Level 20: Runestone Caverns

Runestone Caverns is designed for four 16th-level characters, and characters who defeat the monsters on this level should gain enough XP to advance halfway to 17th level. This level introduces the characters to a potentially powerful ally in their fight against Halaster—or an enemy whose destruction can put them in the Mad Mage’s good graces.

What Dwells Here?

The Runestone is a large magic crystal, created by Halaster Blackcloak, that is embedded in the top of a huge, hollowed-out stalagmite that rises from the center of this level’s main cavern. This spire serves as the lair of a lich named Ezzat, who has long been Halaster’s enemy.

In an effort to destroy Ezzat, Halaster created a legion of stone golems modeled after himself, placing a fragment of the Runestone in each one to imbue it with more intelligence and personality. When Ezzat learned what Halaster was up to, the lich placed wards on the stalagmite tower to prevent constructs from assailing it. This countermove prompted Halaster to abandon his golems and stop making new ones.

Ezzat the Lich

Ezzat has become obsessed with destroying Halaster and usurping his control over Undermountain. As his mania and thirst for power grows, the lich becomes more like Halaster with each passing day.

Characters who destroy Ezzat and locate his phylactery earn Halaster’s favor. Those who ally with the lich earn Halaster’s enmity.

Stonecloaks

Halaster created stone golems in his own likeness and used fragments of the Runestone to imbue them with intelligence. Then he set them loose on this level. Called Stonecloaks, these 10-foot-tall golems worship the Mad Mage as a god and regard the Runestone as his eye into their dark domain. The Stonecloaks don’t like it that a lich has taken refuge in the stalagmite tower, but Ezzat’s wards mean that there’s little they can do about it.

Unless otherwise noted, a Stonecloak uses the stone golem statistics, with these changes:

• A Stonecloak has Intelligence and Charisma scores of 9.
• It understands the following languages but can’t speak: Abyssal, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Dwarvish, Elvish, Infernal, and Undercommon. Stonecloaks use a system of eye blinks to communicate nonverbally with one another.

Wandering Monsters

The magical emanations of the Runestone attract earth-dwelling creatures such as bulettes, earth elementals, purple worms, and xorn to this level. The characters might also come across an expedition that has traveled from Shadowdusk Hold.

Shadowdusk Expedition

An expeditionary force has been sent from Shadowdusk Hold (level 22) to collect Runestone fragments. The force consists of a chaotic evil human archmage named Akarrth Shadowdusk, a beholder named Gz’zarp, two Grell, and two Nothic. The grells and nothics are Akarrth’s servants, the beholder his tenuous ally.

The characters can easily strike up an alliance with Akarrth, but any such pact is doomed to crumble in short order because the archmage is insane.

Treasure

Akarrth carries a wooden rod carved with tentacles that serves as an arcane focus (10 gp), as well as a spellbook bound in mind flayer skin that contains all the spells he has prepared.

Runestone Caverns

All location descriptions for this level are keyed to map 20. The caverns and tunnels are uniformly damp from water that enters through narrow cracks in the walls and ceilings, and the sound of dripping water echoes throughout.

1. Desiccating Symbol

At the end of the tunnel that leads down from level 19, Ezzat has inscribed a glyph on the floor using a modified version of the symbol spell, requiring a successful DC 20 Intelligence (Investigation) check to spot. Cast using a 9th-level spell slot, the glyph triggers the death effect (save DC 20) when any creature crosses over it. After the effect is triggered, ghostly skulls float above the area where the glyph is inscribed.

2. Mad Golem’s Lair

Characters who approach this cavern from any direction hear stone smashing against stone. The cavern has a peaked roof 50 feet high and the following features:

Construct. A hulking, mobile mass of jumbled stone stands atop a natural rise in the center of the cavern. It is using its fists to smash something.

Forge. Carved into one wall is a stone forge that hasn’t been lit in ages. A rusty iron anvil sits atop a 1-foot-high granite plinth in front of the forge.

The jumbled construct was once a 10-foot-tall stone golem created in the image of Halaster. In its madness, it has attached so many pieces of other Stonecloaks to itself that it has become a lumbering, 17-foot-tall amalgamation of stone torsos, limbs, and heads—all of which resemble parts of the Mad Mage.

Any character who gets close can see that the object being destroyed by the mad golem is a stone golem that resembles Halaster. Even if the characters intervene quickly, the Stonecloak is already in pieces and can’t be saved.

As the characters observe it for the first time, the mad golem removes the Runestone fragment from the pulverized remains of its latest victim and swallows it, then begins attaching pieces of the destroyed stone golem to itself. Swallowing the Runestone fragment allows the mad golem to ignore its Immutable Form trait and restores all its hit points. Characters who interrupt or attack the golem incur its enmity. Otherwise, it shows little interest in them.

The mad golem is a stone golem with a challenge rating of 12 (8,400 XP) and these changes:

• The golem is Huge and has 264 (23d12 + 115) hit points.
• Each of its slam attacks deals 24 (4d8 + 6) bludgeoning damage on a hit.
• It has Intelligence and Charisma scores of 9.
• It understands the following languages but can’t speak: Abyssal, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Dwarvish, Elvish, Infernal, and Undercommon.

The golem is too big to fit down any tunnel smaller than 10 feet wide. Left to its own devices, it remains here and waits for another Stonecloak to wander into the area, then attacks it.

Treasure

Any character who searches the interior of the forge and succeeds on a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check finds the soot-covered tinderbox, which contains a single bead of force.

3. Sunken Paradise

This cavern has a peaked roof 30 feet high and features a broad crevasse 300 feet deep. A rocky ledge surrounds the crevasse.

After descending 200 feet, the crevasse breaks through the roof of a vast cavern not shown on map 20. This otherworldly cavern is 100 feet high, 1,200 feet long, and 800 feet wide. It has the following features:

Light. The cavern is lit by phosphorescent moss that grows on weird rock formations along the walls. A dozen Giant Fire Beetle that primarily feast on carrion dwell here, adding to the illumination.

Fungi Forest. Half the cavern is a forest of towering zurkhwood, interspersed with barrelstalks, bluecaps, and trillimacs (see “area Fungi").

Lake. The other half of the cavern contains a 30-foot-deep lake fed by three small waterfalls. Several small rocky islands rise out of the lake, each holding a number of empty huts (an abandoned kuo-toa settlement).

