Contents
- 1Introduction
- 2Chapter 1: The Unicorn and the Hags
- 3Chapter 2: An Invitation Extended
- 4Chapter 3: Construction of Horrors
- 5Chapter 4: Temple of Moloch
- 6Chapter 5: Final Showdown
- 7Appendix A: Further Options
- 8Appendix B: NPCs and Monsters
- 9Appendix C: New Magic and Special Items
- 10Appendix D: Player Handouts
- 11Credits
Chapter 3: Construction of Horrors
The Tomb of Horrors is one of the most legendary dungeons in the multiverse. Shaped by the demilich Acererak as a testing ground for would-be heroes—and as a place to steal the souls of those heroes whose skills where found wanting—the tomb has claimed countless lives over millennia, and even some of the most hardened adventurers would think twice about entering those deadly halls. But by going back into the past, the characters have a chance to explore a version of the Tomb of Horrors that few have ever seen, and to engage one of the world's deadliest dungeons on their own terms.
Background
According to legend, Acererak was a tiefling fathered by a balor named Tarnhem. In his youth, he studied spellcasting under Vecna, and has since become an archmage of surpassing evil. While researching the means to achieve lichdom, Acererak built a number of dungeons and tombs, including his famed Tomb of Horrors. Those dungeons were created partly as a means to draw out and defeat those adventurers driven to seek and destroy him—and partly to claim those adventurers' souls to feed his phylactery.
Even after Acererak eventually became an archlich whose dark plots would threaten the world, he left behind the Tomb of Horrors as a monument to his greatness. But in its earliest stages, the tomb was a very different sort of place.
By traveling to the Tomb of Horrors in the past, the characters arrive with the place still under construction. The artificer Moghadam serves as the tomb's chief architect, overseeing its construction in initial areas dug out by enthralled umber hulks and refined by master artisans. As part of the unprecedented levels of magic used to create the deadly traps in the Tomb of Horrors, Moghadam has installed several of the missing components from the Infernal Machine of Lum the Mad at the site. These components are used to draw magical energy from the life force of creatures sacrificed on Acererak's orders—including the archmage's own father, the balor Tarnhem.
Over the years of the tomb's construction, Moghadam and his rival artificer, Thessalar, have competed fiercely against each other's endeavors. Moghadam takes pleasure in having lured away several sculptors from Thessalar's temple to help with the tomb's construction. He has also recently sent a party of thieves and a master gemsmith to his rival's temple, instructing them to steal the temple's two most famous gems—set into the eyes of a great statue of Moloch—for use in the creation of Acererak's jeweled demilich skull. Unfortunately, those thieves have failed to return, and are presumed captured by Thessalar.
Who Dwells Here?
This version of the Tomb of Horrors takes place in the distant past, when various legendary figures of in-game history (Acererak included) still operate as mere mortals. Several of such figures have been included as NPCs, but you should not treat this adventure's approach to those characters as canon. Rather, use them to flesh out this particular adventure in "what-if" fashion. Alternatively, if you prefer not to populate the adventure with such prominent names, you can substitute those characters with unnamed general NPCs who can fill the same roles.
Some of the NPCs in this section of the adventure (including Moghadam) are a much more potent threat than characters of the lower levels suggested for the adventure can safely deal with. The players should be forewarned that their characters should treat with such legendary figures carefully—a warning that is repeated by whichever agent the characters are dealing with.
Moghadam
A legendary evil human artificer, Moghadam has long sought out interesting challenges for his immense intellect. As such, he considers the design of the Tomb of Horrors to be his masterwork. If questioned about his motivations, he claims that Acererak took his family hostage, and will not release them until Moghadam completes his work. The truth is that the artificer has no family. He delights in creating despair, and works on the tomb in the hope that his name will go down alongside Acererak's in legend.
Moghadam competes with a rival artificer named Thessalar, who operates out of a temple dedicated to Moloch some distance away. Moghadam has lured away several of Thessalar's expert sculptors to come work on the tomb, promising them great wealth that he has no intention of paying. More recently, the architect sent his own expert gemsmith along with a group of thieves to the Temple of Moloch, so that they might steal the gemstone eyes from its most famous statue. However, the thieves were captured, and Moghadam is now without the gemstones or his gemsmith, and plots the means to seize both.
