Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk

Missing Individuals

The following people are still missing. These NPCs use the commoner stat block. You should feel free to add more Phandalin townspeople people the list of those who are missing.

Quest: Pip's Adventure

[image: A young boy named Pip followed some strange monsters deep into the hills, and the characters must bring him safely home]

This side mission can provide the characters with a base of operations for the rest of this chapter and can easily start at the end of the characters' meeting with Gwyn Oresong at Stonehill Inn.

The Stonehills' ten-year-old son, Pip, hasn't returned from playing in the fields southeast of town. Toblen or Trilena Stonehill asks the characters to search the field and bring Pip home.

Quest: The Odd Cow

[image: Daisy the Cow]

The people of Phandalin aren't the only ones suffering from the Far Realm's creeping influence. Daisy, a cow that escaped from Old Narth's farm just north of Phandalin, ate some clover that was growing where the psionic goblins stopped to rest with a piece of the obelisk. The clover infected Daisy with a disturbing malady.

While the characters are in Phandalin, several townspeople describe a strange, greenish glow emanating from Edermath Orchard. If the characters ask Gwyn about it, she expresses concern that the same strange power the Sawplee goblins wielded might be at work somehow here. In fact, Daisy is the source of the glow. Tentacles occasionally slither from Daisy's body, flail about, and retreat into her skin without leaving a mark.

Quest: Missing Miners

Halia Thornton at the Miner's Exchange needs to find some missing miners. She first approaches any character she recruited into the Zhentarim, but she needs the job done regardless.

Dwarven Construction

The temple's stone remains strong despite millennia of neglect. Surviving furnishings, such as tables and beds, are also made of stone. Wall carvings of mountain peaks and multifaceted gemstones predominate, as these images are sacred to Dumathoin.

Darkness

The temple's sconces haven't held torches in ages. The current denizens of Talhundereth rely on darkvision to see. Area descriptions assume the characters have a light source or some other method of seeing in the dark.

Doors

Doors throughout the temple are made of 2-inch-thick slabs of stone with simple handles a few feet from the floor. They open and close easily on ancient hinges. Doors are unlocked unless otherwise specified.

Ceilings

Ceilings throughout the temple are 12 feet high unless the text states otherwise.

T1: Temple Entrance

The cloth propping open one side of the double door contains the withered corpse of a human smuggler.

The tunnel leading from the crevasse to the west is 5 feet high, with occasional carved steps and smoothed rock edges. The passage leads to x in Gibbet Crossing.

T2: Deepening Hall

Two galeb duhr, Fremine and Frowode, lurk near the collapse, disguised as boulders. They are guards for the medusa in area T3. If anyone approaches the door to area T3, one of them stands and commands the intruders to leave while the other prepares to fight if necessary.

If a fight breaks out with the galeb duhr, the occupants of area T3 come to investigate after 3 rounds. The occupants of T3 act immediately after the galeb duhr.

T3: Lesser Chapel

[image: Honna]

This chapel, intended for Talhundereth's visitors, was plundered of its gemstones long ago. It's now the lair of a medusa named Honna and her companions. Only one companion, a galeb duhr named Cameren, is with her now (the others are in area T2). Honna loves art, and she scours the world for the most exquisite creatures she can transform into statues. She likes the carvings here and has been gradually capturing bandits and explorers to force them into kneeling poses before petrifying them; the statues are three of her victims. Honna's galeb duhr idolize her and eagerly serve as her bodyguards, though she doesn't care much about their fates and hasn't bothered to learn their names.

Honna is likely to react to intruders with violence, but if the characters try to talk with her, she spins a lie about the sanctity of the dwarven spirits here. She asks the characters to kneel in reflection as shown in the carvings, then tries to petrify them.

T4: Priest Quarters

A lesser priest charged with tending the chapel resided here long ago; it's now where Honna sleeps.

The collapse formed a narrow passage between this area and the vault (x). Small or smaller creatures can traverse the passage normally. Medium or larger creatures can traverse the passage after spending 8 hours clearing boulders away (either one person clearing boulders for 8 hours, four people clearing boulders for 2 hours, or any equivalent combination).

T5: Sparring Chamber

People who used this chamber didn't only spar with each other; they also tested their prowess against three suits of magically animated plate armor sized for dwarves. These constructs still stand ready to fight intruders. One is a helmed horror; the other two are animated armors. When a character spends more than a few moments in this room, the helmed horror utters, "squad tactics routine" in Dwarvish and all three suits of armor attack. They don't attack anyone who clearly surrenders and leaves the room, though they'll attack if the characters who surrender return. The suits don't leave this room.

