Hell of a Summer

Victoro and Ammalia Cassalanter struck a deal with Asmodeus, Lord of the Nine Hells. Three years ago, they traded away the souls of their children to escape financial ruin. The soul of their eldest son, Osvaldo, was taken immediately. What was left behind was transformed into a chain devil, which the Cassalanters confined to their attic. Their two youngest children, Terenzio and Elzerina, are doomed to lose their souls when they turn nine years old a mere ten days after Founders' Day, a midsummer festival that celebrates Waterdeep’s founding.

After the deal was struck, the Cassalanters enjoyed a miraculous comeback. Their banking and money-lending business thrived while their competition suffered. The disappearance of their eldest son (and heir apparent) earned them sympathy. Their philanthropic endeavors bought them legitimacy and new friends. They became the envy of Waterdavian nobility in short order. Seemingly blessed, the Cassalanters attracted new followers to their cult of devil worship, which was Asmodeus’s plan all along.

Reneging on a contract with Asmodeus is a luxury no mortal can afford, but there is a way for Lord and Lady Cassalanter to save the souls of Terenzio and Elzerina. A clause in the contract allows them to preserve their remaining (and future) children’s lives by instead paying “one shy of a million gold coins, and the sacrifice of one shy of one hundred unfortunate souls.” The Cassalanters have most of the coin they need, but they require the gold from the Vault of Dragons to buy their children’s salvation without bankrupting themselves.

Victoro is in charge of locating the Vault of Dragons and securing the gold within it. Ammalia, for her part, plans to sacrifice ninety-nine souls in one fell swoop by throwing a feast on Founders' Day featuring poisoned food. Both the souls and the gold must be paid to Asmodeus at the same time. Foiling either one of these schemes spells doom for the Cassalanters' plot and their youngest children.

Cult of Asmodeus

Lord and Lady Cassalanter are the heads of a secretive cult of Asmodeus. The cult convenes at midnight once every tenday in the temple of Asmodeus beneath Cassalanter Villa. During rituals of worship, members of the cult, including Lord and Lady Cassalanter, wear crimson robes, golden masks, and golden sacrificial daggers. The masks and daggers are worth 75 gp each for the gold alone.

Meet the Cassalanters

Each member of the Cassalanter family relaxes in different parts of the house and reacts separately to the discovery of characters intruding in their home. Lord and Lady Cassalanter are often out of the house on business, especially as Founders' Day draws near; they return home an hour before dinner.

Lady Ammalia Cassalanter

Lady Cassalanter reacts with surprise to the sight of uninvited guests, but quickly conceals her feelings with a welcoming smile. She attempts to gain the intruders' confidence by pretending to believe that they are guests of Victoro’s and saying that she simply was not told of their presence. With this pretense established, she tries to learn the characters' true intentions, casting charm person on the party using a 5th-level spell slot (affecting up to five creatures within 30 feet) if necessary. Using magic in this way is illegal, but Ammalia has a lot of goodwill banked in Waterdeep-enough to curry favor with a magistrate.

During the hours when Ammalia is home and awake, her location in the villa can be determined randomly:

Ammalia’s Location

Lord Victoro Cassalanter

Victoro Cassalanter reacts with fiery rage to the sight of uninvited guests. He demands to know their names and calls for the butler, Willifort Crowelle, to show them out. If he has the chance, he subtly casts dominate person on one of the characters using an 8th-level spell slot (extending its duration to 8 hours) to plant a spy among their ranks. As soon as the intruders are gone, he retires to his office (area C6) and uses his action to take total control of the dominated character. The dominated character reports to the City Watch that the party broke into Cassalanter Villa and must be arrested for their crime.

During the hours when Victoro is home and awake, his location in the villa can be determined randomly:

Victoro’s Location

Cassalanter Lore

A successful DC 15 Intelligence (History) check reveals the following information about Cassalanter Villa and its inhabitants:

• The Cassalanters fell on hard times a few years back, but they have since reversed their fortunes and restored their lucrative banking and money-lending business.

• Victoro and Ammalia’s eldest son disappeared three years ago when the family was on the verge of bankruptcy. They have two surviving children, young twins named Terenzio and Elzerina.

• Lord Victoro Cassalanter is the only living heir of the late Caladorn Cassalanter, a former Masked Lord and a hero of the North.

• Over the years, the Cassalanters have founded a number of philanthropic societies and made generous donations to temples dedicated to good-aligned deities. They are known to worship Siamorphe, a demigod whose ethos is the nobility’s right and responsibility to rule.

Terenzio and Elzerina

The Cassalanter twins aren’t members of their parents' cult and have no other friends, since they are privately tutored and rarely allowed to leave the estate. Around strangers, Terenzio becomes suspicious and meek, while Elzerina seems brash and outgoing. Both children are incredibly excited to meet friendly strangers and treat their “new friends” to a trip around the house. They help the characters sneak through the villa, since the children know they aren’t supposed to have guests.

During the hours when the children are awake, their location in the villa can be determined randomly:

Terenzio and Elzerina’s Location

Terenzio and Elzerina have places in the house that their parents have forbade them from visiting-and that they are excited to explore, now that they have friends to accompany them. These locations are as follows:

• Their father’s office (area C6)
• The attic (area C24)
• The wine cellar area (C28)

If asked about their parents, Terenzio and Elzerina report that their parents are searching for some missing dragons. (What their parents plan to do with a bunch of scary, winged reptiles is beyond them, and Terenzio and Elzerina are too scared to ask.) If befriended, they reveal that their father keeps a journal in his office (area C6).

If asked about their older brother, Osvaldo, Terenzio and Elzerina repeat what their parents have told them: he’s attending school in a faraway city (they don’t recall which one). Neither knows the cruel fate that has befallen Osvaldo (see area C24) or suspects that a similar fate awaits them.

Head Servants

The head servants of Cassalanter Villa are members of the cult. These four servants are described below. All appear to be tieflings, though one is not. The following changes apply to the tieflings' stat blocks:

• The tieflings are lawful evil.
• They have these racial traits: They know the thaumaturgy cantrip, and Charisma is their spellcasting ability for this spell. They have resistance to fire damage. They have darkvision out to a range of 60 feet. They speak Common and Infernal.

Willifort Crowelle

Willifort dresses in a sharp black suit and wears thin-rimmed spectacles. He’s a doppelganger that usually takes the form of an aging male tiefling, and he greets all guests in the entrance hall (area C1).