See appendix B for Moghadam's stat block.
Nolzur
Fated to one day become a spellcaster of great renown, Nolzur (a neutral male human master thief) has not yet begun to hone his magical art in this time, but has already started a specialization in alchemy that will one day lead to the crafting of such items as his famed Nolzur's marvelous pigments. In this age, Nolzur most recently studied with Thessalar, learning secrets of alchemy and infusing his own blood with strange and dangerous properties. Moghadam learned of all this and captured Nolzur. He is now held in the tomb, with his blood used as a base material for magic pigments.
Pentival
A lawful good male half-dragon paladin in the service of Pelor, Pentival ventured to the tomb worksite along with several fellow paladins, drawn by rumors of a powerful balor bound there. Acererak spread these rumors, relying on combat between Pentival and Tarnhem to weaken them both, after which he could capture and imprison them for his own purposes.
Pentival uses the half-red dragon veteran stat block, but has the form of a gold dragon. He can be found in the chapel of evil (x), forced to take part in the evil ceremony there. Though Pentival has been forced to watch his fellow paladins succumb one by one to the ceremony, he has so far held out, his devotion somehow keeping him alive.
Phenex
An incubus cleric of Vecna, Phenex came to this world by way of the jungles of Chult. He first occupied an abandoned temple filled with girallons, where Acererak found and recruited him with promises of power and glory.
Although Phenex remains fanatically loyal to Vecna (even to the point of removing one of his eyes and his left hand), Acererak finds him useful to his own cause as well. (The mortal Acererak still ostensibly pledges his own faith to Vecna at this time.) Since arriving at the tomb along with many of his girallons, Phenex has magically grafted on a second set of arms, making him resemble something of a girallon himself.
Missing Components
The missing components of the Infernal Machine at this location can be found in the chapel of evil (x), worked into the altar. They resemble the components found at the clock tower in chapter 1, being gemstone-like buttons made of some unknown material, all a deep sapphire blue.
Mechanical Guide
If the characters' mechanical guide is lost or destroyed while they explore the Tomb of Horrors, you can make use of a number of options to keep the characters from remaining stranded in the past. Moghadam might offer to repair or rebuild the guide for a suitable price, and Thessalar makes the same offer if an overland trek is made to reach him. (The sculptors in the tomb possess maps showing the way to the Temple of Moloch.) Tarnhem might also be able to help restore a fallen guide using his powerful fiendish magic, but only if the characters are willing to make a deal with the demon and free him.
Exploring the Tomb
Compared to the original Tomb of Horrors adventure, this version of the tomb is still in the early stages of its construction. Areas 1 to 18 match the well-known maps of the tomb closely, but the sections of the tomb beyond those areas have not yet been constructed.
Numbered locations are keyed to the map on page 18.
Hillside
From the characters' arrival point, a busy vista unfolds at the construction site.
The rocky hill into which the tomb is being built is approximately six hundred feet wide, nine hundred feet long, and sixty feet high. Characters who ascend the hill to search the top discover a number of large black rocks dumped there. (The rocks will later be placed into the pattern of a grinning humanoid skull). A successful DC 18 Intelligence (Arcana, Nature, or Religion) check identifies the rocks as the remains of living creatures that have been reshaped to stone by dark magic. (These are the remains of worshipers from x.)
Entrance Portals
The three openings across the north side of the hill lead to areas 1 to 3. With a successful DC 12 Wisdom (Perception) check, characters atop the hill can observe umber hulks and their handlers traveling to and from x, and humanoid workers moving to and from x. x appears deserted.
Manipulating Time
Having a mechanical guide spend 1 charge in this area causes several workers to emerge from inside the tomb, hauling a large black rock to add to the pile atop the hill.
Workers' Camp
A number of tents along the north side of the hill house the tomb's workers, their food storage, equipment depots, latrines, and so forth. These workers include two dozen neutral dwarves split into two gangs. A surly, browbeaten lot, they have no interest in who the characters are or what their business at the tomb is. If talked to, they grumble about their poor food and lack of pay, with the two groups blaming each other for every worksite mishap and grievance. They flee into the tomb if threatened, but fight with picks and shovels if cornered.
Each worker uses the cultist stat block with the following changes:
- They are neutral, have a speed of 25 feet, and speak Common and Dwarven.
