Against the Wizards: Moving Mountain Menagerie of Morkhulan Minister

Ever since Alphatian occupation started, the Moving Mountain patrols the mountains of Sind. Powered by machines merging magic and technology, it is a prison, a menagerie of unique creatures, a stronghold, and a chapel of worship. But there are many more sinister things going on in secret, things that would horrify even ruthless Alphatians

Synopsis

The adventure is set in the alternate timeline described in “War on All Sides”^¹ and the “Known World 1030 AC” Timeline by Glen Welch^², and acts as a prequel to “Against the Wizards: Undersea Laboratory of Aquan Archmage” published in THRESHOLD Magazine issue #31. It can be played as a standalone, but it may require some adjustments if moved to a different timeline or location, as it assumes to take place on Alphatia-occupied Sind.

The adventure is balanced for a party of 4 11th level characters, who should advance to level 12 upon completing it. The adventure assumes the PCs are accomplished heroes, whose deeds are known in the region. Characters sympathetic to people of Sind or harboring anti-Alphatian sentiments would be especially well-fitting for this adventure.

Background and Setup

The adventure is set in a timeline in which Sind has been first conquered by Hosadus, the Master of Hule, to serve as a launching point of his invasion of Darokin. Only to be later “liberated” by the Alphatian fleet and promptly used as a launching point on its own attack on Glantri. After the War on All Sides ended, the sudden death of Empress Eriadna plunged Alphatia into a civil war. On the one side was newly-crowned Emperor Zandor, on the other Prince Haldemar, acting as the will of the late empress’s true heir. As Zandor grew desperate, he began moving more troops from Sind back to mainland Alphatia, giving an opportunity for many freedom fighters and resistance groups to rise and overthrow their oppressors. Among them was the legendary hero of the people, Raahinya.

It was Raahinya who discovered that Zandor had ordered a search for the three keys to the Legendary Vault, where the last Rahja of free Sind hid his vast fortune. In a daring act worth a hundred songs, Raahinya stole the first of the keys—the Silver Key. While he was captured, he managed to hide the key somewhere. Without it, the gates of the Vault shall never be opened. As his mind resisted all attempts at being read, he was placed in a new kind of prison—an impregnable fortress known as Moving Mountain Menagerie.

This fortress patrols the Kadesh and Gunjab regions of Sind, using its immense size to outright ride over other mountains, leaving a trail of destruction in its passing. It will soon return to the southern borders of Gunjab region. At its command stands Minister Bardan Baozrak, a war hero and archpriest from the Alphatian Kingdom of Stoutfellow^³, legendary defender of fortress Bal-Balakh from the schemes of mysterious shadow dwarves. He was personally promoted to help in subjugation of Sind by Emperor Zandor after a devastating blow dealt to the shadow dwarves, taking their fortress Kurum-Bardak (it was since then recaptured).

What no one realizes is that Bardan died leading the assault, but was replaced by a shadow dwarven agent from the underground kingdom of Morkhula. This agent is a servant of the Outer Beings, who seeks to use this opportunity to twist the whole nation of Sind, and then the Known World itself, into the image of his sinister masters.

At some point during their travels through Sind, the PCs will receive an invitation to a banquet held in their honor in a hidden location within the city of Mahasahad. Upon arrival they will be greeted warmly, although it will be very clear the people are not the kind that can afford to throw lavish parties for passing heroes—a keen eye can easily spot a lot of elbow grease being applied to appear far more glamorous than they really are. The leader of the group is a beautiful woman named Indrepal Emerald-Eyed, due to the characteristic color of her eyes. DC 10 Intelligence (History) Check will tell the players both the name and looks fit the description of the lover and frequent ally of Raahinya in his—now legendary—war of liberation against the Master and then Alphatians. If confronted with the fact she is throwing PCs a party that her people clearly could not afford, she will humbly admit it and apologize. She has heard of the party heroics (she will name up to three heroic acts that PCs have done in or close to Sind, with merely a slight exaggeration), and felt she needed to at least try to muster a welcome deserving their fame. If asked about it, she will confirm she is the same Indrepal from the stories and tells the PCs of the fate that has befallen her lover. She knows all the information in previous paragraphs except that concerning Bardan Baozrak, of whom she only knows he is a dwarf in charge of the Moving Mountain.

Indrepal will beg the PCs to save Raahinya, trying to appeal to their compassion and pride. When pressed about the payments, she will admit she and her people follow the same ascetic doctrines as Raahinya and do not have much. However, she knows that her lover’s goal was never to gain the treasures of the Legendary Vault for himself—he merely could not stand the thought of what belongs to people of Sind be squandered in Alphatians’ petty internal squabbles. She knows if they swear to keep it safe from Zandor’s men, Raahinya will hand them over the Silver Key. And even if they fail to find the other two keys, the SIlver Key alone is worth a small fortune when sold to other treasure seekers.

Indrepal can inform the PCs there is a way to enter the Moving Mountain. As her spies managed to discover, the soul of General Gashunk, once leader of Hulean forces slain by Bardan Baozrak during Alphatia’s “liberation” of Sind, has been bound to always be within a day’s travel from the Moving Mountain. If presented with a blessing from the Magister, he is to lead anyone inside in a way that bypasses all the issues with teleportation. She believes her people have forged perfect, or at least as good as it is humanly possible, notes of such blessing.

The adventure assumes the PCs will accept the quest. If they refuse, you can always keep it in reserve, if the party ever comes in possession of the other two keys. In such a case, some adjustment of encounters to match the PCs’ new level may be required. Alternatively, the Horse Clan encounter described in the “Getting to the Mountain” part may serve as an alternate plot hook, with some adjustments.

Monster Adjustment

To not bloat this text with tons of stat blocks, the book will use a lot of substitution of existing monsters or fan conversions. Books used include Monster Manual, Volo’s Guide to Monsters, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica and Primeval Thule Campaign Setting. For those who do not have access to the books outside of Monster Manual, relevant monster’s Challenge Rating will be provided for easier substitution.

Shadow Dwarves: Whenever the text references stat blocks of derro or duegar, treat them instead as shadow dwarves, and flavor their spellcasting as either divine or technological in nature. All of them also gain the Magic Resistance trait, meaning they have advantages on saving throws against spells and spell-like abilities.

Inform the PCs they can still use counterspell or dispel magic against shadow dwarven “technology,” but it should be similarly flavored. For example, if a shadow dwarven conjurer’s casting of fog cloud is flavored as throwing a smoke grenade, counterspelling it becomes disintegrating the grenade mid-air.

Hivebrood: I tried to stay away from using monsters in 3rd party books, as I know the WotC material is what a majority of the game masters will have. That being said, I must note that the hivebrood could as well use statistics of Tosculi from Kobold Press’s Tome of Beasts I. Creatures in Area 18 of lower level could use statistics of Tosculi Elite Bow-Riders and those in Area 24 of Tosculi Drone and Tosculi Hive-Queen, with removal of the ability to fly from all creatures. I am convinced both species crawled out of the very same insect hell realm anyway.

Mystaran Rakshasa: Whenever the text references statistics of a rakshasa, they are man-made (or rather, dwarf-made) hybrids of rakasta, weretiger, and adapter, and thus require the following adjustments to statistics from Monster Manual:

Their Challenge Rating remains unchanged because rakshasa following Rules as Written is weak for its CR.

Getting to the Mountain

The entirety of Moving Mountain is protected against teleportation, in part due to security reasons, but also because of a high risk of teleporting inside the stone structure of the mountain. It is no trouble for Alphatians, who simply fly towards the fortress on their ships. However, this effect extends outwards, making all magic teleport the caster only as close as approximately a day’s walking from the Mountain’s current location (adjusting for its own movement). PCs may easily discern this fact with a DC 10 Intelligence (Arcana) Check, as a kind of countermeasure obvious in the case of such a structure.

On their way the party will likely find it odd that there are no notable random encounters; in fact all creatures flee from the Mountain, as they would be crushed otherwise. If the PCs spot any monsters or bandits or wild animals, they will be fleeing in disarray, the biggest danger being presented to whatever unlucky creatures may be trampled on their way.

The Horse People

The only encounter will occur once the PCs are less than a week ahead from the Moving Mountain,but three days before they have entered the mountains of Sind. You may need to adjust this encounter to the PCs’ preferred way of travel.

Begin this encounter by asking a PC with the highest of two skills to roll three DC 25 Wisdom (Perception) or Wisdom (Survival) checks, each successful one decreasing the DC of the following ones by 5. They represent the three days during which the PCs can spot the approaching riders of the Horse Clan. During the first day the successful check allows them to find tracks of dozens of horses that have been extremely well covered, almost unrecognizable for a less keen eye. On the second day the PCs can hear the rumbling of horses in the distance, always keeping far away so as to not be noticed and even moving far more stealthily than an average cavalry unit. On the third day the PCs can notice very subtle signs that they are being led into a meeting with the mysterious riders. Fallen trees and recent landslides block other roads, a stampede of animals fleeing from the Moving Mountain has been redirected to the canyon PCs intended to go through. Things that for an unwatchful eye would appear as coincidences, but for the PCs will be obviously leading them to a specific location.

At any point the players may decide to avoid the raiders and they likely have means to do so. Allow it. If they choose to confront their mysterious stalkers, following the subtly laid path will take the PCs to an open plain, where they will see a large cloud of dust in the distance and hear the rumble of dozens of hooves. Soon they will recognize these raiders as the Atruaghin Horse Clan. Or, as they are known to people of the Nagpuri region of Sind, Godan, the Horse people. Moreover, they are accompanied by a single pachydermion, who appears to be flying and carrying an elderly Atruaghin woman on his back. The riders, a total of twenty four, will surround the party, but stop at respectable distance, without attacking. Their leader will ride towards the PCs, accompanied by the elderly woman and the pachydermion. They will introduce themselves as Canowicakte, Azayamankawin, and Pragnay, respectively, and request to talk with the PCs.

They will explain briefly that six of the Horse Clan’s youth have been captured by Alphatians during an attempted raid on Red Orcs as their rite of passage, and kept in the Moving Mountain as prisoners. As the Horse Clan found out, Red Orcs, their hated enemy, have pledged themselves to Bardan Baozrak in exchange for protection, making Alphatians enemies of the Horse Clan. Canowicakte personally led an attack to retrieve the youths, but his forces were overwhelmed and forced to retreat by “monstrosities of steel and dark magic.” If the PCs pry on this description, he is willing to try to describe the creatures as best as he can, but it is not an expertise of his or his two companions’. His descriptions are good enough to give advantage on a single Knowledge check per player to identify monsters awaiting in the Moving Mountain.

