Level 9: Dweomercore

Dweomercore is an academy of magic designed to test, trap, and confound its students. The level is designed for four 10th-level characters, and characters who defeat its monsters and villains should gain enough XP to reach 11th level.

What Dwells Here?

An arcanaloth and a night hag preside over this level. Evil mages in search of arcane knowledge or Halaster’s tutelage come here with their followers to train and be tested.

Arcanaloth Headmaster

An arcanaloth in league with the Mad Mage runs Dweomercore’s academy of evil mages. The arcanaloth keeps its true name secret and uses alter self spells to appear as Halaster.

The arcanaloth employs nycaloths and mezzoloths as guards, and it trades safe passage through Dweomercore for magic items or for assistance in dealing with an escaped devil (see “area Bone Devil"). It also tries to tempt adventurers who are arcane spellcasters into joining its academy—with free tuition!

Wormriddle the Night Hag

Wormriddle is a night hag who has four flesh golems at her command. She strikes foul bargains, offering spells and secrets of magic in exchange for evil acts that allow her to claim souls.

The night hag wears a mummified kitten’s head around her neck as a talisman, though it has no magical properties. It testifies to her fear of cats, for Wormriddle is frightened while there’s a feline creature within 30 feet of her that she can see or hear. The night hag also carries a lustrous black gem and a large black sack—her heartstone and her soul bag, respectively (see the “Hags” entry in the Monster Manual).

Evil Students

Dweomercore’s students are described below. Encounters with them can occur anywhere at any time, though they appear most often in their favorite haunts.

Spite Harrowdale

Dweomercore’s most apt pupil, Spite Harrowdale, is a centuries-old wizard (NE male Rashemi human archmage who speaks Common, Dwarvish, Elvish, and Giant). He appears to be a 12-year-old boy, thanks to imbibing Potion of Longevity. Spite hides the true measure of his magical talent by pretending to know only cantrips and 1st-level spells. This ruse has fooled the other students and most of his instructors, but not the arcanaloth, who is keeping a watchful eye on the wizard. Spite is the only student so far who has discerned that the headmaster is not in fact Halaster, but an arcanaloth disguised as him.

Spite has an oni companion that assumes the form of a female half-ogre named Dumara. The oni’s real name is Kumar, and it has been in Spite’s company most of its life. It treats Spite like an older brother, and it’s the only being in whom Spite confides.

Spite wants to get his hands on a spellbook hidden in Halaster’s private sanctuary (area area 45b), and he’ll use any kind of distraction to get it. Spite cuts a deal with the adventurers: if they distract the arcanaloth and the night hag long enough for him to steal the spellbook, Spite will show them the stairs leading down to level 10 (see area area 44). He will also tell them an Undermountain secret, determined by drawing a random card from the Secrets Deck (see appendix C). Spite upholds his end of the deal only as long as it’s to his benefit, and he tries to pin the theft of the spellbook on the adventurers once they’re gone.

If the characters turn down Spite’s deal, he teams up with Nylas Jowd and Skrianna Shadowdusk (see below) to destroy them.

Cephalossk the Mind Flayer

Cephalossk is a solitary mind flayer arcanist (see the sidebar in the “Mind Flayer” entry in the Monster Manual). It is a pariah among its own kind, has no allies at the academy, and isn’t looking for friendship from anyone. It shadows adventurers and casts detect thoughts spells on them to glean their true intentions.

The mind flayer considers itself intellectually superior to everyone else, and it loathes Spite Harrowdale for being Halaster’s favored pupil. Cephalossk tries to convince the characters to distract and kill Dumara (Spite’s oni bodyguard) while it devours Spite’s brain. In exchange for their help, Cephalossk promises to tell them “three secrets that every Undermountain explorer should know.” Once it has fed on Spite’s brain, Cephalossk makes good on its promise and telepathically shares the following information with the characters:

• A mind flayer colony has taken over a level of Undermountain known as Seadeeps. (Cephalossk knows this because it has been in telepathic contact with the ulitharid on level 17.)
• Githyanki have invaded Undermountain and are trying to exterminate the mind flayer colony in Seadeeps.
• Halaster has commandeered a vessel that can travel between worlds through space and hidden it somewhere in Undermountain (see level 19).

If the characters refuse to assist Cephalossk, the mind flayer attacks them.

Pneumatic Tubes

Dweomercore has a system of copper tubes, through which cylindrical copper canisters are propelled by air pressure. Each tube is 3 inches in diameter, and each canister is 9 inches long and just shy of 3 inches wide, with a screw-on copper lid. The tubes are labeled with their destinations.

Many of the level’s inhabitants use these tubes to send scrolls, assignments, and missives to one another. Any object or creature able to fit in a tube (including characters in gaseous form) can be transported from one end to the other in a matter of seconds. If timing becomes important, assume that whatever a creature inserts into a tube on its turn arrives at the destination at the start of that creature’s next turn.

Nylas Jowd

Nylas Jowd (NE male Thayan human mage with animate dead prepared instead of fly) wanders the halls of Dweomercore with a pair of invisible will-o'-wisps that obey his commands. Nylas journeyed from Thay to study under Halaster and learn the deeper secrets of necromancy, and he has all the hallmarks of a Red Wizard of Thay—namely, the red robes, the bald head, and the evil bent. He treats others as soon-to-be corpses and is more interested in their anatomy than what they say or do.

Nylas wants to turn the Horned Sisters (see below) into zombies because they have acted cruelly toward him. He asks the characters to kill them so he can raise their corpses with animate dead spells. If the characters refuse, Nylas and his will-o'-wisps attack them.

Skrianna Shadowdusk

Skrianna Shadowdusk (CE female Illuskan human mage) recently enrolled in Dweomercore at Halaster’s urging. She is one of the Shadowdusk family (see level 22) and is spoiling for a challenge. Rude, stuck-up, and privileged, Skrianna shows utter disdain for “common rabble” and takes sadistic pleasure in abusing and manipulating others with her magic. She is accompanied at all times by her shield guardian bodyguard (she wears its amulet), as well as a grell valet that carries her spellbook (which contains all the spells she has prepared).

Skrianna doesn’t trust new arrivals and attacks them at the slightest provocation, trusting that her bodyguard and her valet will protect her if a fight breaks out.

The Horned Sisters

Two tiefling sisters named Turbulence and Violence sought to join the Arcane Brotherhood of Luskan but were turned down. They served aboard pirate ships for a few years before ending up in Skullport, where they heard rumors of a secret academy for magic-users deep inside Undermountain. They fought tooth and nail to reach Dweomercore, but the place hasn’t lived up to the hype. They have no friends at the academy, and they’re unhappy with the quality of the instruction they’ve received. Now they want to leave, but the headmaster has instructed them to remain while giving them assurances that things will change for the better. Wormriddle the night hag has been keeping an eye on the sisters, who take advantage of any distraction to flee back to Skullport. They will attempt to enlist the characters to cause such a distraction.

The sisters are tiefling Mage, with these changes:

• The sisters are lawful evil.
• Each sister has these racial traits: She has resistance to fire damage. She has darkvision out to a range of 60 feet. She speaks Common, Draconic, Infernal, and Undercommon.
• Each sister carries a spellbook that contains all the spells she has prepared.

Elan Tanor’thal

Elan is a drow mage from a house that ran a lucrative slave trade operation in Skullport until it was driven out by the Xanathar Guild. He hopes to learn enough magic to one day conquer Skullport for his family. Like most drow, he is predictably treacherous. His silken words are pleasant enough, but any alliance forged with him is doomed to end badly—and most likely in bloodshed.

Elan extends the false hand of friendship to new arrivals while warning them to steer clear of the other students and the headmaster. “They’re all insane,” he says. He likes to hang around where the action is, so he can quietly observe where the characters keep their magic items and spellbooks (which he fully intends on claiming once they’re dead).

Bone Devil

A bone devil was accidentally summoned in the southern wing by Yarek, an overzealous student. After killing its summoner, the devil discovered to its dismay that the magic wards of Dweomercore prevent it from escaping area area 47. The arcanaloth offers adventurers safe passage through Dweomercore if they defeat the devil and send it back to the Nine Hells.

Exploring This Level

Location descriptions for this level are keyed to map 9. There are few light sources here; creatures that reside in Dweomercore rely on darkvision or create their own illumination with magic.

1. Entry Hall

These rooms form the entrance to what was once a lavish underground mansion.

1a. Left Hand of Manshoon

Alarm. An alarm spell has been cast on the 20-foot-square area marked on map 9. It silently informs the headmaster in area 15 when visitors arrive.

Ceiling Mosaics. This room has a 30-foot-high arched ceiling. Bright mosaics on the arched roof depict wizards engaged in dazzling spell duels.

Undead Guardian. Floating in the middle of the room, 15 feet above the floor, is a man’s withered left hand and forearm, severed at the elbow.

Responding to the alarm spell, the arcanaloth makes its way toward area 1 to greet the new arrivals (see the “area Meeting the Headmaster” sidebar).

The limb belonged to a human archmage named Manshoon—or, more precisely, to one of his clones. The clone challenged Halaster to a spell duel and lost more than just the contest. Halaster turned the limb into a guardian that attacks all intruders until the Mad Mage or a creature that looks like him waves it off. The limb has the statistics of an archmage, with these changes:

• It is a Tiny, unaligned undead with 63 (18d4 + 18) hit points and blight prepared instead of banishment.
• It has a flying speed of 30 feet, and it can hover.
• It has blindsight out to a range of 60 feet and is blind beyond this radius. It can’t speak or hear, and it can’t be blinded or deafened.

1b. Waiting Room

This room contains six stuffed armchairs with garish upholstery.

1c. Coat Room

The walls of this room are lined with rows of bare metal hooks.

1d. Water Closet

This room is equipped with stone sinks and toilets, each with a command word carved above it. The sink basins and toilet bowls magically fill and flush with water on command, and drain holes on their inside rims keep them from overflowing. Two Living Unseen Servant (see appendix A) stand near towel racks, ready to hand out towels to guests.