T6: Training Master's Quarters

Over the years, many training masters lived here. A training master oversaw all the sparring in the adjacent room.

T7: Armory

Six dust mephits lair here with a wight who follows them around and aids their malicious antics. The creatures are hiding when the characters enter this room, and they ambush the characters unless one or more characters succeed on a DC 14 Wisdom (Perception) check.

When there are no intruders, the mephits fixate on what lies behind the locked door to the vault (area T8) and make ineffective attempts to breach it. They can't unlock the door, and their clumsy efforts have choked the vault's locks with dust.

This armory was looted long ago, but casual looters were unable to breach the heavy locked door to the vault at the back of the armory.

T8: Vault

The door from the armory (area T7) is secured with a complex lock. If the characters examine it, read the following:

All three locks must be opened before the vault door will open. One of the locks is already unlocked. Each of the other two can be opened with a successful DC 18 Dexterity check using thieves' tools, although any inspection of the locks determines they're caked with dust. If the dust isn't cleared from the locks, Dexterity checks to open them have disadvantage.

The characters might also enter this room through the collapse from x. Opening the locked door from the inside is straightforward.

When the characters peer into the vault, read the following:

T9: Residential Room

This room served as a lounge. Several bones are scattered around the bloody chair. A character who succeeds on a DC 10 Wisdom (Animal Handling) check identifies them as goat bones and surmises the blood on the chair is also from a goat. The goat recently wandered from an underground traveling caravan. When it stumbled into Talhundereth, a member of the Cult of the Obelisk sacrificed it in unfettered devotion to the obelisk.

If the characters make a lot of noise here, Falfark (see area T10) peeks from the adjacent room to investigate.

T10: Private Rooms

There are seven of these rooms, all furnished similarly. When the characters enter the northwest room, read the following:

The northwest room is currently inhabited by a Humanoid mutate named Falfark and an encephalon gemmule (see appendix A for both stat blocks) that Falfark treats as a guardian. Falfark is a member of the Cult of the Obelisk.

Falfark prefers surprise or treachery when he's outnumbered, but he's too erratic to be duplicitous. He frequently preaches about the stone that "speaks the truth of the Far Realm" and "disgorges its young to feed." He speaks like a deluded prophet and encourages the characters to feed the smallest among them to his gemmule. If the characters resist or threaten them, Falfark and the gemmule attack in a fury.

If the characters don't do anything about the gemmule within a week of encountering Falfark, the gemmule transforms into an adult encephalon cluster that consumes Falfark as its first meal.

T11: Common Room

Long ago, invading mind flayers and temple defenders fought fiercely in this room. Psychic echoes of the battle have drawn an intellect snare.

The intellect snare lurks in an alcove behind the stack of metal chests. It amplifies the psychic echoes in this room to show a scene of a wailing mind flayer atop the table, struck so hard by an armored dwarf's hammer that the stone table cracked. The image of the dwarf retreats toward the stacked chests with a triumphant cry, beckoning the viewer to follow. As soon as a creature gets within the range of the intellect snare's Cacophony of Minds, it slithers forth and attacks. It follows foes who retreat and fights until slain.

T12: Kitchen

This kitchen has a few enchantments that remain active. The sink replenishes itself with fresh water every hour using create or destroy water, first eliminating water and then conjuring clean water to replace it. The oven maintains a constant temperature suitable for cooking. These furnishings are too heavy to be moved.

The only people who have used this kitchen recently are the drow explorers camped in the reading room (x).

T13: Pantry

The goods once stored on the shelves in this old pantry are long decayed, leaving nothing other than a few empty casks and boxes.

T14: Reading Room

[image: Two brothers and their associates infiltrated Talhundereth and are trying to retrieve their father from an evil cult]

The dwarves of Talhundereth were protective of their library and unwilling to share its lore with most visitors. Typically, knowledge seekers would speak with the temple's librarian and wait here while the librarian retrieved books for them.

Three neutral drow temporarily live here. Their names are Erdan Vosselth, Thiala Sharne, and Vellios Keethe, and they have proudly worked for the Henlifel family as guards and laborers their whole lives. The drow are quick to fight Aberrations that intrude in their camp, but they cautiously greet other creatures (including the characters) in the hope of avoiding violence and maybe even making allies.

T15: Librarian's Room

Nythalyn and Yanthdel Henlifel, both neutral drow elite warriors, rest and plan in this bedroom. The drow brothers speak Common in addition to Elvish and Undercommon; Yanthdel also speaks Dwarvish. The most significant item among their scattered notes is a scrap of rough cloth with a map of areas x, x, and x through x, including the secret door to this room.