- They have darkvision out to a range of 60 feet.
- They have advantage on saving throws against the poisoned condition and resistance to poison damage.
- They have a +4 bonus to Intelligence (History) checks related to the origin of stonework.
- Their attacks with picks or hammers are treated as a scimitar attack that deals bludgeoning or piercing damage.
Umber Hulk Handlers
Three neutral evil dwarf cult fanatics wear spiky leather armor and serve as handlers for the pair of umber hulks found in x. They know certain command words that magically compel the hulks' obedience. The handlers carry long hooked poles to prod the hulks, and which are also enchanted to magically open and close the stone slab in x.
If approached, the handlers refer characters to Moghadam in x. If combat breaks out, they flee to x and release the umber hulks, ordering them to dispose of the intruders. They step up to fight for themselves only if all else fails.
Treasure
Little of value can be found in the camp aside from personal effects. These effects include several letters offering high wages for construction workers, signed by Moghadam.
Manipulating Time
Having a mechanical guide spend 1 charge in this area causes a number of the dwarves to erupt into squabbling, allowing the characters to approach any of the tomb entrances without notice.
1. Office of the Artificer
Moghadam the artificer manages the design and construction of the Tomb of Horrors from this office. He knows he has nothing to fear from the characters, and has little personal loyalty to Acererak. As such, he is happy to listen to any tale the characters tell, and to entertain any deal they might offer.
Moghadam's Bargain
Moghadam knows about the Infernal Machine components in the tomb, and is quick to negotiate with the characters for them. In truth, he has no intention of parting with them and looks to subvert any deal, ideally by luring the characters to the evil chapel (x).
[image: Moghadam]
The artificer talks of having a number of tasks that the characters can help him with, and says he will trade the components for either of the following:
- The characters must travel to the Temple of Moloch (see chapter 4) to rescue the gemsmith Seodra and any surviving thieves sent there. They must then help those operatives complete their mission to steal the gemstone eyes from the temple's greatest statue.
- The characters can instead travel to the temple to facilitate a prisoner exchange, taking Nolzur and some of the sculptors working the tomb to exchange for the gemsmith.
The distance between the Tomb of Horrors and the Temple of Moloch is left to your determination, as are the details of the overland journey. If you don't want to play out that journey, the characters' mechanical guide can use its teleportation ability to take them to the temple.
If the characters have already been at large within the tomb and caused trouble, Moghadam might decide he's better off being rid of them. In that event, he might offer to trade the components in exchange for the characters meeting with Phenex and assisting in his ceremony (expecting that the priest will dispense with them), or recapturing the balor if the characters' actions have freed it (hoping that the resulting battle finishes the characters off).
If the characters enter into a deal with Moghadam, he writes them a magic pass that allows them to travel the tomb without being attacked by the girallons therein. Moghadam can communicate telepathically with anyone carrying a pass, and can teleport into an unoccupied space next to anyone carrying a pass.
Treasure
The stone table here is the first piece of stone cut for the tomb's excavation. It holds a number of important documents of Moghadam's creation, including the master map of the tomb. This map features a notation in Undercommon: "The true master of the tomb is he who plans its construction."
Characters who have a chance to look around this area can also find calligrapher's supplies; a forgery kit; spell scrolls of arcane lock, glyph of warding, and legend lore; a wand of secrets; and a strongbox containing 30 pp.
2. Umber Hulk Pen
Before its eventual conversion into a false tomb entrance, this tunnel is being used to house a mated pair of umber hulks used as labor for the tomb's construction. During the day, they carve out tunnels for the tomb. At night and while their handlers take breaks, they are kept behind a 10-foot-thick stone block that is magically slid across the tunnel.
Creatures
The two umber hulks have symbols magically scribed on their mandibles by Moghadam, placing them under the effect of a permanent dominate monster spell. Their handlers (at area B when the characters first arrive) know the command words that compel the hulks into service.
Unless ordered otherwise, the umber hulks stay in this area, defending themselves if necessary. If the characters are at the tomb site long enough, they might witness the umber hulks carving out new areas of the dungeon in the blank part of the map.
Manipulating Time
Having a mechanical guide spend 1 charge in this area causes the umber hulks to either return here to rest if they are elsewhere, or to depart for the tomb to begin work, opening or closing the stone slab accordingly.