Meeting the Headmaster

Characters who trigger the alarm spell in area 1 are met by the headmaster, who otherwise dwells in area area 15. When in the company of visitors, the erudite arcanaloth tries to remain civil even while impersonating the Mad Mage. It describes the academy in glowing terms and sings the praises of its excellent students and their devotion to arcane magic. It claims to have a vested interest in all that happens inside Undermountain and bears no ill will toward adventurers who provide “a much needed sanitary service” by ridding the dungeon of pesky monsters. If the characters are just passing through on their way to the lower levels, the headmaster offers to take them to the top of the stairs leading down to level 10. For safe passage through Dweomercore, it requires one of the following:

• A payment of one magic item per party member

• Slaying the bone devil in area area 47

If the characters choose to deal with the bone devil rather than give up their magic items, the headmaster leads them south through area areas 2, area 3, area 6, area 38, area 39, and area 46. It waits for them in area area 46b while they slay the devil in area area 47, then escorts them to the top of the stairs leading down to level 10 as promised. After watching them disappear down the stairs, the arcanaloth returns to area area 15.

Visitors who decline the headmaster’s offer are politely asked to return whence they came and never show their faces in Dweomercore again. Those who refuse to leave are attacked.

Any character who claims to be an arcane spellcaster in search of tutelage is invited to stay in Dweomercore and take the entrance exam. If the character accepts the offer, the headmaster uses a teleport spell to transport itself and the candidate to area area 11c, where it suggests the character remain until the entrance exam can be scheduled. (If the party includes multiple candidates, the arcanaloth keeps them together.) In truth, the arcanaloth expects the candidate to ignore its suggestion and explore the complex further. The entrance exam is actually about how the candidate deals with the other students. Any candidate who can hold their own against the other students is granted admittance, having passed the headmaster’s “exam” in so doing.

A character admitted to Dweomercore is free to wander the halls and talk to other students, until such time as that character gets into trouble and is expelled or murdered.

2. Trapped Hall

The recessed wall of this corridor has engravings of eight wizards clutching staffs, each staff representing a different school of magic. This hall also has two hidden features:

• When a creature enters the trapped 10-foot-square space marked on map 9 for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there, the medusa statue in area area 3 animates and shoots a magic arrow at the creature. (If the headmaster is accompanying characters through this hall, the arcanaloth uses a mage hand cantrip to press the button and deactivate the trap.)
• A stone button is concealed in the north wall, disguised to look like a section of the staff that represents conjuration. A character who searches the wall spots the button with a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check. Pressing the button results in a loud clicking noise as the arrow trap deactivates for 1 minute.

3. Medusa Junction

The walls of this room rise vertically 10 feet, then angle inward to a 20-foot-high apex. In the middle of the room, standing atop a 1-foot-high cylindrical block of stone, is a statue of a scowling medusa with a longbow and an empty quiver. The statue gazes north.

When a creature sets off the trap in area area 2, a poisoned arrow materializes in the medusa’s grasp as the statue animates. It immediately draws back on the bow and shoots the arrow at the creature that triggered the trap (+6 to hit), dealing 6 (1d8 + 2) piercing damage plus 14 (4d6) poison damage on a hit.

The medusa statue is a Medium object with AC 15, 50 hit points, and immunity to all damage except force damage. It weighs 1,200 pounds. A creature can use an action to try to knock the statue off its base, doing so with a successful DC 18 Strength (Athletics) check. If it is toppled, the statue does not animate until returned to its former position. (If Wormriddle learns about the toppled statue, she and her flesh golems set it right before seeking to punish those responsible.)

4. Fresh Water Fountain

Fountain. Fresh water from a natural spring pours out of the mouth of a bas-relief carved to look like Halaster’s overjoyed visage, whereupon it spills into a semicircular stone basin enclosed by a 2-foot-high retaining wall before draining out through tiny holes.

Guards}. Flanking the fountain are two {@creature Mezzoloth||mezzoloths.

Braziers. Two unlit stone braziers shaped like clawed hands rise from the floor at the south end of the room.

The mezzoloths ensure that no one tampers with the academy’s water supply or destroys the fountain. They otherwise pay visitors no mind.

5. Portrait of a Mad Mage

This room is empty except for an enormous red velvet curtain that covers the north wall. A pull-rope on one side of the curtain allows it to be drawn back. Behind the curtain hangs a large abstract painting that depicts Halaster surrounded by fields of bloody mouths and people feasting on each other. Worked into the background are various other bizarre figures from beyond the Material Plane. Halaster’s face is chillingly calm despite the violent chaos around him, and his piercing gaze seems to follow anyone who views the portrait.

Any creature that beholds the painting must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or suffer a random form of long-term madness, determined by rolling on the Long-Term Madness table in chapter 8 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide. On a failed save, a creature can be affected by the painting again, but not until its current madness ends.

6. Reading Niche

Desks. In the middle of the room stands a row of desks. Seated behind one of the desks is Spite Harrowdale (NE male Rashemi human archmage who speaks Abyssal, Common, Dwarvish, Elvish, Giant, and Primordial). His oni bodyguard, disguised as a half-ogre named Dumara, stands beside him.

Bookshelves. Tall bookshelves packed with soft-covered notebooks line the northeast and southwest walls. The books are organized by topic.

Pneumatic Tubes. A row of ten pneumatic tubes is fastened to the back wall. Beneath the tubes is a shelf of empty copper canisters.

Spite is holding a wand with a light cantrip cast on the end of it and reading a bone-dry biography of Ahghairon, the archwizard who founded Waterdeep. If the characters are being led through Dweomercore by the headmaster, Spite smiles at them as they pass by. Once they’re gone, he and the oni cast invisibility on themselves and follow the characters, curious to learn their intentions in Dweomercore. Spite and Dumara confront the characters as soon as they can do so privately (see “area Evil Students").

The notebooks stored here are small and thin enough that they can be curled up and stuffed in pneumatic tube canisters. The books cover subjects of interest to wizards, including spell component harvesting, ruminations on the Weave, biographies of famous wizards and liches, tips for creating realistic illusions, and essays written by previous students on a wide range of arcane topics. Any book in this collection that is removed from Dweomercore magically disappears and reappears back on its proper shelf.

Pneumatic Tubes

The tubes connect to the students' dormitories (area areas 8 and area 11). From left to right, the tubes are labeled “Turbulence” (area area 8a), “Violence” (area area 8b), “Karstis” (area area 8c), “Yarek” (area area 8d), “Spite” (area area 11a), “Skrianna” (area area 11b), “Vacant” (area area 11c), “Cephalossk” (area area 11d), “Elan” (area area 11e), and “Nylas” (area area 11f).

7. Workroom

The door to this room is slightly ajar. Peering out from within is Cephalossk, the mind flayer arcanist. It has been too long since the mind flayer has fed on a fresh brain, but it’s willing to forgo attacking the characters if they promise to help it feed on Spite’s mind instead (see “area Cephalossk the Mind Flayer").

This workroom is filled with tables, braziers, and an assortment of alchemical equipment.

8. Student Dormitories

Each room contains identical furnishings:

Pneumatic Tubes. A row of five pneumatic tubes is attached to one wall. These tubes are labeled with their destinations and connect to the reading niche (area area 6), the headmaster’s office (area area 15a), Wormriddle’s workshop (area area 23c), the kitchen (area area 27a), and the study hall (area area 39).

Bed and Footlocker. Against the far wall rests a plain bed and an iron-banded footlocker with a sturdy padlock that can be picked by using thieves' tools and making a successful DC 20 Dexterity check. (If a room is vacant, its key is in the lock; otherwise, a room’s key is in the possession of the room’s resident.)

Desk. A plain desk contains quill pens, jars of ink, blank scrolls, notes, notebooks, and 1d6 empty copper scroll canisters designed to fit inside the pneumatic tubes. Hanging on the wall above the desk is a framed portrait of Halaster. (The portraits in different rooms have different expressions.)

8a. Turbulence’s Room

A small hole has been bored through the east wall, enabling Turbulence to converse with her sister in area 8b while the two are in their quarters.

Treasure

Turbulence’s footlocker contains a set of traveler’s clothes and a pentacle-shaped bloodstone amulet (125 gp).

8b. Violence’s Room

A small hole has been bored through the west wall, enabling Violence to converse with her sister in area 8a while the two are in their quarters. Violence has drawn a large, sweeping black mustache on the portrait of Halaster above her desk.

Treasure

Violence’s footlocker contains a set of traveler’s clothes, a red leather pouch containing 75 gp, and a spellbook stolen from Yarek’s room (area 8d). The book contains these spells: cloud of daggers, conjure elemental, darkvision, fog cloud, grease, gust of wind, Leomund’s tiny hut, magic missile, Mordenkainen’s faithful hound, sending, stinking cloud, and unseen servant.

8c. Karstis’s Room

This room is set aside for a student named Karstis, whom characters might have encountered on level 8. If he fled Slitherswamp, Karstis is lying in his bed and reading his spellbook (assuming he still has it). The room is unoccupied otherwise.

8d. Yarek’s Room

Yarek was the student responsible for releasing the bone devil in area area 47. His room hasn’t been cleaned out since his demise.

After Yarek died, the Horned Sisters picked through his footlocker and took anything they considered valuable. They left behind a crystal wand (an arcane focus worth 10 gp), a set of fine clothes, and a small, autographed painting of a suave, dark-haired human wizard with a dove perched on his shoulder. The picture is inscribed, “Yarek—Have a magical day! Your friend, Jim.”

9. Refuse Pit

A trashy odor fills this room. A 30-foot-long, 10-foot-wide, 60-foot-deep pit in the middle of the floor is filled with refuse and failed experiments to a depth of 10 feet. The chemical mixture has spawned a toxic slime.

