The Ruins of Undermountain
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Sample file Undermountain Adventures by Ed Greenwood Table of Contents Starters: Adventures That Take Adventurers Into Undermountain The Ghost Knight . .2 The Eye And The Hand . .5 Frying Pans & Fires: Adventures That Leave Undermountain Coils In The Dark . .8 The Killing Tree. 12 Down In The Dungeon: Adventures Chiefly Concerned With Undermountain The Black Viper Strikes . 16 Gathgaers Iron Maiden . 17 The God of the Dry Depths . 18 Adventure Hooks . 19 Monster Guide. 21 Skullport . .29 The Rat Hills. .30 Maps & Charts of Undermountain. .32 General Note The adventures in this book involve several noble families of Waterdeep. If any of the activities or character descriptions herein conflict with versions of the families existing in a DMs own campaign, feel free to change the names given here to those of other no- ble families. In any campaign set in Waterdeep, it is recommended that a DM establish an aloof list of 25 or so of the Sample76 noble families thatfile are not involved in daily play or PC interactions, so that they can be used in later adventures (such as those in this book). Credits Design: Ed Greenwood Cartography: David Sutherland Editing: Jon Pickens and Steven E. Schend Graphic Design: Dee Barnett Cover Art: Jeff Easley Production: Sarah Feggestad Interior Art: Karl Waller Typography: Gaye OKeefe TSR Inc. TSR Ltd POB 756 120 Church End, Cherry Hinton Lake Geneva, WI 53247 Cambridge CB1 3LB ©1991 TSR, Inc. All Rights Reserved Printed in the U.S.A ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, AD&D, CATACOMBS, DRAGON, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, and FORGOTTEN REALMS are registered trademarks owned by TSR, Inc. RAVENLOFT, SPELLJAMMER, PRODUCTS OF YOUR IMAGINATION and the TSR logo are trademarks owned by TSR, Inc. Distributed to the book trade by Random House, Inc. and in Canada by Random House of Canada, Ltd. Distributed to the toy and hobby trade by regional distributors Distributed in the United Kingdom by TSR Ltd. This module is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork presented herein is prohibited without the express written permission of TSR, Inc. 1060 ISBN 1-56076-061-3 ghostly blade. No matter how fast PCs The Ghost move, he will run faster, getting ahead Beneath the boards is a three-foot di- Knight of themas citizens scream and flee, ameter hole, opening down into ut- scrambling aside, and slamming shut- ter darkness. Its bottom seems far ters and doors. below, and the air in the hole is dry, Terrain: (Starting) City of Waterdeep, The Ghost Knight is unaffected by stale, and motionless mean streets, at night; Party Levels: 64 (8 characters of 8th magic or attacks of any sort. He will turn suddenly down an unpaved side level average) Anyone venturing down into the alley, just ahead of the party. shaft will discover it is constructed like The alley is a dead-end. The foremost Setup a stone-lined circular well, but has a lad- PC(s) will see the image of the knight in der of old, rust-red grab irons down armor running toward the rubble- The adventure begins one moonlit one side. The shaft drops eighty feet strewn stone rear wall of the cul-de-sac. straight down. Its walls are damp and night when PCs are walking in the more The Ghost Knight suddenly appears to southerly wards of the city. slippery, the grab irons badly corroded fall, the blade spinning from his hand to and crumbling: any character climbing hang, alone and gleaming in the air, as down without a rope must make a suc- The Darker The Knight, The More the Knight topples into the ground and Ghosts Will Walk. cessful Dexterity check every round vanishes. (two checks if avoiding the grab irons) The ghostly blade will slowly fade or fall (determine damage by distance You hear a gasp from a window into nothingness. As long as it is visible, fallen; fragile items must make saving nearby: The Ghost Knight! A shut- it will hang four feet or so off the throws vs. fall). ter slams. Nearby, a man opens a ground, point downward. A falling character may be allowed an door to step out onto the street, and The dirt beneath the image of the additional Dexterity check to grab at then hastily pulls it closed again. You sword will glow with the same eerie, another grab iron, climbing being, or hear his fading voice as the door bone-white glow, in the shape of a ring other handhold on the way down. This closes: You hear? The Ghost Knights about three feet across. After it is seen, will result in half damage and a slower out tonight! Ill