T16: Library

The drow explorers perused the surviving books in this library but found nothing of use. Most of the surviving books describe Dumathoin's faith, gem cutting secrets, or forgotten mines. The books are written in Dwarvish.

T17: Defaced Statue

[image: A member of the Cult of the Obelisk named Malinia defaces a statue]

This room, once at the end of the Deepening Hall (x), is 30 feet high.

The Cult of the Obelisk labors to transform this statue of Dumathoin into the likeness of the encephalon cluster that guards the obelisk fragment they revere. The plinth is 15 feet high, and the statue atop it is another 10 feet tall.

A Humanoid mutate named Malinia is defacing the statue. Malinia is perched on the statue's wide shoulders, 20 feet above the floor. Four encephalon gemmules (see appendix A for both stat blocks) occasionally gnaw on chips of stone that fall from Malinia's work. The cultist is quick to send the gemmules into battle, supporting them from her high perch with Nightmare Blast attacks.

T18: Cleansing Chamber

Worshipers of Dumathoin approaching the worship hall (x) cleansed themselves in these basins. This room is now the domain of four Humanoid mutates who are members of the Cult of the Obelisk. One of them is Ontharyx, the father of the brothers in x. He has the stats of a Humanoid mutate, but he also has Deception +4. The other three mutates are named Chals, Harralie, and Paulam.

The cultists are happy to see people they can kill and feed to the monster in the worship hall to the south (area T21). They've seen the drow explorers lurking about and are eager to fight. They utter phrases like "Food for the obelisk is food for the brain!" and "Your souls will twist in the Far Realm!"

If the characters express a desire to talk with Ontharyx, he makes a big show of calling off his cultists and listening to what the characters have to say. He offers to talk, but not if it means leaving sight of the other cultists. This eagerness to talk is a ruse; Ontharyx has no intention of leaving Talhundereth just because his sons are "too ignorant to see that the obelisk is a keyhole to impossible truths of the Far Realm." If Ontharyx can use a pretense of diplomacy to split up the characters, get one or both of his sons alone, or any similar advantage, he attacks. Any character who succeeds on a DC 14 Wisdom (Insight) check predicts his impending treachery.

T19: Procession Hall

These images were once brilliantly painted, but only the paint around the eye sockets and clasped hands of the dwarves remains, leaving an impression of sickness and suspicion.

[image: The procession hall leading to the Crypt of the Talhund is lined with sacred statues of dwarves]

T20: Crypt Entrance

The dial serves as a lock to the entrance of the Crypt of the Talhund. Fourteen carvings cross the dial, which has a fixed arrow pointing downward at its top. The indentation in the dial's middle is a magical keyhole that requires the insertion of a faceted gemstone.

T21: Worship Hall

This large worship hall was the site of a fierce battle between the mind flayers and the temple defenders. The statue depicting one aspect of Dumathoin as a kingly dwarf survived the intense fight, but the altar before the statue did not.

Dwarven Made

The crypt is solid dwarven construction. Its stone remains strong despite millennia of neglect. Carvings of dwarf priests are prevalent, as are carvings of mountain peaks and multifaceted gemstones. Subtle enchantments cause the carvings of gemstones to glitter like genuine gems.

Darkness

The crypt isn't illuminated, and its denizens rely on darkvision to see. Area descriptions assume that the characters have a light source or some other method of seeing in the dark.

Doors

Doors throughout the temple are made of 2-inch-thick slabs of stone with simple handles a few feet from the floor. They open and close easily on ancient hinges. Doors and secret doors are unlocked unless otherwise specified.

Ceilings

Ceilings throughout the crypt are 12 feet high.

Unnamed

Although many dead are buried here, nothing indicates the names of the deceased. The temple's followers believed that Dumathoin gives the Talhund new, secret names in death, so their mortal names aren't memorialized.

Crypt Hauntings

The crypts retain the echoes of the mind flayers' invasion, and these echoes make the spirits within the crypt uneasy. Where the text references a crypt haunting, roll a d6 and consult the Crypt Hauntings table to determine the nature of the ghostly image or effect encountered there (or choose one that seems evocative). A haunting can't leave the location where it's encountered and doesn't physically interact with the characters in any way.

In each location with a haunting, there's a way to put the haunt to rest (usually by restoring the location's solemnity or removing evidence of mind flayer activity); these methods are listed in the relevant areas. Putting the haunt to rest means the haunting no longer occurs there. Any character who worships Dumathoin knows how to put the haunts to rest. Otherwise, characters who succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom (Perception) check know.