The fungus forest and the underground lake are home to all kinds of subterranean wildlife, including bats, fish, and non-biting insects. For characters who reach it safely, the cavern provides a secure, idyllic refuge from the perils of Undermountain.

4. Myconid Colony

A myconid colony manages to thrive in this area, since the tunnels leading to these caves are too narrow for the Stonecloaks to squeeze through. The myconids must endure the occasional gargoyle attack, however.

The myconids provide strangers with food, water, shelter, and safe passage through their small domain.

4a. Melding Cave

Most of the myconids live in this cave, the ceiling of which is uneven and ranges in height from 15 to 30 feet. The cave’s other features are as follows:

Moss. Thick moss grows on the walls and the ceiling.

Fungi. The earthen floor gives rise to a forest of fungi, including barrelstalks, timmasks, tongues of madness, and trillimacs (see “area Fungi").

Giant Insects. Six Giant Centipede and four Giant Fire Beetle are meandering among the fungi.

Myconids. The northern alcove is mostly clear of moss and fungi and filled with clouds of spores. Ten Myconid Sprout and thirteen Myconid Adult gather here in silent meditation.

The centipedes and the fire beetles share this delicate ecosystem with the myconids, serving to help control the growth of fungi in the caverns. The light from the fire beetles' carapaces is the cave’s only illumination. These creatures are not under the myconids' control and fight only in self-defense.

The myconid sprouts form an inner ring 6 feet in diameter, and the adults are in a protective ring 10 feet in diameter around them. The myconids use their Rapport Spores action option to peacefully meld with one another. Creatures that approach within 10 feet of the outer ring are subject to the spores' effect.

Characters who make telepathic contact with the myconids are greeted warmly. The myconids offer to take visitors to their sovereign (area area 4b) or escort them to the edge of their domain. The friendly fungus folk are blissfully unaware of the conflict happening outside their caverns, but they’re afraid of the “rock giants” (Halaster’s stone golems) and “rock demons” (gargoyles) that dwell in the caves around them.

4b. Friendly Sovereign

Sloped Floor. The cave floor slopes upward, reducing its height from 15 feet near the entrance to 10 feet at its north end.

Fungi. Exotic mushrooms sprout from the earthen floor. The walls are lined with ripplebark (see “area Fungi").

Sovereign. A 9-foot-tall myconid sovereign stands near the back of the cave. Its bioluminescent cap sheds bright light in a 10-foot radius and dim light for an additional 10 feet.

When not melding with its subjects, the myconid sovereign—named Floot—spends its time cultivating exotic mushrooms and crafting potions. Using its Rapport Spores action option to facilitate telepathic communication, Floot welcomes characters to its domain and offers them two potions as gifts (see “Treasure” below). Floot expects nothing in return, but if the characters are of a mind to reciprocate, the sovereign urges them to destroy any “rock demons” (gargoyles) they encounter, for the good of the myconid colony.

Treasure

Floot offers the characters a potion of mind reading and a potion of superior healing. Each potion is held in a clay gourd and hidden inside a hollowed-out trillimac (see “area Fungi").

4c. Quaggoth Spore Servants

Guards. Five Quaggoth Spore Servant gather here.

Fungi. The walls are lined with ripplebark (see “area Fungi").

The animating spores of the myconid sovereign have given the dead quaggoths a semblance of life. While in the presence of one or more myconids, the quaggoth spore servants regard all creatures with detached indifference and refrain from attacking. But they turn hostile if there are no myconids around to pacify them.

5. Giggling Chasm

A 20-foot-wide, 70-foot-deep crevasse has opened up in the floor of this 20-foot-high cavern. The sound of an old man giggling rises from the depths of the crevasse every minute or so. This is a harmless illusion, one of Halaster Blackcloak’s regional effects (see “area Halaster’s Lair").

6. Lair of the Mummy Lord

These caves form the lair of a duergar mummy lord named Gorka Tharn. Characters who cast spells in these areas or disturb the features of the caverns awaken the mummy lord, allowing the creature to bring its lair actions and regional effects into play (see the “Mummies” entry in the Monster Manual). In its lair, the mummy lord has a challenge rating of 16 (15,000 XP).

6a. Toothy Maw

This 20-foot-high cavern resembles a tooth-filled maw because of its numerous stalactites and stalagmites. The plentiful rock formations make it difficult for large and cumbersome creatures to pass through the cavern, so the Stonecloaks avoid this area.

Casting a spell of 1st level or higher in this cavern has a chance of waking the mummy lord equal to the spell’s level × 10 percent. If the mummy lord awakens, the duergar mummies in area area 6b rise out of their mass grave and emerge from that area, moving to attack all creatures in the mummy lord’s lair.

6b. Mass Grave

The floor of packed earth in this 10-foot-high cave is a shallow grave for eight duergar Mummy (Gorka Tharn’s former disciples). The mummies burst out of the ground and attack any creatures that enter this area. If intruders flee, the mummies pursue. If the mummies awaken, so too does Gorka Tharn.

6c. Mummy Lord’s Crypt

Niches. Niches carved into the walls of this damp 20-foot-high cavern contain hundreds of moldy skulls (a mix of dwarf and duergar). A few fallen skulls rest on the cavern floor.

Shrine. A small chamber to the east contains a chipped stone altar with treasure piled around it. The wall behind the altar is painted with a faded mural.

Alcove. An alcove to the northwest features a central stalagmite and stalactite, each 8 feet tall and covered with soot drawings of snakes and scorpions.

Stealing any of the treasure around the altar or touching the stalagmite automatically awakens Gorka Tharn. In addition, casting a spell of 1st level or higher in this cavern has a chance of waking the mummy lord equal to the spell’s level × 10 percent.

Gorka Tharn was a duergar priest of Laduguer, now transformed into a mummy lord, with these changes:

• The mummy lord speaks Dwarvish and Undercommon.
• It has the stone shape spell prepared instead of divination.
• It has the Enlarge and Invisibility action options described below.

Enlarge (Recharges after a Short or Long Rest)

For 1 minute, the mummy lord magically increases in size, along with anything it is wearing or carrying. While enlarged, the mummy lord is Large, doubles its damage dice with its Rotting Fist attack, and makes Strength checks and Strength saving throws with advantage. If the mummy lord lacks the room to become Large, it attains the maximum size possible in the space available.