Since his attack has been rebuked, Canowicakte and his men have been unleashing their anger on Alphatian troops and amassed enough in stolen riches to follow Pragnay’s advice and enlist, as the pachydermion put it, “professional subcontractors.” Pragnay is also the one who foresaw the coming of the PCs and learned of their exploits, as he claims, through prayer to the Immortals. The group offers the PCs 2,000 gp in coin and jewelry taken from slain Alphatians, plus an additional 1,000 gp per child saved, and another 2,000 gp if they manage to bring back all six of them. Moreover, they also offer a way of passage they themselves used in their first assault on the Moving Mountain : through the Spirit World.

If the PCs refuse the quest, the Horse Clan leaves, but will spread the word of their cold indifference everywhere they go, likely hurting the PCs’ reputation in the region.

If the PCs accept the quest, they will be given two bracelets. One to snap once they want to be pulled out from the Moving Mountain—when destroyed it will open the portal to the Spirit World. Second one they can use in case of a desperate situation, to call Horse Clan warriors for aid. When snapped, it works as Horn of Valhalla but instead of ghosts, it allows living Horse Clan warriors to appear through the Spirit World (see their statistics described below). When snapped the player can choose it to work as Brass Horn in which case the warriors appear on foot, or as silver one, in which case each warrior brings their horse with them. These warriors will be pulled back to the Spirit World after an hour.

Azayamankawin will then perform a ritual as a Spirit Shaman, communing with the friendly Spirit Lord that followed the Horse Clan here from their home plateau. This Spirit Lord has a form of a whole Mountain; as such he can simply “Overlap” with Moving Mountain and carefully move the PCs from within his own caverns into area 1 on Moving Mountain Upper Level map.

The Horse Clan fights to subdue but if more than five of their members are slain, they retreat and begin to harass the PCs with hit-and-run tactics.

The PCs may wonder what the Horse Clan is doing here. The full explanation is provided in the full 1030 timeline, but the short version is as follow: After War on All Sides, Horse Clan was sick of being trapped on the Atruaghin Plateau and traveled through underground tunnels, finding themselves in territories north of Sind’s Nagpuri region, becoming known as Godan by Sindi natives. They trade with Sindi people and raid Red Orcs in the west, but are slowly becoming an uneasy neighbor, due to their militaristic ambitions.

Swordmaster of the Goblin Horde

If PCs reach within the day of the Moving Mountain, but have not used Horse Clan’s help, they will need to seek General Gashunk. As Indrepal informs them, to find him they need to continue traveling towards the Moving Mountain even after the sunset. If they do, they will be besieged by the Ghostly Horde^⁴ of goblinoids who have been slaughtered by Magister Bardan Baozrak. After the initial encounter, the horde will not disappear, but step back, allowing General Gashunk—ghostly apparition of a hobgoblin in a gambeson and left eye covered by an eyepatch, wielding two longswords attached to his wrists by chains and shackles—to step in. The PCs may present him the forgeries, but he will recognize them for what they are immediately. However, he has no love for the “mad dwarf” who bound his soul and his soldiers’ to act as his undead slaves. He will propose the PCs a different deal.

Gashunk was bound by a curse that forces him to serve until he can die a glorious, honorable death. If the PCs can best him in combat, he will open for them the path inside Moving Mountain, before moving on. He uses statistics of a Death Knight with the following changes:

If reduced to 0 Hit Points Gashunk will open the portal, leading to Area 1 on Moving Mountain Lower Level Map. Before leaving, he will grant the PC who dealt him the final blow the Shackles of Freedom, then bid the PCs farewell and marshall his troops west, before vanishing.

Shackles of Freedom: Wondrous Item, Rare, requires attunement, you can choose to attune to one or both shackles using a single attunement slot.

Adventure Location

Moving Mountain is exactly what it says on the tin—a whole mountain that has been, through gnomish and dwarven technology and Alphatian magic, turned into a gigantic fortress that crushes everything in its path and rides on other mountains like a tank on a rocky terrain, while being impenetrable for all possible manners of assault. It rolls on a giant platform of adamantine, steel and stone, inside which is the Lower Level of the complex, moved by a series of continuous tracks hidden beneath. The Mountain itself holds the Upper Level.

Features of the Area

Door: All doors are made of adamantine and are locked, unless specified otherwise. Each dwarven member of the security is equipped with keys to areas adjacent to the one they are encountered in. Unless specified otherwise, opening each of the locked doors requires a DC 20 Dexterity check with thieves’ tools or DC 25 Strength (Athletics) check. The doors are always of suffisant size to let through creatures in the room behind it, even if the map would indicate otherwise.

Elevation: As the fortress is built inside the mountain, not everything is on a similar level. For convenience it is recommended to assume the numbering of rooms corresponds to how high within the mountain they are. Lowest room of Upper Level is still above the highest room of Lower Level.

Light: Unless stated otherwise, each wall is equipped with a torch with everburning flame, spread from each other just tight enough to nearly eliminate any shadows, making all Stealth checks to be done at disadvantage.

Walls: All walls are adamantine and reach thirty feet high, unless the room hosts creatures or objects of larger size, in which case the wall height is adjusted accordingly. If the wall is adjacent to a room of a menagerie (that is, a room hosting unusual creatures) its walls are covered in dwarven runes that, when read out loud, make the wall transparent, allowing one to observe the behavior of those creatures. It is a one-sided effect, and the creatures do not know they are being observed. Walls of Areas 18 and 24 on Lower Level and 3, 5, and 8 on Upper Level lack such runes.

Stairs: Stairs left to Area 5 on Lower Level connect to stairs next to Area 9 on Upper Level, while stairs below Area 9 on Lower Level lead to stairs below Area 1 on Upper Level.

Alarm: In any fight against shadow dwarves and other members of the staff, there is a 50% chance each turn that the enemy with lowest Hit Points will flee to raise an alarm. If allowed to flee, they will return in 1d3 rounds with 1d4+1 shadow dwarves of random type, and an alarm will go off. Alarm takes the form of a high, puncturing noise reverberating through the whole level, which magically carries the image of the intruders into the minds of all shadow dwarves, as well as the general location in which they are spotted. Every round after that, on initiative count of 20, shadow dwarves from nearby areas, starting from the closest, will appear and join the combat.This only stops once the PCs leave the area in which they were reported to be, but alarm does continue and doubles chance for a random encounter while exploring this level. If, after an hour of real life time since the alarm went off, the PCs aren’t yet captured or killed, one of the named NPC shadow dwarves will venture into areas 7 and 8 of Lower Level and activate the iron gargoyles inside, setting them to hunt the PCs down. They will move through the rooms of each level until they find the PCs, at which point they’ll attack, focusing on singular creatures each, retreating if reduced below half of their hit points to commence repairs, and then attack again.

Random Shadow Dwarves: If an area description asks you to roll to determine the presence of a number of shadow dwarves in it, for each dwarf present roll 1d4 to determine which statistics it is using: 1- Duergar Mind Master 2- Duergar Soulblade 3- Duergar Stone Guard 4- Duergar Xarrorn (all four from Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 2 each except Soulblade, which is CR 1). If the number of dwarves is above seven, use a single roll per four shadow dwarves. Shadow dwarves have been whipped into an obedient workforce and are demoralized to the point of lacking will to rebel against given orders and no desires beyond mere brief moments of rest among grueling workshifts.

Horse Clan Youths: They are to be found in areas 3, 10, 22, and 24 on Lower Level, and 2 and 26 on Upper Level. Each one tells a similar story of being suddenly attacked by a shadow dwarven patrol during their rite of passage. Each of them knows the location of one of their peers, determined randomly by roll of d6, removing those already found by the party from the list. They feel obligated to fight to save their friends, but have been beaten and exhausted, so an easy DC 10 check will convince them to stay put in an area of PCs’ choice, though they may need to be escorted there. They use the statistics of Scout but have no weapons.

Random Encounters

Every real-time hour the PCs spend in Moving Mountain, roll a d12. On a result of 1, roll 1d6 on appropriate table for either Lower or Upper Level.

Random Encounters: Lower Level

Curse of Madness Table

Random Encounters: Upper Level

Moving Mountain Room by Room

Lower Level

Map: Lower Level http://pandius.com/MovingMountainLowerLevel.png

1.Emergency Exit

Doors to this room are locked by the arcane lock spell. Members of security and inquisition know the password unlocking them.

This area is empty, except for large runes on the walls in Dwarvish, enchanted to always shine slightly. The runes tell of a secret password to be spoken in case of evacuation, signaling Gashunk to open a portal leading creatures in this area into safety, away from the Moving Mountain. If the PCs have slain Gashunk already, this magic no longer works.

2. Bathroom

There is a single toilet, a single sink and a single shower installed in this room. The door can be locked from the inside. Water in the pipes is circulated and kept clean by a Hydrax^⁹ that lives in these pipes. The Hydrax cannot be detected by magic, but will not attack until anyone damages the pipes or any object in the room.

A DC 25 Intelligence (Investigation) will reveal a secret door on the other side of the room and a corridor leading to Area 19.

3. Shooting Range

Two cages are hanging from the ceiling at the west end of this room. One of them is holding Clara Espada (Human, woman, from Ispa, NG Apprentice Wizard, Volo’s Guide to Monsters, CR ¼) and the other Delema, one of the Horse Clan youths (human woman from Horse Clan, LN), two individually captured prisoners of the shadow dwarves. Their feet are shackled in a way that cuts their movement speed in half. The shackles can be opened with a DC 15 Dexterity check using thieves’ tools or broken with a DC 18 Strength (Athletics) check.

On the far right stand Sergant Bruto Ratgin (Duergar Warlord, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 6) and three members of Weapon Development Division (Duergar Xarron, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 2), all four armed with two muskets each. Shadow dwarves are conducting a “weapon test” of some muskets acquired through smugglers from the Savage Coast. The two teenage girls were chosen as moving targets. If not interrupted, on his command both cages will open, dropping the two girls to the floor and starting combat initiative. The girls have been told the first one to reach him will live, so on their turn they will try to dash towards him. On their turn the shadow dwarves will fire their muskets at the girls, the next turn switching to a second musket instead of reloading.