If the characters take a long rest in the crypt, you can have a random crypt haunting appear at that location anytime during their rest. These spontaneous hauntings can't be put to rest, but they don't need to be quelled to purify the crypt. Once the crypt is purified no haunts ever occur there.

These hauntings are disturbing, and the fifth and sixth options on the table below involve body horror. Check your players' comfort level before including these hauntings in your game; you can roll a d4 instead.

Purifying the Crypt

Purifying the Crypt of the Talhund requires quelling all the crypt hauntings and defeating the ghosts. When this happens, a sigh like grinding stone echoes through the crypt, and each room momentarily flickers with light. No more crypt hauntings appear in any locations, and no spontaneous hauntings occur.

P1: Lower Landing

Each sarcophagus holds a dwarf crypt guardian whose spirit was corrupted by the mind flayers' magic. When a sarcophagus is disturbed or a living creature attempts to leave through the doorway to the west, all four crypt guardians burst out to fight until destroyed. The crypt guardians use the revenant stat block with the following changes:

• They speak Dwarvish only.
• They have sworn vengeance against all living trespassers in the crypt.
• They don't rejuvenate if the characters have put the crypt's haunts to rest (see the "x" section).

The stone in this room was badly weakened in the mind flayer assault. The statues fall to pieces if disturbed, creating 3 across the southern half or northern half of the room, depending on which statue is broken. The four sarcophagi also collapse if disturbed, though each creates 3 only in its square.

P2: Ghostly Hall

There is a crypt haunting in this somber hall (see "x" in the "x" section). Returning the hall to silence by defeating or driving off the creatures in the watery room at the end of the hall (x) puts the haunt to rest.

P3: Corpse Preparation Rooms

These rooms all look similar, and each can be described as follows:

Specially trained attendants prepared deceased Talhund in these connected rooms:

• East Room. Attendants here washed the bodies and stitched up any wounds. The basin is empty except for a few pumice stones.
• Center Room. Attendants here placed a sanctified gemstone within the corpse's chest. The basin once held dozens of sacred gemstones, but the mind flayers took the gems when they vanquished this place's defenders. The basin is now empty.
• West Room. Attendants here dressed and armored the prepared corpses. The basin holds several jumbled pieces of armor; see "Treasure" below.

P4: Hidden Sanctum Access Rooms

The stone doors to access the rotating sanctum (x) pull open. If the sanctum hasn't been rotated into position (see areas x and x), the doors are blocked by solid stone. Otherwise, they open into area P14.

P5: Watery Chamber

[image: The ruins of the Crypt of the Talhund now serve as lairs for many monsters, including a hydra and a water weird]

The collapse that occurred here long ago disturbed an underground wellspring, flooding the whole area.

A hydra named Grandlejaw dozes in the water, keeping one or two heads alert for danger. The source of the splashing is a high-strung water weird named Kellikilli. After realizing Kellikilli is inedible, Grandlejaw grudgingly decided to tolerate the water weird. The water weird's constant, frenetic motion keeps the water bubbly, which the hydra enjoys. Kellikilli likes fighting alongside a creature as tough as Grandlejaw.

If the characters approach this room cautiously, they see Grandlejaw and Kellikilli interacting: Grandlejaw grumpily nips at the water weird for jostling a sleeping head, and Kellikilli responds with a high-pitched giggle and squirts water into one of Grandlejaw's faces.

The water weird is too distracted to notice anyone who doesn't disturb the water, but the hydra is hungry and attacks anything that looks edible. If a fight breaks out, the water weird stays in the pool but grabs creatures and drags them into the pool if it can. If the water weird is badly injured or if the hydra is slain, the water weird flees.

P6: Honored Approach

The stone door to the north has the words "the honored dead" carved into it in Dwarvish. The askew door to the east bears the words "relics of the dead," also in Dwarvish. Any character who examines the skull next to the crooked door recognizes it as that of a mind flayer. The skull crumbles if roughly handled.

There is a crypt haunting here (see "x" in the "x" section). Fixing the door and removing the mind flayer skull puts the haunt to rest. Repairing the door requires several minutes of work with a relevant set of tools, such as mason's tools, as well as proficiency with those tools.

P7: Reliquary

This room was the site of a fierce fight between the mind flayer invaders and the clay golem in the next room. The clay golem ultimately drove off the mind flayers, but not before the mind flayers stole most of the dwarven relics kept here.