Invisibility (Recharges after a Short or Long Rest)

The mummy lord magically turns invisible for up to 1 hour or until it attacks, it casts a spell, it uses its Enlarge, or its concentration is broken (as if concentrating on a spell). Any equipment the mummy lord wears or carries is invisible with it.

The stalagmite in the northwest alcove is hollow and serves as Gorka Tharn’s sarcophagus. The mummy lord is lodged inside the stalagmite’s funnel-shaped interior. When it awakens, the mummy lord uses a stone shape spell to create an opening large enough for it to emerge. It destroys any intruders in its lair, then returns to its sarcophagus and its slumber.

At the bottom of the stalagmite’s hollow cavity, four 1-foot-tall clay urns contain Gorka Tharn’s preserved internal organs, including the mummy lord’s shriveled heart. Only by destroying the heart can the characters prevent the mummy lord from rejuvenating. The heart is a Tiny object with AC 5, 25 hit points, and immunity to all damage except fire.

Stone Altar and Treasure

The altar is carved from a single block of granite and dedicated to Laduguer, the evil god of the duergar. The mural painted on the wall behind the altar depicts a shadowy figure cradling a pile of gemstones in its arms. Any character who has an appropriate background or who succeeds on a DC 15 Intelligence (Religion) check confirms that the mural is meant to depict Laduguer.

Piled around the altar are 5,000 cp, 2,300 sp, 470 gp, five flawed diamonds (100 gp each), and an electrum teapot (25 gp). A rusty warhammer is also found among the valuables. It disintegrates the first time it is used to strike anything hard.

7. Crypt Raiders

This 12-foot-high cave contains six duergar, three males and three females, who have come up from level 21 to loot the shrine of Laduguer (area area 6c). The male duergar are Klom Xornbane, Skrac Blackskull, and Anchok Muzgardt. The female duergar are Akith Xornbane (Klom’s sister), Garlynth Ironhead, and Xarta Muzgardt (Anchok’s sister). The duergar are hard to tell apart, since all of them wear mean-looking iron bucket helms with visors.

Having slipped past the Stonecloaks and the gargoyles in area areas 8 and area 9, these duergar have just started a short rest to recharge their Invisibility when the characters happen upon them. The hateful, xenophobic duergar enlarge themselves and attack. They are too stubborn and determined to back down or surrender.

Each duergar carries a small gray sack holding 5 days of rations, and a large, empty gray sack to carry loot from the shrine.

A character who interrogates a duergar captive and succeeds on a DC 20 Charisma (Intimidation) check learns the following information:

• The duergar live in the Deep Mines (another name for the Terminus Level), the next level down from the Runestone Caverns.
• The Deep Mines are ruled by Fazrian, a “bald, green-skinned giant with glowing eyes and white-feathered wings.” Any character who succeeds on a DC 18 Intelligence (Religion) check realizes, based on this description, that Fazrian is a planetar.
• The duergar have come to plunder a shrine of Laduguer on this level, then return to the Deep Mines with loot to earn Fazrian’s favor. They know the shrine’s location (area area 6c) but nothing about the mummy lord that guards it.

8. Made of Stone

Gargoyles and stone golems watch over these caves, and Halaster has left a few other surprises here as well.

8a. Gargoyles and Golems

Ceiling. This cavern has walls that slope inward to form a 30-foot-high peak.

Gargoyles. Six Gargoyle cling to ledges 20 feet up the walls, three at the north end of the cavern and three at the south end.

Golems. Two Stone Golem carved to resemble Halaster (see “area Stonecloaks") stand watch on the cavern floor. One is positioned near the tunnel to area area 9a; the other is close to the tunnel to area area 6a.

The gargoyles serve Halaster. They remain motionless unless they are attacked or combat erupts in this area, whereupon they fight as allies of the stone golems.

The golems are hostile toward any creature that doesn’t look like Halaster or a gargoyle. A character disguised as Halaster can make a Charisma (Deception) check contested by the golems' Wisdom (Insight) check, with advantage on the check if the portrayal is particularly convincing. On a successful check, the golem won’t attack that character unless the character attacks it.

8b. Natural Frieze

Rivulets of water trickling down the back wall of this damp 15-foot-high cave have eroded the stone in a spectacular way, creating a natural frieze that resembles a hunched male human leaning down to pick up a staff while a great blue dragon sneaks up behind him. Halaster’s contribution to the natural carving is the staff, which he formed out of the rock.

8c. Acid Tentacles

The gargoyles and golems in area area 8a won’t enter this empty cavern, the ceiling of which is a rough 15-foot-high dome. A detect magic spell reveals an aura of conjuration magic throughout the cave—the effect of a magic trap placed here by Halaster.

When one or more creatures reach the cavern’s midpoint, 15-foot-long tentacles of acid magically erupt from the floor, walls, and ceiling. A creature that enters the tentacle-filled cavern for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there must succeed on a DC 22 Dexterity saving throw or take 10 (3d6) acid damage and be grappled by a tentacle (escape DC 22). A creature that starts its turn grappled by a tentacle automatically takes 10 (3d6) acid damage.

The tentacles can’t be damaged, and dispel magic has no effect on them. The tentacles disappear when all creatures have left the cavern. If the words “Halaster, save us!” are spoken aloud in the cavern in Common, the tentacles disappear, and the trap can’t trigger again for 1 hour.

8d. Golden Haungharassk

Slime. A thin layer of slime covers the walls and floor of this 20-foot-high cavern.

Fungus. A patch of glowing fungus sprouts from the east wall.

Giant Snail. In the northern part of the cave lurks Haungharassk, a magical snail as large as an elephant, with a shell of gleaming gold.

Halaster placed Haungharassk here, setting up the trap in area area 8c both to confine the creature and to prevent others from killing it. The giant snail is an unaligned Huge beast with AC 6, 52 (7d12 + 7) hit points, and walking and climbing speeds of 10 feet. It can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check. Its ability scores are as follows: Strength 20, Dexterity 3, Constitution 13, Intelligence 3, Wisdom 10, Charisma 3. It has no attacks and can’t speak. A pound of salt thrown onto the snail’s skin deals 1d6 acid damage to the creature.

The glowing golden hue of Haungharassk’s shell is augmented by veins of real gold. That gold can be stripped from the shell, but only if the snail is dead (see “Treasure” below). Killing the snail yields no XP.