As the Cassalanters' chief butler and Lord Victoro’s personal attendant, Willifort Crowelle makes a point of knowing everything that transpires within the villa. If the Cassalanters have guests, he escorts them during their entire visit, using stealth if necessary. He ushers nosy guests away from areas or objects that might link the Cassalanters with the Asmodeus-worshiping cult.

Tissina Khyret

Madame Khyret is the personal attendant to Ammalia Cassalanter and is the family’s chief housemaid.

Madame Khyret dresses in a long black gown and wears a headdress with black tassels. She is an aging tiefling cult fanatic, and she spends most of her time in the master sitting room (area C19).

Laiba “Nana” Rosse

Laiba “Nana” Rosse, better known as “Nana,” is the caretaker and private tutor for Terenzio and Elzerina, and she does her best to keep track of their every move. Even so, the two often sneak away from her watchful eye.

Nana dresses in flowing red robes. She is a female tiefling cult fanatic who relaxes in the twins' playroom (area C17) when she’s not with the children.

Jandar Chergoba

As the head chef of Cassalanter Villa, Jandar Chergoba determines each day’s menu and oversees all activity in the kitchen.

Jandar is a male tiefling cult fanatic. He is often in the kitchen (area C10).

Facing the Cassalanters

Lord and Lady Cassalanter are formidable spellcasters and devoted to one another. If one is assailed within Cassalanter Villa, the other arrives as quickly as possible.

A direct confrontation with the Cassalanters will likely result in defeat for the characters, or-if the characters and the Cassalanters both escape with their lives-their arrest for assaulting nobility. The Cassalanters have no desire to kill the characters, even in self-defense. They take great pains to divide and subdue the party with their magic while not inflicting grievous harm.

If the characters reduce Ammalia to 30 hit points or fewer and Victoro is with her, he banishes her to safety for a few brief moments while he continues fighting. If either Victoro or Ammalia is reduced to 30 hit points or fewer and the other Cassalanter isn’t present, they try to negotiate with or bribe their assailants.

The Cassalanters don’t fear being arrested, since they have faith that their wealth, reputations, and contacts will keep them out of prison. They do fear the ticking clock of Founders' Day. They plead for the characters to allow them to carry out their plan, if only to save Terenzio’s and Elzerina’s lives.

Disrupting the Cassalanters' Operation

Killing or injuring the Cassalanters carries grave legal consequences, but the characters can hinder the Cassalanters by destroying or stealing Ammalia’s stash of midnight tears poison (area C22), destroying the statue of Asmodeus in the temple (area A7), or keeping Lord Neverember’s gold out of their clutches.

Gathering Information

If the Cassalanters are the main villains, the characters might come to their villa if their search for the Stone of Golorr or the Vault of Dragons hits a dead end. Victoro Cassalanter keeps information related to his own search for the stone and the Vault of Dragons in his office (area C6).

Cassalanter Villa

When the characters first come near the gates of Cassalanter Villa, read or paraphrase the following:

Cassalanter Villa’s stark white walls and gleaming crimson roof and turrets stand out even among the other opulent estates of the Sea Ward. A three-story mansion lies in the midst of picturesque green gardens dappled with hedges and water features. The estate is surrounded by a tall white brick wall, with a single wrought-iron gate as an entrance. The Cassalanter family crest-a green Y overlapping a stylized goose being fed-is emblazoned on the gate, and armored guards stand at attention on either side.

Cassalanter Villa is an extravagant manse with dozens of lavish chambers for the masters of the house and their guests-but its splendor belies the terrible secret it holds. The temple of Siamorphe that once lay beneath the estate has been desecrated by Victoro and Ammalia’s devil-worship. Now, this great chapel is dedicated to the Lord of the Nine Hells.

Approaching Cassalanter Villa

The grounds of the Cassalanters' estate are patrolled by hired guard. Two of them stand outside the gate of the estate, two more stand outside the front door of the house, and a total of six patrol the grounds at any time. These guards are humans and are outfitted in livery that bears the crest of House Cassalanter.

The house is surrounded by a well-manicured lawn. A cobblestone path leads from the estate’s exterior gate to both the front entrance (area C1) and the entrance to the coach house (area CH1). The villa’s grounds feature numerous deciduous trees and meticulously tended gardens.

Spotted by the Guards

Characters who try to infiltrate Cassalanter Villa are more likely to be arrested than to be killed. The security detail around Cassalanter Villa is meant to raise an alarm and deter petty thieves, not to stop determined adventurers. If the guards spot an intruder, they do the sensible thing: call the authorities.

The City Watch has small, single-person “watch boxes” set up on nearly every street corner in the Sea Ward, including the intersection just outside the gates of Cassalanter Villa. If a guard sounds the alarm, the Watch member on duty fetches a force of forty City Watch veteran to cordon off the property.

Reinforcements

If the City Watch gets involved, Lord and Lady Cassalanter become worried that someone has caught onto their plot. The number of guards patrolling the grounds doubles, and Victoro dispenses with all human guards inside the house. Whenever a guard is mentioned in an interior area, that guard is now a bearded devil disguised as a human. A disguised devil looks like a muscular, bearded male human in house livery. A creature that observes one closely can, with a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check, notice its “beard” writhing.

Denizens of Cassalanter Villa

Cassalanter Villa is home to no one but Lord and Lady Cassalanter, their children, their personal attendants, and their guards. All the other servants who work at the villa live in dingy homes in the Dock Ward or the Field Ward and travel across the city in the wee hours of the morning to arrive before the Cassalanters awake.

With the exception of their personal attendants, the Cassalanters replenish their servants regularly. Most move on to other jobs, but occasionally a servant discovers the secret vault (area C29), visits the forbidden attic (area C24), or otherwise learns too much. Such folk are fated to become sacrifices to Asmodeus.

Villa Features

The following features are found throughout the villa:

• Ceilings in rooms are 25 feet high, with 7-foot-high corridors and doorways connecting them.
• Doors are made of exotic hardwood. If a door is locked, the lock can be picked by a character who makes a successful DC 15 Dexterity check using thieves' tools, or the door can be forced open by a character who makes a successful DC 20 Strength (Athletics) check. Victoro, Ammalia, and the head butler, Willifort, hold keys to every room in the house.
• Floors are made of wood and covered with soft woolen carpets. Creatures walking in carpeted rooms have advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks.
• All areas are well lit by oil lamps, lanterns, or chandeliers.
• The Cassalanters keep no silver objects (with the exception of coins) in their house, since silver is harmful to devils.

