Below the Mountain Door lies the Glitterhame, a large series of natural caverns in the heart of the Stone Tooth. The caverns are beautiful: the walls sparkle and glisten with flecks of semiprecious stone, and millennia of sculpting and erosion by water have created sheets of fluted flowstone, delicate stalactites, and majestic stalagmites. Water streams down through the caverns toward an underground river far below.
The Glitterhame is now home to a band of troglodytes, dangerous reptilian savages that haunt underground places. The troglodytes and Great Ulfe’s tribe maintain an uneasy peace, although skirmishes occur. The troglodytes usually use the old orc tunnel (see area 21) to hunt on the surface and leave the orcs alone. In return, Great Ulfe’s followers rarely invade the troglodytes' domain.
Vision in the Glitterhame
Range of vision is important in the characters' exploration of this level. Most light sources don’t illuminate beyond 60 feet, and many of the chambers and passages in the Glitterhame are much larger than that. The darkness hides many perils.
Maps
15. The Cold Stream
If the characters take the steps down from area 10, they emerge into a narrow tunnel with a subterranean stream flowing across it.
The stairway twists and turns a long way downward. The floor has been cut into hundreds of shallow steps, but the walls and ceiling are still natural rock. About sixty feet down, a rushing stream spills from a narrow crack to the south and crosses the stairway, disappearing into a narrow, winding tunnel to the north. The rill is only two or three feet wide.
If the characters explore the route taken by the stream, they have to go single file as they wade through the water. The bed of the fast-moving stream slants sharply; each character must make a successful DC 8 Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to descend safely. If the check fails by 5 or more, the character falls, tumbling 20 feet downhill and taking 3 (1d6) bludgeoning damage.
15a. Stirge Colony
Creatures
Stirges have made their nest in a small cave overlooking the stream, about halfway down the passage. Fissures at the back of the cave run 150 feet to the surface, but nothing larger than a stirge can fit through. Six stirge are sleeping in the nest, but any noise or light from a party descending the streambed wakes them. Each round after the characters enter the cave, 1d4 stirges wake and attack, until all are active.
Treasure
On the floor at the back of the stirge cave lies the desiccated corpse of a dwarf explorer who died here many years ago-part of the failed expedition. A leather pouch on its belt contains 35 gp.
16. High Cavern
The first chamber of the Glitterhame proper is bisected by the stream and has a number of routes leading away from it.
The descending fissure opens up abruptly into a very high cavern, its ceiling easily forty feet or more overhead. The stairway continues to wind down along a ledge that follows the north wall of the chamber.
A fast-moving stream about five feet wide runs across the floor of the chamber from the north and disappears under a low stone overhang to the south, and larger passageways exit to the southeast and the northeast.
Creatures
Four stirge are clinging to the chamber walls high overhead. They can see any light source that is brought into this chamber, but they are very hard to spot in turn, owing to the height of the ceiling. The stirges have advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide unless a character specifically looks for danger overhead, so they might surprise the party.
The stream exits the south wall of the cavern through a passage only 3 feet high, half filled by water, which serves as an entrance to the troglodytes' lair (area 17). Anyone who searches the stream’s banks finds the footprints of Medium reptilian creatures and tracks left by tails with a successful DC 10 Wisdom (Survival) check.
To reach area 17 from this cave, a Medium or larger character must crouch down and then wade or crawl through the stream. Torches and lanterns are difficult to keep lit, since the lowest point of the ceiling in this passage is only about 6 inches above the water’s surface.
17. Troglodyte Cavern
The troglodytes that infest the Glitterhame have claimed one of the largest caverns as a common room and food storage area. They defend it against all intruders. Characters coming from area 16 might not be able to see everything at first.
Floundering through the cold, swift stream, you emerge in a huge cavern. The ceiling must be thirty feet overhead, and the far end of the cave is lost in darkness. A foul stench assaults your nostrils immediately. The remnants of butchered game animals hang from crude wooden stakes along the cavern walls, and you spot a pair of orc corpses treated in the same fashion.
The grisly trophies that decorate the room represent about two or three weeks' worth of meals for the troglodyte tribe. The troglodytes like to let their meat age a bit before eating it, so most of the carcasses here are appallingly decayed.
Creatures
Two troglodyte are hiding in the northern end of this area, one on each side of the stream. Their Chameleon Skin trait gives them advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide. They attack as soon as two characters have entered the area, likely achieving surprise.
Mud-and-Wattle Door
The troglodytes have blocked the southwest passage leading to the main warren (area 18) with a crude plug made of mud and wattle. A successful DC 10 Strength check is required to pull it open. If alerted by the sounds of battle, the troglodytes on the far side secure the door, increasing the DC of the check to 15.
