Against the Wizards: Temperamental Tollbooth of Theradenal Thaumaturge

In the Great Salt Swamp of Sind lies a horrible prison, the Castle of Dreams, in which several women from Sind are being held. Many heroes tried to save them, but they all fell into the ruthless traps of Theradenal Thaumaturge, whose designs further truly nightmarish ends, threatening to change the Known World forever.

This adventure is set in Alphatia-occupied Sind, in an alternate timeline, described in the works of Glen Welch’s “War on All Sides^¹” and videos about his 1030 AC Timeline^². It may require adjustments to be used in other locations. The adventure acts best as a sequel to the previous two Against the Wizards adventures: level 11 “Moving Mountain Menagerie of Morkhulan Minister” from THRESHOLD #33 and level 12 “Undersea Laboratory of Aquan Archmage” from THRESHOLD #31. With some adjustment it can also be run as a standalone. The adventure is balanced for four characters of 13th level, who should advance to level 14 by the time they finish it.

Adventure Background

In the War on All Sides timeline, an alternate version of events of “Wrath of the Immortals”, the nation of Sind has first been conquered and occupied by the Master of Hule, then later by “liberating” Alphatian forces. After that, however, Alphatia descended into civil war with the death of the Empress Eriadna. While supporters of newly-crowned Emperor Zandor clash with forces of Prince Haldemar, claiming to represent the late Empress’s true heiress, more and more Alphatian troops are pulled from Sind back to the mainland. This creates an opportunity for many resistance fighters to rise against the oppressors and fight for liberation.

Enter Sir Thaddeus Terion the Third, the Theradenal Thaumaturge. This Alphatian noble embodies, in his mind, noble knightly ideals, as well as the perfect image of a knowledge-pursuing mage. He proposed to Zandor a way to kill multiple birds with one stone. With the Emperor’s blessing, he has built a horrible structure, the Castle of Dreams. It exists only partially on the Prime Material Plane, constantly shifting between it, the Elemental Plane of Fire, and the Nightmare Dimension. It shifts in and out, moving all round Sind, raiding villages and cities in search of suitable women that are kidnapped and taken into the castle. Or, as Thaddeus likes to call it, “enrolled in a Princess School.” Officially, the goal of the experiments is to create a “perfect queen,” a being of incredible power and majesty, able to command forces of fire and mind-manipulating energies of nightmares and dreams. With such a Queen at his side, Zandor believes he will easily sway the opposition and legitimize or even outright mythologize his rule.

Of course, Thaddeus Terion has his own goals. The man had, through various magical and shady dealings, come to believe that Alphatia’s hated rivals, the Principalities of Glantri, had come into possession of means to achieve Immortality. While he does not know what those means are, he considers this an affront to the most fundamental principle that the world revolves around—Alphatian superiority and divine mandate to rule the world. Setting up shop in Sind, he has begun experiments to achieve Immortality through harnessing powers of other dimensions. In particular the Dimension of Nightmares has caught his eye, having found in it something so horrifying and powerful, he believes its power can rival Immortals already. The poor women he’s been kidnapping were selected due to possessing inherent resonance with Nightmare Dimension’s energies. Each one has been forced to undergo a monstrous transformation, becoming a creature of Nightmare. Among them, Therion has found two possessing the greatest potential. One, nicknamed the Forgotten Princess, has been rejected for becoming too connected with the Nightmare Dimension and developing connections with both Negative Energy Plane and Spirit World, to the point of losing her grip on reality. She is now haunting his fortress through her Dream Vestige, plotting revenge for what was done to her. The other, the Ascendant, is his current choice, and he is in the process of harnessing the full power of the thing he found in Nightmare to brute-force her ascension.

Beginning the Adventure

If the party has completed one of previous two adventures in “Against the Wizards” series, either Indrepal Emerald-Eyed or Shivangi Adhira may pass on to them information of a powerful and influential member of the Sindi upper caste, Kaamod Radhak, who seeks the help of skilled adventurers. They can relay to the PCs that Kaamod is an influential man, who was a vital resistance fighter during Hulean occupation, despite being wheelchair-bound. He was assumed to have been killed in one of the uprisings against the Master of Hule, but he reemerged during the Alphatian occupation, managing to gain their respect due to his extensive knowledge of the theory of magic, topic of his scholarly studies. He’s a collaborator, but always prided himself as a nicer face of the occupation. And, for the most part, he was able to deliver on this claim, as many people will tell of his silver tongue saving them from harsh punishment or especially cruel laws imposed by the occupiers. To prove he believes he is doing the right thing for Sindi people by working with the occupiers, he even refused multiple offers from Alphatians to make him be able to walk again. He considers this a statement to his selflessness. Any freedom-fighting group would love to have someone this well-connected as their “man on the inside.”

If the PCs agree to meet with Kaamod, he invites them, at dead of night, to his palace for a small, quiet meal. He’s clearly a man of incredible fortune and even his definition of a “small, quiet meal” could put many feasts to shame. Yet, despite his riches, his expression is grim. The PCs will immediately notice an empty seat next to him on the feast. Kaamod will explain that he keeps it for his daughter, Pradha, who was the latest victim of kidnapping by the Castle of Dreams, a horrible structure that vanishes as soon as it appears, and whenever it shows up, young women are kidnapped. He does not know more about it, except that it is the work of Sir Thaddeus Terion the Third, the Theradenal Thaumaturge, and he operates with the full approval and blessing of Emperor Zandor. Kaamod will explain that, while he really believed that working with Alphatians will ease things up for people of Sind and that he did all he could to make that happen, he was also trying to protect his daughter and that he never expected her to fall victim to one of the occupier’s schemes. “Like Rajah KulpakhI, I was in favor of letting elephants to trample people, never expecting one to trample me,” will be his exact words, said with utter shame at his own foolishness.