Areas of the Villa

The following areas correspond to the labels on map 6.1. The villa connects to the temple of Asmodeus through a secret door in area C28.

If the occupants or features of a location change during the Founders' Day party, the text includes a “Founders' Day” section describing those changes.

Guest House

The Cassalanters host guests in this stately guest house. CG1. Mud Room. Guests can remove and store dirty cloaks and boots here. CG2. Storage. Guests can store their traveling gear here. CG3. Dining Room. This room is furnished with two dining tables, each surrounded by six chairs. CG4. Kitchen. Guests are expected to dine with the Cassalanters in the manor but can prepare their own breakfast here. CG5. Parlor. This room is furnished with a billiard table, a card table, and four luxurious armchairs. CG6. Sitting Room. This room features an upright piano and four luxurious armchairs. CG7. Bedrooms. Each room contains a bed for two, a pair of wardrobes, a small vanity with matching stool, and a storage trunk for valuables. CG8. Master Bedroom. This room has a balcony and contains a large canopied bed, a standing mirror in a gilded frame, a writing desk and matching chair, a dresser, a tall wardrobe, and an owlbear throw rug draped over a padded chair with matching ottoman.

Coach House

The Cassalanters own three carriages-one for their banking business, one for public appearances, and one for private use. They also own six horses: four draft horse to pull carriages and two riding horse. The horses are kept in stalls that are cleaned every morning just before dawn. Tack, bridles, feed, and other necessities for the horses are stored in the coach house as well.

C1. Entrance Hall

This hall has the following features:

• A magnificent harpsichord sits in the hall.
• A crimson carpet runs down the hall toward an open door to the foyer.
• Light from a crystal chandelier reflects off more than three dozen holy symbols of Siamorphe perched on wall shelves, each in the form of a silver chalice with a golden sun etched on its outside.

If the characters are expected guests, Willifort Crowelle (see “Head Servants,") awaits them here and guides them to the smoking room (area C12) to meet with Lord Cassalanter. He allows them to explore the house while they wait but follows them doggedly.

Founders' Day

The hall is filled with chatty guests holding flutes of sparkling wine. One is playing the harpsichord.

C2. Garden Mudroom

This room has the following features:

• A guard dressed in House Cassalanter livery sits idly on a crate, watching the outside door.
• The floor is caked with mud. Several rows of muddy boots and gardening gloves are strewn about the floor.

Founders' Day

Esvele Rosznar, the Black Viper (see appendix B), is hiding in an alcove and putting on her Black Viper mask and hood. She is wearing a sleek black leather suit, and a frilly ball gown lies at her feet. Esvele has slipped away from her overbearing parents, Rolteme and Azalea Rosznar, and is preparing to sneak through the villa and rob the Cassalanters blind.

The characters can convince the Black Viper to help them as they scour Cassalanter Villa by succeeding on a DC 14 Charisma (Intimidation or Persuasion) check. If Esvele decides to help the characters, she fights alongside them and discovers treasure and secret doors automatically.

C3. Library

This is the Cassalanters' private library. It contains the following features:

• The scent of old parchment hangs thick in the air.
• The walls are lined with tall shelves packed with colorful, leather-bound books. Each bookshelf is outfitted with a ladder on a rolling track to enable people to reach the highest books.
• Shelves that take up the entire southwest wall hold not books but eighty wide-necked glass bottles filled with swirling mist and sealed with corks.
• Hanging on the north wall between two bookshelves is a 7-foot-tall portrait of Lord and Lady Cassalanter holding two infant children and standing beside their teenage son, Osvaldo. (This portrait conceals a secret door.)

If Terenzio and Elzerina are here, they’re playing on the sliding ladders.

Books

None of the books are magical.

Jars of Mist

The glass bottles on the southwest shelf contain magically captured sounds, including songs, operas, and recorded lectures. Uncorking a bottle temporarily releases its auditory contents into the library, after which the sound returns to its bottle. Breaking a bottle releases the sound, but the sound dissipates after it plays once. All the bottles are labeled. Sample contents include the following:

• “Ahghairon’s Dragonward,” a lecture given by Khelben Arunsun about the dragonward that protects Waterdeep (see “Ahghairon’s Dragonward”).
• “Canticle of the Silver Chalice,” a hymn to the demigod Siamorphe. Wulfgar and the Crystal Shard, an epic opera detailing the adventures of a barbarian, a dwarf, and a drow in Icewind Dale.
• “Your Beardy Face,” a traditional dwarven love song popular in the Moonsea region.

Secret Door

The Cassalanter family portrait hides a secret door. Tilting the painting causes the door to swing outward on hidden hinges, revealing the pantry (area C11) beyond. A character can notice a slight gap beneath the secret door with a successful DC 18 Wisdom (Perception) check.

C4. Reading Room

This reading nook has the following features:

• Light pours into this room through four tall bay windows that look out on the butterfly garden (area C25).
• Furnishings include a luxurious armchair and a small side table where an empty wine glass sits atop a small book.
• A door in the northern wall has a butterfly-shaped, stained-glass peephole.

If Victoro Cassalanter (see appendix B) is here, he’s reading a historical text titled The Rise and Fall of Hellgate Keep and taking notes in his journal.

Journal

The small book on the side table is a journal that Victoro Cassalanter uses to take notes while reading. It mostly contains dry observations on atlases of Faerûn and history books. A character who flips through the journal and succeeds on a DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check can pick out a few notes made by Victoro that are unrelated to his reading:

• “Neverember’s dragons are an answer to our prayers.”
• “The Cassalanter mausoleum. Inform Y. G.” (The initials refer to Lady Yalah Gralhund.)
• “Golorr is an aboleth. Now it all makes sense.”

If the characters are still searching for the Stone of Golorr in chapter 4, you can include in this journal a clue regarding the stone’s location. (If the Cassalanters have the stone, it’s hidden in area C6 when it’s not in use.)

C5. Foyer

Two guard in House Cassalanter livery are stationed in this marble-floored foyer at all hours. It has seven exits:

• A door to the entrance hall (area C1)
• An open arch that leads to a spacious dining room (area C9)
• Three unmarked doors on the east wall (to areas C6, C7, and C8)
• A grand staircase that ascends to the second floor (area C13)
• An unassuming door under the stairs that leads to the cellar (area C26)

Founders' Day

The foyer is filled with lavish bouquets in ceramic floor vases and wealthy guests chatting loudly and drinking sparkling wine, while the gentle music of a string quartet drifts down from upstairs.