A detect magic spell reveals a powerful aura of abjuration magic around the snail. A creature that uses an action to touch the living snail gains 6 temporary hit points that last for 24 hours. Any creature or object that touches the living snail also gains the benefit of a remove curse spell. The snail loses these magical properties if it dies.

The characters can lead Haungharassk around by feeding it plants, fungi, or algae. A successful DC 10 Intelligence (Nature) check enables a character to discern what the giant snail likes to eat.

The patch of glowing fungus magically regrows each time it is picked. It is the snail’s food source. The fungus dies if taken from this area.

Treasure

Characters who kill Haungharassk can strip 100 pounds of gold from the snail’s shell with a few hours' work. The gold is worth 20,000 gp.

9. Way to the Gate

These out-of-the-way caverns hold one of Halaster’s magic gates, the approach to which is closely watched by his servants.

9a. Stonecloak Sentries

Two Stone Golem carved to resemble Halaster (see “area Stonecloaks") stand east of the two columns of rock that support the 20-foot-high ceiling of this otherwise empty cave. Characters who enter the area through the northwest tunnel can’t see the golems right away because the rock columns provide total cover.

The golems are hostile toward any creature that doesn’t look like Halaster. A character disguised as Halaster can make a Charisma (Deception) check contested by the golems' Wisdom (Insight) check, with advantage on the check if the portrayal is particularly convincing. On a successful check, the golem won’t attack that character unless the character attacks it.

9b. Arch Gate to Level 15

Rubble. The floor of this 50-foot-high cavern is strewn with the remains of a dozen gargoyles. (The gargoyles once guarded the gate in this cavern, but the Stonecloaks destroyed them.)

Arch. A ramp hugs the south wall and climbs to a 20-foot-high ledge. A stone arch is embedded in the wall at the west end of the ledge.

The arch is one of Halaster’s gates (see “area Gates"). It is composed of one hundred stone jigsaw pieces, each weighing 10 pounds. The rules of this gate are as follows:

• Only one piece of the arch can be removed at any given time. A detect magic spell reveals that one of the pieces (determined randomly) is magical. When that piece is removed from the arch, it disappears, and the gate opens for 1 minute. When the gate closes, the piece removed from the arch magically reappears in its proper place, and a different piece becomes magical and must be removed to reopen the gate.
• If a wrong piece is removed from the arch, a beholder magically appears in an unoccupied space within 60 feet of the arch and attacks any creature it can see. The beholder disappears when it is slain or after 1 minute. When the beholder disappears, the piece that was removed from the arch magically reappears in its previous place.
• Characters must be 13th level or higher to pass through this gate (see “area Jhesiyra Kestellharp"). The first creature to pass through the gate triggers an elder rune (see “area Elder Runes").
• A creature that passes through the gate appears in area area 15 on level 15, in the closest unoccupied space next to the identical gate located there.

Puzzle Piece

On the ledge near the arch, not visible from the cavern floor, a 25-pound chunk of smooth stone is carved in the shape of a jigsaw puzzle piece and painted with part of an unknown image on one side. This stone is the missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle in area area 10.

10. Mad Mage’s Puzzle

Indentation. A 4-inch-deep, 8-foot-wide, 10-foot-long rectangular indentation is carved into the floor of this 20-foot-high cavern.

Jigsaw Pieces. A loose pile of carved, painted stones stands near the south wall.

The pile contains ninety-nine chunks of stone, each weighing 25 pounds and carved in the shape of a jigsaw puzzle piece. The pieces form an image of Halaster, his head thrown back in laughter as he rides a great blue dragon. With a successful DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check, a character can fit all the puzzle pieces together with 1 hour’s work. If other characters assist, the character gains advantage on the check, but the time to complete the puzzle is not reduced. When all the pieces are placed, the characters realize that one puzzle piece is missing. (It can be found in area area 9b.)

When all one hundred jigsaw puzzle pieces are placed properly in the rectangular indentation on the floor, an elder rune appears above it and targets a random creature in the cave (see “area Elder Runes"). Draw a card from the Elder Runes Deck (appendix B) to determine which rune appears.

11. Weird Magic

Halaster fills these caves with magical effects designed to confound adventurers.

11a. Hammer Time

Motes. This 20-foot-high cave is dimly lit by dozens of tiny, tinkling motes of light that flit about like moths.

Golem. Swinging ineffectually at the lights is a stone golem that has stone mallets at the end of its arms instead of hands.

The hammer-handed golem is carved to resemble Halaster (see “area Stonecloaks") and is hostile toward any creature that doesn’t look like the Mad Mage. When the golem hits a creature with one of its mallets, the target must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or be stunned until the end of its next turn.

A character disguised as Halaster can make a Charisma (Deception) check contested by the golem’s Wisdom (Insight) check, with advantage on the check if the portrayal is particularly convincing. On a successful check, the golem is indifferent toward that character.

The magical light motes are harmless but attracted to movement, and they swirl around any creatures that pass through the cave. The lights can’t be dispelled, but they are suppressed in the area of an antimagic field spell or similar effect.

11b. Statue of Transformation

This dead-end cave has a domed ceiling 15 feet high. A 5-foot-tall statue stands atop a 2-foot-tall granite plinth near the east wall. The ancient-looking statue depicts a hooded woman with her hands cupped in front of her. Part of the statue’s head has broken off, and spongy white toadstools are growing out from the broken stone.

The statue is a Medium object with AC 17, 30 hit points, and immunity to poison and psychic damage. A detect magic spell reveals an aura of transmutation magic around it. Whenever a nonmagical object weighing 10 pounds or less is placed in the statue’s cupped hands, it turns into a different object as determined by rolling percentile dice and consulting the Object Transformation table. The statue becomes nonmagical if it loses more than half its hit points.

Object Transformation

Each time an object is removed from the statue’s cupped hands, there is a 20 percent chance that the white toadstools growing out of the statue’s broken head release a cloud of milky-white spores. The cloud fills a 20-foot-radius sphere centered on the statue and lasts for 1 minute. Any creature that starts its turn in the cloud must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or contract a disease called blinding sickness, which lasts until cured with a lesser restoration spell or similar magic. Pain grips the diseased creature’s mind, and its eyes turn milky white. Until the disease is cured, the creature is blinded and has disadvantage on Wisdom checks and Wisdom saving throws.

Sunlight or any effect that deals fire damage or radiant damage destroys the toadstools.