The headless skeleton is a mind flayer's, and any character who examines it notes this and the fact that the skeleton matches the skull in area P6.

There is a crypt haunting here (see "x" in the "x" section). Destroying the headless mind flayer skeleton puts the haunt to rest.

P8: Honored Dead

The figure is a clay golem maintains its vigil here. It is 10 feet tall and shaped to resemble an armored dwarf. Even hundreds of years after it repelled the mind flayer attack, the golem remains vigilant. It pursues foes who flee into areas x and x, but not further.

Each sarcophagus contains the brittle bones of a dwarf. As the mind flayers never bypassed the clay golem guardian and these sarcophagi are farthest from the obelisk fragment that taints the crypt with its magic, these are the only Talhund to remain at rest.

P9: Historian's Tomb

This is the vault of a great dwarf historian and priest, Thorgran Ironquill, who devoted his life to assembling a written history of Dumathoin's works. Thorgran's masterwork, He of the Hidden Gemstone, is more fable than history, but his pupils copied the entire text onto the walls of the historian's resting place when they believed he died.

The sarcophagus is empty. Thorgran faked his death to go on one last important journey; the characters can discover the historian's true fate in chapter 7.

P10: Founder's Tomb

The sarcophagus contains a single dwarf skeleton (see the accompanying stat block). This was the influential priest who first received Dumathoin's vision for Talhundereth and who oversaw its initial construction. As fourteen Talhund assisted her, the number fourteen became important throughout Talhundereth and the crypt.

If the characters have put the crypt's haunts to rest (see the "x" section), the skeleton remains at rest when the characters enter. Otherwise, the skeleton pushes open the sarcophagus lid to attack when anyone enters. If a character spends an action, invokes the name of Dumathoin, and succeeds on a DC 14 Intelligence (Religion) check, the skeleton stops attacking, though it attacks the characters again if they reenter the room.

P11: Valiant Approach

There is a crypt haunting here (see "x" in the "x" section) that manifests immediately.

Four dwarf skeletons (see area P10) lumber from x as soon as anyone enters this room. Two more dwarf skeletons come from area P12 at the start of each subsequent round until all fourteen dwarf skeletons have entered the fray. Any skeletons already in a fight pursue fleeing foes. The skeletons fight until destroyed.

If a character spends an action, invokes the name of Dumathoin, and succeeds on a DC 14 Intelligence (Religion) check, one skeleton stops attacking. The characters can temporarily stop all the skeletons, though all such skeletons attack the characters again if they reenter the room.

Defeating all fourteen skeletons or temporarily stopping them as described above puts this area's haunt to rest.

Words carved above the doorway leading to area P12 read "the valiant dead" in Dwarvish.

P11a: Narrow Corridor

This long hallway connects areas x and x.

P12: Valiant Dead

The door to this area is slightly ajar. The fourteen dwarves laid to rest on these slabs animated as skeletons, which the characters faced already in x.

P13: General's Tomb

Brelta Gemblade—the dwarf general who was instrumental in securing peace in the region—was laid to rest here, along with her loyal aides, Murnig and Nelja.

The general and both of her aides have returned from the dead as ghosts. If the characters have put the crypt's haunts to rest (see the "x" section), the ghosts don't manifest when the characters enter the room. Otherwise, the ghosts attack when the characters enter. If a character spends an action, invokes the name of Dumathoin, and succeeds on a DC 14 Intelligence (Religion) check, the ghosts stop attacking.

P14: Rotating Sanctum

[image: Finding the obelisk shard hidden in the Crypt of the Talhund requires opening a tricky device to access a hidden room]

Three wraiths manifest and attack as soon as any other creature enters the room. They can't leave the room and fight until destroyed.

P15: Blessed Dead

The virtuous souls of the priests interred here weren't affected by the mind flayers' corruption, but the six crypt guardians assigned to watch over the dead were. When a character enters this area, the slumped skeletons rise as six revenants with the following changes:

• They speak Dwarvish only.
• They have sworn vengeance against all living trespassers in the crypt.
• They don't rejuvenate if the characters have put the crypt's haunts to rest (see the "x" section).

These guardians can't leave the area until the characters rotate the sanctum and the wall between areas P11 and P15 pulls aside. The crypt guardians make their way into the crypt's western half to fight intruders there. If the characters split up to pull the levers in areas x and x, the revenants split up to attack both locations.

If the characters have put the crypt's haunts to rest (see the "Purifying the Crypt" section), the guardians' bodies don't rise. Otherwise, the revenants attack the characters on sight.