Kaamod will offer the PCs a generous reward of 500 thousand gp and a Golden Key—last of three keys necessary to open a hidden vault in which the last Rajah of Sind hid his vast fortune before being overthrown by the Master of Hule—as well as turning spy for the Sindi resistance within Alphatian structures. In exchange he wants them to venture into the Castle of Dreams and rescue his daughter. He will openly invite the PCs to use spells like zone of truth or decipher thoughts on him to prove he is not lying. If they do, he will intentionally make it very clear he is not willing to doublecross them in any way. However, he will also give them a warning : if they kill, maim, or in any other way harm his child, he will use every connection he has to make their lives open season for Alphatian mages, inquisitors, and bounty hunters. If they find his child in a state beyond saving, he expects them to come with Thaddeus Terion’s severed head, for which he will reward them with 250 thousand gp instead. If the PCs try to negotiate the latter price, he will cut them off, saying they should be happy he offers as much. If his child is dead, he wants the man responsible to never hurt anyone again, but revenge itself is worthless to him.

If the PCs agree, which this adventure assumes, he will inform them that, according to his divination and spies, there is only one way to enter the castle if you’re not part of an “approved personnel”' : the Temperamental Tollbooth, hidden in the swamp. As he will explain, it is a construction maintaining its connection to the Nightmare Dimension through invoking dream logic (hence it’s a tollbooth in the middle of a swamp). He believes it is situated somewhere between the Domain of the Malakaz and the Kajahali Flowers on Nemkin Ylaka. He offers to use a teleportation circle in his basement to send the party as close to the location as possible, and gives them a magical token to break once they’ve completed their mission. Breaking the token casts a sending spell targeting Kaamod, allowing him as a response to teleport the person holding the token and those around them to his teleportation circle. He warns the PCs that he has another such circle deep beneath hundred of miles of solid rock, and if the PCs try to contact him without a convincing claim of completing either of their objectives, he will gladly send them there instead.

Themes of the Adventure

Monster Substitution

Monsters used in this adventure use either 5e conversions of past edition monsters done by Glen Welch, youtuber Dungeon Dad, ENWorld user Dave 2008, and homebrews by Reddit users BeneloventEvilDM and StoneStrix. In other places I used monsters from 5e SRD as well as “Bigby’s Glory of the Giants” (BGG), “Volo’s Guide to Monsters”, “Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes”, “Princes of the Apocalypse”, and third party books “Tome of Beasts I”, “Tome of Beast III”, “Legendary Planet Adventure Path”, and “Primeval Thule Campaign Setting”, with CR provided for rough guideline of substitution for those who do not have access to these books.

In the case of the magen, the DM has a free choice whenever to use statistics of magen created by Glen Welch (http://pandius.com/Magen_2.png) or those provided in “Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden” for demos, galvan, and hypnos magen. Any time the text refers to magen DM is encouraged to roll 1d4 and assign them respectively: 1: caldron 2: demos 3: galvan 4: hypnos magen.

The Temperamental Tollbooth

After teleportation, searching for the Tollbooth will take 24 hours; a successful DC 14 Survival check reduces it by a number of hours equal to the difference between the check result and the DC (e.g. a result of 15 reduces by one hour, while a result of 30 by eleven).

The red Tollbooth stands in the middle of the swamp, striking in contrast to the surrounding area. When the party approaches, a window will open, revealing a nameless sidhe who has been trapped in the Tollbooth as its guardian. The magic prevents them from leaving and forces them to serve as a judge of who should be allowed to enter the castle, as well as where to send them. The sidhe takes an androgynous form that for each person registers as the gender they are most attracted to (characters who would answer “all,” “both,” or “none” to such a question genuinely cannot tell this NPC’s gender). They act friendly when approached peacefully, but will sense if PCs approach with drawn weapons and shift their demeanor to cold, demanding they put their weapons down before approaching.

The entity can only be freed from this prison either by a PC offering to trade places with them or by being slain, in which case they will be reborn in the Good Kingdom as per normal fey rules. They will try to convince the PCs to do the former and defend themselves if attacked, as the magic of Tollbooth forces them to. In combat the sidhe will split into multiple copies, each one fighting one attacking creature and using their exact statistics, including copies of their magic items and spells known. After either defeating the PCs or being slain, all copies merge again into one being. This aspect of Tollbooth’s self-defense is a traumatizing experience for the sidhe, if they’re still alive, and they resent the PCs who forced them to undergo it. A PC who trades places with the sidhe can explore the castle but cannot step outside it or the Tollbooth until the castle is destroyed or Thadeuss Terion is slain, but they gain an influential ally in the Good Kingdom, for future adventures.

Depending on each PC’s behavior, the entity will open the door in the back of the Tollbooth, sending the PCs to different areas. The door opens even if the sidhe is slain by the PCs. Consult the table below to determine where the PCs will be sent by the sidhe. Upon crossing the door, the PCs will appear in the closest dead end to the right area.