Any creature knocked into the pit falls 60 feet onto the soft pile of trash, taking 1d4 bludgeoning damage per 10 feet fallen. In addition, a creature that lands in the toxic slime takes 10 (3d6) poison damage at the start of each of its turns until the slime is washed off with water or alcohol. A character can determine how to clean off the slime with a successful DC 10 Intelligence (Nature) check.

10. Where’s Halaster?

This room is empty except for an enormous red velvet curtain that covers the northwest wall. A pull-rope on one side of the curtain allows it to be drawn back. Hanging on the wall behind the curtain are fifteen paintings, each one 5 feet long and 3 feet tall, arranged in three rows of five.

Each painting depicts a graduating class of dour-faced Dweomercore wizards. Most of the older paintings show the students as skeletons—signifying which graduating students have died. Careful examination reveals that Halaster appears in every class picture except the center portrait in the middle row. Removing that painting from the wall triggers an elder rune hidden behind it (see “area Elder Runes"). Determine the rune with a random draw from the Elder Runes Deck (see appendix B).

11. Student Dormitories

Each room contains identical furnishings:

Pneumatic Tubes. A row of five pneumatic tubes is attached to one wall. These tubes connect to the reading niche (area area 6), the headmaster’s office (area area 15a), Wormriddle’s workshop (area area 23c), the kitchen (area area 27a), and the study hall (area area 39).

Bed, Dresser, and Chest. Against the far wall rests a comfortable bed, a handsome dresser, and a claw-footed iron chest with an arcane lock spell cast on it (keyed to the student assigned to the room). A creature can force open the magically locked chest with a successful DC 25 Strength (Athletics) check.

Desk. A beautiful rolltop desk contains quill pens, jars of ink, blank scrolls, notes, notebooks, and 1d6 empty copper scroll canisters designed to fit inside the pneumatic tubes. Hanging on the wall above the desk is a framed portrait of Halaster. (The portraits in different rooms have different expressions.)

11a. Spite’s Room

Spite Harrowdale and his oni bodyguard share this room. Spite has taken the precaution of casting a glyph of warding spell on the door frame, set to trigger if anyone other than he or Dumara crosses the threshold. The glyph can’t be seen from outside the room. It erupts with magical energy that fills a 20-foot-radius sphere centered on it. Each creature in the area must make a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw, taking 45 (10d8) thunder damage on a failed saving throw, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Treasure

Spite keeps a tiny jeweled chest inside his rolltop desk. This chest (50 gp) is a replica of a full-sized chest made of exquisite materials. The larger chest (5,000 gp) is hidden on the Ethereal Plane by means of a Leomund’s secret chest spell.

A character can recognize the miniature chest for what it is with a successful DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check. Spite alone can use the replica to recall the larger chest, which contains two spellbooks titled Spells of Spite, volumes I and II. These books contain all the spells Spite has prepared, plus the following spells: arcane lock, Bigby’s hand, disintegrate, forcecage, gaseous form, glyph of warding, Leomund’s secret chest, maze, Melf’s acid arrow, Mordenkainen’s private sanctum, Otto’s irresistible dance, Tasha’s hideous laughter, telekinesis, Tenser’s floating disk, and true polymorph.

11b. Skrianna’s Room

Skrianna has filled her quarters with creature comforts, including silk bedsheets, soft furs from exotic beasts, a bowl of fresh fruit, a censer of burning incense, and a cushioned wicker reading chair.

Skrianna’s Diary

Skrianna keeps a diary in her desk. The book affords a rare glimpse into the insane mind of a Shadowdusk family member. In addition to expressing contempt for her peers in Dweomercore, Skrianna rails against the constraints placed on her by the headmaster. She also speaks of an imaginary lover named Acamar, who comes from the void beyond the sky, and talks about visits to the Far Realm in her dreams. She makes a passing reference to other family members, namely Zalthar and Dezmyr, who dwell in Shadowdusk Hold (see level 22) and plan to return to Waterdeep in force, aided by some kind of giant construct that Halaster is building in Arcturiadoom (level 14).

Treasure

Skrianna’s dresser contains ten sets of fine clothes and a set of traveler’s clothes. Her chest, which has a mirror attached to the inside of the lid, contains an intricately engraved wand of dark wood, a poisoner’s kit, and a vial of exquisite perfume (75 gp).

11c. Vacant Room

This room is unoccupied.

11d. Cephalossk’s Room

The rolltop desk in this room contains sixteen cloudy jars with preserved humanoid brains in them. The footlocker holds nine similar jars, all empty. Cephalossk hungers for fresh brains but subsists on preserved ones when no other food source is available.

Treasure

Cephalossk keeps its spellbook in a desk drawer. The book is made of thin copper plates held together with mithral wire. Each page bears embossed stanzas of braille-like writing called Qualith, which the mind flayer reads with its tentacles. A non-illithid must use a comprehend languages spell or similar magic to comprehend the writing. The book contains all the spells Cephalossk has prepared (see the sidebar in the “Mind Flayer” entry in the Monster Manual).

11e. Elan’s Room

Familiar. Elan’s familiar, a black spider with blood-red markings, clings to the wall above the door and telepathically alerts the drow mage if it detects intruders in the room.

Shrine. A small shrine dedicated to the demon queen Lolth rests atop a nightstand by the bed.

After being alerted to the arrival of visitors by his spider familiar, Elan spends 3 rounds traveling from area area 13a to his dormitory. Elan greets strangers in a friendly manner (see “area Elan Tanor’thal").

The shrine almost resembles a lantern, designed to be easily transportable. Contained inside is a black basalt statuette of Lolth in her drow form, strung with cobwebs. A detect magic spell reveals an aura of enchantment magic around the statuette. Any creature that touches the statuette must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or suffer a random form of short-term madness, determined by rolling on the Short-Term Madness table in chapter 8 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide. A creature that successfully saves against the madness effect can safely hold the statuette.

Treasure

Elan’s chest contains a set of black traveler’s clothes, a spider silk pouch containing 38 pp, and a black cloak with a cowl. Pinned to the cloak is an obsidian scarab engraved with the insignia of House Tanor’thal (25 gp).

11f. Nylas’s Room

A vile stench issues from an ogre zombie that stands against the wall opposite the door. Its orders are to defend Nylas while he is asleep in the room and to protect the Red Wizard’s spellbook (see “Treasure” below).

Treasure

Nylas hides his spellbook inside the ogre zombie’s rotting torso. Characters who have a passive Wisdom (Perception) score of 15 or higher and come within 5 feet of the zombie can see the spellbook wedged between its ribs. A character can use an action to try to snatch the spellbook while the zombie is animate with a successful DC 12 Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check. No check is needed to remove the book if the zombie is incapacitated or destroyed.

Nylas’s spellbook has covers carved from coffin wood, pages made of stitched humanoid flesh, and words written in the Red Wizard’s own blood. It contains all the spells Nylas has prepared (see the mage stat block), plus animate dead, blight, and contact other plane.

12. Communal Showers

This room contains five shower stalls with iron faucets and shower heads protruding from the walls. Water is channeled here from an underground reservoir and heated by magic, quickly filling the room with steam if the faucets are turned on.

13. Recreation Room

Students come here to relax and recuperate between lessons.

13a. Taproom

This room resembles a comfortable taproom in Waterdeep. The bar is stocked with bottles of fine liquor and casks of wine, and a wooden dartboard is mounted on the west wall with darts carved to look like stirges.

A drow mage named Elan Tanor’thal (see “area Elan Tanor’thal") is seated at a table strewn with parchment in the southwest corner, facing the north door. Elan recently acquired a spell scroll of legend lore from Wormriddle the night hag and is carefully copying the spell from the scroll to his spellbook. He greets intruders in a friendly manner and suggests they partake of the wine while he finishes his work. The scroll turns to dust once the work is complete.

Treasure

Elan’s black leather-covered spellbook contains all the spells he has prepared plus the following: confusion, counterspell, fabricate, feather fall, glyph of warding, magic weapon, seeming, and water breathing. If his attempt to copy Wormriddle’s spell scroll was successful, Elan’s book also contains legend lore.

13b. Arch Gate to Level 6

Arch. Embedded in the south wall is a stone arch bearing images of beholders, flumphs, and stirges (see “Arch Gate” below).

Guard. An invisible nycaloth stands against the south wall, protecting the arch gate. The nycaloth becomes visible when it attacks or casts a spell.

The nycaloth’s orders are to prevent anyone from using the arch gate to leave Dweomercore without the arcanaloth’s permission, and to haul any creature that enters the room by way of the gate to the headmaster’s office (area area 15a) for questioning. Given strict instructions not to kill anyone, the nycaloth knocks creatures unconscious instead of killing them, then drags them to the headmaster’s office.

Arch Gate

The arch is one of Halaster’s magic gates (see “area Gates"). Its rules are as follows:

• If a creature flies or levitates within 5 feet of the arch, the gate opens for 1 minute.
• Characters must be 9th 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 8b on level 6, in the closest unoccupied space next to the identical gate located there.

14. Detention Hall

There’s a 50 percent chance that a red-robed tiefling mage named Violence (see “area The Horned Sisters") is here, serving a detention for threatening a guest lecturer. The area contains the following:

Desk. A plain desk is situated against the west wall. If Violence is here, she’s seated in the chair, facing the wall, reading a scorched spellbook.

Door Plaque. The northeast door bears a bronze plaque that reads, “Headmaster’s Office—Knock Please.”

Violence isn’t permitted to leave this hall until the headmaster releases her, and she’s unwilling to sneak off and face greater punishment. If the characters approach her in a friendly manner, Violence tells them to leave before the headmaster returns, and recommends that they speak to Turbulence, her sister, who’s in the Spellcasting Hall (area area 17).

Treasure

Violence’s scorched spellbook contains all the spells she has prepared, plus the following: alter self, cloud of daggers, hypnotic pattern, and wall of fire.