If a character spends an action, invokes the name of Dumathoin, and succeeds on a DC 14 Intelligence (Religion) check, one revenant stops attacking and returns to its rest. The characters can temporarily stop all the revenants from attacking, though the revenants attack the characters again if the characters reenter the room.

P16: Haunted Hall

There is a crypt haunting here (see "x" in the "x" section) that manifests when a creature steps within 5 feet of the door to the architect's tomb (area P17). Defeating the mummy in that room quells the haunt.

The doorway at the north end of this hall is carved with the words "the blessed dead" in Dwarvish. The southern doorway is carved with "the digging dead" in Dwarvish.

P17: Architect's Tomb

The statue is an old shield guardian bound to the crypt's architect, who was buried here with several sheaves of his best architectural plans. The corrupted energies unleashed by the mind flayers bound the designs to the corpse of the dwarf, creating a mummy wrapped in architectural plans. If the characters have put the crypt's haunts to rest (see the "x" section), the mummy doesn't animate and the statue doesn't move. Otherwise, the mummy pushes off the lid to the sarcophagus and rises to slay intruders, while the shield guardian protects it. The mummy has complete knowledge of the crypt, and might, for example, move through the rotating sanctum (x) to intercept characters who flee.

If a character spends an action, invokes the name of Dumathoin, and succeeds on a DC 14 Intelligence (Religion) check, the shield guardian and the mummy stop attacking. The creatures attack the characters again if they reenter the room.

P18: Obelisk Chamber

[image: A wizard hid an obelisk fragment in a mining cart in the Crypt of the Talhund]

The seven carvings are no mere decorations; each covers a burial niche in which a miner-turned-priest was put to rest. These miner-priests were among the most revered of the Talhund, as they had lived the experience of Dumathoin's teachings before hearing the call to join the clergy.

Illumination

Continual flame spells still illuminate the natural tunnels after many years, but the chambers are unlit and the current denizens rely on darkvision to see. Descriptions of unlit areas assume that the characters have a light source or some other method of seeing in the dark.

Doors

Doors throughout Gibbet Crossing are made of 2-inch-thick slabs of stone. Any door opening into a natural tunnel has grooves to place a reinforcing bar, but the bars are nowhere to be found, except in the passage to Talhundereth (x).

Ceilings

Ceilings in the svirfneblin enclave (areas x to x) are 9 feet high. Ceilings in the rest of Gibbet Crossing are 10 feet high, unless the text states otherwise.

G1: Surface Entrance

The tunnel from the surface winds down through the earth for more than a mile. The deepest point is a cave-in that collapsed the back wall of this room.

The words on the door leading south to the workshop repeat "toil" in Dwarvish.

Previous explorers have taken everything of value from this room. The painted red mark is intended to indicate a safe exit door, although the characters might interpret it differently.

G2: Storeroom

The heavy bars were raw materials for the duergar workshop, left here once the duergar started relying on mithral from their svirfneblin neighbors. The bars are badly rusted and valueless. If a dwarf character or a character proficient in the History skill inspects the bars, they identify markings indicating they are of duergar make. A character proficient in History also realizes the duergar clan that once used these marks is long gone, overwhelmed by mind flayers many generations ago.

G3: Cage Workshop

Four feral ashenwights are bound to the workshop in which they worked while alive. They attack trespassers and fight until destroyed.

This workshop was used to create metal cages of various sizes, all adorned with wicked spikes pointing inward and outward, or both. Cunning hinges and reinforced pins make these cages easy to fold for transport when empty. The duergar ran a moderately successful business selling these macabre cages, but their business reached new heights when they started incorporating lightweight mithral into their folding cages.

G4: Living Quarters

Ashes and burn marks on the floor indicate past campfires. Remains of wooden chairs in the alcove to the south appear to have been broken up for firewood.

The long hallway to the west includes doors to the showroom (area G5) and the depleted mine (x).

G5: Showroom

The duergar would show off collapsible cages to prospective purchasers in this room. The chain devil in the adjacent prison (area G6) comes here to investigate any sounds of intruders.

G6: Prison

Duergar diabolists bound a chain devil to this room long ago. She dimly remembers her name is Vakketar. When the mind flayers routed the duergar, they blasted Vakketar's mind and left her for dead. The chain devil survived, however, as did the magic that binds her here. She can leave this area for only 1 minute at a time before the binding magic compels her to return.

Vakketar used to demonstrate the efficacy of the cages for customers, usually on captured thieves or duergar who worked too slowly. She might talk briefly with the characters, but only as a pretense to determine their numbers and weaknesses. She can't comprehend the passage of time except with extraordinary concentration.