Pool
The stream flows through the center of the cavern, growing somewhat wider and deeper until it reaches the southeast corner. The pool in that location is about 20 feet across and about 10 feet deep in the middle.
Along the eastern edge of the pool, a short passage leading to area 23 has been blocked up with loose rubble and mud, creating a rough stone wall 10 feet across. Characters can break through this barrier with some effort; it has AC 16 and 50 hit points per 5-foot segment.
18. Troglodyte Warren
Most of the troglodytes dwell in a group of dismal caverns, occupying three caves that branch off the warren’s central area to the northwest, southwest, and southeast.
The passage opens into a long, low cavern that has three narrow, twisting passages leading off into darkness. Numerous rock columns rise to meet the stone overhead. The air is thick with troglodyte stench, and the floor is littered with refuse from the monsters' meals and gnawed bones of dubious origin.
Something scrapes and hisses in the dark, and you hear the soft padding of scaly feet on rock.
Characters who are being stealthy might catch the troglodytes unawares. If the characters are carrying any light sources or making a lot of noise when they enter, the troglodytes in the west and southeast chambers are alerted. As soon as any fighting begins, one troglodyte attempts to escape to the north, toward area 19, and summon Kaarghaz, the chieftain.
Northwest Chamber
Two troglodyte are sleeping in the small cave to the northwest when the characters enter area 18.
Southwest Chamber
The females tend the colony’s eggs and raise hatchlings in the southwest cave. Six troglodyte defend the hatchery and fight to the death to defend their young.
The chamber also contains two dozen noncombatant hatchlings, which scurry away from intruders. Characters receive no XP for slaughtering them.
Southeast Chamber
Three troglodyte recently returned from the hunt are relaxing in the southeast cave. Unless they are alerted to the characters' presence, they are concentrating on devouring what’s left of a small deer.
Tactics
If the characters attack the troglodytes in the northwest or southeast chamber, those in the other chamber hear the sounds of battle and rush to assist. The troglodytes in the southwest chamber remain there to protect the hatchlings; if the characters attack the hatchery first, all the troglodytes from the other chambers come to join the fight.
19. Chieftain’s Cave
The door leading north from area 18 is a mud-and-wattle barrier wedged in place; a successful DC 10 Strength check is required to pull it aside.
Glowing coals in a crude hearth illuminate this large cave. The ceiling here rises about fifteen feet above the floor, and rubbish and skins cover the floor. A lizard the size of a small horse rises and slowly slithers toward you.
Creatures
The chief of the troglodytes, Kaarghaz, occupies the chamber along with his pet giant lizard. Kaarghaz is a troglodyte with the following changes, which increase his challenge rating to 2 (450 XP):
- His AC is 13 (natural armor).
- He has 39 (6d8+12) hit points.
- His Charisma is 15 (+2).
- He can speak Draconic and Troglodyte.
- He has an additional trait:
Spellcasting
Kaarghaz is a 4th-level spellcaster. His spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 12, +4 to hit with spell attacks). He knows the following sorcerer spells:
Cantrips (at will):
1st level (6 slots):
2nd level (3 slots):
If the characters make a lot of noise or tip off their presence in some other way, Kaarghaz begins this encounter invisible (see below). Otherwise, read:
Behind the lizard, a hulking, scaly-skinned creature easily a foot taller than any of the others you’ve seen glares at you and snarls.
If Kaarghaz is alerted to the party’s approach, he casts
Negotiation
Kaarghaz starts out hostile and won’t become friendly to the characters. Nevertheless, a character who speaks Draconic might be able to stave off combat by parleying with the chieftain. For example, the characters might have captured some of the hatchlings in the southwest chamber, intending to ransom them back to the troglodytes in exchange for treasure. Even if Kaarghaz can be convinced to give up some of his wealth, he doesn’t let the matter rest-he forms a war party (as described above) and goes after the characters.
Treasure
The chief’s chamber is strewn with trophies, including the skulls, bones, hides, and weapons of defeated foes. Amid the mess, a small square of black silk hides a ruby worth 300 gp. It can be found with a successful DC 10 Wisdom (Perception) check. A battered wooden chest with leather hasps holds 1,500 sp.
20. Scaly Lair
The swift stream passes over a steep slab of bedrock in front of a short passage. The cave beyond is long and low, with an uneven ceiling about ten feet high. In the southern end of the room, an enormous white-scaled lizard lunges and snaps, but you can see that a sturdy chain around its neck tethers it in place. The agitated creature twists in frustration, its tail lashing.