15. Arcanaloth’s Sanctum

These private chambers belong to the arcanaloth headmaster posing as Halaster Blackcloak.

15a. Headmaster’s Office

If it has not already been encountered elsewhere, the arcanaloth headmaster is here in its Halaster disguise. The room has a 30-foot-high domed ceiling and the following features:

Statue. Opposite the door, a life-size statue of Halaster stands atop a 3-foot-high granite pedestal. Dozens of eyes are carved into the wizard’s robe, and he holds a stone staff topped with a flickering magical flame (created by a continual flame spell).

Desk. Resting before the statue is a tremendous oak desk, behind which stands a high-backed chair carved with screaming faces (see below).

Pneumatic Tubes. Fifteen copper pneumatic tubes span the northwest wall, with a shelf of empty copper canisters below them.

Secret Door. A secret door opens into area area 15b.

If present, the arcanaloth is writing individual assignments on scrolls and using the pneumatic tube system to deliver them to the academy’s students. The assignments involve reading books, completing experiments, and drafting essays on various arcane topics.

The headmaster’s chair has an antipathy/sympathy spell cast on it. Any creature not able to cast one or more spells of 7th level or higher is subject to the spell’s antipathy effect (save DC 17), overwhelmed by screams that seem to emanate from the chair.

Pneumatic Tubes

The tubes connect to various other locations in Dweomercore and in Muiral’s Gauntlet (level 10). From left to right, the tubes are labeled with their destinations: “Turbulence” (area area 8a), “Violence” (area area 8b), “Karstis” (area area 8c), “Yarek” (area area 8d), “Spite” (area area 11a), “Skrianna” (area area 11b), “Vacant” (area area 11c), “Cephalossk” (area area 11d), “Elan” (area area 11e), “Nylas” (area area 11f), “Wormriddle” (area area 23c), “Kitchen” (area area 27a), “Study Hall” (area area 39), “Guest Lecturer” (area area 42), and “Muiral” (area level 10, area 4b).

15b. Arcanaloth’s Lair

Bookshelves. Books are packed into stone shelves that circle the room to a height of 10 feet.

Symbol. Inscribed on the floor and covered with a circular rug sewn with repeating eye-like patterns is a nearly invisible, 10-foot-diameter glyph that serves as the trigger for a symbol spell.

Any creature that is not a fiend triggers the symbol spell when it steps on the circular rug or disturbs the rug in any way. Because the rug covers the spell’s triggering glyph, the characters have little chance of spotting the glyph unless they use a detect magic spell or magic that allows them to see through the rug.

When the glyph triggers, all creatures in this room and area 15a must make a DC 17 Constitution saving throw, taking 55 (10d10) necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Treasure

The arcanaloth is an avid reader and has collected countless books from across the multiverse. Most of the books cover mundane subjects such as etiquette, oratory, and poetry. Twenty of the books are treatises on the Outer Planes and chronicles of historical events on various Material Plane worlds, including Toril, Oerth, Athas, and others; these tomes are worth 100 gp each to an interested buyer. A character who spends 1 hour searching can find one of these rare tomes.

The arcanaloth keeps its spellbook here. The book has leather covers with dreadful images branded into them. The script in the book is invisible and can be read only by a creature who has truesight or by means of the see invisibility spell or similar magic. The book contains all the spells the arcanaloth has prepared, plus antimagic field, cloudkill, circle of death, delayed blast fireball, ice storm, legend lore, scrying, and symbol.

16. Magic Cauldron

Nylas Jowd. Nylas Jowd, the Thayan mage (see “area Nylas Jowd"), lurks in the eastern alcove with his invisible companions, two Will-o'-Wisp.

Pillars and Cauldron. Five stone pillars buttress the 20-foot-high ceiling of this hall. A cavity in the southernmost pillar contains a covered lead cauldron visible to anyone south of the pillar. A stained wooden spoon hangs from a hook above the cauldron.

Illusory Wall. An illusory wall hides area 18. A detect magic spell cast on the wall reveals an aura of illusion magic. The wall has no substance, and creatures and objects can pass right through it. The wall can be removed with a successful dispel magic spell (DC 14).

Nylas plans to ambush and kill Turbulence (see area area 17) when she enters the hall to drink from the cauldron. If the characters catch Nylas here, he tries to convince them to kill Turbulence for him and attacks them if they refuse. The will-o'-wisps gang up on the enemy nearest to Nylas, protecting their master.

Cauldron

A detect magic spell can’t penetrate the cauldron’s lead shell. It weighs 10 pounds and contains 1d10 doses of a transparent magic liquid that smells and tastes like vinegar. Any creature that drinks a dose of the liquid regains one expended spell slot of any level. If the cauldron is removed from its niche, the magic liquid contained therein turns to ordinary vinegar. The same thing occurs if the vinegar becomes mixed with any other substance. If the empty cauldron is left in the niche, it automatically fills with twelve doses of the magic liquid at the next dawn.

17. Spellcasting Hall

This room has a vaulted ceiling 30 feet high. It is lit by continual flame spells cast on stone wall sconces shaped like fiendish claws. The walls, floor, and ceiling are scorched and pitted from spell damage.

If the characters are visiting the room for the first time, a black-robed female tiefling mage named Turbulence (see “area The Horned Sisters") is engaged in a spell duel with three archmages, one of whom appears to be Halaster. Turbulence is losing badly and has only 3 hit points remaining. Before the archmages can finish her off, the tiefling shouts, “I surrender!” On their next turns, the archmages retreat into alcoves and become inanimate gray statues (see “Statues” below).

Turbulence tells the characters whatever they want to know about Dweomercore, with the intent of pitting them against Halaster. She mentions that the Mad Mage has a private sanctuary on this level (area area 45), hoping they’ll try to rob it and create a big enough distraction for her and her sister Violence to escape.

Statues

The room’s three statues are life-size carvings of robed human wizards. They are used for testing the spellcasting abilities of pupils. A detect magic spell reveals an aura of transmutation magic around each one:

East Statue. This statue depicts a young Shou woman whose face is half ruined by acid. She clutches an orb in one hand.

South Statue. This statue stands atop a stone dais and depicts Halaster Blackcloak in a robe covered with unblinking eyes. He clutches a staff.

West Statue. This statue depicts a long-haired woman armed with a gnarled wand. She looks out from behind a smooth, featureless mask.

The statues are indestructible in their inanimate state. When a creature moves between the west and east statues, all three become flesh and attack all other creatures in the room. Roll initiative for each statue separately. While animated, the statues are Archmage, with these changes:

• The statues are unaligned constructs that speak only when casting spells that have verbal components. They can’t leave the room.
• They have the ice storm spell prepared instead of banishment, and the finger of death spell prepared instead of teleport.
• If incapacitated or reduced to 0 hit points, a statue instantly teleports to its alcove, where it reverts to its inanimate form and regains all its hit points. It can’t reanimate again until all three archmages have reverted to statues.
• The statues return to their alcoves, revert to their inanimate forms, and regain all their hit points if, when their turn comes up, no other creatures remain in the room that aren’t incapacitated. This also happens if a creature in the room speaks the words “I surrender!” in any language.
• Any creature reduced to 0 hit points by an animated statue is stable and unconscious.

The first time the adventurers defeat a particular animated archmage statue, they receive XP for it as with any creature defeated in combat. Subsequent victories against that statue don’t provide more XP, however.

Treasure

Turbulence carries a soot-stained spellbook containing all the spells she has prepared, plus the following: alter self, cloud of daggers, hypnotic pattern, and wall of fire.

18. Illusory Walls

This 10-foot-high hallway is closed off to the west and east by illusory walls. A detect magic spell reveals that the walls are illusions without substance, and creatures and objects can pass right through them. An illusory wall can be removed with a successful dispel magic spell (DC 14).

19. Ghostly Adventurer

Apparition. At the east end of this hall, the faint apparition of a human adventurer appears to be painstakingly searching the walls for secret doors.

Walls. The walls bear mosaics that have been chipped away and damaged beyond recognition or repair. The wall to the west is illusory (see area area 18).

Trophy Case. Between the doors leading to area 20 stands an empty wooden trophy case.

The apparition is a regional effect created by the Mad Mage (see “area Halaster’s Lair"). It resembles a young human woman, dressed in well-worn adventurer’s clothes. It can’t be harmed, and it doesn’t acknowledge creatures or objects in any way.

20. Lecture Hall

This sloped lecture hall has a 15-foot-high ceiling and the following features:

Light. Stone sconces protruding from the walls have continual flame spells cast on them.

Benches. The northern half of the room contains raised stone benches for students.

Dais. To the south, a large chalkboard is mounted above a 5-foot-high stone dais. Drawn on the chalkboard are three frog-like bipeds with wide, toothy smiles. They are arranged in a triangular formation; the top one is drawn in red chalk, the bottom left in blue, and the bottom right in green.

Gurneys. Two stone gurneys are parked in the room. Strapped to one table is the corpse of a quaggoth, its chest burst open and entrails consumed. The other table, draped in a floor-length black sheet, has a slaad tadpole hidden under it (see “Slaad Tadpole” below).

Any character who studies the chalkboard drawings and succeeds on a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check recognizes them as a red, blue, and green slaad. Yellow chalk arrows point from the red slaad to the other two. Next to each slaad are words written in Abyssal. Any character who reads Abyssal can translate the words:

• “Parent” is written next to the red slaad.
• “Offspring of parent and host” is written next to the blue slaad.
• “Offspring if host is spellcaster” is written next to the green slaad.

Slaad Tadpole

Wormriddle the night hag prepared a special demonstration for students by implanting a captured quaggoth with a red slaad egg pellet. Unfortunately for her, the slaad tadpole has hatched sooner than expected. The night hag hasn’t checked on her subject recently and doesn’t know the tadpole is loose. The tadpole attacks the first humanoid that approaches within 5 feet of it. Left alone, the tadpole grows into a blue slaad after 1d12 hours. Characters who enroll in the academy might be tasked with eradicating it for Wormriddle.

