Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage

Vlonwelv Auvryndar

Vlonwelv controls x through 5ec. The adventurers might have already encountered several of her children: her son, Ranaghax, and her daughters, T'rissa, Sylkress, and Pellanonia, on level 3, and her daughter, Melith, on level 4. The priestess is a diplomat through and through. Although incensed by the presence of adventurers in her fortress, she treats them cordially at first, offering them food, drink, shelter, and safe passage. In return, she demands that they hunt down and slay Muiral, who has become an unwelcome distraction. Vlonwelv kills them if they refuse.

The drow priestess is never encountered without her adopted drow daughter, Zress Orlezziir, and a yochlol advisor disguised as a female drow named Chalizana. To determine where the characters first meet Vlonwelv and her retinue, roll a d20 and consult the following table:

Zress Orlezziir

A deadly warrior from a destroyed drow house, Zress was adopted by Vlonwelv Auvryndar and is ready to die in the service of her savior. Vlonwelv has come to trust Zress more than she does her own children, keeping her adopted daughter close by. When determining Vlonwelv's starting location, assume Zress accompanies her.

If you have Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, use the drow house captain stat block in that book to represent Zress. Otherwise, Zress is a drow champion (see appendix A), with these changes:

• Zress is neutral evil.
• She has these racial traits: She speaks Elvish and Undercommon. She has advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can't put her to sleep. She has darkvision out to a range of 120 feet. She can innately cast dancing lights at-will, and darkness, faerie fire, and levitate(self only) each once per day. Her spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 13). While in sunlight, she has disadvantage on attack rolls, as well as on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.

Gorzil's Gang

Vlonwelv has twenty troglodytes in her service. One of them is a fat, loathsome specimen named Gorzil. A follower of the reptile god Laogzed, Gorzil secretly hopes to depose Vlonwelv, seize control of Muiral's Gauntlet, and turn it into a troglodyte warren. His dreams, however, far exceed his grasp.

The drow have trained Gorzil's gang to wear armor and fight with swords. All the members are troglodytes, with these changes:

• Each troglodyte wears a breastplate (AC 14) and wields a longsword, which it uses instead of its claws.
• As an action on its turn, a troglodyte can make two attacks with its longsword instead of attacking with its bite and claws. It wields the longsword with two hands and deals 7 (1d10 + 2) slashing damage on a hit.
• The troglodytes understand Undercommon but can't speak it.

Treasure

The skeleton's wand is a +1 wand of the war mage.

3a. Narthex

Two 20-foot-tall statues of Lolth guard the mouth of the temple. Each statue is a Huge object that can be climbed with a successful DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check.

3b. Nave

Charinidia, Grazthrae, and T'riizlin were priestesses transformed into banshees by Lolth for their vanity. If their prayers are interrupted, they attack, staggering the timing of their life-draining wails as follows:

• Charinidia wails on her first turn in combat.
• Grazthrae wails after taking damage for the first time in combat.
• T'riizlin wails after one of the other banshees is destroyed.

A detect magic spell reveals an aura of conjuration magic around the altar, which is 30 feet long, 15 feet wide, and 3 feet tall. Like a mass of webs, the altar has gaps across its surface. The first time a creature touches the altar, eight swarms of insects (spiders) magically pour out of it. The spiders quickly enshroud the altar and attack all creatures within 5 feet of it, pursuing prey that flees. If they are left alone, the spiders crawl back into the altar and disappear after 1 hour, whereupon the trap resets.

During his last visit to the nave, Muiral took any items of value from the dead adventurers. Characters who inspect the corpses find the following:

• The northern corpse (that of Kravos, a tiefling rogue) wears leather armor and clutches a shortsword. Necrotic energy causes his flesh to shrivel.
• The southern corpse (that of Zundra Underdottir, a dwarf barbarian) wears hide armor and has a greataxe lying nearby. Her face is frozen in a horrific scream.

If a character casts speak with dead on a corpse and asks what it knows about Undermountain, the corpse shares a secret determined by drawing a card from the Secrets Deck (see appendix C).

4a. Disembodied Voice

If Vlonwelv is still alive, the characters hear her disembodied voice when they enter this chamber for the first time (see "x").