luck, indeed. the glow will fade rapidly, and all will be fall if made. If an accompanying quiet and normal in the moonlight Strength check is also successful, the again. PCs questioning anyone will learn fall is actually arrested, and only 1d6 to- that a ghostly white figure of an ar- tal damage is suffered. (Climbing char- If the PCsSample elect to do nothing file about acters struck by another falling mored noble, sword drawn, is seen the Ghost Knight, they will soon be un- running down this street on certain character suffer 1d4 impact damage, able to sleepwhenever they close and must make a successful Strength moonlit nights. Seeing the fey Ghost their eyes, they will see his angry- Knight brings ill luck. check or be themselves forced instantly faced, shining image striding toward into a fall.) The partys informant will scream them, sword drawn. then, and runfor, from behind, the Halfway (forty feet) down the shaft, This vision continues regardless of three apparently normal grab irons are Ghost Knight has come! spells, magical barriers or cures, pla- PCs see the glowing, translucent actually part of a waiting common nar travel, and so on, until the sleep- mimic. white figure of a tall man in ornate full less, exhausted PCs lay the Ghost plate armor running toward them. The The mimic has been down here, and Knight to rest by revisiting the alley- hungry, for a very long time, and has phantom is silent, cannot be turned, way in which he disappeared. The ring and does no physical harm (PCs must dwindled away to its present weakened will glow again even if it is broad day- state. Choosing a location where grab save vs. spells at -2 or panic and run light. If it is dark, the Ghost Knight will away as if affected by a fear spell). He irons had rusted away, the monster appear, exactly as before, leading them shaped itself into the semblance of the waves a naked long sword in his right again to the spot before falling into the rough stone blocks that line the well, hand, and, on his left arm, he wears a ring and vanishing. shield on which gleams a crescent and the missing grab irons, and went moon (at the top left, horns pointing into a long sleep. It will be awakened by The Shaft any contact or passage of a climbing downward diagonally) and a diagonal line of four stars (descending from the character, and will peel partly off the PCs who dig at the dirt of the alley- crescent to the lower right curve of the wall to envelop the head of anyone way where the glowing ring appeared climbing just beneath it. shield). Waterdhavians will recognize will uncoverunder only a few inches Attacked characters who are sur- the arms of the Moonstar noble family. of earththree old, massive boards, prised are automatically enveloped, The Ghost Knight will charge right at side by side. and must make a successful Dexterity (and through!) PCs, running as though in angry pursuit of someone or some- check or fall down the remainder of the shaft. Unsurprised characters will still thing unseen, and brandishing his 2 be enveloped if the monsters attack roll night many winters ago, he was lured succeeds. All characters who are climb- tly toward the ditch on both sides. At to his doom by Janiloth Dhree, who is ing (i.e. unable to levitate or fly) suffer a the far end of the room is a dark, trapped within the sanctum.) -2 penalty to their attack rolls and AC square grating in the floor, and The trapdoor leads upward into an- during any combat while partway above it in the ceiling, a hatch or other area, from which a faint green ra- down the shaft. trap-door. There is a very faint, un- diance comes. pleasant smell of decay in the room, If the mimic falls with an enveloped but no sound or air currents. The Sanctum character, it will neutralize its glue and roll free, flattening out to slow its fall, The chamber is 20 wide and 60 long, PCs lifting the trapdoor will see the and will take only 2d6 falling damage. its ceiling 7 feet high. Cut out of solid following: At the bottom, it will envelop any un- rock, its walls have been covered with a moving fallen character, and fight any smooth-worked stucco, so that there You are near one wall of a circular who that approach. Otherwise, the glue are no fissures, ledges, marks or seams. holds fast until 5 rounds after the mim- room, perhaps eighty feet across. The floor slopes down five feet or so The other side of the room contains ics death (alcohol frees a victim in 3 from the bottom of the shaft to the rounds), but a successful open doors a waist-high circular stone plinth, rooms far (eastern) end.