If the PCs interrupt, the shadow dwarves attempt to kill them with their muskets, but if it fails, they fight using more traditional means. If Bruto is reduced below 25% of his hit points, he will attempt to parlay, begging for his life in exchange for giving the PCs the name of the smuggler who provided him with firearms. His contact is a man named Huan Hernanderz, a criminal from Slagovich. A DC 20 Charisma (Intimidation) check will make Bruto reveal the password to the secret door in this room, leading to Area 17, promising the PCs can take everything here as their own if they let him live. Bruto is not above begging for his life. If allowed to let go, he will flee to raise an alarm.

Clara will tell the PCs how she and her mentor, Donna Carmen Carmilla Garcia, were trying to bust an illegal Ispan firearms smuggling operation, when they were captured by shadow dwarves. Clara, blaming herself for their capture, will desperately want to go to save her mentor, who is kept somewhere in the Upper Level. Even if the PCs promise to save her, Clara will require a DC 25 Charisma (Persuasion) check to be convinced to stand down and not accompany the PCs. If they do not make such promises, DC is 30 and, if failed, she will run off to find her mentor. If Delema is asked to help convince her, she will happily knock her out with traditional Horse Clan martial arts and carry her out.

4 Control Room

This room’s walls are lined with machinery, some of which include giant magical panels providing images from the front sensors, informing the operating crew of any possible threats up ahead. The crew at all times consists of 4 shadow dwarves, two using statistics of Duegar Xarron and two of Duergar Mind Master (Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR2 both). Unless he was encountered somewhere else already, there is 75% chance that Captain Kryk “the Killer” Kringle (Duergar Despot, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 12, equipped with ring of regeneration), accompanied by his two bodyguards (Duergar Stone Guard, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 2) is in this room.

The control panels of the Moving Mountain are magically sealed through divinely infused runes that are activated through blood. In order to grant a person access, a vial of that person’s blood must be poured onto the runes alongside blood of Captain Kryk and Minister Bardan Baozrak^¹⁰. Four people are necessary to gain full control of the Moving Mountain. However, both Captain Kryk and Minister Bardan can at any point use their action to deal the person granted the access 3d8 lighting damage and they can do it as many times as they want, even eventually electrocuting the person to death. A DC 25 Intelligence (Arcana) check reveals this information.

5 Slave Pen

1d6+1 commoner slaves are kept here when not used for experiments in Area 22. They are shackled together. Breaking the shackles requires a DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check and opening the locks a DC 13 Dexterity check with Thieves’ Tools. Whenever the PCs are in this room, there is a 25% chance one of the guards will enter to unlock the shackles of one of the slaves with a key, then drag them to perform experiments in Area 22. If the PCs leave without freeing the slaves, the next time they enter they find one less slave in this room.

6. Technicians’ Dressing Room

This is a room that the shadow dwarves of the Engineering and Maintenance Division use to change at the beginning of their shifts. There are 1d4-1 medium-sized fireproof outfits that grant the wearer total immunity to fire damage. The dwarves use them to work on the cylinders in Areas 19 and 20. The outfits are vulnerable to slashing damage and a single hit from a blade can render them useless.

Whenever the PCs enter this room there is a 50% chance 1d4 Engineers (Duergar Xarron, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 2) are in this room, half of them in fireproof clothes over their armor.

Image: Gargoyle http://pandius.com/Gargoyle.png
Original drawing by Jeffrey Kosh
(https://jeffreykosh.wixsite.com/jeffreykoshgraphics/home).

7 & 8 Emergency Room

Each of these rooms holds an Iron Gargoyle^¹¹. If an unauthorized creature attempts to enter adjacent Areas 19 or 20 through the door in this room, without showing it proper clearance, the gargoyle will immediately attack them. If there is a leak in adjacent Areas 19 or 20, the gargoyle will enter it and begin to fix the issue, being immune to hot lava. If an alarm goes on, any named shadow dwarf can reach these rooms and provide the creatures with a detailed description of the PCs, releasing them to hunt them down across the complex. Construction of the gargoyles has been altered with magic to grant them minor spatial distortion that allows them to travel through doors, corridors and rooms otherwise too small for them.

9 Break Room

A large table is placed in the middle of the room, enough to seat a total of six medium creatures at once. This is where the shadow dwarves go to take their break, each one being allowed three meals during their twelve-hour shifts. There is a 25% chance it is occupied by 1d6 shadow dwarves on their break when the PCs enter the room.

10 Kitchen

Two shadow dwarven cooks (Shadow Dwarven Commoner) are working in the kitchen at all time, with a slave being forced to run from this area to Area 9 to deliver each dwarf on a break their daily rations of meals, and beaten mercilessly if they spill or drop anything or are too slow. Currently one of the Horse Clan youths, Zikana, is being forced to serve this function. She can be found running the tray between areas 9 and 10 and is suffering from two levels of exhaustion.

11 Upper Security Offices

Area 11 is the private quarters of stationed shadow dwarven Security Guards; there are always 4 of them (Duergar Stone Guard, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 2) and one Captain (Duergar Warlord, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 6) asleep in this area before their next shift. If a fight breaks out in Area 12, they will wake up and join the battle in 1d3 rounds.

12 Upper Security Checkup

In each corner of this room stands a shadow Dwarven Security Guard (Duergar Stone Guard, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 2). In the middle is a desk at which sits their Captain (Duergar Warlord, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 6). A lot of creatures moving between areas north and south of this room have to pass through it, especially those who cannot use the portal network. This allows the shadow dwarves to create a small chokepoint in which they can question creatures and find which ones should or should not be here. They can be lied to and tricked, intimidated, or even bribed to stay silent and let the PCs pass, otherwise they attack and fight to subdue.

13 Lower Security Offices

14 Lower Security Checkup

15 Failed Experiments

This is where Hard Fisher keeps her twelve failed experiments with cloning. Six use statistics of Rutterkin (Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 2) and six of Nupperibo (Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR ½) but their creature type is undead, their abilities affecting creatures who aren’t demons or devils are changed to affect creatures that aren’t undead, and they all look like twisted, grotesque mockeries of late Empress Eriadna the Wise.

16 Crystal Coffin

A crystal coffin is placed in the middle of this chamber, with numerous tubes and wires attached to it, emanating strong magical energy. Inside the coffin lies a clone of Empress Eriadna the Wise, although visibly younger. It is guarded by five dwarven Ghasts and two dwarven Agarats^¹², that will not allow anyone except Hard Fisher to approach the coffin.

From research notes next to machines tracing all functions of the clone, the player characters can infer the reason for its existence. Hard Fisher was ordered to create this clone by Emperor Zandor as a last ditch effort to stay in power, in case everything else fails. The clone has all memories of the late Empress and access to some, but not all, of her magical power (if awakened she uses the statistics of an Archmage). Moreover, her memories and personality have been modified in such a way that she would love, admire and obey in all things her son. Zandor’s plan would be to simply have her walk into the palace, sit at her throne claiming to have faked her own death, and proclaim Haldemar and all his supporters traitors to the crown. This would allow Zandor rule from the shadows, the puppetmaster pulling his mother’s strings. The PCs should realize that this would be catastrophic for Sind, and so is any scenario where this new Eriadna returns to the throne—unified Alphatia could crush all resistance in Sind in a matter of days. Manipulating the machinery could allow them to either kill or wipe out the memories of the clone, resetting her statistics to that of a Commoner and making her politically useless, as without any knowledge of her past life, she would quickly be deemed an imposter and unfit to rule.

If anyone has any questions about potential Oedypian tendencies of Zandor being implied by this plan….yes.

17 Bruto’s Secret Stash

The entrance to this room can be discovered with a DC 25 Wisdom (Perception) or Intelligence (Investigation) check. The secret entrance opens by saying the phrase “Not my circus, not my monkeys” in Dwarvish. It can be forced open with a DC 20 Strength (Athletics) check.

The room contains a crate with a total of twelve muskets from Ispa, each with ten bullets, and a treasure chest with a lid in the shape of a smiling gargoyle. The chest is trapped with a double trap. First, any creature other than Bruto who finds itself within 10 feet of the chest must make a DC 18 Wisdom saving throw or be convinced that whoever will open this “Chest of Demons” will unleash thirteen demons into the world and be tasked with capturing them^¹³. Second, the eyes of the lid are actually magically preserved basilisk eyes and have effects of Basilik’s Petrifying Gaze trait. Speaking codeword “Meredith”' will make the eyes close, allowing for opening of the box, but Bruto will not reveal this password without at least a DC 30 Charisma (Intimidation) check, as it’s the name of his late wife. Both traps can be spotted with Perception, Investigation, Arcana, or Nature checks. The first trap can be suppressed for an hour with a dispel magic spell, while the second can be forced to permanently shut its eyes with a DC 20 Dexterity check using thieves’ tools.

The chest contains 7,000 gold in coins, jewelry, and assorted gems, twenty pounds of zzonga weed, and 1d4+1 random Uncommon Magic Items.

A DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check will make the player notice that the western wall of this room is obviously weakened and a few solid punches or a DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check can break through it. Upon doing so, the characters find themselves in Area 24, staring right at the Hivebrood Queen.

18 DON’T OPEN, ANTS INSIDE

The door to this Area has been welded shut, barred and locked with an arcane lock spell, with giant letters saying DON’T OPEN, ANTS INSIDE painted on them. This room has been infested by the sudden, unexplained appearance of a hivebrood. It contains one hivebrood controller (Mind Flayer), two hivebrood laurietants (Umber Hulk) and 10 hivebrood soldiers (Thri-Kreen) that fight until killed, and will try to infect all creatures they encounter with their larva at all costs. In addition to the abilities of stat blocks they are using, these creatures should be treated as one species for all beneficial effects.

Investigation of this room reveals that the hivebrood managed to dig a tunnel leaning upwards, to Area 28 of Upper Level. A second tunnel leads deeper in parts of the mountain not yet built into. A horrifying implication may dawn on the PCs : when the mountain has been transformed into Moving Mountain, it has taken with it a formerly dormant hivebrood colony hidden somewhere within it, which poses an outright existential threat for the entirety of Sind. But that is beyond the scope of this adventure.

19 & 20 Magma Containers

These are colossal cylinders of magically enforced (thus doubling its hardness and hit points) adamantine, each one filled with hot lava, with a myriad of tubes connecting them to the floor and roof. The walking floor in these areas is on wall-adjacent squares, 30 feet above the bottom of the room, with ladders for maintenance operators to walk down or up the cylinders built into them.