4b. Laboratory

Muiral made the ghouls using the corpses of adventurers and drow. The ghouls burst forth and attack if creatures other than Muiral search the room.

The pneumatic tube attached to the west wall connects to a tube system (see "x") and allows messages to be sent in copper canisters to x. The canister lying on the floor contains a missive addressed to Muiral and signed with an H. The message, which is written in Common on a rolled-up sheet of parchment, invites Muiral to be a guest lecturer at Dweomercore (level 9).

5a. Dining Hall

5b. Kitchen

Magic caused all the kitchen's accoutrements to take flight and crash into one another. The surviving objects continue to float, doing so even if removed from the room. It takes almost no effort to move them, and they sink to the floor under 1 pound or more of additional weight. A successful dispel magic (DC 17) cast on a floating object ends the magic on it, causing it to fall.

The fireplace's 5-foot-wide chimney climbs vertically for 30 feet, then ends abruptly. The rest of it caved in long ago.

The well shaft has abundant handholds and requires a successful DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check to scale without gear or magic.

5c. Pantry

The gear on the table can be assembled into one burglar's pack and one explorer's pack, lacking the rations.

6a. Xyrxian's Statue

Xyrxian Vandree is depicted as a scowling female drow wearing a gown of spiders and holding a scourge. Her spirit rages in reaction to the death of her beloved. Her dialogue is curt and hateful.

6b. Dran'l's Statue

The statue of Dran'l Kenafin depicts a handsome male drow in a webbed robe with fists clenched and tears streaming down his face. Dran'l's spirit mourns the loss of his beloved. His dialogue is morose and brooding.

7a. Cobbleskulls

The floor of this 20-foot-high antechamber is sunken a few inches and covered wall-to-wall with humanoid skulls that are yellow and brittle with age. They look like cobblestones at first glance. The floor is 3, as the skulls shift and break apart underfoot.

7b. Hall of the Spider That Waits

If Muiral (see appendix A) is here, he's lurking in the space between the spider sculpture and the ceiling, roughly 30 feet above the floor. Upon detecting intruders, he casts animate objects on five of the drow statues and commands them to attack while he hides above the giant spider sculpture. If the animated drow statues are destroyed, Muiral casts wall of force to attempt to separate one character from the others before crawling down to attack his lone prey.

Destroying five legs of the spider sculpture causes it to break free of the ceiling and crash to the floor. Each leg has AC 17; 25 hit points; resistance to acid, cold, and fire damage; immunity to poison and psychic damage; and immunity to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical weapons that aren't adamantine. Any creature underneath the sculpture when it falls must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 66 (12d10) bludgeoning damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Casting a greater restoration spell or similar magic on a petrified drow restores it to flesh, provided the statue has not been destroyed. Drow restored in this manner have two goals: slay Muiral, and report back to their superior, Zress Orlezziir. The males are named Dhuurak, Jaratlab, Quenmourn, and Seldax. The females are Nizanna, Rezlyrr, Shynlue, and Zilvriss.

Mirror Gate to Level 1

Worked into the mirror's stone frame is an image of a wizard pointing a wand. This gate's rules are as follows:

• The gate opens for 1 minute when the mirror is touched with a magic wand that has at least 1 charge remaining.
• Characters must be 11th level or higher to pass through this gate (see "x"). The first creature to pass through the gate triggers an elder rune (see "x").
• A creature that passes through the gate appears in x, in the closest unoccupied space next to the identical gate located there.

Treasure

The dwarf that was once Falkir Gravelfist wears a steel helm shaped like the head of a boar. A detect magic spell reveals a faint aura of transmutation magic around the helm, which is cursed. Once the helm is donned, it can't be removed until its wearer dies or until a remove curse spell or similar magic is cast on the helm. Any humanoid wearing the helm gains the following flaw until the helm is removed: "I'm exceedingly stubborn and think I'm right all the time." (This flaw supersedes any conflicting flaw.)

Before he died, Falkir swallowed a gemstone called the Eye of the Spider. If the characters pierce the skin clinging to his bones and root through his chest cavity, they find the stone in what was once his stomach. Returning this gem to Joroth Brighthelm in Waterdeep completes a quest (see "x"), or the characters can sell it for 1,000 gp.