21. Classrooms

These classrooms offer a more intimate learning environment than the lecture hall.

21a. North Classroom

Chalkboard. A blank chalkboard mounted on the west wall has a narrow stone shelf under it for catching chalk dust. Niches under the chalkboard hold brushes and sticks of colored chalk.

Desks. Facing the chalkboard are twelve desks, in three rows of four. Each desk has cast-iron legs, a sculpted copper seat, and a wooden writing surface gouged with graffiti in various languages.

Hooks. The back wall has a row of stone hooks for hanging cloaks.

21b. South Classroom

This room is identical to area 21a, except that someone has hastily scrawled the following words on the chalkboard in Common: “Wizards of Yore class canceled. Research Ahghairon circa 1071 DR. Expect a quiz!”

Any character who succeeds on a DC 20 Intelligence (History) check recalls that 1071 DR, the Year of Lion’s Roars, was the year in which the archmage Ahghairon, first Lord of Waterdeep, created magic wards to protect his city against marauding dragons.

22. Potion Brewery

Odor. This chamber reeks of chemical admixtures.

Furnishings. Arranged in the northern half of the room are a dozen fat stone cauldrons and cupboards full of ingredients in jars.

Stone Basin. The southern half of the room is taken up by a 20-foot-wide, 5-foot-deep, bowl-shaped stone basin enclosed by a 3-foot-high retaining wall. Filling the basin is a toxic brew containing two poison weirds (see “Toxic Brew” below).

The cauldrons are used by students for brewing potions. A valve at the base of each cauldron opens a natural gas vent underneath it, and a flint pedal ignites the gas to heat the cauldron.

The cupboards contain nearly five hundred jars of ingredients used to brew common and uncommon magic potions, as well as other alchemical concoctions. Each jar is labeled in Abyssal. The ingredients are inert and not particularly valuable on their own.

Toxic Brew

Failed potions are tossed into the stone basin, adding to the toxic brew within. Any creature that starts its turn immersed in the brew is poisoned until it leaves the liquid and washes itself off with water.

Two poison weirds lurk in the toxic brew and try to grapple creatures within reach and pull them into the basin. These creatures are Water Weird with a challenge rating of 4 (1,100 XP) and these changes:

• The weirds are invisible while fully immersed in the toxic brew. They die if forced to leave the basin or if a purify food and drink spell is cast on the toxic brew.
• A creature takes 10 (3d6) poison damage at the start of each of its turns while grappled by a poison weird.

23. Wormriddle’s Sanctum

These chambers are claimed by Wormriddle the night hag (see “area Wormriddle the Night Hag"). If she hasn’t already been encountered and defeated elsewhere, there’s a 50 percent chance she’s in area area 23b. Otherwise, she’s in area area 23c.

The hag’s plane shift spell doesn’t work in Undermountain, but she can use her heartstone to escape to the Ethereal Plane if outmatched. The flesh golems in area area 23c form Wormriddle’s first line of defense. If they’re defeated, the hag seeks out the headmaster, who directs the hag to round up the students and form a posse to hunt down and destroy the interlopers.

23a. Smoke-Filled Hall

This chamber is heavily obscured by smoke billowing out of two stone braziers. The night hag uses the smoke to deter students from entering her sanctum. The smoke blocks vision entirely, and creatures in the smoke are effectively blinded. Each brazier bowl contains dozens of tiny holes through which the smoke seeps. Liquid poured into a brazier drains away quickly and does nothing to stop the billowing smoke.

Wormriddle fashioned tight-fitting iron lids for the braziers and keeps them in area 23b. If both braziers are properly covered, the smoke in the room begins to dissipate, making the area lightly obscured after 1 minute and clear after 5 minutes.

23b. Wormriddle’s Den

If Wormriddle the night hag is here and has been alerted to the presence of intruders, she assumes the form of a young halfling girl named Medley. In this form, she wears a black witch’s hat and sweeps the floor with a small twig broom. The hag’s den has these features:

Bones. Cat bones cover the floor.

Iron Lids. Leaning against the north wall are a pair of 25-pound, circular iron lids (covers for the braziers in area area 23a).

Bed. Mummified cats hang from a decrepit four-poster bed near the south wall. (Tucked under a moldy pillow is a jar filled with the night hag’s dirty toenail clippings, which the hag uses to weave evil magic.)

Dolls. Behind the bed, mounted to the wall, is a shelf lined with eight dolls. A ninth doll has fallen off the shelf and onto the floor.

In her halfling form, Wormriddle claims to be one of Dweomercore’s most promising students and offers to take characters on a tour. If the characters accept, she leads them to area area 23c and orders her golems to attack. If the golems have already been defeated, the hag weeps over their loss and turns ethereal to escape the party, only to return once she rounds up the students and forms a posse. If the characters attack her here, the night hag turns ethereal and flees.

Doll Collection

The dolls are crudely fashioned in the likenesses of the students currently enrolled in Dweomercore. The eight on the shelf represent Spite, Cephalossk, Nylas, Skrianna, the Horned Sisters, Elan, and Karstis. The doll on the floor represents Yarek, the student recently killed by the bone devil in area area 48. Each doll incorporates bits of the student’s hair or some other sample from its body (foul-smelling slime in the case of Cephalossk the mind flayer).

Embedded in the stuffed chest of each doll is one of the night hag’s toenail clippings, signifying and enabling her secret power over the individual represented by the doll. A character who succeeds on a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check can ascertain that the way to rob this power is by replacing the hag’s nail clipping with a piece of the character’s own body. Doing so enables the character to use the effigy to visit harm upon the student it represents.

For a doll to function, both it and the creature it represents must be in Undermountain. A character who has placed a piece of themselves in a particular doll can use an action to mutilate the doll in one of the following ways to gain a desired result:

• If the doll’s eyes are pierced with pins or needles, the student it represents is blinded until the pins or needles are removed, or until a remove curse spell or similar magic is cast on that student.
• If the doll is stabbed through the back with a knife or similar sharp instrument, the student it represents is paralyzed until the instrument is removed, or until a remove curse spell or similar magic is cast on that student.
• If the doll is set on fire or torn apart, it is destroyed, and the student it represents must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw. On a successful save, the student is stunned for 1 minute. On a failed save, the student instantly drops to 0 hit points and is dying.

23c. Flesh Golem Workshop

If Wormriddle the night hag is here, she’s in her natural form, searching the room for a misplaced wooden coffer (see “Treasure” below).

Stench. The room smells like rotting meat.

Golems. Unless the characters already encountered and destroyed them elsewhere, four Flesh Golem lie under stained white sheets atop wooden trestle tables in the middle of the room.

Work Area. A fifth table surrounded by patches of dried blood is covered with saws, needles, spools of black thread, and bits of decaying flesh. Next to this table is a wooden barrel that holds humanoid body parts in various stages of decay.

Hanging Corpses. Four mostly intact human corpses are hanging from hooks mounted to the south wall. (A secret door hidden behind one hanging corpse pulls open to reveal a tunnel leading to area area 25.)

Pneumatic Tubes. Attached to the north wall is a row of thirteen copper pneumatic tubes. Empty copper canisters rest on a shelf under the tubes.

The golems serve Wormriddle. If one goes berserk in her presence, she tries to calm it. If the night hag isn’t present, the golems attack only if they’re damaged.

Pneumatic Tubes

These tubes connect to various other locations in Dweomercore. From left to right, the tubes are labeled with their destinations: “Turbulence” (area area 8a), “Violence” (area area 8b), “Karstis” (area area 8c), “Yarek” (area area 8d), “Spite” (area area 11a), “Skrianna” (area area 11b), “Vacant” (area area 11c), “Cephalossk” (area area 11d), “Elan” (area area 11e), “Nylas” (area area 11f), “Halaster” (area area 15a), “Kitchen” (area area 27a), and “Study Hall” (area area 39).

Treasure

Buried beneath the rotting body parts in the barrel is a wooden coffer with tiny air holes bored in its sides. The coffer contains an ordinary frog that spits out a gem of seeing the first time it’s picked up by a humanoid. The frog has no other special abilities but seems pleased to be free of the grisly barrel.

24. Halaster Says What?

Two inanimate, 9-foot-tall statues of the Mad Mage stand in the corners of a widened section of this 10-foot-high hallway. A creature that passes between the statues causes a sound to erupt from one statue or the other, or both. Roll a d8 and consult the Statue Sound Effects table to determine what occurs.

Each statue is a Large object with AC 15, 50 hit points, and immunity to poison and psychic damage. Destroying a statue doesn’t stop sound from issuing from its location until all its rubble is removed from the area.

Statue Sound Effects

25. School Supplies

Braziers. Roaring green flames erupt from a pair of 8-foot-tall stone braziers shaped like giant chalices. The flames keep this 20-foot-high room hot, dry, and lit. (The braziers are built over natural gas vents in the floor and never go out.)

Guards. Two Spectator float 15 feet above the floor.

Supplies. Carved into the north wall are stone shelves with blank spellbooks and stacks of parchment on them. Mounted between the shelves are copper signs embossed with the following words in Common: “Do not remove supplies without Headmaster Blackcloak’s written consent.”

Secret Door. A secret door opens into a dusty hall that leads to area area 23c.

The spectators guard the supplies on the shelves and use telepathy to warn intruders not to touch anything without presenting a written note from the headmaster. If such a note is presented, the spectators study it closely; they can recognize a forgery with a successful Wisdom (Perception) check contested by the forger’s Intelligence (Deception) check. If the spectators believe the note is genuine, they’ll permit the removal of one spellbook and up to ten sheets of parchment. They attack anyone caught trying to steal supplies.

Treasure

The shelves contain thirteen blank spellbooks and three hundred sheets of parchment. Each blank spellbook is worth 50 gp, and each sheet of parchment is worth 1 sp.