If leak does occur and isn’t stopped, there is enough hot magma in each cylinder to flood this room and 1d6 nearby rooms, starting with the closest one. Each magma container is necessary to provide additional energy for the mechanism coordinating prover movement of either left or right tank tracks. The leak will make it break, and the Moving Mountain itself will stop.

21 Customs

This room contains a large portal, with an operating console nearby. Sergeant Dradad (Duergar Warlord, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 6) and assistant officer Ari (Duergar Mind Master, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 2), alongside 6 guards (Duergar Stone Guard, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 2) and two hammer operators (Duergar Hammerer, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 2) are stationed here as a security measure. Dradad and Ari will question the PCs about reasons for their appearance and will meticulously poke holes in their possible cover stories. Due to having years of experience with this kind of job, the party can only deceive them if they do come up with an especially convincing lie, and even then the Charisma (Deception) check DC is 25. If anything is wrong, the dwarves attack, fighting to subdue. If both Dradad and Ari are killed, one of the guards will run through the portal to raise the alarm, the rest will fight to the death.

The portal can be manually set to connect with any of the portals in dead end corridors on the map of lower or upper level, though getting the idea how it operates requires three successful DC 20 checks in Intelligence (Arcana, History and Nature, of each). Control of the portal allows you to travel from this room to any dead end on either of the two maps. First use should be for random corridor, then the PCs can use it to go to any dead end they have seen while exploring the compound. They can also use dead ends to travel back to this room, but it requires someone to stay in this room to operate the portal and be in contact with the PCs.

22 Hamster Wheels

In the middle of the room there is a smaller copy of the tank tracks that allow Moving Mountain to move. However, individual wheels are constructed in a manner similar to hamster wheels, each one outfitted for a different creature. Currently they are occupied by an Ogre, a Lupin^¹⁴ named Jean-Luc from Renardy, his Dire Wolf companion, and a human boy from Horse Clan, named Sintemaza. Each one is being forced to run due to magical collars attached to their necks. Each of the collars has a different member of the Mortal Resources Division (Duergar Mind Master, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 2) holding a rod controlling it. When pressed, the rod signals the collar to deliver 1d8 lighting damage to whoever is wearing it. Each member of Mortal Resources Division is accompanied by a bodyguard (Duergar Soublade, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 2), who will fetch one of the slaves in Area 5 if any of the currently tested creatures dies from exhaustion. There is a 25% chance whenever the PCs enter the room that Father Gilbert Grimm (see Area 9 of Upper Level) will be here to meditate on the suffering of “the unclean.”

23 Laboratory

This laboratory is filled with a variety of chemical, alchemical and magical instruments. One thing that is very noticeable is the large metal cylinder in the middle of the room. This lab is operated by a pair of shadow dwarves, whose magic will be flavored as use of science. Hard Fisher (LE Necromancer, Volo’s Guide to Monsters) is a mad scientist working on developing new kinds of weapons in the form of combat gas, but it is not the only project on her plate. She will do anything in her power to stop the party from going into Area 16, even fighting them alongside her partner, Karl Kurze (NE Conjuer, Volo’s Guide to Monsters, CR 6) if needed. In combat they both wear gas masks that protect them from effects of their own and each other’s area of effect spells, and will attack the party with spells that could be flavored as use of combat gas : cloudkill, stinking cloud, circle of death, blight, blindness/deafness, bestow curse, ray of enfeeblement. They will also call for help from creatures from Area 15, which will begin arriving in groups of 1d4 each round.

24 Insect Hell

This is where the hivebrood Broodmotheb (Skittering Horror, Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica, CR 15) resides, guarded by 5 hivebrood soldiers (Thri-Kreen), who are freshly turned from surviving slaves that the shadow dwarves have sent to try and contain the hivebrood problem. The last survivor of that group is Tacanipiluta, one of Horse Clan youths, who is currently stuck to the wall and has not yet been infected.

25, 26, 27 and 28 Engine Rooms

These four rooms are 90 feet high, filled with large parts of the Mountain’s engine, blending technology and magic. The walking floor in these areas is on wall-adjacent squares, 30 feet above the bottom of the room, with ladders for maintenance operators to walk down or up the parts of the engine built into them. Corridors connecting the rooms are the same as the floor in them. The walls between these rooms have been hollowed, reducing them to columns necessary to keep the mountain from coming down on the engine.

Each room consists of different colors and has a different mechanical function, adjacent to a different element and a different guardian. They are, in order:

In corners of each of the four rooms are placed iron statues resembling dwarves, showing magical tablets that display information about the specific part of the engine. The tablets can be used to gain information on how to manipulate the engine in order to make it stop working or explode. However, each statue is an Iron Living Statue^¹⁹ that will attack whenever anyone but authorized personnel is messing with the engine. Authorization requires showing security clearance signed by Captain Kryk Kringle.

If the elementals are gone, it is possible to use the tablets to stop the engine or to overload it and make it explode by redirecting output of Blue and Red Rooms and White and Brown Rooms towards one another. An explosion will completely vaporize all four engine rooms as well as areas 7 to 10 on Lower Level and 5, 8, 12, 26 and 28 of Upper Level, as well as destroying all the corridors connecting them. All creatures without fire damage immunity will be vaporized instantly and the surviving ones crushed to death by the mountain coming down on them. Such massive destruction will cause the mountain to collapse within 1d100 minutes, prompting all shadow dwarves and Alphatians to flee, leaving other creatures to die here. Moreover, if the altar in Area 12 of Upper Level wasn’t destroyed earlier, its destruction now will create a massive vortex that will suck the entire mountain from the inside into the Nightmare Dimension within 1d6 minutes. What happens after this point is beyond the scope of this adventure.

Upper Level

Map: Upper Level http://pandius.com/MovingMountainUpperLevel.png

1 Kitchen

Five shadow dwarven Commoners operate the kitchen, equipped with all kinds of masterwork cooking equipment (total value of which adds up to 1,000 gp) and regularly refilled pantries of all kinds of foods. Unlike dwarves on the lower level, upper level personnel are served quality food. The personnel in this area are occupied with their work so much that Stealth checks to sneak past them are made with advantage.

2 Deep, Dark Room

The single guard (Duergar Stone Guard, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 2) watches these door. If questioned, he says he just closed it, after sending in “a meal” so there is still a chance to save them.

This room has been stylized to look like a large cave, with a small pool. The room is completely dark, as it it hosting three Deep Glaurants^²⁰, in order to “observe their natural behavior.”

Chumani, a Horse Clan youth, has been sent here and, upon realizing what is kept inside, a knowledge she learned from a befriended pachidermion who survived a run-in with deep glaurants, proceeded to drop on the ground and play dead. The creatures let her live for now, in the hope that she will lure more victims, but if no creature enters the room soon after the PCs find it the monsters will grow bored and eviscerate the girl.

3 Beauty and a Tree

This area is occupied by Old Bark, a deranged Gakarak^²¹, that has agreed to protect the teleportation platform in the middle of this room, then allows moving gargantuan or smaller creatures and objects between this area, the skyship dock built on top of the moving mountain, and a large forest maintained on the slopes of Moving Mountain. Old Bark’s reward was “his dryad,” which is actually Donna Carmen Carmilla Garcia (Faedorne^²²). She is forced to wear a necklace that puts her under total control of whoever holds a golden ring, currently on one of Old Bark’s branches. She is using her illusions to make herself look like a dryad and will obey all of Old Bark’s commands, which he can give as a free action on his turn. Old Bark has no idea what to actually do with a dryad, he just wanted to have one. His reasoning for one is also so nonsensical that anyone listening to his explanation will take 1 point of psychic damage.

If challenged to combat, Old Bark can force all creatures in the room, including himself and Donna Garcia, to be teleported to the forest, where he will immediately use his Animate Trees action and order her to use her Summon Silver Warriors action. He fights to the death and will actually try to shield “his dryad” from any harm, treating her more like a pet or precious toy than a person. If he is killed or either the ring or necklace are destroyed, Donna Garcia is immediately freed and gets rid of whichever of the two items remain.

Donna Carmen Carmilla Garcia is a faedorne who fell in love with Ispan culture and came to live among the Ispans, adopting their habits and even the name. Once freed from mind control she is a feisty, strong-willed and confident woman. She will request the PCs to seek her apprentice, Clara Espada. As she explains, the two of them were captured when Donna Garcia took a mission to bust a weapon-smuggling chain selling firearms outside of the Savage Coast. She will help the PCs operate the teleportation platform, allowing them to move freely between the three locations it is connecting, but will herself move to the skyship dock, sick of other two locations. The experience left her with severe trauma and claustrophobia and she cannot force herself to return inside the Moving Mountain, though she may lend the PCs any remaining silver warriors, if convinced with a DC 18 Charisma (Persuasion) check.

If reunited with her apprentice, Donna Garcia will leave with her immediately, but promises to contact the PCs within a week. In such time they will receive rewards in the form of connections: invitations to the Fairy Court of King oberon and Queen Titania, an invitation to one of the Ispan noble houses and also a letter from the Inheritors—the people who asked Donna Garcia to deal with the weapon smuggling operation in the first place. All three of these can provide the PCs with rewards and benefits at the DM’s discretion, as well as future plot hooks and quests. Any of the three may also ask the PCs to investigate suspicions that it was Donna Garcia’s older sister, Sky Queen Maladie, who has set her up to be captured by the shadow dwarves.

4 Library

The walls of this room are lined with bookshelves full of books in all known languages, on all kinds of topics. Each PC can search this room for one topic and find a book that gives them advantage on all skill checks related to said topic. A DC 20 (History) check will also reveal a collection of 5 rare titles by legendary Sindi poets and philosophers, each worth between five hundred and a thousand gp to the right buyer, depending on how well the party can haggle. The collection can also be returned to any public figure in Sind, greatly increasing the party’s fame and granting them connections among scholars of the region.

5 Beetle Testing Facility

An Earthquake Beetle^²³ is held within this facility, kept calm by a collar that keeps it dominated and docile. Control rod of the collar is being held by Minister Bardan Baozrak. The beetle is attached to multiple magical and technological devices in order to study its ability to dig underground and cause earthquakes. If freed, the creature will go on a rampage, digging through the Moving Mountain and likely destroying it within a short amount of time. It is at all times studied by a team of two shadow dwarven War Priests (Volo’s Guide to Monsters, CR 9) and four shadow dwarven Druids, with two hammer operators (Duergar Hammerer, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 2) serving as security.