9a. The Elder Eye

A 20-foot-diameter hemisphere of magical darkness blots out much of this room and conceals a locked double door to the south. Neither light nor darkvision can pierce the inky darkness. A successful dispel magic spell (DC 18) ends the darkness for 1 minute and reveals a 12-foot-tall statue at the center of it.

The statue magically and silently reshapes itself every minute, taking on one hideous form after another. When first seen, the statue looks like a pillar of ooze with eyeless faces and twisted pseudopods protruding from it. Other forms include an eyeless giant with wings and pincers, and a lurching wave of slime covered with fang-filled mouths. Any creature that beholds the statue in any of its forms must succeed on a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or gain 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). Whether a creature succeeds or fails on the saving throw, it can't be affected by the statue again.

A character who sees the statue can, with a successful DC 15 Intelligence (Religion) check, ascertain that it represents Ghaunadaur, god of oozes, slimes, and all things subterranean.

9b. The Masked Lord

Characters who bring light sources into this room notice that the shadows created by their light seem to take on lives of their own—an eerie but harmless magical effect. Standing atop a 2-foot-high stone block in front of a locked double door is a 6-foot-tall statue of a male drow with a cruel smile who is holding a shortsword hidden behind his back. The statue wears a mask over its eyes.

The statue represents Vhaeraun, drow god of thieves. A character who succeeds on a DC 15 Intelligence (Religion) check recalls that Vhaeraun is worshiped primarily by male drow. The statue can't be transformed, damaged, or knocked off its base.

When a creature moves within reach of the statue, the statue animates and attacks the creature with its shortsword, striking unerringly and dealing 3 (1d6) damage. After wounding a creature with its sword, the statue reverts to its inanimate state until triggered again.

9c. The Dark Maiden

A magical moonbeam shines from the ceiling on a 6-foot-tall statue of a scantily clad female drow with flowing hair, frozen in a pirouette with her arms outstretched and her hands curled, as though they were meant to be holding something. The statue stands atop a 2-foot-tall block of stone that serves as a base.

The moonbeam is like that created by a moonbeam spell and engulfs the 10-foot square containing the statue. A successful dispel magic spell (DC 16) negates the moonbeam for 24 hours.

The statue depicts Eilistraee, drow god of beauty, song, and the hunt. Abhorred in drow society, the Dark Maiden was not without followers in Undermountain. The statue can't be transformed, damaged, or knocked off its base.

A character who succeeds on a DC 15 Intelligence (Religion) check recalls that Eilistraee favors the use of a sword. If such a weapon is placed in its hands, the statue's grip tightens around the hilt. (The statue does not accept illusory or spiritual weapons.) The statue then dances atop its base for 1 minute before leveling the sword at the locked set of doors to the south, causing them to open. As the doors swing open, the statue returns to its original pose and loosens its grip on the sword, causing the weapon to fall from its grasp.

11a. Lower Level

If any creature disturbs the bones in the alcove, or if Muiral commands them to rise, they coalesce into four shambling mounds made entirely of skulls and bones, with these changes:

• The shambling mounds are undead.
• Instead of immunity to lightning damage, they have immunity to necrotic and poison damage. They are also immune to the poisoned condition.
• They have Necrotic Absorption instead of Lightning Absorption. The new trait is functionally identical to the old one, except that it affects necrotic damage.

11b. Spider Queen's Balcony

The statue of Lolth animates and attacks the nearest creature if it takes damage or if any of the double doors on the balcony are opened by a creature that isn't a drow. The statue can't leave x. If the statue has no targets on its turn, it returns to its alcove and becomes inanimate until triggered again. It also returns to its alcove if the command word, "sleep," is spoken in Abyssal.

The statue is a stone golem with a challenge rating of 11 (7,200 XP) and these changes:

• The statue is Huge and has 230 (20d12 + 100) hit points.
• It understands Abyssal but can't speak.
• It can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.
• Those affected by the statue's Slow action option appear to be ensnared in ephemeral webs that vanish when the effect on them ends.