3. Entrance to the Tomb
This area is noisy with the sounds of hammering and stone cutting coming from the west (areas 8 and 10). If the umber hulks are digging, a rumbling can also be heard to the east. But even over all that, the characters can hear a rhythmic chanting coming from the south (carried from the chapel of x by the magic of Phenex's ceremony).
Creatures
Twelve neutral tiefling muralists work here, constantly mixing fresh pigments to be applied to the plaster walls. A muralist uses the cultist stat block with the following changes:
- It knows the thaumaturgy cantrip.
- It has resistance to fire damage.
- It has darkvision out to a range of 60 feet.
- It speaks Common and Infernal.
A successful DC 14 Wisdom (Perception) check made by any character looking over the pigments being prepared identifies the ingredients as including impossibly bright-red blood. If questioned, the muralists talk of working in the tomb in the service of its art, which transcends all other concerns. They direct the characters either to Moghadam or onward to Phenex in response to any other questions.
Murals
If the murals are examined, read the following (from the original Tomb of Horrors):
Looking South
The muralists' lantern light illuminates the north half of this area. The details of x are visible only when characters with darkvision or a light source move close enough to the end of the hall.
Open Pits
In several places, the winding mosaic path crosses over a series of open pits yet to be covered and concealed. The first four pits are each 10 feet deep and empty except for refuse.
The pit leading to x is 30 feet deep and contains a ladder. Characters who watch this area long enough see the muralists periodically climb down into this pit, then later return with vials of bright-red blood (claimed from Nolzur in x) to be mixed into new pigments.
Manipulating Time
Having a mechanical guide spend 1 charge in this area causes one of the muralists to descend the southernmost pit to collect more blood from Nolzur (held in x). If Nolzur has been rescued, the muralists report this to Moghadam, who rallies available workers to hunt for the missing thief.
4. Side Entrance
This section of the wall has not yet been plastered or painted over, leaving an open doorway leading west. The pit before the doorway is crossed by a series of wooden planks.
5. Control Room
Commissioned by Acererak, the wizard Tuerny built these controls for the balor's prison in area 6. A successful DC 12 Intelligence (Arcana or Investigation) check identifies a number of silver wires that lead from these controls into area 6 and are attached to the imprisoned balor.
Anyone attempting to disrupt the controls or the wires must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or take 11 (2d10) force damage. The controls and the wires are self-repairing, and cannot be severed or destroyed. However, if the ceremony is disrupted, the controls here can be set to free the balor.
Manipulating Time
Having a mechanical guide spend 1 charge in this area drains more energy from the balor, causing him to fall unconscious in area 6.
6. Captive Balor
The balor Tarnhem is bound here by the magic of Acererak, who has fashioned a device from a sphere of annihilation that slowly drains away Tarnhem's essence to fuel the magical workings of the tomb.
A successful DC 12 Intelligence (Investigation) check identifies a number of silver wires attached to the Balor and running to the control room (x). Anyone attempting to disrupt the controls or the wires must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or take 11 (2d10) force damage. The controls and the wires are self-repairing, and cannot be severed or destroyed.
Bargaining with Tarnhem
If the characters are free to speak with Tarnhem, the balor asks them to disrupt the ceremony in the chapel (x), and then set the controls in x to release him. To convince them to do so, the fiend promises anything within his power. As a show of good faith, he can relate how to safely open the treasure chests in x, and how his weapons have been taken to the chapel (x) and worked into the altar there.
Tarnhem uses the balor stat block with the following changes:
- While held, Tarnhem is incapacitated but can still speak.
- Until he recovers his weapons from the chapel, his Longsword and Whip actions are replaced by the following action option: Fist of Retribution. Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d4 + 8) bludgeoning damage plus 7 (2d6) fire damage.
If released, Tarnhem upholds any agreement he made to not harm the characters. He instead focuses his wrath on Moghadam and Phenex, hunting both down before vanishing into the rift to the Lower Planes in x.
If the balor is released, the sphere binding him becomes a sphere of annihilation and is unmoored. It travels throughout the tomb at random, though is confined by the tomb's magic to stay within its rooms and corridors rather than boring through the walls. This sphere can be controlled as normal while within the tomb, but it cannot leave.