26. Bent Hallway

This 10-foot-high, 20-foot-wide hall is marred by an ancient excavation. At one point, drow sought to expand this level of the dungeon and set slaves to the task of hewing new passageways. The project was abandoned when Halaster and his apprentices pushed the drow out.

26a. Slamming Doors

The first time the characters reach the midpoint of this hall, they hear a double door slam shut, either to the northeast (30 percent chance) or the southwest (70 percent chance). The sound is a harmless illusory regional effect created by Halaster (see “area Halaster’s Lair").

26b. Rough-Hewn Tunnels

A cloaker recently infiltrated Dweomercore and has taken up residence here. When it detects intruders, it settles on the floor and assumes the guise of a dark, discarded cloak, hoping to catch its prey by surprise.

27. School Meals

The real Halaster has bound two barbed devils to these chambers and tasks them with preparing meals for Dweomercore’s students and faculty.

Characters who examine the outermost doors (each marked with an asterisk on the map) notice thin silver tracery and glyphs around the exterior door frames. A successful DC 20 Intelligence (Arcana) check reveals that the glyphs around each door prevent devils from passing through the doorway. Scratching away any of the glyphs breaks the magic on that door, enabling devils to pass through it normally.

27a. Kitchen

The kitchen is tidy and filled with spicy aromas and the smell of charred food. It contains all the furnishings and accoutrements of a typical kitchen, such as food preparation tables, cupboards stuffed with pots and pans, and racks of utensils. Its more noteworthy features are as follows:

Kitchen Staff. Two Barbed Devil prepare meals here and attack anyone they don’t recognize. Also present are three Living Unseen Servant (see appendix A) that deliver meals.

Stove. The kitchen’s centerpiece, a massive iron stove with a domed hood, is topped with bubbling cauldrons and sizzling skillets.

Pneumatic Tubes. Thirteen copper pneumatic tubes are fastened to one wall, with a shelf of empty copper canisters below them.

The devils perform their duties in a half-hearted manner, usually undercooking or overcooking the food. Despite their displeasure, they keep the kitchen clean and tidy, as befits their orderly nature. The living unseen servants have no function other than to deliver meals.

The stove is powered by magic from the Elemental Plane of Fire and puts out a lot of heat. Any creature that touches the stove or starts its turn in contact with it takes 5 (1d10) fire damage.

Pneumatic Tubes

These tubes connect to various other locations in Dweomercore and are used to receive food orders (though food is not sent through them). From left to right, the tubes are labeled with their destinations: “Turbulence” (area area 8a), “Violence” (area area 8b), “Karstis” (area area 8c), “Yarek” (area area 8d), “Spite” (area area 11a), “Skrianna” (area area 11b), “Vacant” (area area 11c), “Cephalossk” (area area 11d), “Elan” (area area 11e), “Nylas” (area area 11f), “Headmaster” (area area 15a), “Wormriddle” (area area 23c), and “Guest Lecturer” (area area 42).

27b. Scullery

This room is filled with sinks full of soapy water, shelves of dishes and cookware, and racks of damp towels. If she has not been encountered elsewhere, Violence the tiefling mage (see “area The Horned Sisters") is here, cleaning dishes as punishment for threatening a guest lecturer.

Violence isn’t permitted to leave until the headmaster releases her, and she’s unwilling to sneak off and face greater punishment. If the characters approach her in a friendly manner, Violence recommends that they speak to her sister, who is in the Spellcasting Hall (area area 17).

27c. Larder

This room contains crates, barrels, and sacks filled with staple foodstuffs.

28. More Halaster Statues

This area is identical to area area 24, with the added feature of an illusory wall to the west.

A detect magic spell cast on the western wall reveals that the wall gives off an aura of illusion magic. It has no substance, and creatures and objects can pass right through it. The illusory wall can be removed with a successful dispel magic spell (DC 14).

29. Old Books

Light. Lanterns anchored to the 15-foot-high ceiling by iron chains are spaced 20 feet apart and have continual flame spells cast on them.

Bookshelves. Carved into the walls are five-tiered bookshelves packed with old leather-bound tomes.

Illusory Frescoes. At the north end of the east wall is a 20-foot wide, 8-foot-tall painted fresco. A similar fresco adorns the middle of the west wall. These walls and their frescoes are illusions that conceal passages to area areas 28 and area 32. Hidden behind the illusory wall to the west are four altered helmed horrors (each marked with an H on map 9).

None of the books stored here are valuable, and many are so old that they fall apart if opened. Most are textbooks about the eight schools of arcane magic, penned by sages and scholars of yore, and they contain handwritten margin notes and graffiti from previous owners.

The fresco on the east wall depicts a wizard’s tower floating above a city being pulverized by meteor swarms. The fresco on the west wall depicts Halaster riding triumphantly on the back of a blue dracolich. The walls and their frescoes are illusions without substance. Creatures can pass right through them, and an illusory wall can be dispelled with a successful dispel magic spell (DC 14).

“Halaster Horrors”

Halaster crafted four metal constructs in his likeness, furnishing them with metal helms modeled after his visage, steel staffs, and robes made of articulated, overlapping metal plates. These “Halaster horrors” attack anyone not accompanied by the Mad Mage or by a creature that looks like him.

These constructs are Helmed Horror armed with metal staffs. They have immunity to cone of cold, disintegrate, and fireball spells. On its turn, a Halaster horror can use its action to make two attacks with its staff, which deals 8 (1d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage on a hit.

30. Dining Hall

Servants. Six Living Unseen Servant (see appendix A) stand invisibly about the room.

Dining Set. A 20-foot-long, 5-foot-wide stone table laid out with dinnerware has twelve tall wooden chairs around it.

Light. Suspended above the table are two lanterns with continual flame spells cast on them.

Tapestry. An old, threadbare tapestry spanning the north wall depicts seven wizardly figures standing in a row. (A passage leading to area area 31 is concealed by this tapestry.)

The unseen servants' job is to serve meals and tidy up afterward. They bring food from the bone devils in the kitchen (area area 27a) whenever someone sits down at the table. These servants do not attack and are worth 0 XP.

The figures portrayed on the tapestry are Halaster’s first seven apprentices: three robed women (Arcturia, Jhesiyra Kestellharp, and Marambra Nyghtsteel), three robed men (Nester, Rantantar, and Trobriand), and an armored male human (Muiral) in the middle. Each figure’s name is stitched into the tapestry below it. Any character who succeeds on a DC 20 Intelligence (History) check recognizes these figures as the Seven.

If it is set on fire, the burning tapestry produces toxic green smoke that coalesces into an efreeti and attacks all creatures in the room. The efreeti remains in the room thereafter, until set free by Halaster.

31. Halaster’s Secretary

A nothic is chained to the floor of this otherwise empty room. The nothic’s chain is short enough to prevent the creature from reaching the doors but long enough to let it attack anything that enters the room. The chain can be broken with a strike from a magic weapon or an adamantine weapon, or with a successful DC 25 Strength (Athletics) check.

Strapped to the nothic’s head is a crystal helmet-like contraption with leather straps, copper coils, and flashing glass diodes attached to it that emits buzzing noises. Halaster cast a geas spell on the nothic to prevent it from removing the helmet.

While the nothic wears its bizarre helmet, all sending spells that would normally be received by Halaster Blackcloak are instead received by the nothic (see “area Sending Spells"). Any other creature that dons the helmet becomes the new recipient of these messages. Halaster gets an average of one sending spell message per hour. Most of the messages are from desperate, deranged mages inquiring about apprenticeships. Vulgar taunts from adventurers are also common.

Treasure

If the word “xunderbrok” (Dwarvish for “secret trove”) is spoken aloud in this room, a small stone chest materializes on the floor in the northwest corner. The chest is unlocked and contains 750 gp and three Potion of Greater Healing. (See area level 6, area 39c, for the significance of the word “xunderbrok.")

32. Steel-Sheathed Hall

The walls of this 10-foot-high corridor are covered in 10-foot-square steel panels made from swords and shields melted together by magic. The vague outlines of these items are still visible in the shimmering steel.

33. Illusion Classroom

Powerful illusion magic has turned this unlit, 20-foot-high room into the courtyard of a Waterdavian villa lit by the warm midday sun. It has the following features:

Decor. White marble benches encircle a central fountain with a trident-wielding sahuagin statue as its centerpiece.

Flora and Fauna. Ivy creeps up the walls, and birds flutter about as they perch on the trickling fountain’s stony protrusions.

Tiefling. Standing next to the fountain is a male tiefling wizard with long horns and golden robes. (This figure, like its surroundings, is illusory.)

The tiefling introduces itself as Professor Figment and invites new arrivals to sit on the benches and make themselves comfortable. It then begins to tell lengthy stories about famous illusionists and their art, in a rather exhaustive and encyclopedic manner. A successful dispel magic spell (DC 17) cast on Professor Figment ends the illusion. The first creature that tries to dispel the illusion of Professor Figment and fails is targeted by a phantasmal killer spell (save DC 22) as the tiefling instructor briefly and vividly transforms into the target’s worst nightmare; then it calmly continues with “Now, where was I?”

The illusory objects and wildlife seem real to the senses. The illusion of the villa, the fountain, the sunlight, and the wildlife can be ended with a successful dispel magic spell (DC 19). The first time an attempt to dispel the illusion fails, all creatures in the room are targeted by a weird spell (save DC 22) as the surroundings transform to reflect each target’s worst nightmares.

34. Transmutation Classroom

Light. The 20-foot-high room is lit by continual flame spells cast on wall sconces spaced 15 feet apart. The flames shift color every minute.

Circle. Inscribed inside a 20-foot-diameter circle on the floor is a triangle. In the middle of the triangle stands a golden statue of a human boy, his arms raised in victory. (The statue is a wyvern transformed by magic.)