Castle of Dreams

General Features of the Area

Corridors: While corridors may appear to be 5 feet wide on the map, they appear to slightly bend time and space to allow creatures of sizes larger than medium to pass through. The visual effect accompanying it may cause slight feelings of dizziness and may require a moment to get used to. On Level 1 corridors leading outside the map in the northern and southern end are dimensionally bent to connect with each other, thus a person leaving from one end arrives at the other. In the middle of each corridor there is a potted plant of random type.

Doors: Every entrance to a room has ornate wooden doors that are locked and can be opened with a DC 15 Dexterity check using thieves’ tools or a DC 15 Strength (athletics) check.

Walls: All walls are made of stone bricks. Any dwarf or anyone who studies them for at least fifteen minutes can tell they aren’t made from any naturally existing type of rock.

Light: Each corridor and room is lightened up by torches with everburning flame spells cast on them, unless specified otherwise.

Stairs: Stairs above Area 2 of Level 1 connect to stairs left of Area 1 of Level 2, while stairs below Area 3 of Level 1 connect to stairs between Areas 28 and 30 of Level 2, however strange it may seem. Level 2 resides above Level 1.

Dimensions: Every hour roll a d6. On a result of 1 or 2 the Castle has shifted to the Nightmare Dimension, making creatures from the Prime Material Plane suffer a disadvantage on all rolls and creatures native to the Nightmare Dimension gain an advantage on all rolls. On a result of 5 or 6, the Castle shifts to the Prime Material Plane, reversing the advantage and disadvantage for creatures. On a result of 3 to 4 it shifts to the Elemental Plane of Fire, making every creature without immunity or resistance to fire damage have to make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or suffer a level of exhaustion.

Alarm: If at any point the text indicates the alarm is raised, a voice spread through hidden magic mouth spells begins to demand a personnel immediate intervention in any area where the alarm was raised. Alarm repeats three times; at initiative turn 20 each time roll on a D8+1 and consult a random encounters table; appropriate creatures will appear in the nearest corridor leading to the area. The enemies fight to subdue and capture the heroes and the ones reduced below 50 hit points will retreat to lick their wounds and reappear, fully healed, as additional foes during the next random encounter, or the next time the alarm goes off.

Eyes: In any room there’s a 50% chance the PCs are being surveyed by a hidden eyeball, similar to a scry spell. However, these eyeballs actually belong to an entity in the Nightmare Dimension, a nameless, mutated and completely deranged draerden in the service of Outer Beings. This being is the source of energy that is making the whole castle move, a mighty idiot unaware its own power is being siphoned away. It takes a DC 15 Perception check to notice one of the eyes and a DC 15 Stealth check to avoid its gaze. The thing wishes to be entertained and once it notices the PCs it will have its eyes follow them around. From that point on keep a tally of all natural one and natural twenty dice rolls made by player characters. At the end of this adventure, if the number of natural 20s, after subtracting the number of natural ones, passes over ten, the draerden takes notice of them and decides they’re a threat it needs to eliminate, and will begin plotting against them.

Diaboli: Each area marked with a letter on the map contains a Diaboli^³ who is hiding from something. It can be found with a DC 15 Perception or Investigation check. Diaboli are non-hostile and will beg to be left alone and to not tell anyone about their presence. However, each time the PCs approach one of those areas, there’s a 50% chance that an Iron Gargoyle^⁴ is present, ripping out the hiding spot and kidnapping the diaboli in it. If the PCs won’t stop this, the gargoyle will carry the kidnapped creature to Area 1 on Level 2.Wandering Monsters

Every hour of play, roll a d12. On a result of 1 roll a d12 for random encounter or select one from the table below.

Level 1

1 The Bride

This is a beautiful room that looks like a chapel. Next to the altar at the southern end stands a beautiful woman, the Bride (Commonner) in a bridal outfit. An Alphatian bridal outfit on a Sindi woman, which looks quite nonsensical. When noticing the PCs, she will initially ask one of them to marry her. She will begin promising all kinds of things to her future husband, enthusiastically agreeing to any any demand, no matter how unreasonable. Any character who will agree to the ceremony, will be initially transported in front of the altar, dressed in traditional Alphatian groom’s outfit. A booming voice will then speak words of a wedding ceremony. After the character says “I do,” the altar will cast disintegrate on them and keep casting it every turn until the character is reduced to dust. At this point the PCs will be teleported in front of, now closed, door to this room and upon reentering the Bride will not remember ever seeing them before and ask once again for one of them to marry her.

If the PCs question the Bride about herself, she will struggle to say anything and try avoiding the question. Any PC is allowed to use Deception, Intimidation or Persuasion against her Wisdom Saving throw to press her to answer any question, DC is 25. If the PC wins, for a moment her expression will turn into the face of pure terror. She will quickly explain that her name is Phradha Radhak and she is being forced to serve as a bait in this crude trap by Thaddeus Terion, evil wizard and master of this place. She begs the PCs to save her, explaining there are seven “wedding gifts” hidden in rooms of other creations and if they are brought to this place, she will be free and a portal to the material plane will open. Any Insight check will tell she is telling the truth. After sharing this information, she will revert back into the Bride.

Any attempts at removing the Bride from this room or dispelling anything will be interrupted by 1d4+1 Ghosts and 1d4+1 Animated Armors per party member appearing and violently attacking the PCs. Even when all enemies are killed, the next attempt will cause another batch to appear, no matter how many times the PCs try.