C6. Victoro’s Office

The door to this room is locked. The room contains the following features:

• Tall stacks of legal tomes and financial ledgers rest atop a solid mahogany desk.
• A freestanding suit of bronze armor (complete with helm, gauntlets, and greatsword) stands just inside the door.

If Victoro Cassalanter (see appendix B) is here, he’s seated behind the desk with fingers steepled, deep in thought.

Armor

The suit of armor standing by the door is a helmed horror. It obeys Victoro’s commands. When Victoro isn’t present, it attacks anyone who opens the door without a key or anyone not of Cassalanter blood who opens Victoro’s desk. The Cassalanter children know about this construct and warn friendly characters about it.

Desk

Victoro’s desk is locked and can be opened with Victoro’s golden key. A character can pick the lock by succeeding on a DC 18 Dexterity check using thieves' tools. The desk drawer contains thirteen sealed scroll tubes, a signed contract inside each one. These contracts outline the terms of loans made by Victoro to various nobles, merchants, and guilds. The drawer also has a secret compartment that characters can find with a successful DC 18 Wisdom (Perception) check. It holds a holy symbol of Asmodeus crafted from solid gold (worth 250 gp).

Stone of Golorr

If the Cassalanters have the artifact and aren’t using it, it is also hidden in the desk’s secret compartment.

C7. Cloakroom

This walk-in cloakroom contains the Cassalanter family’s expensive coats and cloaks, and it also has room for the garments of up to one hundred guests.

C8. Covered Porch

This covered porch is the entryway typically used by the Cassalanters' servants. Ten servants (human commoner) eat here at mealtimes.

C9. Family Dining Room

This room holds the following noteworthy features:

• A dozen chairs surround a beautifully carved dining table in the middle of the room.
• The table is set with golden plates, utensils, goblets, and candlesticks. Silk napkins add to the display.

The Cassalanters dine here as a family, sometimes inviting a guest or two to join them.

Founders' Day

During the party, the dining table is converted into a card table. Ten wealthy nobles are playing a high-stakes game of Three Dragon Ante. A character can play a round by betting 5 gp and making a DC 15 Intelligence check, adding a proficiency bonus if the character is proficient with gaming sets. On a successful check, the character wins 10 gp. On a failed check, the character loses the stake.

Treasure

The gold table settings and candlesticks are worth 2,500 gp in total.

C10. Kitchen

From sunrise until an hour after sundown, this kitchen is a hive of activity:

• A half dozen chefs run to and fro, seasoning meat, mixing batter, and otherwise preparing an impressive variety of food.
• A rotund, red-faced man in a tall white hat barks orders at his underlings, brandishing a sharp knife with every instruction.

Stairs in this room lead to the banquet kitchen on the second floor (area C14).

The head chef, Jandar Chergoba (see “Head Servants,"), oversees six chefs (human commoner). If Jandar believes the characters are a threat, he shouts “For’zaal,” causing ten knives to magically rise from the counters and attack. These knives are flying sword that deal 4 (1d6 + 1) piercing damage on a hit.

Founders' Day

Jandar Chergoba isn’t here. Instead, he’s preparing Ammalia’s poisoned feast in a cooking pavilion out on the estate’s sprawling lawn.

C11. Pantry

This room contains the following features:

• Casks of ale, fresh water, and cooking oil are stacked in the middle of the room.
• Shelves of foodstuffs and ingredients line the walls.
• The back wall of the pantry is one large wine rack that contains a variety of splendid bottled wines. (This wine rack conceals a secret door.)

Locked Iron Box

Jandar Chergoba, the head chef, keeps his golden sacrificial dagger, golden mask, and crimson robes (see “Cult of Asmodeus,") in a locked iron box underneath a sack of potatoes. The box can be unlocked with Jandar’s golden key, or by a character who makes a successful DC 15 Dexterity check using thieves' tools. A character can also pry it open with a successful DC 25 Strength (Athletics) check.

Secret Door

The secret door to the library (area C3) can be detected by a character who makes a successful DC 18 Wisdom (Perception) check. The character discovers that lifting a bottle of Baldur’s Gate pinot noir from the rack unlocks the door and allows it to be pushed open.

C12. Smoking Room

This room contains the following features:

• One guard in House Cassalanter livery stands here, absentmindedly examining the regal portraits that adorn the walls and rest on fancy easels in various spots.
• Fine armchairs arranged throughout the room smell faintly of pipeweed; the scent is almost obscured by incense and delicate perfume.

If Lord Cassalanter has invited the characters to his home for any reason, he meets them here. If the conversation turns to business, he has Willifort bring his guests glasses of fine brandy and pipes filled with pipeweed.

Portraits

The portraits on the walls depict several generations of Cassalanters. The ones on the easels, more recently painted, include the following:

• A somber young Victoro with his beaming human father
• A wedding portrait, showing Victoro and Ammalia smiling and carefree
• Twelve-year-old Osvaldo holding a ceremonial rapier
• Ammalia sitting with baby Terenzio and Elzerina in her lap while Victoro reads them a fairy tale

C13. Ballroom

This elegant ballroom contains the following noteworthy features:

• In the center stands an eerie, human-sized wood-and-cloth mannequin with a painted face. It is dressed like a ballroom dancer.
• The polished marble floor is a dazzling mosaic that depicts a silver chalice with the image of a golden sun on its outside. Characters who succeed on a DC 10 Intelligence (Religion) check recognize it as the holy symbol of Siamorphe, demigod of nobility.
• Gilded mirrors and handsome tapestries festoon the walls. Along the west wall, windows with crimson drapes stretch from the floor to the ceiling.

Despite its grandeur, this ballroom seems strangely dismal without anyone dancing in it. Stairs lead down to the foyer (area C5) and up to a hallway outside areas C17 and C19.

Dancing Construct

The dressed “mannequin” is a magical construct that serves as a dance partner. It has the statistics of a nimblewright (see appendix B) but has no effective attacks and is worth 0 XP. When a humanoid bows or curtsies before the construct, it makes the other gesture while a magic mouth spell plays a recorded message in Common: “Which dance would you like? Galliard? Pavane? Waltz?” The construct follows its partner’s lead until the dance ends, when it becomes still again.