If Tarnhem is not freed, the balor is eventually drained away to become part of a horrible monument. His life force fuels the black sphere in the mouth of the great green devil face in this area when the Tomb of Horrors is complete.
Manipulating Time
Having a mechanical guide spend 1 charge in this area reverts Tarnhem to an earlier period before so much of his life force was drained, awakening him if he is unconscious.
7. Forsaken Prison
A narrow crawl space leads here from the southernmost pit in the entrance hall (x). At the bottom of a 10-foot drop at the end of the crawl space, a miserable cell holds a solitary prisoner. The artisan Nolzur (a neutral male human master thief, but he is reduced to 1 hit point) has been captured and held here, his alchemical blood continually drained to create the magic pigments used to paint the tomb's murals. The muralists drain him with tools crafted from the beaks of stirges, keeping him barely alive with healing magic.
Nolzur is too weak to escape on his own, but if rescued and provided healing and nourishment, he gladly aids the characters in any way. This includes telling the characters the general layout of the Temple of Moloch, and revealing Thessalar's vulnerability to magic potions and salves that restore hit points (see "x" in chapter 4).
Manipulating Time
Having a mechanical guide spend 1 charge in this area causes one of the muralists to arrive here to collect more blood, for use in either x or 10. Spending 2 charges also restores a measure of health to Nolzur, equivalent to the effect of a cure wounds spell.
8. Sculptors' Workroom
This workspace is used by a number of neutral human sculptors creating objects for use in the tomb. Five are present when the characters first enter this area, watched over and assisted by a girallon. The sculptors (use the cultist stat block) traveled here from the Temple of Moloch under the false promise of fabulous payment for helping construct the tomb. They have since found themselves unable to leave.
The sculptors seek assistance to escape the tomb, and provide whatever information they know in exchange for aid. They can relate how the rest of the sculptors (in x) are devising a means of escape using a set of superior mason's tools hidden there, and that these tools can also weaken the eidolon in the Temple of Moloch (see x in chapter 4). They also know that the muralists are loyal to Moghadam and cannot be trusted.
The rhythmic chanting magically carried into x grows louder in this area.
Creatures
Under the command of Phenex (x), the girallon has been ordered to obey the sculptors as they work, but to not allow them to leave the tomb. The creature carries torches in two hands to provide light for the sculptors. With the other two, it hands out hammers, chisels, and other tools as needed.
The girallon challenges the characters unless they bear one of Moghadam's magical passes. In combat, it uses the implements it holds as weapons. Use the statistics for the girallon's claw attack, but a hammer attack deals bludgeoning damage and a chisel attack deals piercing damage. A torch attack deals bludgeoning damage plus 2 (1d4) fire damage.
Treasure
The girallon wears a golden armband (worth 250 gp) on one of its left arms, scribed by Moghadam with magical symbols that place the creature under the effect of a permanent dominate monster spell. Phenex (x) knows the command words that compel the girallon into service.
Manipulating Time
Having a mechanical guide spend 1 charge in this area causes the girallon to leave. Roll a d4. On a 1–2, the girallon checks in with Moghadam in x. On a 3–4, it goes to see Phenex in x.
9. Artisans' Chambers
This connected series of rooms are currently being used as small apartments and storerooms for the muralists and sculptors laboring inside the tomb. The rooms are small, sparse, and minimally furnished.
The rhythmic chanting magically carried into x grows louder in this area.
Treasure
These areas contain only personal effects, including several invitations sent from Moghadam for employment at the tomb and offering exorbitant wages. As well, one of the artisans has a map showing the overland route from the Temple of Moloch to the Tomb of Horrors.
Manipulating Time
Having a mechanical guide spend 1 charge in this area causes 1d4 + 1 artisans to either return here from their labors, or depart for their work.
Exploring the Tomb (areas 10-18)
10. Great Hall of Spheres
Creatures
Five neutral human sculptors (use the cultist stat block) originally from the Temple of Moloch are here creating stonework for the tomb. Desperate to escape, they are working on a secret plan.
Eight neutral tiefling muralists are plastering and painting, as well as covering the floor with inlaid tiles. They use the same statistics and respond to questions in the same way as the muralists in x.