6 Stone Room

An Erdeen^²⁴ and two Rock Men^²⁵ have been captured and are kept in this room by being tricked into a philosophical conversation. The creatures have been engaged in a very slow, complex debate over the nature of the universe, taking long pauses to ponder each new argument. They have reached an impasse and are incapable of finding a way to agree anymore. If the PCs enter the room, they will try to seize upon them and demand their participation, surrendering only if reduced to below 50% hit points each. Clever players may participate in a debate to convince the creatures their situation is unacceptable and they should help them overthrow the shadow dwarves. In such a case, they will accompany the PCs and fight on their side.

7 Cafeteria

This room contains multiple tables and chairs for the dwarves to eat food delivered from Area 1. There’s a 25% chance any of the named NPCs will be there on a lunch break, unless they were already encountered somewhere else. There is also 25% chance 1d6 shadow dwarves will be here on a lunch break as well.

8 Elephant Testing Facility

A Bodendrucker^²⁶ is held here, kept docile by a collar around its neck that makes it dominated. The control rod to the collar is in the hands of Minister Bardan Baozrak. The creature is being experimented on to both try to copy its ability to snuff out purple worms and to teach it to hunt other underground creatures. In case the earthquake beetle from Area 5 breaks free, the bodendrucker has been taught how to hunt it down and will be used to kill it before it destroys the Moving Mountain. However, the creature itself is bound to go on a rampage in case of being free of the collar. Both monsters being set loose at once spells an imminent end of the Moving Mountain. The creature is at all times supervised by Sellan Algazello, shadow dwarven Archdruid (Volo’s Guide to Monsters, CR 12), who has been corrupted and driven to madness, but remains loyal to the Minister. If attacked he can command the bodendrucker as if he were the Minister himself, as long as his orders aren’t directly contradicted by Bardan Baozrak.

Sellan Algazello carries around his neck You Are What You Eat (wondrous item, rare, collar. Can be attuned to by a druid. When attuned, a druid can consume a piece of a creature that isn’t a beast and be immediately able to one time use its Wild Shape to transform into that creature as if it were a Beast).

9 Tall Dwarf

These are the simple quarters of Grand Inquisitor Father Gilbert Grimm (CE), a shadow dwarf who has infiltrated the Inquisition, an organization of spellcasters created as an attempt to get Alphatian magic users in line by Empress Eriadna not long before her death. The Inquisition does not know he is a shadow dwarf; they consider him merely a religious zealot, and therefore useful. He is called “the Tall Dwarf” due to being eerily slender not just for dwarven, but even for human standards, reaching seven feet tall. He has no idea why he is this tall and gets enraged when asked. He is clean shaven, and when not working he spends his time between sleep and self-flagellation. There is a 25% chance he will be here whenever the PCs enter the room. If encountered somewhere else and not killed, he will pursue the PCs across the whole complex, not resting until he hunts them down, but he will stay behind and attack only when they are already fighting other enemies.

Father Gilbert Grimm uses the statistics of a War Priest (Volo’s Guide to Monsters, CR 9) with the following changes:

Treasure: Hidden in the floor of this room is a secret compartment, that can be spotted with a DC 25 Intelligence (Investigation) check and opened with a DC 10 Dexterity check using thieves’ tools. Inside is a stack of documents, including incriminating evidence on a member of the Alphatian Mage Council, which can be leveraged against him for either one favor of any kind or 25,000 gp. Moreover, it also contains a list of agents of the Alphatian Inquisition that have been compromised and converted to the worship of the Outer Beings, which can be used as a bargaining chip in any negotiations with the Inquisition. It also contains the journal of Gilbert Grimm, which documents his studies and can grant advantage on any checks made to identify artifacts and symbols of the Outer Beings, as well as identifying potential agents of the Outer Beings among the Alphatians.

10 The Showers

This is a shower room with three shower stalls, one sink, and one toilet stall. The water is operated and kept clean by three hydraxes living in the pipes. They do not attack except in case a creature destroys or damages any equipment in this area.

11 Cat Cafe

This area has been turned into an unholy combination of a petting zoo and a maid cafe. Twelve Rakasta^²⁷, six male and six female, have been forced to wear maid and butler uniforms and entertain the dwarves during their off hours, acting either as charming conversation partners, obedient servants, or cats to pet, depending on the dwarven wishes. Dwarves are allowed to do anything they want with them, except any sexual activities beyond flirtation, as the Minister considers that to be “zoophilia.” Three male and three female rakasta are forced to work here for twelve hours, after which the other six take their place.

The eastern and western walls are lined by Correctors (Duergar Screamer, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 2), who understand all languages the rakasta speak in addition to Dwarvish, Shadow Dwarvish, and Alphatian. If they notice any of the rakasta acting out or speaking of rebellion, they move in to kill it, making a violent show of it as warning to others. In addition, there are always 1d6+1 shadow dwarves spending their leisure time here.

If the shadow dwarves in this area have been killed, the rakasta will offer to join the PCs to fight their way out of this place. They have no weapons. The rakasta have been kidnapped from members of a diplomatic mission from Myoshima and if even one of them survives and makes it to the moon, it will cause a huge diplomatic incident between Myoshima and Alphatia (which, to be fair, had no idea dwarves dared to do such a thing and will be appalled if this ever gets out).

Treasure: next to the wall is a glass cabinet with a collection of expensive, beautiful shoes from various nations of the Known World. It consists of fourteen pairs, each worth 50 gp to the right collector, twice if sold together. The fifteenth pair, put in the center, appears to be magical and all uses of spells like identify will say these are the shoes of mighty Ylari warrior, Kazem the Fast, and a person attuned to them will gain an ability to cast haste on themselves once per day.

In reality the shoes are cursed and surrounded by powerful illusion magic, making them appear beautiful, when they’re actually worn down and hideous. Wearing them is so unpleasant the creature doing so must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw whenever they make an Ability check or attack roll or suffer disadvantage. Remove curse breaks the attunement, but not the other effect of the shoes : any attempt at throwing them away or leaving them behind will inevitably make them return to the owner (in this case whoever picked them up first or attuned to them), each time with increasingly negative consequences. The only way to permanently get rid of them is to appeal to local authority in front of a public gathering, place them on the floor, list every single negative thing they have caused to you and publicly denounce them. The next creature to touch them becomes their new owner.

A DC 20 Intelligence (History) check will reveal that Kazem the Fast was not a warrior, but a merchant, who neglected proper care of his shoes due to stinginess and overwork. Their effect first manifested when he tried to throw them away.

12 Secret Chapel

The doors to this room are protected by an arcane lock and only Minister Bardan Baozrak can open them. Inside is a small chapel dedicated to the worship of the Outer Beings, covered in blasphemous symbols. The chapel is a Desecrated Ground that extends its benefits to all shadow dwarves and aberrations fighting in this area. Every creature with an intelligence score 8 or higher who is not a worshiper of the Outer Beings must succeed a DC 20 Wisdom saving throw or is frightened. It can repeat its saving throw at the end of each of its turns but only after leaving the area.

If Minister Bardan Baozrak is slain here, his blood will spill on the altar, at which point the magic of the Outer Beings will transform him into a monstrous abomination (Star Spawn Larva Mage, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 16) and open a portal from which a second monster (Star Spawn Hulk, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 10) will emerge. If the altar is destroyed, it will turn into a vortex of dark energy that will suck in both creatures, if they’re still alive.

Note: If the PCs kill the Minister too fast and too easily during this battle (eg. within a single round or in a single hit), you can instead have his body transform into Uvuudaum^²⁸ to give them a challenge such an overpowered group clearly deserves.

Treasure: On the altar of the chapel lie 25,000 gp worth of gold, gems, and jewelry, all of which is cursed to open anyone who takes it to the influence of Outer Beings, slowly driving them to madness. Remove curse or greater restoration remove this effect. It can also be removed by undoing the desecration of this area before taking the gold. There is a hidden locker in the altar that may be discovered with a DC 25 Intelligence (Investigation) check and opened by a key held by the Minister or by a DC 20 Dexterity check with thieves’ tools. The lock is protected with a magical trap, casting power word kill on any creature other than the Minister that attempts to open it. It can be suppressed for 10 minutes with the casting of dispel magic. Inside is Minister Bardan Baozrak’s heart and one Rare Magic item per party member, of DM’s choice. I advise choosing something the PCs will like because, let’s be honest, if they got here they earned it. If the heart is not destroyed, the Minister will reform next to it within 24 hours after being killed. If the Altar is destroyed, the Heart is sucked into the vortex.

13 Cat Room

There are six beds in this room. When not working at Area 11, six rakasta sleep here. The room is guarded by a single hammer operator (Duergar Hammerer, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 2) at all times. The rakasta in this area refuse to help the PCs until their peers in Area 11 are freed, at which point they will gladly join the fight alongside their brethren.

14 Sloth Cage

A Vulcanian Sloth^²⁹ has been captured and is kept here against its will, put into a cage at the center of the room. The creature has been abused and experimented on, filling it with hatred for the shadow dwarves. Its purpose in this room is to serve as “intimidation” tactic, as any shadow dwarf passing through this room must walk past it. While the beast cannot reach them from inside the cage, so the passage is safe, they are all reminded, by signs plastered around the walls, that the failure in their duties is punishable by being fed alive to the sloth. If freed, the creature will proceed to hunt down and eat shadow dwarves, tearing the tunnels into new, bigger ones if needed to pass through.

15 Medical Wing

Three shadow dwarven Priests are stationed here alongside ten medium-sized beds, half of which is occupied by shadow dwarves too wounded to fight. There is a 25% chance Grand Inquisitor Dumas Camus is here, convincing one of the dwarves that it is in his best interest to return to work as soon as possible by implying refusal will be “fixed” by performing surgery without anesthesia on him, to “get rid of that pesky fear.”

This area contains 3 healer’s kits, one herbalist kit, an assortment of random herbs of healing attributes, 1d4-1 potions of superior healing, 2d4-1 potions of greater healing, and 2d8 potions of healing.

16 Cat Improvement Facility

This room contains two tables, on which lie the dead bodies of a Weretiger and an Adapter^³⁰, that are currently being open, with a shadow dwarven surgeon (Necromancer, Volo’s Guide to Monsters, CR 9) removing the organs from the corpses and placing them in containers attached to a large, partially transparent humanoid-sized cylinder, with a terrified and screaming rakasta trapped inside. The surgeon in combat will cast animate dead, flavored as him injecting chemical compounds animating the corpses of the two creatures (use their statistics for convenience). The surgeon’s spells should be flavored as throwing various chemicals at the PCs.