Founders' Day

During the party, dozens of wealthy masked guests dance to a lively waltz played by a string quartet.

C14. Banquet Kitchen

The banquet kitchen is an additional cooking space used in conjunction with the main kitchen during social functions. It is otherwise empty, and its doors are locked.

Founders' Day

The kitchen is bustling with activity as four chefs (human commoner) prepare an array of pies for the noble guests.

C15. Banquet Hall

The only piece of furniture in this expansive hall is a long wooden dining table mimic that happens to be a giant mimic in disguise. It has the statistics of a normal mimic, with these changes:

• The mimic is Large and has 75 (10d10 + 20) hit points.
• As an action, it can make three attacks: two with its pseudopods and one with its bite.
• It has a challenge rating of 3 (700 XP).

The mimic is well treated by the Cassalanters and won’t harm any member of the household. It obeys only Lord and Lady Cassalanter.

Founders' Day

The room is outfitted with dozens of chairs, and the table is filled with food. Two dozen party guests are gorging themselves here at any time. Four doppelgangers from the Yawning Portal have slipped into the party disguised as nobles. Their leader, Bonnie (see “Familiar Faces”), poses as a minor noblewoman going by the name Lymeria Lhaurilstar; she was hoping to have a fun night at the party, but she’s willing to help the characters if they need aid.

C16. Piano Room

A gleaming grand piano is pushed against the wall of this dusty room. Behind it are several unmarked closets.

This room is generally empty unless a social event is taking place or Nana Rosse is giving the Cassalanter children a piano lesson.

Founders' Day

Wealthy guests are chatting here and using the powder rooms (area C16b).

C16a

Storage Closet

This closet holds crates filled with winter blankets, mops, and other household necessities.

C16b

Powder Rooms

These rooms are locked. They contain mirrors and are largely unused except during social functions.

Founders' Day

Fancy nobles are waiting in line to freshen up.

C17. Playroom

This room contains the following features:

• Strewn about on the floor are giant stuffed toys, jack-in-the-boxes, dolls, and a rocking horse shaped like a warhorse.
• A large mobile in the form of a butterfly hangs from the ceiling, turning listlessly.

If she hasn’t been dealt with elsewhere, the twins' nanny, Laiba “Nana” Rosse (see “Head Servants”), sits here and crochets dolls for the children.

C18. Twins' Bedroom

The twins' bedroom contains the following features:

• Two four-poster beds take up the bulk of this room.
• At night, the room is cluttered with dozens of toys. In the morning, the toys are returned to their toy boxes by a housemaid.
• A life-sized stuffed unicorn stands in one corner.

If Terenzio and Elzerina are here. Terenzio is dressed in a crude dragon costume and is being chased around the room by his sister, who is wearing a knight’s helm and swinging a wooden sword.

Stuffed Unicorn

This inanimate object counts as an actual unicorn for the purpose of opening the Vault of Dragons (see “Vault Keys”).

C18a-C18b

Closets

These closets are filled with stuffed animals and spare blankets.

C19. Master Sitting Room

Lady Cassalanter’s attendant, Tissina Khyret (see “Head Servants”), spends most of her time here when she’s not with her mistress. The room is furnished for comfort and includes overstuffed chairs, fainting couches, and a wine bar.

C20. Linen Closet

This closet is packed with folded bedsheets and other assorted linens. Two of the downy duvets stacked in this room are rug of smothering that attack any creature that isn’t a Cassalanter or one of their servants. Any combat in this room draws the attention of both Laiba “Nana” Rosse (area C17) and Tissina Khyret (area C19).

Lockbox

Willifort Crowelle and Tissina Khyret keep their cult regalia (see “Cult of Asmodeus”), in a gold-embellished lockbox hidden under a stack of quilts bearing images of flying devils. The box can be unlocked with either Willifort’s or Tissina’s golden key, or by a character who succeeds on a DC 14 Dexterity check using thieves' tools. It can also be pried open with a successful DC 16 Strength (Athletics) check.

C21. Master Bedroom

The door to this room is locked. The room contains the following noteworthy features:

• The walls are adorned with nine friezes, each one depicting a layer of the Nine Hells.
• A four-poster bed draped in deep red curtains and tipped with gold spires stands before an ornate door carved from dark hardwood with a gold latch. (This door is locked and leads to area C22.)

A search of the room reveals a golden lockbox tucked under the bed.

Golden Lockbox

Both Victoro and Ammalia keep their cult regalia (see “Cult of Asmodeus”), in a solid gold lockbox (worth 750 gp) hidden under their bed. The box can be unlocked with either Victoro’s or Ammalia’s golden key, or by a character who makes a successful DC 14 Dexterity check using thieves' tools. It can also be pried open with a successful DC 16 Strength (Athletics) check.

If the box is opened by any means other than a golden key, poison gas sprays out from holes in the underside of the lid, filling a 15-foot-radius sphere centered on the box. This trap can’t be disarmed. Any creature in its area must make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw, taking 22 (4d10) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. The gas dissipates quickly.

C22. Ammalia’s Private Study

The door to this room is locked. The room contains the following features:

• The walls are lined with bookshelves packed with thick tomes.
• A grimoire with a red leather cover sits on a desk carved from dark oak.
• A ladder leads up to a trapdoor in the ceiling.

Bookshelves

The books on the shelves include works of fiction and nonfiction.

Desk

Aside from the grimoire (described below), the desk holds an ornate golden candlestick (worth 125 gp), a golden inkwell (worth 25 gp), and a feathered quill pen (worth 15 gp). The desk drawer contains a wax seal bearing the Cassalanter crest, Ammalia Cassalanter’s spellbook (which contains all the spells she has prepared), and ten vials of jet-black poison known as midnight tears (see “Poisons” in chapter 8 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide). Ammalia plans to taint the Founders' Day feast with the poison (see “Special Events”).

Red Grimoire

The tome on the desk, bound in crimson leather, details a diabolical ritual that Ammalia and Victoro enacted to first contact the archdevil Asmodeus. Opening it reveals nothing but blank pages with a few drops of dry blood on them. If a drop of humanoid blood is spilled on any page, Infernal text on that page becomes legible, remaining so until the book is closed. The blood remains even after the text vanishes.

Any character with the Ritual Casting feature (or the Ritual Caster feat) who spends 24 hours reading the book can master the ritual described within. The ritual takes 11 minutes to cast and requires incense and a vial of unholy water (which are consumed during the performance of the ritual). At the end of the ritual, a proxy of Asmodeus appears and grants its summoner the benefit of a commune spell. The proxy is formed of incense smoke and resembles a pit fiend. A character must finish a long rest before performing the ritual again.