The girallon is under orders to obey the workers but not to allow them to leave the tomb. It challenges the characters unless they bear one of Moghadam's magical passes, using the torches as weapons. Use the statistics for the girallon's claw attack, but a torch attack deals bludgeoning damage plus 2 (1d4) fire damage.
Murals
If the murals are examined, read the following (from the original Tomb of Horrors):
Golden Sphere
Only one of the spheres has special significance: a golden sphere located in the northwest corner that covers the entrance to area 11. The entrance can be noticed behind the sphere, whose magic does not yet fully conceal it. However, that magic prevents anyone carrying any gold or wearing any clothing that is gold in color from passing through the sphere.
Open Passageway
One section of the east wall has not yet been plastered or painted over, revealing the passageway to the chapel (x). The rhythmic chanting magically carried into x grows louder still at the entrance to the passageway. A successful DC 14 Wisdom (Perception) check identifies the chanting as belonging to some sort of ritual involving enchantment magic.
Treasure
The girallon wears a golden armband (worth 250 gp) on one of its left arms, scribed by Moghadam with magical symbols that place the creature under the effect of a permanent dominate monster spell. Phenex (x) knows the command words that compel the girallon into service.
Manipulating Time
Having a mechanical guide spend 1 charge in this area causes the girallon to leave. Roll a d4. On a 1–2, the girallon checks in with Moghadam in x. On a 3–4, it goes to see Phenex in x.
11. Escape Room
The sculptors have utilized this side chamber to plan their escape, though none of them are present when the characters first come here.
The room is occupied by a life-sized sculpture of a winged girallon. Once it is finished, the sculptors plan to animate the statue using the information from half a manual of stone golems in their possession. The manual was torn in half and taken from the Temple of Moloch, where the other half still resides. If brought to life, the statue uses the stone golem stat block, and the sculptors use it to attack the tomb's girallon guards and flee.
If the characters earn the trust of the sculptors, the sculptors estimate completing the statue will take three days. They ask the characters to help buy them this time.
Treasure
The partial manual of stone golems is hidden beneath a pile of rocks in the corner of the room, and can be found with any search of the area. Even incomplete, it is worth 500 gp.
Additionally, the sculptors store a set of superior mason's tools here. These tools grant advantage when used to make an appropriate crafting check, and are worth 500 gp.
Manipulating Time
Having a mechanical guide spend 1 charge in this area either brings the statue one day of work closer or further from completion (a 50 chance for either).
12. False Doors
To gain time to complete their statue in area 11, the sculptors spend much of their time building, destroying, and rebuilding a number of false doors here in the great hall. Two such doors are marked at area 12 on the map.
Manipulating Time
Having a mechanical guide spend 1 charge in this area creates or removes a false door at random.
13. Chamber of Three Chests
This treasury holds resources for the construction of the tomb, including precious metals and gemstones stored here for safekeeping. A number of bones from former prisoners and creatures lie heaped about these materials, acting as magical guardians for three chests—one made of gold, one made of silver, and one made of oak.
The three locked chests can be opened with a successful DC 14 Dexterity check using thieves' tools. However, doing so triggers this area's protective magic.
Creatures
Opening the gold chest causes the bones in the room to assemble into a giant skeleton. Opening the silver chest results in the bones becoming a skeletal juggernaut. Opening the oak chest creates a skeletal swarm from the bones. If more than one chest is opened, these monsters each assemble in turn, with the next appearing when the previous threat is destroyed. However, if all three chests are opened simultaneously, the bones remain inanimate.
Treasure
Panels meant for the tomb's walls are stored here. Each panel is approximately 2 feet wide and 3 feet long, weighs 20 pounds, and is crafted from various materials of differing value:
- Twenty gleaming copper panels (worth 25 gp each)
- Twenty silver panels (50 gp each)
- Ten panels of rare woods inlaid with ivory (150 gp each)
- Five panels of ivory with gold inlaid (500 gp each)
The three chests hold the following:
- The gold chest has four potions of greater healing, a potion of flying, and a potion of poison.
- The silver chest contains spell scrolls of guards and wards, summon lesser demons (see appendix C), and teleportation circle; and a wand of web.
- The oak chest holds 278 pp, ninety-seven small gems (worth 10 gp each), and a peridot (5,000 gp).