Behind the lizard lie a couple of iron chests.
Creature
The cavern holds the troglodytes' secret weapon-a freshly captured giant subterranean lizard. Although the lizard is chained, it can attack anyone who comes within its reach. It strikes with its tail first, hoping to knock a target prone, then snaps at it with its powerful jaws to gulp it down.
Treasure
The two chests contain a total of 2,200 sp. One holds a
21. Orc Tunnel
Several passages branch away from this large, high-ceilinged cavern. To the north, a carved, square-mouthed tunnel shows that someone has been at work in these caves. A gate of rough-hewn timber blocks a small passage to the northeast. Three other passageways wind off toward the south. A heavy animal smell lingers in the air.
A hundred years ago, the orcs besieging Khundrukar tunneled into the dwarven stronghold. The cavern they emerged in now serves as a guard post and a mustering point for troglodyte raiders.
The tunnel in the northern end of the area runs about 500 feet and opens on the hillside (see the “Orc Tunnel” subsection of “Scout the Area,"). The troglodytes use the opening to raid and hunt on the surface.
Creatures
In the northern part of the cavern, near the passages that run east and west, two troglodyte are hiding. From their Chameleon Skin trait, they have advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks to hide. The troglodyte on the west side waits for an opportune moment to attack intruders with surprise. The other moves east to the gate and opens it to release a brown bear, which attacks any non-troglodyte in the next round (roll initiative for the bear when it is released).
Bear Pen
A sturdy timber gate, latched on the outside, seals a smaller cave to the east. The bear attacks any non-troglodyte that opens the cage door, then tries to escape through the tunnel.
The animal isn’t trained but has come to expect food from the troglodytes. It is hostile toward strangers, but someone proficient in Animal Handling might be able to calm it down with a DC 15 Wisdom check. If the check succeeds and no troglodytes remain nearby, the characters can release it safely and let it depart.
22. Fungus Cavern
A trickle of water seeping down from the hillside above reaches this irregular cavern, nourishing a profusion of fungus-weird puffballs, tall caps, and patches of fuzzy mold in a variety of colors. A golden-brown carpet of mold covers an old skeleton in rusted mail in the southern part of the room, and a narrow passageway leads to another small room beyond this one. A surprisingly bright sword gleams in the skeleton’s bony grasp.
Hazard
The skeleton that the characters first see is that of a dwarf. From its location, it’s possible for someone to see a second skeleton (human) in the south end of the chamber. Both skeletons are covered with a particularly virulent form of mold. A character can identify the threat with a successful DC 10 Intelligence (Nature) or Wisdom (Survival) check.
If either skeleton is touched, the mold ejects a cloud of spores that fill a 10-foot cube originating from the skeleton. Any creature in the area must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or take 10 (3d6) poison damage and become poisoned for 1 minute. At the end of this time, unless the poisoned condition is removed, the creature must repeat the saving throw, taking 17 (5d6) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. Exposing a patch of the mold to sunlight or dealing any fire damage to it destroys it.
Treasure
The dwarf skeleton clutches a
23. Dwarven Sepulchers
You gaze into an extremely large cave faintly lit by natural phosphorescence. Its ceiling rises fifty feet high in places. Crystals glimmer softly in the eerie light. Weird, beautiful flows and structures of delicate stone grace the chamber. The western portion of the great cave is separated from the rest by a steep bluff; the ceiling here is half the height of the rest of the chamber.
A couple dozen large stone sepulchers line the cavern walls, each carved with intricate reliefs and designs and marked with Dwarvish runes.
The upper portion of the great cavern was intended to be the final resting place of Durgeddin’s clan.
Durgeddin and his followers feared that their war against the orcs would ultimately claim them all, so they built their own tombs during the first phase of carving out the stronghold. Ironically, only a handful of the dwarves were ever interred here; the rest lie where they fell when the orcs stormed Khundrukar.
The troglodytes have a superstitious fear of the tombs and refuse to set foot in this part of the Glitterhame. They don’t pursue characters who enter this area.
If the characters investigate the tombs at greater length, read:
Twenty-three sepulchers stand here. The lids are carved in the likenesses of grim dwarves in armor. Dwarvish runes on the front of each tomb appear to represent the names of the occupants or the intended occupants.
Three of the stone coffins have additional runes carved into them.
If someone in the party can read Dwarvish, the following details become apparent:
The additional runes record the occupant’s date of death and the great deeds the dwarf performed in life. Also carved into these three coffins is a warning that doom awaits any who dare to defile the honorable dead.