11c. Northwest Palace Quarters

The wreckage of old furniture and decor suggests that this room once served as a drow priestess's sanctuary. Built into one wall is a massive, arched fireplace. The fireplace's 5-foot-wide chimney climbs vertically for 30 feet, then ends abruptly. The rest of it caved in long ago.

11d. Southwest Palace Quarters

This room is like x but contains no treasure.

11e. Vestry

11f. Arcane Locked Doors

Muiral has cast an arcane lock spell on these doors, beyond which a stone staircase descends to x. The characters can force open the doors with a successful DC 25 Strength (Athletics) check, but doing so alerts the drow in x.

11g. Southeast Palace Quarters

This room resembles x, except that the fireplace chimney is intact. The chimney has abundant handholds and can be climbed easily. After 90 feet, it opens into a damp, soot-stained natural cave roughly 30 feet wide by 60 feet long. Buried under the soot in a corner of the cave is a swollen wooden chest.

11h. Northeast Palace Quarters

This room is like x but contains no treasure.

14a. Dining Room

If Vlonwelv is still alive, the characters hear her disembodied voice when they enter this chamber for the first time (see "x").

Before the drow were driven underground and into Lolth's evil embrace, they lived in cities on the surface alongside their elf kin. The fresco on the south wall depicts one of these ancient cities.

14b. Sitting Room

14c. Study

Two of the five books are blank. The others include Matrons of the Sunless Depths (a treatise on the importance of the drow matriarchy, written in Elvish by Vlonwelv Auvryndar), The Poison Chalice (a fictional tale of political intrigue in the city of Menzoberranzan, written in Elvish by an unknown author), and Demonic Infestations (a collection of stories about demonic possession, written in Common). None of the books are especially valuable.

14d. Mirror Gate to Level 7

Etched into the bottom of the mirror's stone frame are the letters T-U-O-Y-A-W (a reflection of W-A-Y-O-U-T). This gate's rules are as follows:

• If a creature speaks the words "Way out!" while pointing at the mirror, the gate opens for 1 minute.
• Characters must be 9th level or higher to pass through this gate (see "x"). The first creature to pass through the gate triggers an elder rune (see "x").
• A creature that passes through the gate appears in x, in the closest unoccupied space next to the identical gate located there.

17a. Temple of Ghaunadaur

Ghaunadaur, a god of subterranean horrors, is respected and feared by many Underdark races, including drow. This temple contains the following features:

The glass altar is a Large object with AC 11, 55 hit points, immunity to damage from nonmagical weapons that aren't adamantine, and immunity to acid, poison, and psychic damage.

The gray oozes attack all creatures that enter the room using their Psychic Crush action option (see the "Variant: Psychic Gray Oozes" sidebar in the "Oozes" entry in the Monster Manual). While contained in the altar, the oozes have total cover, their speed is 0 feet, and they can't attack with their pseudopods.

17b. Temple of Kiaransalee

This temple of Kiaransalee, drow god of undeath, reeks of decay and contains the following:

Only an undead creature or a creature possessed by one can open this secret door without the aid of a knock spell or similar magic.

If a character kneels before the altar and offers a prayer to Kiaransalee, or leaves a respectful offering on the altar, the room grows markedly colder as the silent ghost of a drow priestess materializes next to the altar and tries to possess the nearest humanoid creature. If it succeeds, the ghost uses its host to open the secret door, then releases its host and shifts into the Ethereal Plane. An oath of service binds the ghost to the temple for as long as it stands. The ghost is unaligned and fights only in self-defense. If reduced to 0 hit points, the ghost is destroyed for 24 hours, then re-forms.

17c. Temple of Selvetarm

The temple of Selvetarm, drow god of warriors, contains the following features:

The altar refuses to budge. A detect magic spell reveals an aura of transmutation magic around and above it. Any object weighing 10 pounds or less that is left unattended atop the altar rises until it is levitating 1 foot above the surface. This levitation field can't be dispelled but is suppressed in an antimagic field.

If a humanoid presses its cut hand (even a superficial wound will do) into the altar's hand-shaped indentation, the secret door in the south wall swings open. A knock spell or similar magic also opens the door.

