preemptively casting dispel magic on a dread warrior can have the same effect.

Random Encounters

Random encounters help determine if characters meet other creatures moving through the Doomvault. Consider rolling for an encounter in these circumstances:

• The party enters a zone within which they’ve previously defeated most of the monsters.
• The party moves between zones while the Doomvault has an alert level of 6 or higher.
• The alert level rises.

These encounters are more for atmosphere than challenge. Any random encounter should be foreshadowed with noise or other cues. If a result you roll makes no sense for a given area, select a different result that does.

At least one creature in a random encounter has a glyph key attuned to the zone it is in or an adjacent zone. In cases where foes have no way to enter an area, they instead follow the party into that area.

Encounter Type

If a random encounter is indicated, roll on the Encounter Type table, adding the current alert level to the roll.

Encounter Type

Minor Encounter

Dread Legion Patrol

Thayan Patrol

Sector Encounters

If a sector encounter is indicated, roll on the table below that corresponds to the characters' current location. There are no random encounters in the Temples of Extraction.

Unless the dungeon is on high alert (level 6 or higher), a Thayan apprentice and 2d4 thayan warrior accompany a monster in any sector or individual encounter entry marked with an asterisk.

Abyssal Prisons*

Blood Pens

Masters' Domain

Far Realm Cysts*

Forests of Slaughter*

Ooze Grottos

Predator Pools

Golem Laboratories*

Special Encounters

If creatures leave their normal areas to roam the dungeon, add them to your notes as possible special encounters. If necessary, Syranna covertly helps such creatures move about the dungeon to add to the confusion and to aid the overall mission. When you roll a special encounter, you can choose from among the creatures in your notes or roll randomly. If a creature is eliminated, delete it from your list of possible special encounters. If you roll this result while no special encounters exist, then the group has an encounter of your choice.

Treasure

The adventure has some treasure built in, but the characters might be able to find more.

Changing Treasure

Feel free to change the treasure in the Doomvault or add more. It’s especially appropriate to change treasure to something characters in the party can use, and it’s satisfying to let them claim it from a defeated monster or Thayan. For instance, if you’d like to give a character a magic weapon, you can change a weapon-using monster to account for the treasure.

Thayans' Potions

Each group of Thayans has among them 1d4-2 potions (minimum 0), each one determined by rolling on the following table.

Red Wizards

Each Red Wizard encountered in the adventure carries 4d10 gp. A Red Wizard also carries 1d4-2 (minimum 0) spell scrolls, each containing a random arcane spell of 1st or 2nd level, most often darkvision, daylight, detect magic, identify, invisibility, or thunderwave. Twenty-five percent of Red Wizards (determine randomly using a d4) instead have one 3rd-level spell scroll, either of dispel magic or remove curse.

Dread Warriors

A dread warrior carries no gold, but some of them have weapons or armor, determined by rolling on the following table.

Dread Warriors Treasure

Character Death

When a character dies, the player has a few options.

Soul Binding

The rebel Red Wizards can use the mighty magic of the Doomvault, which traps souls, to raise fallen adventurers as soul-bound dead. If a player chooses this option, the dead character returns to play with no changes.

Syranna warns such characters that a soul-bound creature created in this way will die permanently upon leaving the Doomvault. Furthermore, over the course of many weeks, a character who remains in this state loses any identity and becomes a wight under the control of the Red Wizards. To have any hope of exiting the dungeon, the character must end the soul-bound condition.

Syranna conveys that the undying laboratory (area 31) allows soul-bound characters to transform back to normal, but she lacks the knowledge of how this feat is accomplished.

New Character

The player selects or creates a new character who joins the group. Syranna coordinates uniting newcomers with a group in the dungeon. Such characters might be Thayan Resurrection members anxious to join the fight against Szass Tam. The new character could have been a prisoner in the Doomvault, released to help the rebels. Regardless of origin, the character arrives with the necessary resources and information to join the party.

Doomvault Lore

Some creatures that the characters encounter can divulge important information about the Doomvault. When you give out lore, reveal information appropriate to the creature being questioned based on its location and circumstance. You can make information more specific and useful, but the basics of the lore should be conveyed.

Sectors

Some pieces of lore are threats and rumors known to those without firsthand experience of a sector. Creatures inside a sector are likely to know more specific details, especially about their neighboring zones; the DM is encouraged to provide appropriate details wherever creatures are noted to have lore to offer.

In the Abyssal Prisons, the maze of undoing (area 15) has no easy exit, but fiends that can climb are said to have somehow escaped the magic there.

In the Far Realm Cysts, the creatures of chaos keep intruders away from a powerful shrine.

In the Forests of Slaughter, the most cunning hunters seek to steal glyph keys.

In the Forests of Slaughter, magic pools can heal creatures that drink from them.

In the Golem Laboratories, no Red Wizard will enter the glowing green archways.

In the Masters' Domain, the Temples of Despair are used for the torture and execution of those who oppose Szass Tam.

In the Masters' Domain, necromancy can be reshaped to restore life.

In the Ooze Grottos, the power of the white pillar can heal or harm.

In the Predator Pools, the hag seeks allies in her plot against the naga.

In the Predator Pools, vats hold power over life.

Temples of Extraction

Pieces of lore about the Temples of Extraction are presented in the order in which they should be revealed:

The Temples of Extraction aren’t temples at all but research facilities where Szass Tam’s followers conduct profane magical experiments. Few know the specifics of what happens there.

Only black gates allow access to the Temples of Extraction. Only Szass Tam’s most trusted servants have the glyph keys attuned to that sector.

Szass Tam’s latest plan to become a god is his most ambitious. He intends to feed the souls of the Chosen into his phylactery through the Temples of Extraction.

Szass Tam is making sure that his plan will work by channeling the souls of the Chosen into the phylacteries of his underlings, which are stored in the Phylactery Vault beneath the Doomvault.

Disrupting the flow of soul energy into the phylacteries should destroy them, dealing an incalculable blow to Szass Tam’s power.

Phylactery Vault

Pieces of lore about the Phylactery Vault are presented in the order in which they should be revealed:

Beneath the Doomvault, the demilich Kazit Gul slumbers in his Phylactery Vault.

Szass Tam repurposed the Phylactery Vault for his own magical experiments.

The phylacteries of the highest-ranking liches in Szass Tam’s service rest in the Phylactery Vault, protected by powerful magic. Szass Tam holds the phylacteries there to keep his lackeys in check.

If enough black gates across the Doomvault are disrupted, the black gates in the Temples of Extraction can be forced to connect to the Phylactery Vault.

DMs Crib Sheet

Use this sheet to record notes about the state of the Dungeon and other information necessary to run the adventure.

Dungeon State

• +1 for every 4 Hours the party spend in the Dungeon
• -1 for each 24 hours spent outside the Dungeon
• Special events as per the adventure text can raise or lower the alert level
• Alert level cannot be less than zero
• +1 for certain encounters with Dread Warriors

Starts at level: 0

Current Level: 0

Monster States

Use this section to record any special facts about NPCs which the players have encountered that might have later relevance if the players return to the same area

Special Encounters

Note here details of any creatures which leave their normal areas. These creatures can then be used to generate random encounters if so desired. (Drag and drop encounters belelow).

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