11c. Unreliable Oracle

This empty, 10-foot-high cavern has a large question mark carved into the east wall. If anyone asks a question in this cave, a whispering voice replies with an answer determined by rolling percentile dice and consulting the Oracle Answers table.

Oracle Answers

12. Old Behir Lair

A mated pair of behirs once occupied this corner of the dungeon, but the Stonecloaks killed them.

12a. Bones and Stones

Uneven Surfaces. The cavern’s roof and floor are jagged and uneven, with the distance between them ranging from 10 to 30 feet.

Scorched Walls. The walls are covered with scorch marks (from the behirs' lightning).

Skeletons. The skeletons of two enormous, multilegged reptiles (behirs) lie in the middle of the cavern, surrounded by glimmering blue scales.

Shattered Statue. Rubble from what looks like a large statue are spread around the skeletons.

The behirs were smashed to a pulp by Halaster’s stone golems, but their skulls and bones are mostly intact.

One of Halaster’s stone golems was destroyed in the battle that took place here. Among its shattered limbs and various unrecognizable fragments, characters can find the right half of the golem’s shattered head. A detect magic spell reveals an aura of illusion magic around the partial head. The first time a character approaches within 10 feet of the head, the source of the aura becomes apparent as a magic mouth spell cast on it says, in Ezzat’s voice and in Common:

Down and down and down once more

Awaits the mad one’s doom;

Between there and here, heaven’s tears.

Evil knocking on the Far Realm’s door.

12b. Treasure Cave

This cave contains a hoard left behind by the behirs.

Treasure

The behirs' unguarded hoard consists of 12,000 cp, 5,450 sp, 1,825 gp, four garnets (100 gp each), a dwarven burial circlet fashioned from mithral and set with four aquamarines (2,500 gp), and a chime of opening.

12c. Column of Eyes

A natural column of rock stands in the entrance to this cave. A detect magic spell reveals an aura of conjuration magic surrounding the column. Whenever a creature comes within 10 feet of the column, dozens of eyes open on its surface, staring in all directions. The eyes follow creatures that move past the column, but they are only harmless magical effects created by Halaster. Casting dispel magic on the column removes the eyes from it permanently.

The cave once served as a larder for the behirs. It is strewn with the bones of past victims: unlucky adventurers, duergar, drow, quaggoths, cloakers, darkmantles, hook horrors, and umber hulks. Nothing of value can be found among the bones.

13. Runestone Caverns

An immense central cavern (area area 13a) has several smaller caverns extending off it (area areas 13b through area 13f). A howling wind echoes throughout this area, and its source can be traced to a broad chasm (area area 13g).

13a. Main Cavern

Characters see a bright blue-white light ahead as they approach this cavern. The cave’s features are as follows:

Runestone. The cavern is lit by a 10-foot-diameter circular lozenge of crystal (the Runestone) embedded at the peak of a 120-foot-tall stalagmite.

Stalactites. The cavern walls taper inward as they rise, becoming a curved, 200-foot-high ceiling dotted with stalactites 10 to 15 feet long. A 60-foot-long stalactite hangs directly above the stalagmite tower, its tip 10 feet above the brightly glowing Runestone.

Stalagmites. The cavern floor is level and dotted with stalagmites 10 to 15 feet high.

Each time the characters visit this area, there is a 25 percent chance that Halaster links to the Runestone and uses it to spy on the main cavern. If he sees the characters and has any reason to want them dead, Halaster casts spells with a suitably long range at them through the Runestone, including Bigby’s hand, chain lightning, fireball, and meteor swarm, as the opportunity presents itself. See area area 14 for information on the Runestone.

13b. Glaring Gargoyles

This side cavern has an uneven floor and ceiling 50 feet high and is adorned with a scattering of stalagmites and stalactites. Three Gargoyle perch atop 10-foot-high stalagmites. These servants of Halaster watch and listen to the Runestone, waiting for new commands from their lord and master. The gargoyles attack any group of creatures they outnumber, but they avoid the Stonecloaks.

13c. Moldy Cave

Water drips from the ceiling onto a floor carpeted in thick gray mold. The mold is edible but not nutritious.

13d. Rotting Xorn Carcass

Rats and vermin nibble away at the rotting carcass of a xorn that lies at the back of this cave. Seven days ago, the xorn ran afoul of the golem in area area 2 and was mortally wounded. It retreated to this cavern and died here.

Treasure

Cutting open the xorn’s carcass reveals an undigested ring of x-ray vision and a lumpy, half-digested topaz (50 gp).

13e. Old Campsite

A ring of fire-scarred stones near the north wall of this 10-foot-high cave marks a long-abandoned campsite. Someone has used a knife to scratch the following warning, in Dwarvish, into the east wall: “The Mad Mage watches us. The Runestone is his eye!”

13f. Halaster’s Head

Lying on the floor of this otherwise empty 10-foot-high cave is an oversized stone head resembling the head of Halaster Blackcloak. The stone head once belonged to a Stonecloak that was cannibalized by the renegade golem in area area 2.

13g. Gusting Chasm

A howling, 60-mile-per-hour wind blows up and out of this 300-foot-deep chasm. A magical effect created by Halaster, the wind is strong enough in the immediate vicinity of the chasm to snuff out torches and other open flames of a nonmagical nature.

The chasm has abundant handholds and is easily climbed. Characters who descend to the floor find it jagged, uneven, and littered with the broken pieces of stone golems (tossed into the chasm by the mad golem in area area 2), four dead gargoyles in pieces, and the bones of a dwarf (a miner who slipped and fell into the chasm over a century ago). The miner’s pick lies near the bones.

14. The Runestone

The tip of the giant stalagmite at the center of area area 13a is pierced by a large hole. Set within this hole is a 10-foot-diameter, circular lozenge of translucent white crystal called the Runestone. The crystal radiates bright blue-white light in a 120-foot radius and dim light for an additional 120 feet. Halaster’s red-glowing rune floats inside it.

The Runestone is a Large object with AC 10; 90 hit points; immunity to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical weapons that aren’t adamantine; and immunity to poison and psychic damage. Provided it has at least 1 hit point, the crystal can magically repair itself, regaining 10 (3d6) hit points each hour.

As an action, Halaster can establish a magical link with the Runestone from anywhere inside Undermountain, provided the crystal hasn’t been destroyed. This link allows him to see, speak, and cast spells through the Runestone as though he were standing in its space. Spells he casts through the Runestone appear to originate from the rune lodged inside it. Halaster can end the link at any time (no action required).