17d. Temple of Vhaeraun

This temple of Vhaeraun, drow god of thieves and assassins, contains the following features:

A character who examines a curtain and succeeds on a DC 19 Wisdom (Perception) check notices the slightly darker silhouette of a drow sewn into it. If the characters find the silhouette in one curtain, they gain advantage on checks made to spot the silhouette hidden in each of the other two curtains. Each silhouette makes a sign with one of its hands; drow characters recognize these hand-signs that, collectively, spell out the Elvish phrase oloth elgg ssussun, which translates to "darkness slays light." If a creature makes these hand-signs in the proper order anywhere in the room, the secret door in the south wall swings open. A knock spell or similar magic also opens the door.

17e. Temple of Eilistraee

This temple of Eilistraee, god of beauty, dance, and the hunt, features the following:

Examination of the altar reveals Elvish runes worked into the harp. Any character who understands Elvish can translate the words as "The hymn is the key."

A character who succeeds on a DC 20 Intelligence (Religion) check recognizes the hymn as "Bwaelan Dro," or "It's Good to Be Alive," an elven song of celebration. Elves and half-elves have advantage on this check. If the hymn's name is spoken aloud anywhere in the temple, in either Common or Elvish, the secret door in the south wall swings open. A knock spell or similar magic also opens the secret door.

18a. Voices

Characters who enter this hall hear sounds of yelling and cheering from x to the east. If Vlonwelv is still alive, the characters also hear her disembodied voice as they make their way down this hallway for the first time (see "x").

Alcoves along the north wall have secret doors set into the backs of them. These doors pull open easily from this side, revealing x through 5b6 beyond.

18b. Fight Club

Thirteen of the male drow are standing in a circle around Drinrith and the fourteenth male drow, who are engaged in a duel. When Drinrith draws blood or knocks the male to the ground, she either replaces him with a new challenger or orders two other males to fight one another while she barks criticism.

If the characters allow Xarann A'Daragon to distract the room's occupants, he challenges Drinrith to a one-on-one fight. Drinrith accepts the challenge, prompting the males to shout cheers and jibes during the protracted battle and granting the characters advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to surprise the drow and the giant spiders while the contest rages.

Treasure

Kereth, Gelgos, and Jevan each carry an obsidian scarab engraved with the insignia of House Auvryndar (25 gp). Kereth also carries a zurkhwood wand (his arcane focus) and a leather-bound spellbook containing all the spells he has prepared.

Treasure

If the characters search the rubble-filled fireplace, they find a half-burned wooden scroll tube containing a spell scroll of hold person.

22a. Shaft

This 60-foot-high, 20-foot-wide stone shaft is nestled between two secret doors, one of which pulls open to reveal a stinking, filthy troglodyte den (x). The other door opens into a hallway. Characters who fall for Halaster's trap in x end up here.

22b. Troglodyte Den

Troglodytes use this filthy room as a den. The room is unoccupied when the characters first arrive.

24a. Guard Post

A foul stench wafts through the double door, which stands ajar. This partially collapsed room is empty except for piles of rubble and six troglodytes wielding longswords and wearing breastplates (see "x"). The troglodytes attack anything that isn't a troglodyte or a drow. If the adventuring party includes one or more drow characters or NPCs, the troglodytes bow their heads and wait for new orders, obeying any command from a drow that isn't clearly suicidal.

24b. Tunnels

These naturally formed tunnels wind through collapsed rooms and hallways. The walls are composed of jagged stones, and the floor throughout is silty and wet.

24c. Morgue

A foul stench wafts through the double door, which stands ajar. Piled near the tunnels at the back of the room are the stripped corpses of eight drow and sixteen troglodytes in varying stages of decay. Feasting on the remains are seven drow ghouls that were created by Vlonwelv to devour the dead. The ghouls retreat into the back tunnels when one or more drow enter the room. If a drow is not among those who enter, the ghouls attack.

25a. Hall of the Dark Seldarine

Any character who tries to sneak into this room must succeed on a DC 13 Dexterity (Stealth) check, made with disadvantage due to the large number of guards.