An ageless and sadistic jailer, Vakketar likes to catch intruders and shove them into the spiked cages. She has captured many curious travelers over the years and tries to capture the characters, too.

G7: Stairs to Flooded Passage

A subterranean waterway flooded this passage several decades ago, and it's now completely submerged. Part of the tunnel has collapsed, creating an opening to the negotiation chamber (x).

G8: Intersection

A grick alpha recently moved into this area and is coiled around one of the eastern stalactites, where it can easily slither down the nearby wall to snag prey. A character who succeeds on a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check notices the grick, which attacks when noticed. The first time it is injured, the grick emits a loud squeal that draws the gricks lairing in the mine (area G9) to its aid. Qunbraxel's grimlocks know to avoid the grick when they come this way on errands.

Although the days when this intersection was a bustling market are gone, it resonates with faint psychic echoes of traders and travelers conducting business. Characters who enter this area hear momentary auditory hallucinations of this ancient business.

G9: Depleted Mine

Six gricks lair here amid the nests they've made from their own mucus. The characters might have already encountered them if the grick alpha in the adjacent intersection squealed for aid.

The duergar initially tried to mine metal for their cage workshop here, but they soon learned the svirfneblin provided better product. The door at the rear of the mine was installed later as an escape route that let many duergar flee the mind flayers during the attack.

G10: Collapsed Tunnel

[image: Ropers lurk amid the ruined mine tunnels]

Two ropers lurk amid the stones here. They enjoy ambushing travelers, but there haven't been many travelers recently. The ropers don't know that gricks have been poaching their potential prey. They're hungry and desperate for victims.

The ropers know about the strange effect in the adjacent receiving room (x). Once one roper is defeated, the other one retreats just inside the doorway of the receiving room to gain the protection that room provides.

The long-ago collapse caused desperate times for the svirfneblin enclave. The tunnel once led to several other svirfneblin communities from which these svirfneblin acquired mithral, but the collapse proved too extensive for even the skilled tunnelers to safely excavate. The isolated svirfneblin began to rely on traders from Talhundereth to get mithral, even though this cut deeply into their profits.

G11: Talhundereth Passage

Breaking into this room from area G10 is difficult, as the door is barred. A character can remove the bar from the other side by succeeding on a DC 15 Dexterity check using thieves' tools, or by succeeding on a DC 21 Strength (Athletics) check to shove the door hard enough to break the bar. Qunbraxel rightly believes a passage to Talhundereth is behind the door, so the mind flayer sent grimlocks to investigate. The door bears marks from Qunbraxel's grimlocks. The ropers from area G10 ate the grimlocks before they could get through the door.

The fissure at the north end of this room leads to x in Talhundereth (see map 6.3). The svirfneblin worked hard to limit this access to Talhundereth and kept watch here. They weren't expecting a mind flayer attack from Talhundereth and were quickly dispatched.

G12: Receiving Room

This room's blurry appearance is the result of a permanent magical effect from when the mind flayers burst into this room and slaughtered the svirfneblin. The gnomes cast blur as a last-ditch effort, and their magic soaked into the room, making everything within it harder to see. Attacks against creatures or objects in the room have disadvantage unless the attacker doesn't rely on sight, as with blindsight, or can see through illusions, as with truesight.

G13: Private Rooms

The svirfneblin stationed at this outpost shared rooms. Anyone stepping into one of these rooms has a momentary flash of dread, as though being awoken by a warning of an ambush occurring nearby. This is a psychic remnant from the mind flayer attack.

G14: Toppled Tower

A xorn named Zoklork lairs here with two earth elementals. They are discussing the tower in Terran.

G15: Duergar Delegate Room

Drow and duergar living in this area didn't trust each other but realized the benefits of working together to obtain greater profits from their wares. This is the room where duergar prepared for negotiations with drow. The metal pieces on the table are hinges from the duergar folding cages, which they'd intended to show off.

The carving above the archway reads "trust no one" in Dwarvish.

G16: Negotiating Chamber

The water makes this room 3 for creatures without a swimming speed. Four chuuls lurk here, alert for prey entering from any direction. They know about the secret door in the south wall (see below), but they also know that a dangerous creature is beyond it. They don't pass through the secret door unless they can chase foes that way.

G17: Drow Delegation Room

The metal frames used to be comfortable chairs, but everything other than the frames has rotted away.

The carved script reads "distrust all strangers" in Elvish.