Trapdoor

The trapdoor in the ceiling is the entrance to the attic.

C23. Attic Landing

A thick scent of sulfur pervades the attic. The only illumination is a beam of light that shines feebly through a shuttered window at the west end of the room.

This attic is soundproof as long as no doors are open. Osvaldo’s howling can be heard outside the attic only if the trapdoor between this room and area C22 and the door between this room and area C24 are both open at the same time. Additionally, creatures that have telepathy can’t communicate telepathically with creatures outside the attic unless the doors are open.

Terenzio and Elzerina have heard howling coming from the attic two or three times in their lives and are curious about what lurks there.

C24. Osvaldo’s Prison

If Ammalia Cassalanter or Victoro Cassalanter (see appendix B) or both are present, the door to this room is unlocked but closed. Otherwise, it’s locked shut, and Victoro and Ammalia carry the only keys. When the characters first open the door, read:

You are greeted with a wave of incoherent howling, as if opening the door broke down a dam that had been holding back a madman’s screams.

Osvaldo Cassalanter (see appendix B) shrieks and moans at all hours of the day. He is trying desperately to get someone to hear him and come to his rescue. If one or both of his parents are here, he spits curses at them as they weep before him.

Guarding the room are two imp in spider form. They answer to Lord Cassalanter, and their job is to kill birds, rat, and other vermin that find their way into the attic. They attack anyone who tries to free Osvaldo or threatens other family members present.

The Cassalanter heir apparent is a soulless abomination thanks to his parents' thoughtless greed. His empty shell of a body has been transformed into a chain devil that his parents have imprisoned using his own chains. A 10-foot-diameter pentagram has been burned into the floor around him. A detect magic spell reveals a powerful aura of abjuration magic emanating from the symbol.

Osvaldo’s chains are wrapped around the beams and timbers that frame the room. He can’t damage the house, nor can he break his own chains. He can only howl impotently at the misery being inflicted on him. He is thoroughly insane and can’t be reasoned with.

A successful DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check reveals that the pentagram prevents Osvaldo from manipulating his chains, and that the effect ends if another creature enters the area encompassed by the pentagram. The magic of the pentagram can also be dispelled (DC 15). If he is freed, Osvaldo regains control of his chains and attacks indiscriminately. If he is reduced to 0 hit points, the chain devil cries out for his mother before melting into a pool of sickening black ichor.

C24a. Attic Storage

This room contains derelict furnishings draped in black linens: chairs, coat racks, freestanding mirrors, dress mannequins, and the like. These draped objects take on a sinister countenance in the gloom but are harmless.

C25. Butterfly Garden

In the spring, Ammalia Cassalanter’s gardens attract caterpillars, which transform into butterflies come summer. Lady Cassalanter’s butterfly garden is the envy of her peers. The sweet scent of flowers and herbs filters up from the planters and rose bushes.

If Terenzio and Elzerina are here, they are frolicking in the garden. If Ammalia Cassalanter (see appendix B) is here, she’s watching the children or tending to her garden. Six imp in raven form hang around the butterfly garden and occasionally prey on Ammalia’s prized pets when their mistress isn’t looking. Despite their insolence, Ammalia uses these imps as spies. She sends them on missions throughout the city. They also warn Ammalia of trespassers and attack anyone who threatens a member of her family.

Founders' Day

During the party, two young, hotblooded nobles have accidentally offended one another. They have changed into dueling garb and are fighting with rapiers to resolve their differences while onlookers drink wine and cheer them on.

C25a. Garden Balcony

This balcony overlooks the grounds of the Cassalanter estate and even offers a view of the Sea of Swords beyond the outer wall of the Sea Ward.

If Ammalia Cassalanter (see appendix B) is here, she’s smoking and either staring dismally out toward the ocean or watching her children in the garden below (area C25).

C26. Cellar

This cellar is kept free of dust and cobwebs by servants. It is unsettlingly cold, no matter the time of year. It contains spare furniture, a laundry tub, and trunks full of old clothing.

C27. False Vault

The door to this vault is made of solid iron and sports three different locks. Victoro and Ammalia each have a set of keys for them. Opening the door without the keys requires a character to succeed on three consecutive DC 20 Dexterity checks using thieves' tools. On a failed check, all three locks reset. The door has AC 19, a damage threshold of 10, 90 hit points, and immunity to poison and psychic damage. A creature can break it down with a successful DC 27 Strength (Athletics) check.

The vault is empty.

Cold Trap

If a creature enters the vault without first saying “Gold is my shield,” an intense blast of magical cold fills the room. All creatures in the vault at that time must make a DC 16 Constitution saving throw, taking 36 (8d8) cold damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

A detect magic spell reveals the secret to disabling the trap: a tiny magical glyph is inscribed in the middle of the ceiling. If this glyph is dispelled with a successful casting of dispel magic (DC 16), the trap ceases to function.

C28. Wine Cellar

This cellar contains the following features:

• The east wall is lined with nearly thirty casks of wine.
• A faint draft comes from the south end of the wine cellar. The draft betrays the location of a secret door.

The servants rarely spend much time here, since the cellar is unlit and cold. Characters feel a strange sense of foreboding here.

Secret Door

A faded holy symbol of Siamorphe, a silver chalice bearing a golden sun symbol, is painted on the south wall. If the sun symbol is pushed, the wall grinds open, revealing area C29 beyond. A character who searches the wall automatically detects the secret door and can, with a successful DC 10 Wisdom (Perception) check, figure out how to open it.

C29. Secret Vault

Most of the Cassalanters' wealth is tied up in investments, but the family keeps a stack of twenty 5-pound silver trade bars (worth 25 gp each) here for emergencies. At the back of the vault is a dark staircase that descends 30 feet to the temple of Asmodeus (area A1).

Founders' Day

In addition to the treasure noted above, the vault contains five hundred sacks containing 1,000 gp each (liquidated family assets). If the Cassalanters were successful in looting the Vault of Dragons, the vault contains an additional five hundred sacks (the sum total of the treasure taken from the vault), for a total of 1,000,000 gp. The gold remains here until it’s taken down to the temple (see “Special Events”).