Around the cylinder, sitting in a circle, are four shadow dwarven priests of the Outer Beings (Warlock of Great Old One, Volo’s Guide to Monsters, CR 6) performing a ritual and so deeply in trance that they can only be pulled out from it by dealing them more than half of their hit point maximum of damage. A Rock Golem^³¹ is placed at the entrance to the room to prevent anyone from interfering, its large form effectively giving all creatures in the room three quarters cover. The golem will fight until destroyed.

Once the PCs enter the room, they should see the rakasta inside the cylinder drowned in strange ooze as the three dwarves on the floor begin chanting. From that point on the PCs have three rounds to stop the ritual. After this time the cylinder opens, all ooze instantly evaporating, and reveals the rakasta inside, now transformed into a Mystaran rakshasa that will join the fight against the PCs alongside its new masters. The ritual will complete if even one of the priests continues it for three rounds. However, if one priest has been interrupted or killed, the rakshasa is not under their control and will attack all living creatures indiscriminately, but can be persuaded to join the PCs against the dwarves, if a compelling reward is offered. If two priests have been interrupted or killed, it also is unstable and will melt into a puddle of blood within 1d6-1 hours (result of 0 means it will happen within 1d6 rounds instead).

17 Grand Inquisitor’s Office

This is a simple, minimalist office of Grand Inquisitor Camus Dumas (Mystaran Rakshasa), who takes the form of an athletic, sharp-dressed, blonde-haired, green-eyed human male. He is a manipulative and ambitious individual, who is nonetheless unaware that he’s been created in this very facility and raised to serve as perfect puppet and double agent within the Inquisition. He is not allowed access to Area 16 and suspects it has something to do with his past, as he comes to realize his memories are not adding up in subtle ways. When encountering the PCs, he will reveal he has gathered some incriminating information on Minister Bardan Baozrak and is willing to share them with the PCs, not to mention keeping an eye closed on their exploits as long as possible, if they will find a way to get inside Area 16 and discover why he was barred from entry. If presented with documents from that area, he will first produce the promised evidence then, upon reading them, fly into rage and leave the Moving Mountain entirely. If attacked, he will retreat through the opposite way to which the PCs came from and try to lure them into a fight with creatures in either Area 3, 28, 30, or 33, joining the fight only if he considers it advantageous for him.

The documents can be sold to any Alphatian in position of authority and would result in an immediate order of arrest and execution of Bardan Baozrak and all his allies and followers, if any are still alive. How fast will it happen and how much can the PCs get for this depends on the position of said authority figure; the higher the better.

18 Redcap Exhibition

Thirteen Redcaps (Volo’s Guide to Monsters, CR 3), each riding on a Giant Wolf Spider, have been placed in this room. They have been given a crystal ball of scrying allowing them to spy on the fey in Area 24 and raise an alarm if they spot said fey trying anything suspicious. Whenever they raise an alarm, the door separating the two rooms opens and the redcaps are allowed to attack them, with the ensuing battle usually dealing heavy losses to both sides. If the fey sit idly, the redcaps are provided human slaves to wash their hats in blood. As a plate before the entrance to the door will inform the PCs, this is an experiment to see if redcaps can be taught moderation in their habits.

19 Actateon Cell

An Actaeon^³² has been imprisoned here, chained to a chair, muzzled and handcuffed. A human Enchanter (Volo’s Guide to Monsters, CR 5) is working on trying to break the creature’s mind to make it serve the shadow dwarves and take care of the forest that covers a large part of the Moving Mountain’s outside structure. A collar around the qctateon’s neck is connected to a wand held by the enchanter, allowing him to once a day cast dominate monster on him without having to worry about concentration or saving throws. If attacked, the enchanter will do exactly that and cast spells at the PCs while hiding behind his unwilling servant. Entrance to this room is guarded by two shadow dwarven hammer operators (Duergar Hammerer, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 2).

20 Security Strike Team Sigma Six

Chef of Security Mardora (shadow dwarven Blackguard, Volo’s Guide to Monsters, CR 8) and four elite guards (Duergar Warlord, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 6) are stationed here, serving as private security of Minister Bardan Baozrakn and will fight to kill any creature that attempted to reach Area 35 through this room. Any matters to the Minister are to be relied on, at which point one of the guards will inform the minister and return telling whether the creature is allowed to pass or not. If yes, Mardora will personally escort the creature into and out of Area 35 and then return to her post.

Mardora wears Ring of Slave Driver (wondrous item, uncommon, when attuned to it you can as a bonus action extend range of your weapon by 5 feet and every creature hit by it has disadvantage on Wisdom and Charisma saving throws until end of your next turn).

21 Double Room

Entering this room through any of the doors leads to an empty, sterile room with a few chairs, a table, and a stack of books. This room serves as a break room. It’s so boring and utilitarian it sucks even at that. Some overworked dwarves come here to scream or cry in private.

A DC 30 Perception check reveals there are hidden doors in the northwest wall that can be opened with a password known only by Minister Bardan Baozrak or DC 30 a Dexterity check using thieves’ tools or a DC 30 Strength (Athletics) check. The door opens from either side. When opened from inside the room, it leads to a much different corridor; when opened from the outside it leads to a giant horrifying forge. The door acts as a portal to the fortress of the rot dwarves deep inside their stronghold in the Northern Reaches. Baozrak is using this portal to spy on the rot dwarves, trying to learn their secrets. The rot dwarves rarely use this room themselves. The PCs should be able to rest there, but they can explore the area beyond this room at their own risk. Of course the long-term implications of seizing the portal connecting Sind with the Northern Reaches should not escape the players, but its control lies entirely in whoever controls the Moving Mountain. It cannot be removed from this one secret passage.

22 Sleeping Quarters

This room is filled to the brim with triple-level beds, allowing the shadow dwarves to sleep in a small, condensed area. At maximum level this area can contain 64 shadow dwarves and usually one fourth of the beds are filled with sleeping dwarves at any given time and each hour there is always a 20% chance 1d4 arrive to either join or wake up and take the place of some already present. Use rules for shadow dwarves described in Features of the Area to determine their type. Moving through this area requires a DC 15 Dexterity (Stealth) check to not wake them up, repeated every thirty minutes spent here. Rummaging through the dwarves’ private possessions can yield 5d10 hundreds gp in coins and gems and trinkets per hour.

23 Parliament of Drakes

Locked in magically enforced cages hanging from the roof, this area contains one each of: Colddrake^³³, Mandrake and Wooddrake^³⁴, and Elemental Drakes of Air, Earth, Fire, and Water^³⁵. The floor of this room is covered in runes affecting anyone who enters, except for shadow dwarves, increasing their irritability and argumentativeness. A DC 20 Wisdom saving throw when a creature enters the room protects against the effect for an hour; both affected and unaffected creatures repeat the saving throw every hour spent there or whenever they enter the room. It takes a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check to notice the runes at all and a DC 25 Intelligence (Arcana) check to understand their nature.

The drakes are affected and argue endlessly among each other about what course of action to take, and have been for a long time, rendering them too deeply entrenched in their personal conflicts to actually do something. They need to first be carried out of the room and even then for an hour their arguments will impose disadvantage on all Stealth checks made in their company. Only after they’re all freed of the effects of the magic can they be convinced to help against the shadow dwarves.

24 Tiny Resistance

This room is locked with an arcane lock spell. The area inside has been turned into a small forest. It is currently occupied by a group of fey consisting of four Brownies^³⁶, four Leprechauns^³⁷ and four Pookas^³⁸ with eight Dire Corgis^³⁹, who have been kept as part of the menagerie but managed to break free and take over this room. But the magic barrier put on the room prevents them from leaving. Moreover, this room is adjacent to Area 18 and whenever the fey here tries anything suspicious, the doors dividing the room are opened, unleashing redcaps on them. This resistance has suffered terrible losses and their morale is horribly low. Even if the redcaps have been killed, the spirit of those fey may be too crushed to make them join the PCs in their fight. However, if a PC is a fey or sylvan race themselves, or has a blessing of one, or if the party has freed Donna Garcia from Area 3 and can prove it or is accompanied by the actateon from Area 20, they can reignite the spirit of the fey, gaining their assistance.

If the party mingles with the fey too much, the redcaps in Area 18 realize this is not some sort of checkup by the shadow dwarves, raise the alarm, and attack immediately.

If asked about the back door, the fey say it leads to something much, much worse than the redcaps. Not a single one of them dares to venture that corridor anywhere close to Area 25 or even talk about what lies inside. Even the redcaps from Area 18, if captured, will have the same reaction.

25 KEEP THE LIGHTS ON

Each door to this room has words KEEP THE LIGHTS ON written on it. There is no more information, and trying to write down anything about the room or creatures inside results in the whole page becoming unreadable within three days. The dwarves refuse to talk about this room.

Inside is a single table, a pair of chairs on opposite ends, and multiple torches of everburning flame on the wall. Casting dispel magic on one of the torches with a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check will suspend all flames for an hour. Once the flames are suspended. If a creature then sits on a chair, a Rexxen^⁴⁰ will appear on the other chair. She will offer the creature on the chair a deal : anything they wish for in exchange for their soul. The Rexxen is willing to do anything the PCs request, but she will be collecting their souls upon their deaths, and her way of accomplishing the wish will ALWAYS be that of highest body count. If asked how she got here, she will explain that the table and chair have been stolen from her usual clients and she may tell them the location of a treasure deep in the Northern Reaches if they return it. She knows of a secret door in Area 21 and the place it leads to is exactly where he wants to be delivered.

26 The Horde

A single Horde^⁴¹ has been trapped and chained inside this room, the runes on chains stopping it from splitting into tiny creatures. One of the Horse Clan youths, Chaytan, has been sent to deliver its food. When the PCs first find the door to this area, they should witness the boy being showed inside with a large slab of meat by one of the guards, (Duergar Stone Guard, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 2, wearing a ring of immunity to cold) who quickly closes the door behind him. This is followed by a monstrous roar and the sound of cracking metal, making the guard panic and sound for the alarm. If the PCs enter the room, they find that the sight of a living creature made the horde break the chains, nullifying their magic. If the PCs do not intervene, the horde will kill the boy, break into tiny creatures to reform outside the door, and go on a rampage.