The names on these three sepulchers are those of Borgol the Old, Gharin Orc-Doom, and Numik the Unlucky.
Treasure
Each tomb is a marble vault 6 feet long, 4 feet high, and 3 feet wide, with a heavy stone lid. Despite the warnings carved on the tombs, there is no danger here. Even if the characters disturb Borgol, Gharin, or Numik, all they find are old bones and no undead.
The three dwarves were buried with little funerary wealth; Durgeddin’s folk believed in honoring their dead with stone, not riches. Borgol’s remains include a ring of gold in the shape of a dragon holding its tail in its mouth, worth 120 gp. Gharin was buried with a finely crafted warhammer inset with a garnet, worth 110 gp.
24. The Glitterhame
This great cavern glimmers with a faint phosphorescence. The ceiling is almost fifty feet overhead, and bright flecks and gleaming stone formations are visible in the distance. Patches of strange fungi dot the floor, including capped stalks standing as tall as a human and glowing puffballs almost a yard wide.
High ledges rise fifteen to twenty feet above the floor on the north, south, and west walls. Narrow passageways lead off to the north and the south, and a flight of carved stone stairs descends from the western ledge to a path that meanders through the center of the chamber toward a small iron door in the eastern wall. Audible throughout the entire chamber is the sigh of a soft, cool breeze that rises toward the surface far above.
The fungal growths are harmless. In fact, the stalks and the puffballs are edible, if not especially tasty. The danger lies in the grick nest that overlooks the path.
Creatures
Two grick lurk in the 20-foot-high rockfall that spills down from area 26, at the place where the path leading east comes closest to the slope. They are wedged into spaces between boulders, 6 to 8 feet above the cavern floor. Their Stone Camouflage trait gives them advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide, so they might surprise the party.
The gricks attack anyone who travels on the path next to the rockfall or climbs anywhere along the slope that leads to area 26. Any character trying to scale the rockfall while under attack must succeed on a DC 8 Strength (Athletics) check to make progress. If the characters reach area 26 by some other means, the gricks move to attack them there.
25. Long Cavern
The thunderous roar of falling water fills this long, low chamber, and spray makes everything slick and wet. A fast stream rushes through the center of the cavern, emerging from beneath a crude dam of rock and mud in the western wall. The stream disappears into a dark shaft at the cavern’s eastern end. A rough, winding path follows the stream toward the east.
The chamber runs from the troglodyte warrens to a natural shaft on the east end that leads down into the Sinkhole (see area 28). The stream spills over the edge of the shaft in a subterranean waterfall, and near the waterfall a narrow, winding stairwell leads down.
Slippery Slope
The smooth cavern floor slopes down toward the stream, and much of the area immediately north of the stream is covered with a thin layer of slime. The slime makes the floor very slippery. Its presence can be discerned with a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) or Wisdom (Survival) check.
Any creature that enters the slippery slope or starts its move there must make a DC 12 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. A creature that fails the check falls prone and slides southward toward the stream at half its walking speed. The stream is flowing fast enough that anyone who falls in must succeed on a DC 10 Strength saving throw to avoid being swept over the waterfall.
A creature that goes over the waterfall lands in a pool 60 feet below (see area 28), taking 10 (3d6) bludgeoning damage and suffering one level of
26. Grick Lair
A rocky ledge sits at the top of a steep, irregular rockfall about twenty feet high. The mouth of a side cavern leads into darkness beyond.
Creatures
The two grick hidden in the rockfall (see area 24) make their lair at the end of a passage that winds north from the ledge. They are encountered here if they retreated to attack characters who got past them.
Treasure
The gricks discarded the inedible portions of their victims in the back of the cave. Rooting through the grisly remains uncovers a suit of scale mail and scattered coins totaling 200 cp, 180 sp, and 60 gp.
27. Iron Door
The entrance to Durgeddin’s halls and forges lies behind a sturdy locked door.
Cut into the cavern wall is a small but strong-looking door of iron plates, about five feet tall and four feet wide. Heavy rivets stud its surface, and a tarnished silver rune-Durgeddin’s smith-mark-gleams on the door’s rusted face.
The door consists of two pieces of sheet iron bolted to a strong frame. A pintle is fitted through the door’s middle, so it has no hinges. It can be opened with the key on the dwarf skeleton in the prison (see area 34). A character can pick the lock with thieves' tools and a successful DC 18 Dexterity check. Breaking the door down is very difficult, requiring a successful DC 25 Strength check.
On the other side of the door is a steep staircase that leads up to area 35 in the Foundry.