Iron Cage. A 10-foot-square, 15-foot-tall iron cage stands empty, its large door hanging open. (The cage door has no lock built into it, since the wizards use arcane lock spells to hold it shut.)

Spite Harrowdale used a true polymorph spell to turn a wyvern into a golden statue of himself. Characters who have met Spite will recognize the statue’s likeness. The statue doesn’t detect as magical, but removing it from the circle causes the true polymorph effect to end, whereupon it reverts to a wyvern and attacks.

Thaumaturgic Circle

A detect magic spell reveals an aura of transmutation magic around the symbol on the floor. Any character who studies the circle and succeeds on a DC 20 Intelligence (Arcana) check can ascertain its properties. The check is made with advantage if the character is a wizard whose arcane tradition is the School of Transmutation.

When a creature or an object under the effect of a transmutation spell is fully contained in the circle, the effect of that spell doesn’t end until the circle is broken or until the target is removed from inside it. A creature under the effect of a transmutation spell is physically trapped in the circle and can’t leave on its own while the spell remains in effect.

35. Necromancy Classroom

Ghastly Decor. Plastered to the walls and roof of this domed, 25-foot-high room are hundreds of humanoid skeletons, arranged in a decorative but ghastly manner.

Circle. A 20-foot-diameter magic circle inscribed on the floor has glyphs that shed dim purple light. Seven human corpses cocooned in burlap are piled in the middle of the circle.

Nester. Floating next to the circle is a skull with pinpricks of purple light in its eye sockets and two skeletal arms hanging below it, one of which clutches a bone dagger. (This is all that remains of Nester, one of Halaster’s oldest apprentices.)

The seven human bodies were obtained from a source in Skullport and are waiting to be turned into zombies. They are presently inanimate and harmless.

Necromantic Circle

A detect magic spell reveals a strong aura of necromancy magic around the circle. A character who studies the circle and succeeds on a DC 20 Intelligence (Arcana) check can ascertain its properties. The check is made with advantage if the character is a wizard whose arcane tradition is the School of Necromancy.

Any skeleton or corpse animated inside the circle becomes an undead with hit points equal to its hit point maximum. In addition, the undead gains advantage on saving throws against any effect that turns undead.

Nester

Nester’s efforts to transform into a lich met with limited success. Rather than follow the prescribed method, he devised his own technique and botched the ritual spells. Consequently, his phylactery was shattered, and his body and mind have slowly crumbled away. The floating skull and hanging skeletal arms are all that remain of him; they move like they’re attached to an invisible body.

Nester educates Dweomercore’s pupils in the art of necromancy, but his knowledge has become fragmented, and his mind tends to wander. He assumes the adventurers are students sent to learn the darkest of the magical arts and begins telepathically lecturing them about zombies, often repeating himself. He attacks anyone who tries to leave the lecture before its conclusion.

Nester is an archmage, with these changes:

• Nester is undead and chaotic evil.
• He understands Auran, Common, Draconic, Dwarvish, Giant, and Terran, but can’t speak. (He uses Rary’s telepathic bond to communicate.)
• He has the animate dead spell prepared instead of fly, the blight spell prepared instead of banishment, and the Rary’s telepathic bond spell prepared instead of scrying. He doesn’t need material components to cast any of his prepared spells.
• He has darkvision out to a range of 60 feet.

36. Wizards' Library

This 10-foot-high chamber contains rows of 8-foot-tall wooden bookshelves packed with hundreds of arcane textbooks and dusty spellbooks. The spellbooks contain virtually all known wizard spells of 4th level and lower. A character who pores over the books for 1 hour can find a particular spell by succeeding on an Intelligence (Investigation) check with a DC of 10 + the spell’s level.

37. Professor Bring

Desks. In the northwest half of the room, ten stone desks are arranged in a semicircle facing inward.

Orb in Hand. In the middle of the room, a spectral hand holds aloft a gray crystal orb.

Treasure

The orb is a rare wondrous item called a professor orb. Each professor orb takes the form of a smooth, solid, 5-pound sphere of smoky gray quartz about the size of a grapefruit. Close examination reveals two or more pinpricks of silver light deep inside the sphere.

A professor orb is sentient and has the personality of a scholar. Its alignment is determined by rolling on the alignment table in the “Sentient Magic Items” section in chapter 7 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide. Regardless of its disposition, the orb has an Intelligence of 18, and Wisdom and Charisma scores determined by rolling 3d6 for each ability. The orb speaks, reads, and understands four languages, and can see and hear normally out to a range of 60 feet. Unlike most sentient items, the orb has no will of its own and can’t initiate a conflict with the creature in possession of it.

A professor orb has extensive knowledge of four narrow academic subjects. When making an Intelligence check to recall lore from any of its areas of expertise, the orb has a +9 bonus to its roll (including its Intelligence modifier).

In addition to the knowledge it possesses, a professor orb can cast the mage hand cantrip at will. It uses the spell only to transport itself. Its spellcasting ability is Intelligence.

Professor Bring

The orb found in this room is lawful neutral and introduces itself as Professor Bring. It has a Wisdom of 11 and a Charisma of 6. It speaks, reads, and understands Abyssal, Common, Dwarvish, and Terran. It strings its words together into long, seemingly endless sentences and speaks in a drearily monotonous tone. It has the following four areas of expertise:

• The history of Undermountain (see “area Dungeon History")
• The grooming habits of shield dwarves
• Gemstone identification
• Xorn (as described in the Monster Manual)

38. “I Just Met a Girl Named Skrianna”

Carvings. The walls of this hall are carved to look like tree trunks. The arched, 10-foot-high ceiling resembles a canopy of dead boughs and branches.

Skrianna Shadowdusk. The first time the characters enter this hall, they encounter Skrianna Shadowdusk, a female human mage (see “area Skrianna Shadowdusk"). She is leaving the study hall (area area 39) and heading to her quarters (area area 11b), or vice versa. A light cantrip cast on the top of her staff lights her path. Skrianna’s shield guardian marches a few steps behind her. Floating nearby is a grell valet that has Skrianna’s spellbook wrapped in its tentacles.

If the characters are being escorted through this hall by the headmaster, Skrianna tries to plow through their ranks to make the point that they, not she, must stand aside. If this leads to violence, the headmaster quells the conflict as quickly as possible and tells Skrianna that she is confined to her quarters. Once she is out of sight of the headmaster and the characters, she takes her spellbook and returns to her quarters as commanded, but not before ordering her grell valet to shadow the party, spy on their activities, and report back to her.

If the characters have no escort, Skrianna asks them, “Who in the Nine Hells are you?” If it’s clear that the characters don’t belong in Dweomercore, Skrianna attacks them from a safe distance while the shield guardian and the grell accost her attackers at close range.

Treasure

Skrianna’s spellbook contains all the spells she has prepared.

39. Study Hall

Silence. A permanent silence spell blots out all noise in this 20-foot-high room. A successful dispel magic spell (DC 17) ends the effect.

Furnishings. The room contains neat rows of wooden desks with comfortable matching chairs, as well as overstuffed reading chairs positioned in the corners. Each desk has a drawer containing blank parchment, quill pens, and jars of ink.

Pneumatic Tubes. Thirteen copper pneumatic tubes are fastened to the north wall, with a shelf of empty copper canisters below them.

Pneumatic Tubes

The tubes connect to various other locations in Dweomercore. From left to right, the tubes are labeled with their respective destinations: “Turbulence” (area area 8a), “Violence” (area area 8b), “Karstis” (area area 8c), “Yarek” (area area 8d), “Spite” (area area 11a), “Skrianna” (area area 11b), “Vacant” (area area 11c), “Cephalossk” (area area 11d), “Elan” (area area 11e), “Nylas” (area area 11f), “Halaster” (area area 15a), “Wormriddle” (area area 23c), and “Guest Lecturer” (area area 42).

40. Empty Room

This room is swept clean but is currently not in use. A secret door in the east wall pushes open to reveal an empty closet with another secret door at the back of it.

41. Drop to Level 10

Hole in Floor. Carved into the floor is a smooth, 10-foot-square stone shaft. (The shaft descends 10 feet before opening in the ceiling of area area 3b on level 10, directly above the huge altar there.)

Alcoves. Six dark alcoves line the walls. (At the back of one is a secret door that opens into a closet, which has another secret door that leads to area area 40.)

42. Guest Lecturer’s Quarters

Parlor. The southern half of the room has been turned into a parlor with a writing desk, a matching chair, and a pair of cushioned divans on rugs. Near the desk are three copper pneumatic tubes fastened to a wall, with a shelf of empty copper canisters below them.

Bed. At the north end of the room is a comfortable mahogany bed, its bedposts topped with imp carvings.

Secret Door. Behind a 6-foot-tall wood-framed painting of Halaster hanging on a wall is a secret door that pulls open to reveal a small chamber with a stone arch embedded in its back wall.

Arch Gate to Level 7

The arch hidden behind the secret door is one of Halaster’s magic gates (see “area Gates"). Inscribed on the wall inside the arch is the following riddle in Common: “What appears once in an hour, twice in a blue moon, and never in sunshine?” The answer is “The letter O.” The rules of this gate are as follows:

• If the riddle is answered aloud and correctly by someone within 30 feet of the arch, the gate opens for 1 minute.
• Characters must be 9th 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 22 on level 7, in the closest unoccupied space next to the identical gate located there.

Pneumatic Tubes

The tubes connect to other locations in Dweomercore. From left to right, the tubes are labeled with their respective destinations: “Headmaster’s Office” (area area 15a), “Kitchen” (area area 27a), and “Study Hall” (area area 39).

43. Dusty Alcoves

Dusty Alcoves. This hall is lined with six 10-foot-tall, 10-foot-wide, 10-foot-deep dusty alcoves.

Hidden Pit. One of the middle alcoves has a breakaway floor covering a 100-foot-deep pit.