The Wedding Gifts consist of 3 Rare Magic Items hidden in areas 2, 3 and 4 on this level and four Very Rare Magic Items in areas 1, 2, 17 and 18 on level 2. Type of magic items are left up to the DM, as they are considered rewards for the player characters who manage to finish this adventure.

2 The Dead and Damned

The room looks like a crypt, a type that the PCs probably have seen hundreds of times at this point. In the center of it is a stone sarcophagus. When the PCs interact with it in any way, the Dead (Ghost, CR 4) appears in front of them. She is nice and playful, trying to be friendly. She explains that she died as a result of one of Thaddeus Terion’s first experiments. He buried her here after realizing her spirit is unable to move on as a side-effect of these very experiments. Now she seeks to escape this place and be returned to her family. She asks the PCs to take her corpse and get her out of this place. If they do, she will follow them around, as she cannot stay far away from her corpse (putting the corpse into a bag of holding or similar container will make her stay close to the item). However, every hour the PCs haven’t left, she must make a Wisdom saving throw of DC 10 + number of hours she spent with the PCs, or decide the party has lied to her and attack them. She also attacks if the PCs refuse her request in the first place. When slain, she immediately is resurrected as the Damned (Unseelie Banshee, Legendary Planet Adventure Path, CR 13) and attacks again, focusing on the creature who dealt her the killing blow.

3 The Coven

The door to this room looks like a ransacked wooden entrance to an old hut. The room itself looks like a large cave, stretching 30 feet above ground. It smells of a foul mixture of herbs, swamp gas and body odors. The area is full of mismatched furniture, filled with all kinds of magical ingredients. In the middle of the room are three Crones of Chaos^⁹, cooking in a huge cauldron, from which human screams can be heard. The crones welcome the PCs and offer them the taste of their soup. Any character foolish enough to accept this offer becomes Dominated by them for the next 24 hours. Crones benefit from being treated as a Hag Coven, gaining additional spells they can cast. However, they aren’t hostile and will do anything to stall the PCs, offering to free three girls trapped in the cauldron if the PCs offer to take their place. If the PCs try to argue, the crones will negotiate and haggle, while trying to appear cooperative to not discourage the PCs. In reality they have no intention of freeing the girls, but will not let PCs know it. If the PCs waste three rounds (out of combat, consider when the whole group either takes three actions or abstains from taking any action) without either killing the crones or knocking the cauldron and releasing the girls, the crones jump into it. Soon after a Blood Hag (Tome of Beasts, Kobold Press, CR 12)^¹⁰ emerges from the cauldron.

The three kidnapped girls trapped in the cauldron have been exposed to both Nightmare Dimension and Good Kingdom, separating them into their human forms and all their negative emotions turning into crones of chaos. The ritual is supposed to help the crones sacrifice the girls to become whole again. At the end of each round one of the girls will die, but she can return to life if one of the crones is killed. However, there is no way to save them once transformation into a blood hag is complete.

A blood hag still has all spells from the crones’ Hag Coven, three legendary actions she can use to cast a spell for one action, and temporary hit points equal to the combined hit points of all crones when they jumped into the cauldron. At Initiative of 20 she can activate one of two lair actions. First she casts a modified version of vortex warp without expending a spell slot, teleporting the target into the cauldron. On the next initiative of 20 she knocks the cauldron, releasing her victim.

Cauldron: The creature within the cauldron is incapacitated until it’s released and at the beginning of every turn takes 5 points of fire damage. If a creature dies from this damage, the blood hag gains temporary hit points equal to all damage the creature took. The cauldron has AC 25, 150 hit points, and resistance to all damage. If at least 15 points of damage has been dealt to it in a single round, while a creature is trapped inside, it spills out, releasing the creature, which appears in the nearest unoccupied space next to it. When this happens, all other creatures within a 15-feet cone starting from the cauldron in the released creature’s direction must succeed on a DC 18 Dexterity saving throw, taking 3d8 fire damage on a failed save, half as much on a successful one. The cauldron grants the crones of chaos or the blood hag three quarters cover as long as they remain within five feet from it.

If the girls are saved, the PCs will find jewelry worth 5,000 gp for each girl saved.

4 The Flesh that Hates

The floor of the room except right next to the walls contains a pool, 30-foot-deep, currently filled to the brim with a boiling, festering substance that looks like liquid flesh. Parts of skin, bones or organs can be seen slowly dissolving in the pool. Any creature that enters this room must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution Saving Throw or be poisoned until it leaves the room and then for one extra minute. The pool speaks with telepathy and forms appendages, which show multiple female faces fused together. This is what happened to failed experiments, they have been dropped into this pool of acid and dissolved, their minds and magical energies flowing through their body creating this grotesque amalgam. This entity has no name and is in constant agony, but will at all costs try to put a friendly face and act cordial. She understands that the blame for her state lies solely on Thaddeus Terion and will try to help the PCs in any way possible, if they promise to murder him or, even better, drag him here and throw him into the pool so she can consume him. She will truthfully answer any question the PCs ask, but admits her memories are a messy mixture of fragments of her past lives and none of them fully understood the high magic of this place to begin with. As such, her answers will often be on the vague and cryptic side, as she will visibly struggle to find words to describe more fantastical things.She has a general idea of what is in other rooms on this floor and can describe types of enemies the PCs can expect to encounter, but her knowledge of the other level is even lesser. She cannot leave this room.