Manipulating Time
Having a mechanical guide spend 1 charge in this area causes any currently active animated skeletal creature to grow weaker or stronger. Roll a d4. On a 1–2, the creature halves its hit points. On a 3–4, the creature doubles its hit points.
14. Chapel of Evil
Creatures
The roughly thirty humanoids here (use the cultist stat block) include loyal cultists pressed into service, workers being punished, and captured prisoners. None of the worshipers (except Pentival; see below) can take any actions beyond continuing to chant as long as the priest, Phenex, commands them.
Pentival
One of the prisoners includes the lawful good half-dragon paladin Pentival. Drawn to the temple by rumors of its bound balor, Pentival and his party were quickly captured. All his friends have succumbed to the magic of the temple and been transformed into black rock, but Pentival has so far held out. Of all the worshipers, he alone can communicate with the characters, quickly explaining who he is and the nature of the ceremony.
If freed, Pentival joins the characters for the remainder of their time at the tomb. He uses the half-red dragon veteran stat block, but has the form of a gold dragon. However, he insists on keeping Tarnhem imprisoned, and on attempting to destroy Moghadam.
Phenex
An incubus cleric of Vecna, Phenex directs the dark ceremony here. As long as he commands the worshipers (using a bonus action each round), they maintain their chant.
In combat, Phenex first orders the girallons to attack. As needed, he then uses his Charm action to force a character or Pentival to defend him. Due to his fanatic devotion, Phenex does not use his Etherealness action to escape a fight, but remains in the chapel to the bitter end.
Girallons
The two girallons that protect Phenex have each had a left hand and eye removed. They use the girallon stat block but can make only three claw attacks as part of their multiattack action.
Ceremony
As long as the worshipers chant, the ceremony fueling the balor's prison (x) remains active. They continue to chant while they are physically able and while Phenex commands them. The ceremony fuels Phenex as well, allowing him to maintain it without need for sustenance or sleep.
Anyone entering the chapel while the ceremony is underway must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or fall under an effect equivalent to a mass suggestion spell. While a character is under this effect, Phenex can direct them to sit and join the ceremony. Any character who does so takes up the chant, and has their Constitution score reduced by 1 each round on initiative count 0. A character reduced to 0 hit points while under this effect dies and has their body and all possessions transformed into a chunk of black rock (see below). A character under the effect of the ceremony can make another saving throw at the end of each turn, ending the effect with a success.
(This version of the ceremony is more potent than that suffered by the other worshipers, who would otherwise have all turned to black rock by now. Phenex is concentrating his magic in an effort to defeat the characters.)
If Phenex is defeated, any remaining worshipers immediately cease chanting and collapse into exhausted unconsciousness. Once a character is freed from the ceremony and out of combat, their hit point maximum is restored at a rate of 1 hit point per round. Anyone transformed into a black rock unfortunately remains in this condition.
Black Rocks
When a worshiper's life energy has been drained by the ceremony, they are transformed into a large black rock, carried out of the tomb, and set on the hillside (where they'll eventually form the image of a grinning skull). A greater restoration or wish spell can end the petrified condition for one victim, restoring them and their gear.
Altar
This block of strange material glows with an inner light of opalescent blue, owing to the missing components of the Infernal Machine of Lum the Mad wired into its workings. There are three such components, each a deep sapphire blue. Removing one component safely requires a successful DC 14 Dexterity check using thieves' tools, jeweler's tools, or tinker's tools.
In addition, Tarnhem's flaming whip and lightning-imbued longsword have also been worked into the altar. On a failed check to remove a missing component, these weapons cast a lightning bolt or a fireball at the character making the check (a 50 chance for either spell; save DC 16 for both). If Tarnhem is freed, he comes here directly to recover these weapons, and is the only creature that can do so. Anyone else attempting to claim them automatically triggers a lightning bolt or a fireball.
Manipulating Time
Having a mechanical guide spend 1 charge in this area reverts one of the black rocks back to a living worshiper.
15. Secret Door
A secret door here leads to a hallway beyond. The door is unlocked and can be found with a successful DC 18 Wisdom (Perception) check.
16. Rift to the Lower Planes
The ceremony that summoned Tarnhem resulted in an unstable rift to the Lower Planes opening up in this area. The far end of the hallway is scribed with glyphs and sigils, and leads to an open fiery pit—a portal to the Abyss. The unstable magic of the portal prevents any creature that is not a fiend from stepping through it. If Tarnhem is freed, he eventually comes this way and escapes.