The fountain is fed by a natural spring and provides the drow with a virtually endless supply of fresh water. The statues stand atop stone plinths above the water, facing outward. Starting with the northernmost one and moving clockwise, the statues represent Eilistraee (god of beauty, dance, and the hunt), Malyk (god of wild magic), Kiaransalee (god of undeath), Ghaunadaur (god of oozes, slimes, and all things subterranean), Zinzerena (god of assassins), Vhaeraun (god of thieves), Lolth (the Demon Queen of Spiders and mother of the Dark Seldarine) in her drow form, and Selvetarm (god of war and warriors).

This 40-foot-square slave pen has 20-foot-high walls of smooth stone. Instead of a roof, it has a 5-foot-thick covering of sticky webs. The webs provide an effective barrier, and any creature that enters the webs or starts its turn in them is restrained. A restrained creature can use its action to try to pull itself out of the webs, doing so with a successful DC 12 Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. Each 10-foot-square section of webs has AC 10, 10 hit points, vulnerability to fire, and immunity to bludgeoning, piercing, and psychic damage.

A sturdy iron-barred gate set into the east wall is held shut with an arcane lock spell that only drow can ignore. Forcing the gate open requires a successful DC 25 Strength (Athletics) check.

The slave pen is lined with straw. It contains a halfling musical quintet that the drow kidnapped just outside the town of Daggerford. The performers call themselves the Sing-Alongs, and they're quite good. Vlonwelv makes sure that they're fed and treated well; in exchange, they fill her hall with music. The members and their instruments are Peeta Brightmoon (drum), Kevin Gladriver (fiddle), Philomena Gladriver (viol), Olivia Tallrush (horn), and Shardon Underbough (flute). They are strongheart halfling commoners, with these changes:

• The Sing-Alongs are lawful good.
• Each has a Charisma of 14 and the following skill: Performance performance 4.
• They have these racial traits: They speak, read, and write Common and Halfling. They are Small, and their walking speed is 25 feet. They have advantage on saving throws against poison and against being frightened, and they have resistance to poison damage. They can move through the space of any creature larger than they are.

Although the halfling musicians are grateful for the kind treatment of their drow captors, they have grown weak from eating nothing but mushrooms and would like to return to the surface. They have little hope of reaching Waterdeep on their own and would appreciate an escort. Getting all five band members to the Yawning Portal alive completes this quest. Durnan is pleased to have the halflings perform for his patrons and rewards the characters with a round of drinks. If the heroes plan to return to Undermountain, Durnan also pulls a few strings to secure a potion of superior healing for each of them.

25b. Spider Throne

If Vlonwelv is here, the drow priestess of Lolth is seated on the throne, flanked by her drow champion, Zress (see "x") and a yochlol advisor that has assumed the form of a female drow wearing a spider silk robe with a cowl. Kneeling before the priestess are two male drow scouts named Llossul and Yuinfein, who have recently returned from a reconnaissance mission on level 11. If Vlonwelv isn't present, Llossul and Yuinfein are here waiting for her to return.

The throne is a Large object with AC 18, 80 hit points, and immunity to poison and psychic damage. A detect magic spell reveals an aura of abjuration magic around the throne itself and a separate aura of evocation magic around the throne's red crystal orb.

Any creature other than an elf that sits on the throne or starts its turn there must make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw, taking 22 (4d10) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. A creature seated on the throne and touching the orb can use a bonus action to broadcast its voice to every location in Muiral's Gauntlet. The orb loses its magic if it is torn free of the throne, or if the throne is destroyed.

25c. Entrance

The mages aren't expecting attacks from the east. If combat erupts in x or 5d1, Syrrak investigates while Gorthax and the crystal spider remain here. A battle in this hall brings reinforcements from x.

The spider golem understands Elvish but can't speak. It obeys Gorthax's commands.

Web Curtain

A web curtain separates a 50-foot-high arched narthex to the north from the temple to the south. The curtain blocks line of sight and catches any ammunition shot into it. If set on fire, it burns away quickly.

Temple Nave

If Vlonwelv is here, the drow priestess of Lolth is standing in the middle of the nave, supervising its reconstruction. She is accompanied by her bodyguard, Zress (see "x") and her yochlol advisor, which has assumed the form of a giant spider.