In case the PCs attack her (especially remembering a similar, but far less beloved pool in one of the previous Against the Wizards adventures) or she is led to believe they’re working with Thaddeus Terion, the entity will attack the PCs and fight to the death. She uses statistics of Shoggoth (Primeval Thule Campaign Setting, CR 17)

Wedding Gift: The Gift floats in an indestructible glass bowl in the center of the pool.

5 Monster Steroids Room

Two Malfera^¹¹ are pumping a third one with a number of magical substances provided to them to make it permanently more powerful. The malfera has now grown in size and mutated, using statistics of a Froghemoth (Volo’s Guide to Monsters, CR 10) with the following changes:

The transformation affected the mind of the creature, making it lose its spellcasting abilities. Malfera attack on sight.

6 Dragonne Exhibition

Two Dragonnes^¹² are being held behind a permanent wall of force that also blocks any sound. There is a pulpit with a magical book of commands in front of the wall. A DC 20 Arcana check will reveal that inscribing the correct command in the made-up cipher of the book is used to create openings in the wall of force, allowing the dragonnes to be fed. There is a post-in note attached, saying “Harley, if you keep leaving the key at your bed I will have your bony ass reported to Sergeant – Joe”. Trying to manipulate the book without the key requires decoding the cipher, which is protected from abilities like comprehend languages or eyes of the runekeeper; when subjected to them it appears as utter gibberish. Dispel magic suppresses this effect for 1 minute. Characters trying to decipher the book without the key need to succeed at five DC 20 skill checks of their choice (DM can veto nonsensical choices at their own discretion, but each PC should be allowed to participate) before gaining three failures, which will activate the alarm.

The book, deciphered or with the key, can be used to turn off the wall of force. A DC 10 Animal Handling check will convince the dragonnes to leave the PCs alone and go on a rampage across the complex. Otherwise, they attack, but flee if reduced to half their hit points each.

7 Men’s Room

The walls and floor of this room are covered in blue ceramics. Four shower stalls are placed against the eastern wall, and five toilet stalls against the western wall. Three sinks with mirrors are in the southwest corner. Water is distributed to this room through pipes maintained by three Hydraxes^¹³, who also handle cycling and purification of the water. They remain undetectable while in the pipes. They only emerge and attack if a creature does any damage to this room.

8 Ladies’ Room

This room is identical to Area 7 except placement of stalls and sinks is flipped on the east-west axis, ceramics are pink and the label on the doors is a pink symbol of a female stick figure.

9 Male Bedroom

Nine bunker beds, each containing three bunks stacked on top of one another, are placed in this room. This is the sleeping area of male staff. Random nine of them are always occupied by sleeping personnel. Sneaking past them requires a successful DC 15 Stealth check. There is a 50% chance a 1d4 of them may be awakeed and a 50% chance another 1d4 member of the crew will enter the room while the PCs are there. In that case, roll a dice for each to determine if the NPC is a Knight (odds, CR 3) or a Mage (evens, CR 6).

Searching this room for at least an hour gives 1d10 x 100 gp in coins, gems and trinkets. Investigation check above 13 also yields 1d4 mundane weapons and above 15 1d2 spellbooks containing all spells from NPC Mage’s spell list plus 1d6 randomly selected spells of level 5 or lower.

10 Women’s Bedroom

The room is identical to Area 9 except instead of a Knight, the roll of evens gives NPC statistics of a Scout.

11 Control Gem Factory

There is a machine in here operated by a three floating skulls—one Druj^¹⁴ and two Flameskulls (CR 4). The machine has two platforms. On one a flameskull places a gem from the bag next to it. The druj then performs the process of teleporting it on the other platform, during which it turns into a Control Gem. The other flameskull then takes the gem and drops it into a nearby tube, where magical wind sends it to Area 1 on Level 2. Flameskulls fight to death, but the druj is willing to negotiate if reduced to half its hit points, offering the information on the machine and Control Gems, in exchange for its own continuous existence.

The machine has AC of 18 and 60 hit points and immunity to fire, psychic and poison damage. It can be studied for an hour (DC 20 Arcana check halves the duration, DC 30 reduces it to one fourth) to gain advantage on all checks to turn off or to reverse the effect of the gems.

Control Gem (wondrous item, uncommon): When placed on the forehead of a creature, the creature is treated as under effects of the dominate monster spell, controlled by the owner of the Control Crown. In addition, the creature may also enter a trance during which their body becomes a conduit for energy sources determined by the owner of the Control Crown. The owner of the Control Crown can, at will, reduce a creature under a Control Gem’s influence to zero hit points to consume these energies.

Attempts at dispelling or suppressing a Control Gem other than wish or anti-magic zone require, in addition to normal casting of a spell, a DC 30 Arcana check. Group effort that amasses three successful DC 30 Arcana (or other skills of DM or player’s choice) checks before 3 failed ones allows to dispel the effect on every Control Gem in the same area. If at least five Control Gems and the Control Crown are present, a successful 5 DC 30 checks, alongside casting of an enhancement spell on the Control Crown allow to destroy all but one Control Gem and make the user of the Control Crown be treated as affected by a dominate monster spell by whoever holds the last Control Gem.

Control Crown (wondrous Item, Rare, requires attunement): Currently in possession of the Ascendant (Level 2, Area 1), see Control Gem for details.