27 Cold Reception

This place is occupied by three Hallalleski^⁴², as an experiment to see if these beings can satisfy their mutual crippling loneliness. So far the experiment has yielded mixed results, as instead three fey compete over attention and affection of anyone who enters, but are also much more prone to act scorned and enraged by any sign of rejection or favoring another one. They learned to ignore the guard stationed to watch the door to Area 26, due to his immunity to cold.

In case the horde from Area 26 breaks out, the hallaleski are acting as the first line of defense—the shadow dwarves hope that they will confuse and damage the monster enough that it will be manageable by the time the security team arrives.

28 Disease Room

Three Bargda^⁴³ are trapped in this room and will rush and try to bite any creature that enters it. If freed, they will spread through the complex, biting and infecting everything on sight.

If the party engages in combat with the bargda or lets them leave the room without having killed the hivebrood from Areas 18 and 24 of Lower Level, the ground in this room collapses 1d3 rounds later and the hivebrood emerges, engaging the PCs and bargda in a three-way fight.

29 Pool of Blood

All traces of blood lead to this room. A pool sixty feet deep lies in this area, filled with blood, the walls covered in blasphemous runes. This is a place of one of blasphemous rituals composed by cultists of the Outer Beings. When the PCs enter the room an ooze rises to kill them. The ooze uses stat blocks depending on the number of creatures they have killed while inside Moving Mountain except for constructs, elementals and undead.

The monster will pursue the PCs and try to hunt them down until slain or they either leave the mountain or die. The exception is the final form, which is actually intelligent. It will not rise up but instead communicate with the PC with lowest Wisdom score using telepathy. It will offer them any reward if they bring here a number of intelligent creatures, other than constructs, elemental, or undead, equal to the combined hit dice for each party member. If the party member refuses or the PCs are hostile to it, the ooze will rise and attack, but renew the offer upon establishing its superior power.

Whenever the PCs manage to bring here a number of creatures equal to the hit dice of one party member, it can bestow on that party member a single +2 bonus to any Ability score. This can raise an Ability above 20, but the same PC can only be chosen once for this boon, unless the task was accomplished by a single PC in secret from others. However, even then each time a PC gets this boon, it applies to different Ability scores.

At DM’s decision, this entity may instead talk to one of the NPCs accompanying the party. If an NPC successfully brings them enough creatures to make for a PC’s hit die, they also gain a level of Great Old One, Fathomless, or the Fiend Warlock.

If the PCs accomplish this task, they will find themselves teleported outside the mountain with all companions and loot they gathered during their exploration of it. However, the mountain in front of them will melt into a pile of blood, that will then sink into the earth. The newly created ooze monster will take the name Juiblex and go straight to the Hollow World, on the way managing to petition an audience with Thanatos and receive its first task to the path of Immortality : annihilation of all life in the Hollow World. But that is a story for another time.

30 Security Strike Team Theta Thirteen

These are the headquarters of Security Strike Team Theta Thirteen a.k.a. Screaming Hammers. It consists of six correctors (Duergar Screamer, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 2), six hammer operators (Duergar Hammerer, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 2) and Security Officer Orna Dorna (Duergar Warlord, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 6). They are stationed here to intervene in case of outbreak from Areas 16, 26, or 27. As the situation has been peaceful for now, they are mostly relaxed and drink a newly discovered drink that started gaining popularity in Sind in the years following the Master's invasion : coffee. Due to their natural resilience, they find it “tasty but weak.”

Orma Dorna wears a Ring of Continuous Pain (wondrous item, rare; every time you hit a creature with an attack, they’re dealt 1d4 psychic damage at the beginning of each of its turns for the next minute. Effects from multiple hits stack with one another).

31 Honored Guest’s Quarters

A Dao named Phibnea the Hunter resides here in a small but luxurious room. She is a “honored guest” of Minister Bardan Baozrak, who has helped capture many of the creatures in the menagerie. Moreover, she also has a way to open a portal to the Elemental Plane of Earth, allowing the dwarves to trade with the dao for fresh supplies of food, slaves, and exotic creatures, all of course paid by Alphatian money. She’s ruthless but professional, seeing no reason to fight the PCs unless in self-defense or when Baozrak declares a bounty on their heads, at which point she will hunt them down mercilessly. She can be easily convinced to talk about any of the creatures she captured and may drop cryptic hints about what the party will find in any area they have not explored yet. She will only refuse to talk about Area 25 and, if pressed, will offer the party 2,000 gp in gems each if they go and kill the creature living there. She has very bad feelings about it and doesn’t want to be anywhere on this plane if it gets out.

32 Minister’s Private Quarters

This is the private room of Minister Bardan Baozrak, small but glamorous, with only him possessing keys to it. There is a 25% chance he will be here when the PCs enter, enjoying sounds of the inhuman experiments in Area 16.

Minister Bardan Baozrak uses the statistics of Mummy Lord with the following changes:

If challenged to combat, he will teleport to Area 8 to make his final stand riding on the back of the bodendrucker. If it has been slain or freed from his control, he will instead teleport to Area 5 to do it from the back of the earthquake beetle (riding on it extends to him its immunity to earthquakes caused by it). If both creatures have been freed or slain, he retreats to Area 12 and makes his final stand there.

Treasure: The minister’s desk contains three secret compartments; each one can be found with a DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check and unlocked with a DC 20 Dexterity check using thieves’ tools. Each compartment is covered in runes that, when touched, force creatures touching them to make a DC 20 Wisdom saving throw or they believe they are a gorilla escaping its imprisonment and violently attack anyone on their way to the exit, fighting with their bare hands.

The first compartment contains a methodical journal of Bardan Baozrak, including details of replacing the real Baozrak, his slow filling of the crew of this very location with shadow dwarves, detail of his transformation in a mummy lord and feelings of still undergoing changes, as his body begins to become something more, as well as info about hidden Area 12. Any high authority of Alphatia would be willing to pay up to 50,000 gp for this information; the exact amount depends on the party’s ability to negotiate. The second compartment contains 125,000 gp worth of rare gems and unfinished notes concerning the process of replacing the eyes of another creature with gems to make them servants of the Outer Gods. The final compartment contains the Belt of the Brightest Star.

Belt of the Brightest Star

The belt belonged to a famous pair of Alphatian performers, actress Selene Garrisiana and her musician brother, Flavio. Both of them shocked the Empire with their astonishing performances, being able to match the greatest actors at the young age of sixteen . It was only after both of them passed three years later that the Alphatian authorities felt it suspicious enough to investigate, discovering the siblings’ talent was actually coming from this belt, that they would pass between each other, and which was greeted by their father, as a ploy to get their family into noble position. It is believed he came onto it by killing a Glantrian spy and stealing this item from them.

Effects: This belt contains 12 charges, that can be spend on casting the following spells: disguise self – 1 charge, Nystrul’s magic aura – 2, catnap – 3, glibness – 8.

Once the number of charges reaches zero, it regains 2d4+2 charges but the creature wearing it must make half as many DC 20 Constitution Saving Throws or suffer two levels of exhaustion each.

33 Interrogation Room

This room has been turn into place of grotesque torture, with various tools and devices, magical or otherwise, filling the area. Currently it is occupied by a single prisoner, Raahinya. At all times a team of twelve little apprentices, young shadow dwarves in service of Father Gilbert Grimm, occupy this area. Four scribes (Derro Savant, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 3) devise new ways of torture, which are then implemented by eight terminators (Derro, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR ¼). There’s a 25% chance Father Gilbert Grimm will be here when the PCs enter, unless he has already been encountered somewhere else. If not, when attacked one of the terminators will run to get him from Area 9. The scribes have the four keys necessary to unlock Raahinya’s shackles, but they will guard them with their lives. All of the twelve little apprentices fear Father Grimm far more than any PCs and, as long as he lives, cannot be persuaded to let their prisoner go.

Once the PCs free him, he has been reduced to 1 hit point and suffers 1d6-1 (minimum of 1) levels of exhaustion. If healed he will desire to take revenge on the Alphatians and dwarves alike and cannot be talked down from his desire to murder Minister Bardan Baozrak. If the PCs swear to help him, he will accompany them and aid them in combat. Once the Minister is killed, Raahinya will give the PCs the Silver Key, which will magically emerge from his chest, where it was hidden through the blessing of Sindi Immortals. If Raahinya is killed, the key emerges on its own.

34 Slave Pen

1d8 Commoner slaves are chained to the walls of this room; they are malnourished, scared, and in no condition to fight. When questioned about the Horse Clan youths, they say one was just taken from here by a guard to “room behind cold room” (Area 26).

35 Minister’s Office

Here Minister Bardan Baozrak deals with all administrative matters. There's a 25% chance he will be encountered here, working. The room is lavish with luxuries and the total of furniture here is worth around 3,500 gp. If attacked here, the Minister teleports away as described in Area 32, but not before calling a team from Area 30 to come and deal with the intruders.

Concluding the Adventure

If the PCs return with Raahinya, he and Indrepal will celebrate their heroism and bravery in a grand feast. They will also give the PCs a reward in the form of a “recently vacated” mansion built by one of the Alphatian occupiers, whose former owner was unfortunately eaten by a tiger in mysterious circumstances. The mansion can be repurposed as the PCs’ base. It can also be sold for 10,000 gp, or five times as much if work and money are first invested into making it look less like an eyesore of invading culture, sticking out among Sindi buildings like a sore thumb. Individual rooms can be rented, earning the PCs 100 gp a month per occupied room. At the end of each month there is a 50% chance of 1d4 new rooms being rented and 20% chance of 1d3 rooms being vacated. Lowering the rent, underselling the mansion, or donating it to the people will make the PCs’ reputation in the region soar greatly, while doing the opposite will decrease it.

Returning Horse Clan youths to the Horse Clan will have the PCs’ declared friends of the Horse people, always to be welcomed by the clan. In addition to the gold, they receive a second bracelet, identical to the first one, allowing them to summon Horse Clan warriors for aid.

If the Moving Mountain still remains operational, the PCs may want to take control of it. Any of their allies may be convinced to help manning and operating it. Horse Clan in particular may be interested in acquiring it to move through the mountains.

If you wish to connect the adventure to Undersea Laboratory of Aquan Archmage^⁴⁴ Raahinya may tell the PCs that, before his capture, he heard Shivangi Adhira, his protegée leading her own resistance cell in Kandaputra, on the coast down south, is in need of help. He may also mention hearing she may possess another of the keys to the legendary vault.