Whether Vlonwelv and her entourage are here or not, the temple nave contains the following features:

In place of scaffolding, the drow workers here use web lines and swings to get at hard-to-reach places. The giant spiders manipulate these webs to move the drow workers wherever they want to go. In addition to the other spells they can cast innately, the drow workers are blessed by Lolth with the ability to cast the mending cantrip at will, and they use their magic to repair small cracks and broken stonework. If they notice intruders, the drow stop their work and attack with their hand crossbows. Each worker is suspended 2d4 × 5 feet off the ground.

27a. Council Room and Parlor

This area consists of two chambers connected by a short, 10-foot-high hallway. Vlonwelv meets with her captains in the council room to the west and entertains guests in the parlor to the east.

If Vlonwelv is here, the drow priestess of Lolth is relaxing in her parlor while receiving counsel from her yochlol advisor, which appears in its natural form. Standing near Vlonwelv is her champion, Zress (see "x").

27b. Vlonwelv's Bedchamber

27c. Giant Spider Den

This 10-foot-high, web-filled chamber is home to three giant spiders that attack any non-drow who enter.

28a. Hospital

This chamber contains two dozen wooden cots in rows. Resting in six of them are wounded drow (three females and three males), each with 1d12 hit points remaining. They are still clad in armor, and they keep their weapons within arm's reach.

Tending to the injured are three junior priestesses of Lolth named Nyleene Auvryndar (Vlonwelv's grand-niece), Ereldra Abbath, and Llezorna Do'ett. These three are drow priests, with these changes:

• They are neutral evil.
• Each has two 1st-level spell slots and no spell slots of higher level remaining.
• They have these racial traits: They speak Elvish and Undercommon. They have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can't put them to sleep. They have darkvision out to a range of 120 feet. They can innately cast dancing lights at will, and darkness and faerie fire each once per day. Their spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 11). While in sunlight, they have disadvantage on attack rolls, as well as on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.

28b. Armory

29a. Gallery

Broken statuary litters this dust-choked gallery. Examination of the stone fragments accompanied by a successful Wisdom (Insight) check reveals that the statues once depicted drow.

29b. Wraith This Way

This room is deathly cold and contains the following:

The wraith is all that remains of an evil adventurer who was disintegrated by Halaster in this room long ago. It speaks Common and Undercommon but doesn't have much to say to the living.

The wraith killed the three drow (two females and one male) and turned their spirits into specters. Each drow corpse wears a chain shirt, clutches a shortsword, and packs a hand crossbow with 1d20 bolts.

29c. Collapsed Tunnel

This tunnel connected to x before earth tremors triggered a collapse. Characters who search the rubble at the end of the tunnel find a mostly buried dwarf skeleton with shiny gauntlets and a rusty warhammer.

30a. Main Cavern

The drow treat their lizard mounts as prized pets. These docile reptiles have saddles, reins, stirrups, saddlebags, and the Spider Climb trait (see the "Variant: Giant Lizard Traits" sidebar in appendix A of the Monster Manual).

The flying spiders are giant spiders that have wings and a flying speed of 40 feet. They zip around the cavern and build web nests in the caps of zurkhwood mushrooms.

The drow cut down zurkhwood when they need to build furniture or rafts, while gardens of barrelstalk and trillimac provide food, water, and parchment (see "x" for more information on barrelstalk, trillimac, and zurkhwood).

The stinky troglodytes answer to Gorzil in x. They wear breastplates and wield longswords (see "x").

30b. High Ledge

This ledge is 40 feet higher than the floor of x. A staircase carved into the north wall climbs to x.

Stationed atop the ledge is a drow mage named Nhilisstra Argonrae, who commands a force of seven drow (two females named Vliss and Yereth, and five males named Chabbris, Dulorrn, Fral, Helxryn, and Tra'zorrl) and six troglodytes, including the troglodyte leader, Gorzil (who has 20 hit points). Gorzil hates Nhilisstra and tries to kill her if he thinks he can get away with it. The troglodytes wear breastplates and wield longswords (see "x").

Nhilisstra is charged with defending the ledge against incursions by Muiral, but she also helps defend the main cavern if it comes under attack. If that happens, she sends the troglodytes into melee combat while she and the drow attack at range.