12 Elephants in the Room

There is a portal in the west wall of this room. In the center of the room lies a table, on which Glen, a Sollux^¹⁵, lies tied up and paralyzed. Once the PCs enter, four Malfera^¹⁶ step out of the portal to devour the sollux alive. If they spot the PCs, they move to attack, quickly joined by the malfera and their monstrous creation in Area 5. The monsters will try to force the PCs into this Area and Area 5 so they can more easily gang up on and beat to death single characters. They will retreat into their portal if at least half of them are killed, but will return leading a contingent of 12 malfera bent on hunting down and killing the PCs within 1d3 hours, if the portal is not closed. It can be closed with dispel magic or similar spell and a successful Arcana check, DC of the check equals 28 minus the level of spell slot used.

If the sollux is saved by the PCs, he reveals himself as the member of the Brotherhood of the Sun and begs the PCs to help him save his brother, who is currently held in Area 16. He will accompany the PCs and, if his brother is successfully freed, transport both of them to the Material Plane. In two weeks’ time after completing this adventure, another sollux will contact them, offering them a payment for saving their members in the form of a Legendary Magic Item of DM’s choice.

13 & 14 Armory

These are identical rooms full of weapon stacks. All kinds of weapons of mundane quality can be found here. A magen is stationed in each room, with a list of faces and names of every personnel member authorized to take weapons from this area, programmed into its memory. It attacks and tries to restrain anyone who attempts to enter this area without fitting the list. When the magen is reduced to zero hit points, an alarm goes off.

15 Kitchen and Pantry

This is a kitchen and the pantry used by the personnel living in Area 10; it contains enough food to provide 3 meals for every person who sleeps in Area 10, of better quality than food from Area 21, but it has to be made manually. The food replenishes itself every 24 through magical enhancements.

16 Prison Cell

Here are held intruders that tried and failed to sneak into the castle, as well as anyone who just looked at the Sergeant funny. The Sergeant sometimes attempts to torture them for the information using the iron maiden in the southwest corner of the room.

The room currently contains six people, bound and gagged. Four of them are Commoners that really did end up here on ridiculous charges. The fifth one ended there for similar reason, but in an extreme case of broken clock being right twice a day, as he is actually a Baldandar^¹⁷ in disguise, who has infiltrated the castle. He will do anything to get the PCs to free him, except reveal his identity, and will work with them as long as an opportunity to either flee the castle or assume another identity doesn’t present itself. The last prisoner is Sven, Sollux^¹⁸ member of the Brotherhood of the Sun, who was captured investigating ties between Alphatians and the efreeti. He will accompany the party, if freed, but lacks any weapons. If he is with the party when they meet Go’Rero (Level 2 Area 22), he will attack on sight and refuse to work with the PCs if they strike a deal with the efreeti. He is unaware of his brother, who went to save him and ended up captured and held in Area 12.

17 Sylvester and Archibald’s Office

This place is an office of Sylvester the Crime Crocodile (Gator Man^¹⁹) and Archibald, the Gangster Goat (Minotaur, CR 3, except the charge and gore attacks deal bludgeoning damage, instead of piercing because he is a goat, not a bull). Each one of them is wearing a business suit and has a strange revolver, whose design does not fit with the current firearms of the Savage Coast, even if it still uses cinnabryl-based powder. That pistol uses statistics of modern revolvers as described in the Dungeon Master’s Guide; their bonus to hit with it is +6. If the owner is slain, the gun dissolves into liquid vermillion. The bodies of both slain individuals dissolve into liquid vermillion in 1d3 hours from their death.

Sylvester and Archibald describe themselves as “an old firm” and offer the PCs their services. The PCs can rest here for 200 gp per character or trade items up to rare magic items category, as in a store. In each of these services, one of the two individuals opens a hidden door to a sleeping room or small warehouse not on the map. If any individual wants to check the walls before or after, not only will they not find the hidden door, a roll above 20 will tell them with all certainty there is no hidden door in this room.

Sylvester and Archibald can also provide different services, such as assassination, arson, kidnapping, sabotage, or robbery. They will take on any target except in the castle itself, as one of their principles is “Don’t shit where we eat.” The DM should impose other limitations to what kind of job the two will take, as they see fit for the tone of the story. If the PCs hire them and provide a target as well as a deadline, they will take the request and ask the PCs to leave so they can carry out the request. If the PCs try to return to this place later, there will be a solid wall in place of the door. 1d3 days before the end of the deadline, Sylvester and Archibald will appear before the party out of nowhere, with proof of having carried out the job, and demand a payment. The nature of the payment is up to the DM to decide, but the two do not deal in souls and refuse such payment.

No one in the castle knows or acknowledges that this room exists. If led there, they will sincerely claim this is a dead end and there is no room here.

18 Sergeant’s Office

Sergeant-Magus Magnus McAgnus resides in this room. He uses statistics of Gnoll Deathknight^²⁰ with the following changes:

He is at all times accompanied by four lupin Veterans (CR 3) that obey his every command.

Magus McAgnus was a disgraced werewolf hunter, whose extremely ruthless methods and paranoia had him chased away both from Glantri and the Heldannic Knights, where he was deemed more trouble than he was worth. He is extremely loyal to Thaddeus Terion for giving him his last chance.