Temple of Asmodeus

Beneath Cassalanter Villa lies a secret temple where Victoro leads a cult that worships Asmodeus. Cult members include evil-minded nobles as well as deluded commoners lured by the prospect of wealth and status. The entire cult gathers in the temple at midnight on the first day of every tenday for a dark mass. During these ceremonies, they pledge their devotion to the Lord of the Nine Hells, call out the names of their enemies, and beseech Asmodeus to visit ruin upon their foes. They also drink wine, share gossip, and offer the occasional sacrifice. For the Cassalanters, these events are opportunities to flaunt their power and impose their will on their lessers.

Temple Features

The following general features apply to the temple:

• Rooms are dimly lit by flickering candles placed in tall, slender, wrought-iron candlesticks.
• Ceilings in rooms are 10 feet high unless noted otherwise. Passages are 8 feet tall, with 7-foottall doorways.
• Doors are made of iron-banded wood.
• Cultists who aren’t members of the nobility wear cheap red robes, devil masks, and wooden amulets that bear the symbol of Asmodeus.

Areas of the Temple

The following areas correspond to the labels on map 6.2. The temple is connected to Cassalanter Villa by a staircase that connects with area A1. Also, an underground stream (area A9) leads away from the temple’s lower level and eventually lets out in the Mud Flats northwest of Waterdeep.

Changes to the temple that occur during cult gatherings are noted in the “Cult Gathering” sections.

A1. Hall of the Damned

The features of this hall are readily apparent:

• In the middle of the hall, a spiral staircase descends 20 feet to the lower level (area A3).
• The faint sound of chanting is audible coming from a corridor to the northwest.
• To the south are three cells with iron-banded wooden doors. A small, barred window is embedded in each door at the height of a human’s eye. The cell doors face a stone pillar. Hanging from a hook on the pillar is a ring of keys.

Cells

When the Cassalanters decide to sacrifice humans in their rituals, they lure homeless Waterdavians to their estate and confine them in these cells. The keys to unlock the doors hang from the stone pillar. A lock can be picked by a character who makes a successful DC 15 Dexterity check using thieves' tools. All three cells are currently empty.

Chanting

The sound is that of a prayer to Asmodeus being recited by the cultists in area A7.

A2. Balconies

Two crumbling balconies with stone railings overlook the temple’s ceremonial hall (area A7). The distance to the floor below is 20 feet.

Collapsing Floor

The balcony floors have weakened with age. Any Medium or larger creature that steps onto a 5-foot-square marked C on the map must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw as the floor crumbles and falls away, leaving a gaping hole. On a failed save, the creature falls 20 feet and lands prone on the floor below (area A7) amid stone debris. On a success, the creature avoids the fall by leaping to an adjacent, unoccupied space. The sound of the collapsing floor can be heard throughout the temple.

A3. Anterior Vestibule

The spiral staircase from area A1 ends at this chamber.

Asmodeus Portrait

Mounted on the back wall of an alcove to the north is an 18-foot-high, 9-foot-wide portrait in a gilded frame. The picture depicts a strikingly handsome and impeccably dressed bearded man with small horns protruding from his forehead. He carries a ruby-tipped cane. Any character who succeeds on a DC 10 Intelligence (Religion) check recognizes the figure as Asmodeus.

Cult Gathering

During cult gatherings, a bearded devil guards each of the doors leading to area A7.

A4. Family Crypt

Twelve stone sarcophagi are packed into deep recesses in the walls. The plaster lid of each sarcophagus is carved in the likeness of a noble clutching a chalice that bears a symbol of the sun. The sarcophagi contain nothing but dust and bones.

The spirits of several dead members of the Cassalanter family are bound to this crypt. They manifest as three dark, vaporous specter plus a ghost that looks like the insubstantial image of a handsome, cleanshaven man of knightly bearing clad in plate armor. These undead attack any living creatures but can’t leave the crypt or approach within 5 feet of any creature that wears a holy symbol of Asmodeus.

The ghost is all that remains of Caladorn Cassalanter, a former Masked Lord and hero of Waterdeep. The ghost halts its attack and calls off the specters if a character wears or presents a holy symbol of Siamorphe. After it is shown such a symbol, the ghost guides characters to its personal crypt (area A4a).

A4a. Caladorn’s Crypt

A dusty stone sarcophagus occupies this crypt, its plaster lid carved in the likeness of a handsome, cleanshaven nobleman clutching a chalice engraved with the symbol of the sun. The likeness resembles the ghost of Caladorn Cassalanter (see above).

Treasure

Caladorn’s bones have turned to dust, but his suit of +1 plate armor remains. Also lying in the dust is a mace of disruption. If Caladorn’s ghost is present when one or both magic items are removed from the sarcophagus, it asks, “Do you vow to use these items to defeat the forces of darkness?” An answer in the affirmative is sufficient to lay the ghost to rest. Before vanishing for good, it says, “Use the mace to destroy the effigy of evil incarnate. End the corruption to restore my family’s honor.” (The “effigy” is the statue of Asmodeus in area A7.)

A4b. Empty Crypt

This crypt contains nothing but dust and cobwebs.

A5. Cultists' Chamber

This room has the following features:

• Six wooden cots stand against the north and south walls.
• The west wall is carved with four bas-reliefs of pit fiends.

Tired cultists sleep here after ceremonies, particularly if they drank too much wine.

Secret Door

Behind one of the bas-reliefs is a secret door, which can be detected with a successful DC 13 Wisdom (Perception) check. Pushing against the sculpture causes a secret door to swing open into area A6.

A6. Secret Vestry

This room is hidden behind two secret doors that aren’t disguised on the inside, where a stone knob on each door allows it to be pulled open with ease. The room contains the following features:

• Against the south wall stand two black wardrobes with nine-pointed stars carved into their doors.
• A pair of tall, slender mirrors are mounted on the west wall, their stone frames carved with serpents.
• Stacked in the middle of the room are six casks of wine used for cult celebrations.

Each wardrobe contains five complete outfits of cult regalia sized for adult humans: red robes, devil masks, and wooden amulets shaped in the symbol of Asmodeus.

Cult Gathering

An hour before a cult gathering, five human cultists are here donning their regalia.