While Halaster is linked to the Runestone, its light changes from blue-white to red-orange, and Halaster’s rune turns from bright red to fluorescent purple. The brightness and extent of the light doesn’t change.

Runestone Fragments

The surface of the Runestone is rough and splintered. Every 12 hours, a pebble-sized fragment of the Runestone breaks off and falls to the cavern floor, though the Runestone shows no signs of ever being diminished by shedding these fragments. A broken-off fragment is magical but no longer glows. It comes to rest 1d4 × 10 feet from the base of the stalagmite.

Ezzat’s pseudodragon companion, Ipses, gathers up Runestone fragments as it hunts for food around the stalagmite, but a few occasionally escape its notice. A character who examines the cavern floor around the spire with a detect magic spell finds 1d4 fragments. Without such magical aid, a character can find one fragment with a 1-hour search and a successful DC 20 Wisdom (Perception) check.

Halaster has discovered a process for implanting Runestone fragments in constructs to imbue them with more intelligence and personality. These fragments might also have other magical properties, at your discretion.

Delivering a Runestone fragment to Jalester Silvermane in Waterdeep completes a quest (see “area Retrieve a Runestone Fragment").

Stalagmite Tower

The stalagmite tower at the center of the main cavern is 120 feet tall and has chambers hollowed out of the lower two-thirds of its height. Those hollowed-out areas have 3-foot-thick outer walls, 2-foot-thick inner walls, and 3-foot-thick floors, all hewn from solid rock. All ceilings in the tower are 20 feet high. The outer surface of the stalagmite has numerous footholds and ledges, and can be climbed with a successful DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check.

The stalagmite tower is impervious to damage, as well as to magic that would alter its form (such as a stone shape spell) or create openings through it (such as a passwall spell or a portable hole). A creature can exit the tower by using magic, but the tower prevents any creature from entering it in similar fashion. Spells such as dimension door or teleport thus can’t be used to get inside the tower, nor can creatures be magically summoned inside it by anyone except Ezzat.

No constructs can approach within 10 feet of the stalagmite. Such creatures encounter what feels like an unbreakable wall of force surrounding the entire stalagmite and extending under the cavern floor.

Capturing Ipses

Characters who lurk outside the stalagmite tower long enough might see Ezzat open the outer door to release his pseudodragon, Ipses (see area area 17). The lich stands in the open doorway while Ipses hunts vermin and gathers up any Runestone fragments it finds in the surrounding cavern. Once the pseudodragon has eaten and taken care of business, it returns to the tower. The outer door then shuts and locks as Ezzat and Ipses retreat inside.

Ipses has long been denied the taste of good food and simply can’t resist an offering of fruit, candy, cheese, or some other delicacy. If the pseudodragon goes missing in the cavern, Ezzat locks up the tower and searches for it. Characters who capture Ipses can hold the pseudodragon hostage and use it to wring information from Ezzat, as you determine. (See “area Roleplaying Ezzat” for more information.)

In exchange for the pseudodragon’s safe return, the lich also offers to trade the potions in area area 20. If the characters demand more, Ezzat throws in what he claims is a staff of frost. If that deal is done, the sentient staff (see area area 16) reveals its true nature and attacks Ipses’s abductors as soon as the pseudodragon is safe.

15. Outer Door and Foyer

The tower entrance is on the eastern side of the stalagmite and offers the only access to Ezzat’s lair.

Outer Door

Bas-Relief. The outward-facing side of the door bears a bas-relief sculpture of a humanoid skull with a black sapphire embedded in each eye socket.

Words of Unwelcome. Carved into the frame above the door are the words “GO AWAY!” written in Common.

Alarm. An alarm spell silently warns Ezzat if any other creature opens the door.

A detect magic spell reveals a powerful aura of abjuration magic around each sapphire. Close examination reveals the image of a tiny black spider etched into each one. Two drow Vampire are trapped in the gemstones and are magically released the first time a creature other than Ezzat opens the door or pries either gemstone out. Each vampire initially appears as a cloud of mist, then spends its first turn in combat reverting to its true form. The vampires' names are Sabatene Xilzzrin and Tebran Madannith. Their houses were destroyed long ago. They have spent the last fifty years imprisoned by Ezzat, thirsting for blood.

Neither Sabatene nor Tebran can enter the stalagmite without Ezzat’s invitation, since the tower is his residence. Far removed from their resting places, they have nowhere to go if their physical forms are destroyed. A drow vampire reduced to 72 hit points or fewer attempts to flee rather than risk destruction. Although they have common enemies and similar needs, the two vampires are allies only by circumstance and care nothing for each other.

Treasure

The black sapphires (500 gp each) can be pried out of the door with a dagger or similar tool.

Foyer

A wooden coat rack stands in the north corner of this otherwise empty room.

16. Animated Staff

Light. Wax candles in stone holders light the room.

Furnishings. In the middle of the room, a wooden chair faces a small wooden table upon which rests a game board topped with painted figurines.

Staff. Floating next to the table is a 5-foot-long staff made of chiseled ice.

Ezzat animated a staff of frost and imbued it with sentience. Because of the alterations made to it, the staff is a creature and no longer usable as a magic item.

The animated staff is a Medium construct with AC 17, 40 hit points, resistance to cold damage, immunity to poison damage, a flying speed of 30 feet, and the ability to hover. It has blindsight out to a range of 60 feet and is blind beyond this radius. The staff’s alignment is neutral evil. It can speak and understand Common. It has the following ability scores: Strength 12, Dexterity 12, Constitution 10, Intelligence 18, Wisdom 14, Charisma 10. Reducing the staff to 0 hit points destroys it.

The staff is friendly toward Ezzat and Ipses (the lich’s pseudodragon), and hostile toward all other creatures. It has no concern for its own well-being and fights without mercy. Ezzat calls off the staff if its destruction seems likely, or if he has cause to parley with intruders.

The staff can use its action to make a melee weapon attack against a creature within 5 feet of it: +5 to hit; 7 (2d6) bludgeoning damage plus 1 cold damage on a hit.

The staff has 10 charges. As an action, it can expend 1 or more of its charges to cast one of the following spells (save DC 12): cone of cold (5 charges), fog cloud (1 charge), ice storm (4 charges), or wall of ice (4 charges). It regains 1d6 + 4 expended charges daily at dawn. If the staff expends its last charge, roll a d20. On a 1, the staff turns to water and is destroyed.