19 Fiery Shrine

This is a sanctuary consecrated to Rathanos, the Immortal patron of fire magic. It’s run by Thaddeus Terion’s personal friend, Father Montgomery (War Priest, Volo’s Guide to Monsters, CR 9) and his three students, who are also his sons (Eternal Flame Priest, Prices of the Apocalypse, CR 3). In this sanctuary they can change damage of any spells they cast to fire and all fire damage they deal is always maximum. Father Montgomery will recognize the PCs are intruders and attempt to convert them to worship of Rathanos and abandonment of their quest. He will refuse to speak to any women, refusing to recognize their authority of any sort, and striking at any that will insult him, encouraging men in the group to follow his example. If he is reduced to half of his hit point maximum or his sons have been killed, whichever comes first, he will call upon Rathanos’s will, summoning two Fire Elementals (CR 5) to his side. Any attempts at fighting in this area will raise an alarm.

The shrine presents the likeness of Thaddeus Terion being elevated by Rathanos and turning into fire itself. It has AC of 17, 180 hit points, and immunity to psychic and poison damage. If destroyed it explodes, dealing 8d6 fire damage to all creatures within 20 feet from it, or half as much on a successful DC 17 Dexterity saving throw.

20 Helion’s Sanctuary

A Helion^²¹ resides in this room. The elemental is officially a guest of Thaddeus Terion, but the Thaumaturge managed to ensure it cannot leave through a combination of loophole exploitation and coercion, to always have its wisdom at his command. The helion is friendly and will gladly discuss any and all topics with PCs who can communicate with it; the PCs can safely rest here. The helion is not aware of the inner workings of the castle, but will gladly engage PCs in a philosophical debate.

21 Cafeteria

This is a cafeteria, with a large table in the center and two benches on the sides. Workers come here to eat, food being served by two Magen working as cooks in the south corner of the room. The food is nutritious enough that a creature who eats a full serving of it will need twice as long than usual to need to eat again. It is also so horrible that every time a creature consumes some of it they must make a DC 16 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned until they take a short or long rest.

22 The Gate of Hell

In the northern wall of this room is a portal, from witch the Ostegos, or Death Fiends^²², are coming through. In case of an alarm six death fiends are dispatched from the portal, to hunt down the PCs, pursuing them across the castle.

Level 2

Image: Level 2 Map

1 Gaze Upon My Eternal Beauty AND DESPAIR

The diaboli from both levels of the castle are being gathered here by the iron gargoyle. Each one is then restrained by a pair of magen and have another magen install a Control Jewel in their forehead. Each one is forced then to join a ritual praying on the throne, where The Ascendant (Fire Giant Forgecaller, Bigby’s Glory of the Giants, CR 18, with Magic Resistance trait) sits. She is wearing a Control Crown on her head. The Ascendant was once one of kidnapped girls, who was exposed to a huge amount of corruptive energies from both Elemental Plane of Fire and Nightmare Dimension. She has transformed into a giant demonic-looking entity with diabolus traits and power over fire. The process drove her mad with power, as she is now seeing herself as close to perfection, seeking a way to brute-force herself into Immortality through channeling huge amounts of energies from the draerden through Control Jewels. She needs specifically diaboli for this purpose, due to them being more attuned to the Nightmare Dimension.

If all diaboli from all areas marked on the map with letters are collected, the ritual begins and the Ascendant transforms into a cocoon (Cradle of the Fire Scion, Bigby’s Glory of the Giants, CR 25). If not stopped from that point, she begins her ascendancy. Every round one diaboli will burn to cinders, transferring huge amounts of mixed Nightmare and Elemental Fire energy into the cocoon. Once all of them die, she will emerge as the Fiery Perfection—in her deluded mind she achieved the level of Immortal, but in reality turned into a new powerful type of Lesser Fiend^²³ with the ability to use TPs to cast any spell as a 36th level spellcaster. She begins with access to 100 TP, but it will be rising every sunset by an additional 50 until she reaches 300. If the PCs fail to stop her, she will begin her reign of terror over Sind, quickly gaining the attention of Immortals and likely sparking widespread destruction once they decide to intervene. If the Cradle is destroyed beforehand, she emerges in her damaged state, as the Burned Pretender (Scion of Sutur, BGG, CR 25) and furiously attacks whoever stopped her from attaining immortality. This form is lacking access to the TPs but makes up for it with sheer physical power. Breaking the cocoon before the ritual is complete is the only way to stop it. If all diaboli with Control Jewels are slain before the completion, the Ascendant will begin attacking other living creatures and killing them, adding their power to hers until she kills one being for each diaboli she did not get to consume.

The diaboli, forced to serve with Control Jewels, will defend the Ascendant against any enemies, aiding her in combat regardless of her form; so will the magen and the iron gargoyle. If the fight breaks in, Thaddeus Terion arrives in 1d4-1 (minimum of 1) rounds.

2 Hall of Mirrors

Walls, floors and ceiling of this room are covered in mirrors. Moreover, every ten minutes a random arrangement of mirrors appears across the whole room, forming a labyrinth. This is home to probably the most unfortunate of kidnapped girls, as her body has been used to summon Rexxen^²⁴ from the Nightmare Dimension, who now resides in this room. The rexxen is an ally of Thaddeus Terion and was a source of great amounts of information used in his experiments. However, rexxen are two-faced, fickle creatures, and this one has grown pretty bored. She will use the mirrors to observe the PCs and, if she finds them interesting, will try to offer them a deal. They can hire her for one form of service, but first they must offer something that will entertain her sadistic desires. Rexxen are creatures thriving on violence and bloodshed, so things that will interest her may be among the lines of letting her watch as PCs violently dispose of another powerful creature. Similarly, whatever service is asked of her, she will find a way to make it as bloody as possible. If the PCs refuse or she finds them boring, she will attack, but will retreat from the room after reduced to 50% hit points, returning into the Nightmare Dimension the moment she leaves the PCs’ sight.