Acknowledgments

I want to thank Glen Welch, whose monster statistics I have used multiple times in the writing of this module, as well as youtuber Dungeon Dad for additional monster statistics I referred to.

1Available as a PDF download from the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/War_on_All_Sides.pdf

2Refer to Glen Welch’s YouTube channel, specifically to his “Welcome to Mystara” playlist, in particular to the video “Welcome to Mystara: The Known World 1030 AC Part 7” https://youtu.be/YjeHgNGoIVs?si=tii-Pb1I3jr1CMoV and its part concerning Sind, as well as to “Welcome to Mystara: The Known World 1030 AC Part 6” https://youtu.be/u7fpKbAEQ-g?si=nuF--iJ1ShSeDzHq concerning the Horse Clan

3All informations about Alphatian dwarves is taken from Bruce Heard’s work on his blog at https://bruce-heard.blogspot.com/, in particular the blog post “Denwarf-Hurgon, Pillar of Alphatia” https://bruce-heard.blogspot.com/search/label/Stoutfellow

4See the “Ghostly Horde” description (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/Ghostly_Horde.png

5See the “Geonid” description (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/Geonid.png

6See the “Garle” description (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/Garl.png

7See the “Magen” descriptions (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/Magen_2.png

8See the “Magen” descriptions (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/Magen_2.png

9See the “Elemental, Hydrax” description (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/Hydrax.png

10Since he is an undead, he uses magic to recreate his blood beforehand

11See the “Gargoyle, Iron” description (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/Iron_Gargoyle.png

12See the “Agarat” description (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/Agarat.png

13if anyone falls for this, read this information in Vincent Price’s voice (see thisYouTube clip of Price’s “Thriller” rap if you are unfamiliar for a sample https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebGYxAHNDzA )

14See the “Lupin” description (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/Lupin.png

15See the “Elemental, Undine” description (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/undine.png

16See the “Elemental, Helion” description (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/Helion.png

17See the “Elemental, Anemo” description (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/Anemo.png

18See the “Elemental, Kryst” description (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/Kryst.png

19 See the “Living Statue, Steel” description (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/Living_Statue_5.png

20See the “Deep Glaurant” description (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/Deep_Glaurant.png

21See the “Gakarak” description (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/gakarak.png

22See the “Faedorne” description (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/Faedorne.png

23See the “Earthquake Beetle” description (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/earthquake_beetle.png

24See the “Elemental Erdeen” description (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/Erdeen.png

25See the “Rock Man” description (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/Rock_Man.png

26See the “Bodendrücker, (Leveller)” description (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/Bodendrucker.png

27See the “Rakasta” description (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/Rakasta.png

29See the “Sloth, Vulcanian” description (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/Vulcanian_Sloth.png

30See the “Adapter” description (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/Adapter.png

31See these “Golem” descriptions (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/Golem_4.png

32See the “Acraeon” description (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/Actaeon.png

33See the “Colddrake” description (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/Drake_1.png

34See the “Mandrake & Wooddrake” descriptions (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/Drake_2.png

35See the “Drake, Elemental” description (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/Drake_Elemental.png

36See the “Brownie” descriptions (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/brownie.png

37See the “Leprechaun” description (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/Leprechaun.png

38See the “Pooka” description (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/Pooka.png

39See the “Corgi, Dire” description (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/Dire_Corgi.png

40The Rexen is an original creature by Glen Welch (PDF document available at the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/Rexxen.pdf )

41See the “Horde” description (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/Horde.png

42See the “Hallaleski” description (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/hallalleski.png

43See the “Bargla” description (author uncredited) on the Vaults of Pandius http://pandius.com/Bargda.png

44See “Against the Wizards: Undersea Laboratory of Aquan Archmage” in THRESHOLD Magazine issue #31 http://pandius.com/atwaqnlb.html

Result	Encounter
1	Captain Kryk “the Killer” Kringle (Duergar Despot, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 12, see Area 4 of Lower Level), accompanied by his two bodyguards (Duergar Stone Guard, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 2), doing regular patrols and keeping an open eye, giving him an advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks to find intruders and Wisdom (Insight) checks against any Deception or Persuasion checks made against him.
2	6d6 red Orcs on a patrol, attack unless convinced the PCs are part of the staff. Since they’re new hires and do not know the whole crew yet, Deception checks against them have advantage. If any of the orcs are questioned, there’s a 10% chance they know the location of one of the Horse Clan youths.
3	Patrol of Red orc elite force composed of one each: Orc Blade of Ilneval (CR 4), Orc Red Fang of Shargaas (CR 3), Orc Hand of Yurtrus (CR 2), Orc Nurtured One of Yurtrus (CR ½), Orc Claw of Luthic (CR 2) (all from Volo’s Guide to Monsters), and Orc Eye of Grummsh. While monster stat blocks are associated with worshippers of Forgotten Realms gods, this can simply be ignored and their abilities flavored as just unique skills or shamanistic magic.
4	Janus Janus, Alphatian Safety Inspector (LN, male Mage), an elderly safety inspector who will confuse the PCs with staff and demand they immediately deliver his list of complaints and safety violations to Minister, directing them the shortest way to the stairs leading to Upper Level.
5	2d12 Geonids^⁵ have dug in a small tunnel into the mountain and burst through the wall right as the PCs approach. They are hostile only if they confuse the PCs with shadow dwarves, whom they consider “blasphemers.”
6	3d6 Garl^⁶. Having escaped imprisonment from one of the menagerie cells, the garl now stalk the corridors hunting shadow dwarves. Red orcs were hired in part to hunt them down.
7	A glyph containing a Curse of Madness has been placed on the floor to activate if more than three creatures who are not shadow dwarves, Alphatians or red orcs cross it one after another. Each creature within 15 feet of the glyph must make a DC 20 Charisma saving throw or roll on the Curse of Madness table below. Effects lasts until remove curse or similar spell are cast on the PCs.
8	2d4 Damaged Magen^⁷ patrol. Roll 1d4 to determine the type: 1 - Caldron Magen 2 - Demos Magen 3 - Galvan Magen 4 - Hypnos Magen. They have been abandoned due to various faults that make them attempt extremely harmful things with living beings, and now roam the lower level.

Result	Effect
1	Gorilla: Every time you try to tell, read, listen or watch any form of narrative, 1d6 Apes appear in the nearest free space and attack you and everyone else in the room, fighting until they either die or kill every other creature in the room.
2	Cold: You lose all empathy towards other creatures.
3	Egghead: You take 1 point of radiant damage every minute your head is exposed to any light. If you spend more than 24 hours with your head not exposed to light, you are immediately killed, as a Giant Spider bursts through your skull.
4	Unstrung: Once every 24 hours you hear the voice of an Unseelie fey trying to convince you to do horrible, violent things “like a real man.” If you do not follow their commands, you must make a DC 25 Wisdom saving throw, or are frightened for 1 minute, during which you believe you’re made out of wood.
5	Itching: You begin to itch all over your body. Every time you are dealt damage that would cause you to bleed, a Swarm of Insects appears, seemingly bursting through your wound, and attacks you. It is invisible to other creatures and whenever you tell anyone about it, they have to make a DC 20 Wisdom saving throw or they do not believe you.
6	Delusional: Whenever you meet a healthy person, you must make a DC 25 Intelligence saving throw, or become convinced they are horribly ill and need to immediately receive an extremely dangerous way of help or quest they have to undertake, and have advantage on convincing other creatures your delusions are right. If you do convince the creature to go along with your plan, you then proceed to come up with increasingly worse ways of helping, until they die. You can obsess like that only about a single creature at a time.

Result	Encounter
1	2d8 Magen^⁸ patrol. Roll 1d4 to determine the type: 1 - Caldron Magen 2 - Demos Magen 3 - Galvan Magen 4 - Hypnos Magen; they fight to capture intruders and deliver them to Area 33.
2	Devang Son of the Jungle (CG Berserker with his attacks flavored as Unarmed Strike and instead of wearing armor he adds his Constitution Modifier to his AC) and his two Tigers. A wild man who ventured into the mountain upon hearing a great hero is kept prisoner here. He will attack the party, mistaking them for enemies, but can be talked down. He will protect his two tigers, whom he believes are reincarnations of his dead sons.
3	Snort, Goblin Bard (Volo’s Guide to Monsters, CR 2), with Nimble Escape feature. Naive young Goblin mistakenly believes that it is a great honor to be locked in one of the cells of the menagerie, and will initially surrender, confusing the PCs with the guards. He can be convinced to do pretty much anything, as long as it gets him his desired position in a cell. Will compose songs about the PCs if treated well, will compose a song about Gashunk if told about him.
4	1d6+1 Garl; separated from garl on lower level, they’re confused and utterly lost and thus have disadvantage on saving throws against being frightened.
5	Agatha, a Green Hag pulling a cart of junk with Mertle, a Goblin, sitting on it, with a sign saying “Agatha’s Mobile Store of Wonders” on a side. Players can buy potions as per usual price, with 5% discount if they’re nice to Agatha and her goblin. In addition, they can pay to pull a gift from the chart, rolling on a random magic table determined by how much they paid: 1,000 gp - Table B, 2,000 gp - C, 4,000 gp - D. Agatha, her cart and goblin vanish at the first sign of hostility. Nobody knows how Agatha gets in and out of the Moving Mountain; the shadow dwarves have given up on trying to capture her a long time ago.
6	Selenshay Morningray (NG female Elf Archer, Volo’s Guide to Monsters, CR 3) and Zardak (NG male Gnoll Hunter, Volo’s Guide to Monsters, CR ½), all that remains from a team that was sent to the menagerie from Graakhalia, the underground kingdom of elves and gnolls. Their mission was to free and recruit any creatures that have been captured here to fight against “the enemy” threatening their kingdom. They will try to recruit the party into helping them, promising 1,000 gp for each ally the party helps them gain. They are honest, but the party will have to venture to Graakhalia to collect the reward.
7	Golbozoron the Beholder and his prisoner, Zelel (male Githyanki Knight), sole survivor of a group of gith that entered Mystaraspace fleeing stronger enemies, and died in the void surrounding the planet; he wants nothing but to return home. He is under the influence of dominate monster, cast by the beholder, who hopes to sell him to the shadow dwarves for a good price. Golbozoron will use Zelel to protect himself in combat.
8	2d6+2 Shadow Dwarf Correctors (Duergar Screamer, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 2).