The pit can be detected with a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check, but only if the dust covering the floor is swept away. A creature that steps into the alcove with the breakaway floor falls through it and plummets to the bottom of the pit, taking damage as normal. A creature can climb the pit’s rough walls with a successful DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check.

44. Dweomercore’s Back Door

Yugoloths. Two Mezzoloth (marked M on map 9) and a nycaloth (marked N on map 9) are hidden behind illusory walls to the west and east.

Secret Door. A secret door set into the west wall pushes open to reveal a corridor. Characters who follow this corridor come to a stone staircase that descends 40 feet to area area 1 on level 10.

A detect magic spell reveals an illusory wall for what it is. An illusory wall has no substance, and creatures and objects can pass right through it. Each illusory wall can be dispelled with a successful dispel magic (DC 14).

The yugoloths have orders to kill anyone not accompanied by a Dweomercore faculty member (either the arcanaloth or the night hag).

45. Halaster’s Sanctuary

These areas serve as Halaster’s private abode on this level, though the Mad Mage himself is not present.

45a. Spectral Skull

The single door leading to this room opens inward, swinging toward the east. The room has a flat ceiling 20 feet high and contains the following features:

Statues. Two 11-foot-tall statues of elephant-headed men stand in the southern corners. The one closer to the southern exit is a stone golem. The other statue is inanimate and harmless.

Dais. An arched double door carved with screaming devil faces stands closed at the back of a dais. Floating in front of the double door is a giant, ghostly human skull with a long beard.

The devil-faced doors have nine hidden locks, each of which requires a separate knock spell to open. Both doors also swing open when one or the other is touched with a silvered weapon, or if someone speaks Infernal while standing on the dais.

The ghostly skull is neither a creature nor an object, but a magical force. It has darkvision and truesight out to a range of 60 feet, but it can’t perceive any creature warded by a nondetection spell or similar magic. The skull can’t move or be moved from its space, and it can’t be damaged. Because it’s without substance, other creatures can occupy its space. A successful dispel magic spell (DC 19) cast on the skull causes it to vanish for 1 minute. The skull also disappears while contained in an antimagic field. No other magic has any effect on it.

If the skull sees any creature other than the real Halaster in the room, it screams, “You’re not me!” When this happens, all creatures in the vicinity must roll initiative, including the stone golem. The skull acts on initiative count 30 and again on initiative count 15. On each of the skull’s turns, all creatures in the room except the stone golem are telekinetically thrust straight up into the air, then cast down hard onto the floor. Each target takes 10 (3d6) bludgeoning damage and ends the turn prone in its space. (Although the telekinesis effect is magical, the damage it deals is not.) Only when there are no more creatures left to toss about does the ghostly skull cease its assault.

When the ghostly skull screams, the golem uses its first turn in combat to block the south exit, pushing the door closed and shoving smaller creatures out of the way automatically. By occupying the space north of the door, the golem prevents the door from being opened. The golem remains stationary and attacks creatures within its reach, returning to its original position only when no other creatures are left in the room.

45b. Halaster’s Study

Desk. A black crystal desk covered with melted candles and empty ink jars stands in the middle of the room.

Chair. Behind the desk, attached to a thin iron chain and draped over one corner of a tall black crystal chair, is a fist-sized, gleaming black gemstone—the control gem for the death slaad on level 8 (a legend lore spell or similar magic confirms as much).

The desk has a single drawer, in which Halaster has placed one of his many spellbooks. This thin tome has a black leather cover with Halaster’s rune burned into it. Any creature other than Halaster that opens the book triggers an elder rune that targets that individual (see “area Elder Runes"). Draw a card from the Elder Runes Deck (see appendix B) to determine which rune appears.

Treasure

Most of the spellbook’s pages have been torn out. Written on the few pages that remain is the following meager collection of spells: disguise self, levitate, nondetection, and unseen servant.

46. Detention Area

Dweomercore’s faculty and students are entitled to freely use creatures imprisoned here as test subjects in their demonstrations and experiments.

46a. Prison Cells

A 10-foot-high hallway contains six iron-barred cells, their doors held shut with arcane lock spells. Faculty members and students can ignore the spells and open the cell doors normally. Forcing open a door requires a successful DC 25 Strength (Athletics) check or a knock spell.

The cells contain no furnishings other than waste buckets. The middle cell on the east side of the hall holds three Goblin abducted from Azrok’s Hold (area level 3, area 21) by Wormriddle. Their names are Evilfinger, Pulk, and Tobble. If they are rescued, the goblins wait until their rescuers fall asleep, then rob them and escape. Until then, they follow the party and contribute as little as possible.

46b. Petrified Wizard

The statue in the middle of this room is a former pupil—a dragonborn mage whom Halaster turned to stone with a wish spell over a century ago. The statue stands atop a 2-foot-high, 5-foot-wide stone cylinder engraved with the following words in Common: “Follow the rules. Obey your instructors. Don’t be this guy.”

47. Devil on the Loose

A conjurer named Yarek summoned a bone devil in area area 48 and promised to set it free on the condition that it kill his nemesis, Skrianna Shadowdusk. The bone devil agreed. After Yarek released the devil, it immediately murdered him. To fulfill its agreement with the mage, the devil must now kill Skrianna. Wards placed on these chambers prevent the devil from leaving, however, and the greater wards placed on Undermountain by Halaster prevent it from getting away by plane shifting.

Before he died, Yarek used a sending spell to warn the headmaster about the escaped devil. If the arcanaloth persuades the characters to destroy the devil in exchange for safe passage through Dweomercore, it waits patiently for them in area area 46b while they confront the fiend in these chambers.

47a. Alas, Poor Yarek

Characters who examine the doors to this room (each marked with an asterisk on map 9) notice thin silver tracery and glyphs around the exterior door frames. A successful DC 20 Intelligence (Arcana) check reveals that the glyphs around each door prevent devils from passing through the doorway. Scratching away any of the glyphs breaks the magic on that door, allowing devils to pass through it normally.

This room contains the following:

Tapestry. A blood-spattered tapestry hanging on the west wall depicts scores of demons and devils locked in battle. (A secret door hidden behind the tapestry opens into area area 47c.)

Yarek. A dead male human (Yarek) in bloody robes is sprawled on the floor in front of the tapestry.

Illusory Wall. A 20-foot-wide section of the north wall is illusory, concealing area area 47b beyond. A detect magic spell reveals an illusory wall for what it truly is. It has no substance, and creatures and objects can pass right through it. The illusory wall is destroyed by a successful dispel magic spell (DC 14).

Yarek dragged himself across the floor before he finally expired. The characters can follow Yarek’s bloody trail through the illusory wall into area area 47b, where the devil mortally wounded him. A character who examines the corpse and succeeds on a DC 10 Wisdom (Medicine) check can ascertain that the mage was stabbed several times by a piercing weapon (the devil’s hooked polearm) and has a deep, poisoned wound in his chest (caused by the bone devil’s stinger). A search of the body yields nothing of value.

47b. Dealing with the Bone Devil

Devil. Beyond the illusory wall waits a bone devil armed with a hooked polearm (see the “Variant: Bone Devil Polearm” sidebar in the “Devils” entry in the Monster Manual).

Statue. A raised stone alcove contains a chipped and worn statue of a female drow riding a giant lizard. The tip of the lizard’s tail has broken off and is missing. (The statue is inanimate and nonmagical.)

The bone devil is reluctant to take on a well-armed band of adventurers, since the outcome is likely to conflict with its goals of survival and escape. If the characters are willing to free it from the confines of these rooms by scratching away the silver glyphs that ward the exits, the devil pursues a mutually beneficial arrangement while exploiting a badly worded agreement to its advantage. Once it escapes, it tries to hunt down and kill Skrianna Shadowdusk, thus fulfilling a promise made to its late summoner. If the characters slay the devil, it transforms into a pool of stinking ichor, leaving its hooked polearm behind.

47c. Dweomercore’s Vault

Stacked against the south wall are seven iron chests that hold Dweomercore’s operating funds (used to pay guest instructors, purchase school supplies, and so forth). The chests are currently empty, and Halaster hasn’t had the time or inclination to replenish them.

48. Conjuration Classroom

A large pentagram is inscribed on the floor of this 20-foot-high domed chamber. A character who studies the pentagram and succeeds on a DC 20 Intelligence (Arcana) check can ascertain its properties. The check is made with advantage if the character is a wizard whose arcane tradition is the School of Conjuration.

Any magically summoned fiend that appears inside the pentagram is trapped there until its summoner releases it, until the fiend takes damage from an outside source, or until another creature enters the circle. Damaging the pentagram renders it powerless in addition to releasing any creature trapped inside it.

49. Arch Gate to Level 14

Arch. A stone arch embedded in the middle of the southeast wall has the image of an open book carved into its keystone.

Secret Door. A secret door opens into a dusty tunnel leading east.

The arch is one of Halaster’s gates (see “area Gates"). Its rules are as follows:

• Holding an open book while standing within 5 feet of the arch causes the gate to open for 1 minute. The book turns to dust as the gate opens, even if it is a spellbook.
• 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 25 on level 14, in the closest unoccupied space next to the identical gate located there.

Aftermath

Characters who become embroiled in academy politics can form tenuous truces with certain students while making enemies of others. The loss of one or more students has little effect on the day-to-day affairs of Dweomercore, since the faculty has no emotional attachment to the pupils. Within a tenday, the headmaster replaces dead students with new arrivals and begins their orientation.

Slaying the arcanaloth forces Wormriddle to step up and assume the mantle of headmaster, backed by her flesh golem guards. If the night hag is also slain, all the remaining students promptly turn on each other. Elan Tanor’thal joins forces with Cephalossk to challenge Spite Harrowdale, Nylas Jowd tries to kill the Horned Sisters one by one, and Skrianna Shadowdusk waits to see how these conflicts play out before going after the survivors. Any students who remain standing gather what valuables they can from their fallen peers and flee Dweomercore.