Manipulating Time
Having a mechanical guide spend 1 charge in this area causes a ripple in the rift's magic, allowing a creature to pass through it into the tomb. Roll a d6. On a 1–5, treat this effect as a summon lesser demons spell. On a 5–6, treat it as a summon greater demon spell. (See appendix C for both those spells.) Pick one character at random to be treated as the summoner.
17. Flooding Pit
The corridor beyond the secret door at x contains three open 10-foot-deep pits. Lying at the bottom of each pit, a number of skeletons are shackled to the walls. In addition, the outline of a door on the south wall of each pit can be seen.
Flooding Trap
The first two pits are trapped, such that anyone trying the false door at the bottom causes a stone slab to slide across the opening, the skeletons to animate (see below), and the pit to begin filling with water. It takes 5 rounds to completely fill a pit, leaving no air space at the top. After one hour, the slab opens and the water drains away.
A successful DC 20 Strength check allows a character inside or outside the pit to pry the slab open, allowing escape from the pit. A character proficient with mason's tools can also make a DC 18 Dexterity check using those tools, cracking open the slab on a success.
Creatures
The first pit contains four humanoid skeletons. The second contains two umber hulk exoskeletons (use the minotaur skeleton stat block, but treat its greataxe attack as a claws attack and its gore attack as a mandibles attack). The third looks like it contains the skeleton of a large wolf-headed humanoid, but a successful DC 13 Wisdom (Perception) check reveals that the creature is a mix of humanoid and animal bones. The bones do not animate.
When either of the first two pits are sealed, the skeletons within animate. They remain shackled to the walls, but attack any character in the pit to hinder any attempt to escape from the flooding chamber.
True Doorway
The third pit contains an actual door leading to area 18.
Manipulating Time
Having a mechanical guide spend 1 charge in this area opens one closed pit at random, or closes one pit at random if all the pits are open.
18. Guardian Door
When any character approaches the door, the tortle's head animates and intones: "Are you the master?"
Opening Riddle
The door unlocks automatically for Moghadam or Seodra the gemsmith. To anyone else, it repeatedly asks, "Who is the master?" The correct answer to the question can be found in Moghadam's office (x): "The true master of the tomb is he who plans its construction." With any answer other than that phrase or the name "Moghadam," the door replies that the speaker is not the master and refuses to open.
Soul Gem
The door's eye is gem set with a smaller version of one of a demilich's soul gems. The gem can be removed only by a character proficient with jeweler's tools who succeeds on a DC 13 Dexterity check using the superior jeweler's tools found in x of chapter 4. A successful check removes the soul gem, which destroys the gem and unlocks the door.
A character who attempts to remove or destroy the gem in any other way must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or take 11 (2d10) force damage.
Manipulating Time
Having a mechanical guide spend 1 charge in this area causes the door to intone: "The master does not resort to feeble manipulations of a clock to open this door. You are not the master."
18a. Gemsmith's Workshop
Seodra, a master gemsmith in the employ of Moghadam, maintains her workshop here, although she is currently a prisoner in the Temple of Moloch (see chapter 4).
Curtains
The first three curtains are sheets of thick webbing that function as the product of the web spell. The fourth is a disguised trapper kept by Seodra as a pet, and which attacks anyone who passes by it except Seodra and Moghadam.
Once the characters move beyond the curtains, read:
When the first character descends the stairs, the body rises to its feet.
Creature
The body is a greater zombie, used by Seodra as a manikin and animated assistant. It automatically stands up whenever anyone enters the workshop, but does not attack unless Seodra's gems are touched (see below).
Treasure
In addition to a set of jeweler's tools, one worktable contains plans for crafting the jeweled silver skull of a demilich. The three large diamonds (worth 1,000 gp each) have already been cut and fashioned into teeth. These are meant for the skull currently in Seodra's possession (see chapter 4).
Manipulating Time
Having a mechanical guide spend 1 charge in this area causes the manikin to approach the table and indefinitely pantomime searching for its missing head. Spending 2 charges causes it to search briefly, then settle back down to the couch, where it remains inert until anyone new enters the workshop.