G18: Drow Passage

This wide passage leads to territory in the Underdark once claimed by drow. Two drow trading houses kept outposts on each side of the passage (areas x and x).

The lowest point of this passage is flooded with dark water about 2 feet deep.

G19: Azfadiel Receiving Room

The door leading from the wide tunnel bears a symbol of a coin with spider legs and the name "Azfadiel" in Elvish. A character who is proficient in the History skill, or who is a drow, remembers that House Azfadiel was a drow trading house that was exterminated by mind flayers generations ago.

When the mind flayers attacked, the drow denizens moved the large, empty metal cabinet in front of the door to the shrine (area G20) to hide it. This ruse worked; the mind flayers never entered the shrine or found the yochlol demon bound to protect it.

Moving the metal cabinet out of the way is necessary to open the shrine door, although the yochlol from area G20 can seep under the door and the cabinet in mist form.

Everything here is much cleaner and better maintained than other areas of Gibbet Crossing.

G20: Azfadiel Shrine

The yochlol Zuluthl was summoned by the priests of House Azfadiel, and it has remained here ever since. The demon knows that the Azfadiel drow here were killed a long time ago, but the fight was over too quickly for the yochlol to join. Although Zuluthl doesn't need to remain here, the yochlol considers itself on an extended break from the chaotic machinations of the Demonweb Pits. It enjoys the solitude and reacts violently to intruders.

G21: Receiving Room

The double door leading from the wide tunnel has a stylized symbol of a dagger thrust into a metal ingot and the name "Triestoroth" in Elvish. A character proficient in the History skill remembers that House Triestoroth was a wealthy drow trading house exterminated by mind flayers generations ago. Many people believe that House Triestoroth had undiscovered treasures hidden in well-defended vaults.

Five grimlocks live here, keeping watch on the doors and resting from their interminable excavations in the hall to the north. They keep two basilisks as pets. The grimlocks can't be petrified by the basilisks.

The door leading west is cool to the touch, due to the brown mold growing on the other side of it.

G22: Moldy Room

A 10-foot-wide patch of mold to the south is brown mold (see the Dungeon Hazards section of the Dungeon Master's Guide) and has chilled the water enough to create a thin crust of ice.

G23: Killing Hall

The arrow slits provide three-quarters cover to creatures in x.

Qunbraxel and the grimlock minions have occupied the adjacent guard room for the past few weeks. The grimlocks are likely to hear or smell intruders in the hall through the arrow slits. The grimlocks don't have ranged weapons, but Qunbraxel might attack through the narrow openings.

G24: Guard Room

[image: Qunbraxel, leader of the grimlocks in Gibbet Crossing, sits on a throne]

Qunbraxel (see the accompanying stat block) is an arrogant mind flayer warlock. Qunbraxel is either seated on the stone throne or reviewing the intricate map drawn on the wall. Qunbraxel is always attended by four loyal grimlocks. They swap this duty with other grimlocks nearby, although Qunbraxel can hardly be bothered to tell one grimlock minion from another.

Qunbraxel uses the grimlocks as front-line combatants. While Qunbraxel fights, the mind flayer telepathically berates the characters with dire warnings and predictions such as the following:

• "The ritual will devastate Phandalin! You bear witness to the rise of a new illithid empire on the surface!"
• "There is power in the Far Realm for those daring enough to seize it. And I dare!"
• "The chosen ones are preparing the ritual while you natter about!"
• "The obelisk fragments will bolster the ritual, and I will join the chosen ones when my minions deliver the fragments!" If the characters tell the mind flayer that they've already secured one or more obelisk fragments, Qunbraxel responds, "No matter! I shall add those that I can recover to the goblins' fragments, and my place among the chosen ones is assured!"
• "Those you care about in Phandalin will be transformed into illithids—if they survive at all!
• As the mind flayer is defeated, Qunbraxel boasts, "The ritual can't be stopped. The chosen ones know all about you. The Far Realm will twist your body and shatter your sanity!"

G25: Drow Vault

[image: The characters must journey deep into the Underdark to find Illithinoch. All manner of horrors await in those tunnels]

If Qunbraxel and the grimlocks relocated to this vault, the grimlocks are happily picking their teeth with bones while Qunbraxel examines the obelisk fragment.

The bones are the remains of three drow thieves. They discovered the obelisk fragment on their way to plunder this vault. The magic churning in the obelisk fragment proved to be their doom, however, as it activated the nearby mudslick tower, blocking the vault's only exit. Unable to batter through the stone tower, the thieves starved to death amid the treasures they sought.