A creature can grab the staff out of the air with a successful grapple check against the staff, and grappling the staff does not reduce the creature’s speed. Any creature that successfully grapples the staff must succeed on a DC 12 Charisma saving throw or be charmed by the staff until the staff is no longer in its grasp. While the creature is charmed, the staff can issue commands to it, which the creature does its best to obey. The creature can repeat the saving throw each time it takes damage, ending the effect on itself on a success. A creature that successfully resists the staff’s control can’t be charmed by it for 24 hours.

A creature holding the staff that isn’t charmed by it can use an action to attempt to break the staff over a knee or against a solid surface, doing so with a successful DC 17 Strength (Athletics) check. Breaking the staff in this manner destroys it.

Treasure

The game on the table is called Coroniir, more commonly known as crowns. A game of strategy like chess, it enables two players to reenact a battle of the Crown Wars between two elven coronals. The set features a varnished oak game board and painted wooden figurines, weighs 5 pounds, and is worth 250 gp intact. The game board doubles as a carrying case for the figurines.

The position of the figurines on the board suggests that a game is in progress. The staff is waiting for Ezzat to return so that they can finish their game, which the lich is presently four moves away from winning. The staff moves its own pieces.

17. Lich’s Study

Ezzat the lich spends much of his time in this dusty, cobweb-filled room, poring over books that claim to shed light on Halaster’s mastery of Undermountain. The lich’s neutral evil pseudodragon companion, Ipses, stays close to its master.

Light. Dozens of wax candles light the room, perched atop candle holders or affixed to skulls, petrified rats, and other miscellaneous objects.

Books. The room is cluttered with stacks of books, most of them caked with dust (see “area Books” below).

Desk and Chair. A path between the books leads from the door to an old desk and chair by the east wall.

Stairs. A spiral staircase climbs to area area 18.

If the characters discover the lich here, see the “Roleplaying Ezzat” sidebar for guidelines on determining his reaction. The characters gain no XP for defeating Ezzat unless they also destroy the lich’s phylactery (located in area area 23).

Ezzat has the forcecage spell prepared instead of plane shift, and he wears an amulet of proof against detection and location that conceals him from divination magic and scrying sensors.

Ezzat’s pseudodragon is selfish and doesn’t like sharing its master with strangers. The lich lets the pseudodragon out of the tower once a day so that it can catch food and scour the cavern floor for Runestone fragments (see “area Capturing Ipses").

Ezzat enjoys the pseudodragon’s company but does not need its assistance in battle. If a fight breaks out, Ipses settles atop the lintel of the nearest door and tries to stay out of harm’s way. It has little cause to fear for the destruction of its master as long as Ezzat’s phylactery remains secure in area area 23. Ipses won’t willingly betray Ezzat by divulging the phylactery’s location.

Roleplaying Ezzat

Ezzat was a mage who had an opportunity to become Halaster’s apprentice. A good-aligned human priest discouraged him from pursuing that evil path. After his priest friend died of old age and Ezzat became a lich to avoid a similar fate, he became obsessed with finding a way not only to destroy Halaster but to gain control over Undermountain.

Ezzat is a lich who speaks Common, Dwarvish, Draconic, Elvish, Sylvan, and Undercommon. He plans to destroy Halaster when he’s good and ready. Until then, he’d rather not be disturbed. If the characters ask for help in destroying Halaster, the lich shares what he knows about the Mad Mage but declines to aid them in any other way. Assume that Ezzat knows all the information about Halaster given in appendix A, including the Mad Mage’s lair actions and regional effects, but not his statistics.

If the characters appear intent on destroying Ezzat, the lich accuses them of being the unwitting tools of the Mad Mage. He uses all the magic at his disposal to get rid of them. See area areas 16 and area 17 for more information.

Books

Ezzat has amassed a large collection of books written by self-proclaimed experts on Undermountain. Most of the tomes are filled with information of questionable worth and accuracy. The lich has spent years separating truth from fiction, trying to learn how Halaster’s command of the dungeon has gone unchallenged and how Undermountain changes to serve its master’s whims.

Ezzat’s Journal

A book lies open on the desk, next to a quill and a jar of ink. This is Ezzat’s journal, a distillation of the lore found in his other books. Any character who reads the journal learns Undermountain’s history (see “area Dungeon History") as well as the ways in which the dungeon affects magic (see “Alterations to Magic”). Ezzat’s advanced understanding of this lore is what enabled him to create such potent magical defenses around his tower.

In later entries, Ezzat postulates that Jhesiyra Kestellharp, one of Halaster’s original seven apprentices, is the key to seizing control of Undermountain (see “area Jhesiyra Kestellharp"). The lich describes how Jhesiyra was imprisoned by her master, only to escape during the Spellplague. She then used a wish spell to imbue herself into the stones of Undermountain and hide from Halaster.

Ezzat believes that Jhesiyra can affect Undermountain in ways that even Halaster cannot, and the lich longs to find some means to contact her. In the journal’s final entry, he writes of wanting to use wish—a spell he does not yet know—to forge an alliance with Jhesiyra, defeat Halaster, and end the Mad Mage’s reign in Undermountain forever. (The lich doesn’t realize that Jhesiyra is beyond the reach of any mortal magic.)

Treasure

Ezzat wears an amulet of proof against detection and location and carries an ebony wand (25 gp) that he uses as an arcane focus.

18. Gnomes' Landing

Standing in an alcove at the top of the spiral staircase leading to this area is a 6-foot-tall stone statue depicting three smiling gnomes balanced precariously on each other’s shoulders.

19. Ezzat’s Scrying Mirror

Mounted on the south wall 6 inches above the floor is a 3-foot-wide, 9-foot-tall rectangular mirror with a stone frame. Carved into the top of the frame is a human-sized eyeball.

Ezzat uses the mirror as a focus for his scrying spell. Whenever this mirror is used to scry Halaster, the spell appears to succeed automatically but shows a false image of Halaster sweeping a dungeon floor with a broom. The image pauses every few minutes to wave at the viewer, do a little dance, or strum the broom as if it were a guitar. Ezzat understands that this scene is one of Halaster’s magical tricks, and he does not bother trying to scry the Mad Mage from here.