A7. Ceremonial Hall

This hall has a 30-foot-high vaulted ceiling and a pair of 20-foot-high balconies (see area A2) overlooking it. Its other features as follows:

• Rows of flickering candles in iron candlesticks form a pathway to a 30-foot-tall stone statue at the west end of the hall. The statue depicts a smiling, bearded man of diabolical bent, with small horns protruding from his brow and cloven hooves instead of feet. At the base of the statue, clutched in a stone claw erupting from the floor, is a 3-foot-deep, 9-foot-diameter stone bowl filled with crackling flames.
• Three human cultist wearing red robes, devil masks, and wooden holy symbols of Asmodeus kneel before the statue, feverishly chanting an infernal hymn. (During a cult gathering, the number of cultists present increases dramatically.)
• The walls around the statue are covered by large tapestries that depict scenes of human debauchery. (Behind the north tapestry is a rough-hewn passage that leads to area A9.)

The Cassalanters' ritual to save Terenzio and Elzerina plays out here (see “Special Events”).

Cult Gathering

If the cult is here in force, thirty human cultist stand in neat rows before the statue, chanting to Asmodeus with wooden goblets in hand while their leader, Victoro Cassalanter (see appendix B), tosses offerings into the bowl. Roughly half of the cultists are members of the nobility; the rest are Waterdavian rabble brought into the cult to fill out the ranks. Standing around the perimeter are Willifort Crowelle, Tissina Khyret, Laiba “Nana” Rosse, and Jandar Chergoba (see “Head Servants”). Their job is to make sure the other cultists behave themselves while Ammalia Cassalanter (see appendix B) walks gracefully through the crowd with a golden decanter, ceremonially pouring wine into the cultists' goblets for toasting to the Lord of the Nine Hells. Lady Cassalanter’s six imp (see area C25) are perched invisibly on the statue.

Devil Statue and Sacrificial Bowl

The statue once depicted Siamorphe, but the Cassalanters used stone shape spells to recast it into an image of their dread lord, Asmodeus. The massive bowl at the foot of the statue was also fashioned with stone shape spells; it radiates a strong aura of conjuration magic when subjected to a detect magic spell or similar magic. Magical flames erupt from the bowl as long as it remains intact. Any creature that enters the flames or starts its turn in them takes 4d10 fire damage. A creature reduced to 0 hit points by this damage turns to ashes. Nonmagical objects tossed into the flames are destroyed.

If the statue is struck by a mace of disruption, it cracks and falls to pieces, shattering the bowl as it tumbles down. Any member of the cult who witnesses the destruction of the statue takes 11 (2d10) psychic damage.

Secret Door

The secret door leading to area A6 can be found with a successful DC 13 Wisdom (Perception) check. Pushing on that section of wall causes it to swing open.

Stream

Flowing behind the statue is a stream that enters and exits through 1-foot-high, 2-foot-wide arched culverts.

A8. Storage Closet

Against the back wall of this closet stands an unlocked cabinet with a black rug laid out before it. The cabinet contains a golden decanter (worth 125 gp) and shelves holding wooden wine goblets.

Cult Gathering

The cabinet is empty, as the decanter and goblets are being put to use in area A7.

A9. Stream and Pool

An underground stream flows through the west side of the temple and into a 5-foot-deep pool here before meandering northwest and emerging in the Mud Flats.

Special Events

If the Cassalanters fail to obtain the Stone of Golorr, the following events don’t come to pass. As a consequence, Terenzio and Elzerina are transformed into lemure as their souls are forfeit ten days after Founders' Day. Shattered by their failure and their loss, Victoro and Ammalia Cassalanter vow to destroy those who thwarted them.

Getting the Gold

This event can occur only on Founders' Day or sooner.

Armed with the Stone of Golorr and the keys to unlock the Vault of Dragons, Victoro Cassalanter enters the vault, uses a disguise self spell to appear as Lord Dagult Neverember, and tricks Aurinax the gold dragon into relinquishing the gold. A dozen House Cassalanter guard disguised as members of the City Guard stuff the gold into sacks while a dozen more haul the sacks to a pair of waiting carriages for safe transport back to Cassalanter Villa. Each sack holds 1,000 gp, and each carriage can hold fifty sacks (50,000 gp) at a time. Getting the gold from the Vault of Dragons to Cassalanter Villa takes ten round trips (five per carriage) and the better part of a day. Three invisible imp accompany each carriage, which is driven by a bearded devil wearing a hat and a high-collared cape to conceal its true nature. Upon arrival at Cassalanter Villa, each carriage is met by a dozen guard in House Cassalanter livery, who unload the sacks of gold and place them in area C29.

Day of the Damned

This event occurs only if the Cassalanters obtain the gold from the Vault of Dragons.

Ammalia Cassalanter hosts a grand party on Founders' Day that begins in the early afternoon and ends at midnight. Wealthy guests begin to arrive in the late afternoon and gather inside the villa, away from the sun and heat, while one hundred of Waterdeep’s poorest residents-most brought from the Field Ward-gather under pavilions set up on the lawn. Hired actors dressed as Waterdeep’s founders parade around, and bards play lively tunes. No one suspects that the food in the pavilion tents has been laced with midnight tears-a poison that will slay the impoverished guests at the stroke of midnight. Ammalia is immune to poison and thus partakes freely of the delicious food. Wealthy guests who remain holed up in Cassalanter Villa eat and drink at separate tables and are spared a grisly end.

An hour before midnight, the entertainers disperse as Ammalia begins making toasts to her wealthy guests, turning them into unwitting accomplices by virtue of their presence and thus ensuring their silence. Meanwhile, house guards prevent any of the rabble from leaving, forcibly detaining anyone who tries to flee. Unless the characters prevent the poor folk from eating the tainted food, those attendees consume the poison and perish at the stroke of midnight.

While Ammalia plays host, Victoro instructs his cultists to remove the sacks of gold from House Cassalanter’s vault (area C29) and hurl them into the sacrificial bowl (area A7). They finish shortly before midnight. At the stroke of midnight, as the poison does its work, Ammalia keeps an eye on her wealthy guests and orders Tessina Khyret to notify Victoro that the deed is done. Standing before the statue of Asmodeus in the temple, Victoro summons a barbed devil and informs it that payment has been made in full. The devil declares (in Infernal) that the payment is “satisfactory” and informs Victoro that the souls of Terenzio and Elzerina will not be taken to the Nine Hells. It then disappears whence it came, leaving the Cassalanters to bask in their triumph.

After the party, in the dark hours of morning, the corpses of the dead are cast into the fiery bowl in area A7, leaving no evidence of foul play. In the days and months that follow, Victoro and Ammalia use threats of diabolical retribution to silence witnesses and wield their political clout to quash criminal investigations.