20. Laboratory

Table. A stone table cluttered with decrepit alchemical apparatus and dirty bottles of reagents stands at the center of the room. Among the clutter on the table is a small clay bowl containing crystal pebbles (see “area Runestone Fragments").

Cabinet. A narrow cabinet with glass doors stands in the northwest corner.

Stairs. A stone staircase with no railing hugs the outer wall and climbs to area area 21.

The bowl contains six crystal pebbles, each one a Runestone fragment that has been collected by Ipses the pseudodragon (see area area 14). Bringing a fragment to Jalester Silvermane in Waterdeep completes a quest (see “area Retrieve a Runestone Fragment").

Treasure

Sitting on the top shelf of the cabinet are two Potion of Resistance (force and lightning). The other shelves are strewn with spell components, including two forked mithral rods (250 gp each). These are material components for the plane shift spell, attuned to the Astral Plane and the Shadowfell, respectively. They serve little use in Undermountain, given the dungeon’s restrictions on such magic.

21. Lit Landing

A small crystal embedded in the ceiling flickers with the light of a candle flame. If the crystal is pried from its cavity, it goes dark. This room is otherwise empty.

22. Rooms of Magic

Ezzat summons and speaks to planar beings in area area 22a, and keeps his spellbook in area area 22b.

22a. Magic Circle

Circle. A circle of runes is inscribed on the floor.

Door Symbol. The door to area area 22b has a large symbol chiseled into it. (The symbol is Ezzat’s personal sigil, which appears nowhere else in the tower. It is purely decorative.)

A character who examines the circle and succeeds on a DC 13 Intelligence (Arcana) check can determine that it confers the same benefit as a magic circle spell that affects celestials, elementals, fey, and fiends all at once. The circle is permanent, but defacing any part of its inscribed length renders it nonmagical.

22b. Ezzat’s Spellbook

Statue. A shallow alcove holds a 6-foot-tall painted statue of Ezzat as he appeared in life. A leather-bound tome (Ezzat’s spellbook) is clutched to the statue’s chest.

Secret Door. Hidden in the ceiling is a secret door leading to area area 23 (see “Stone Plug” below).

The statue projects an antipathy effect like that created by an antipathy/sympathy spell (save DC 20) while the spellbook is in its grasp. The spell affects all creatures except Ezzat and is inactive whenever the spellbook is removed from the statue.

No spells or other magical effects can move or damage the statue, which is a Medium object with AC 17, 33 hit points, and immunity to poison and psychic damage. If the statue is destroyed, it turns to dust. A delayed blast fireball spell (save DC 20) then immediately detonates in its space.

Stone Plug

The secret door in the ceiling is an airtight, circular stone plug 8 feet in diameter. A character who examines the ceiling closely can spot the circular seam in the rock with a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check.

The stone plug, which weighs 1,000 pounds, has its rim beveled to keep the plug from falling through the hole. It can be pushed upward with a telekinesis spell or similar magic, or obliterated entirely with a disintegrate spell. Characters who have a combined Strength of 34 or higher can push the plug out of the hole, provided they have something firm to stand on.

Treasure

Ezzat’s spellbook weighs 13 pounds and contains all the spells the lich has prepared, plus the following: alarm, arcane lock, burning hands, charm person, clairvoyance, comprehend languages, cone of cold, delayed blast fireball, Evard’s black tentacles, fear, feeblemind, flesh to stone, geas, hold person, ice storm, imprisonment, knock, levitate, magic mouth, maze, meteor swarm, mislead, plane shift, prismatic wall, remove curse, telekinesis, true polymorph, unseen servant, wall of force, and web.

23. Ezzat’s Phylactery

Lich Cave. This room is carved to look like a natural cave with a 20-foot-high, domed roof. Hundreds of pebble-sized crystals (fragments of the Runestone) line the walls, flickering like tiny stars as they catch the light.

Demon. A marilith demon slithers about the room.

Phylactery. Lying in the middle of the floor is a small ornate metal box (Ezzat’s phylactery).

Ezzat recently summoned the marilith to guard his phylactery. A geas spell cast on it by the lich requires the demon to protect the phylactery against theft or destruction. The marilith takes out its frustration at being stuck here by attacking intruders. If a character snatches the phylactery and flees, the marilith tries to pursue so as to avoid taking psychic damage from Ezzat’s geas spell. The stone plug in the floor is too heavy for the marilith to lift.

A detect magic spell reveals an aura of transmutation magic radiating from the walls, which have more than six hundred Runestone fragments embedded in them. Each fragment extends the duration of the geas spell affecting the marilith by 30 days. The Runestone fragments disappear if the spell ends, their magic spent. The Runestone fragments can’t be pried from the walls, since the same magic that protects the stalagmite tower from damage prevents their removal.

Phylactery

Ezzat’s phylactery is a box 6 inches long, 3 inches wide, and 4 inches tall that weighs 2 pounds. It is made of adamantine with gold trim, and its interior is inscribed with tiny silver runes. A detect magic spell reveals a powerful aura of necromancy magic around it. Any character who examines the box and succeeds on a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check recognizes it as a lich’s phylactery. (For more information on lich phylacteries, see the “Lich” entry in the Monster Manual.)

Destroying Ezzat’s phylactery requires that it be struck by eight disintegrate spells at the same time. A legend lore spell cast on the box provides the following insight: “Seek out eight magi who possess the power of disintegration and bring them to common purpose. Their combined force can destroy the phylactery.” Other reliable divination spells provide similar advice.

Aftermath

If the characters destroy Ezzat and give his phylactery to one of the genies on level 19 (or remove it from the dungeon themselves), the lich is effectively kicked out of Undermountain. This outcome pleases Halaster, who allows a promising apprentice to take over the stalagmite tower. Drivvin Freth, the drow archmage encountered on level 12, is a good choice. If Drivvin is unavailable, Halaster invites some other evil archmage to take up residence in the tower.

Halaster uses a magic scrying sensor (see “area Halaster’s Lair") to check on Haungharassk, his prized giant snail, once a day. If he discovers that the snail has been killed or stolen, the Mad Mage uses the Runestone to scream epithets that echo throughout the caverns.

If the characters destroy the Runestone, Halaster sets out to destroy all the gargoyles and Stonecloaks on this level for failing him. He then begins luring and binding demons to the Runestone Caverns—nalfeshnees, glabrezus, hezrous, and vrocks, for a start. Eventually, he might get around to trapping a demon lord here as well.