3 Plant Spirit

An Odic^²⁵ resides in this area, equipped with a crystal ball it uses to scry in the areas where any of the women transformed by the experiments of Thaddeus Terion reside. The odic has familiarized itself with the women before and after transformation, has locks of hair of each of them, and a ledger with all information about them. If one of the women does not show on scrying, the odic will begin looking for her around the complex, and upon locating her take over the nearest plant and attempt to subdue her. If attacked, the odic makes the alarm go off and fights to knock the PCs out. If reduced to half hit points, the odic flees by possessing the furthest away plant it can think off, usually on the edges of level 1.

4 The Evil Spirit

Doors to this room are locked and can only be opened with a DC 27 check using thieves’ tools or a DC 30 Strength check. Inside is a small room that, however, no longer submits to euclidean geometry. While in this room PCs will have a feeling they’re actually in a vast void, where the tiles of the floor they stand on are spread far and floating in nothingness; so are the disjointed decorations of this place. Mist floats in the void, imposing disadvantage on all Perception checks.The room feels cold in a way only absence feels. The Forgotten Princess (Draugr^²⁶) resides in this area. She was an especially terrible experiment of Thaddeus Terion, empowered with powers of the Spirit World, Plane of Shadow and Negative Energy Plane (or Shadowfell in place of the latter two, if you use it in your Mystara), and became something else. In this room she can move at will without provoking attacks of opportunity. She will appear in front of the PCs and move beyond their reach if they act hostile. Outside of combat she can at will move outside the PCs’ reach even if it should be impossible within the size of this room on the map. She will offer the PCs to free her, promising her aid in defeating Thaddeus Terion or even, if convinced with a DC 25 Persuasion check, aid against all of Alphatia. Her requirements are simple : the PCs need to break the Spiritual Combustion Engines in areas 27 to 30 and each time call upon her name, summoning the Dream Vestige that will then consume the Spirit released from the engine.

If the PCs fulfill her request, the Forgotten Princess consumes her Dream Vestige and transforms into a Dream Larva (use 5e conversion by EN World user Dave2008^²⁷ but give it an ability to Summon Nightcrawler and Nightwing 1 a day each, similar to Summon Nightwalker ability). If this happens, sensory experiences similar to ones in this area spread over both levels of the castle. The Dream Larva can move freely in and out of any room and whenever the PCs enter a room there’s a 50% chance it will appear to attack and consume all creatures within. If the Dream Larva appears in the same location as Thaddeus Terion, she will torture him in the most horrible ways for the next twenty-four hours. If the PCs convince her to aid in the fight against Alphatia, after consuming everything in the castle, she will begin attacks on the material world—the castle will begin manifesting in areas of Sind with a large number of Alphatians, at which point the larva will kill everyone in the area. If the whole of Sind is purged from all Alphatians, the castle will begin appearing on the western borders of the Empire of Alphatia within 1d4 weeks. She will continue her killing spree until stopped.

If the PCs attack the Forgotten Princess, she immediately summons the Dream Vestige to her aid—as the two are two parts of the same being, they are immune to all negative effects of each other’s abilities. If one is slain while the other is not, it regains 1 hit point within an hour and then regains all hit points an hour later. In her first round of combat she summons two spectres and then, as she cannot leave this room, fights to the death.

5 Skull Spirit

A Druj^²⁸ resides in this area in the form of a skull, watching for Areas 27–30 using special magical mirrors allowing to permanently scry each of those areas. The room is equipped with a set of tubes that a tiny or smaller creature can use to travel to one of these rooms in a single round. If the druj notices something wrong is going on in one of these areas, such as a fight breaking out, he sends his primary part there and attacks. If all three parts of the druj’s body are destroyed, he uses the scroll of plane shift (he automatically succeeds at casting it) to leave this area, alongside his treasure. The druj has a treasure chest of magic scrolls, containing one seventh-level spell, two sixth-level spells, three-fifth level spells, four fourth-level spells, 1d4 third-level spells, 1d6 second-level spells, and 1d8 first-level spells, determined randomly. The druj can be convinced to leave if offered a payment in spell scrolls; he is only interested in spell scrolls above third level. He will also trade any duplicate spells in his collection for spell scrolls of different spells of the same level.

If offered a spellbook, the druj attacks with all remaining body parts and fights to the death.

6 Thaumaturge’s Wardrobe

This room contains a wardrobe, a vanity, and a large mirror for the private use of Thaddeus Terion. Total value of jewelry, perfumes and extravagant clothes in this room amounts to 6 thousand 385 gold and 247 silver. A Silver Golem^²⁹ is stationed in this area and attacks anyone who tries to steal these items, unless convinced they have explicit permission of Thaddeus Terion or are the man himself.

There is also a section of this room separated via a partition, where a bathtub is placed. The bathtub is magical and at command can fill with rose-scented hot water, then empty itself by command as well. It’s worth 100,000 gp, but only the most extravagant and wasteful elites would consider buying something like this. A rubber ducky in the bathtub is also magical and always says positive affirmations of whoever takes a bath with it. No one would buy this thing.

7 Rest Is Undeath

Two Ghost Knight Templars (Tome of Beasts 3, CR 10), named Xyxyn and Garl Deathbringer, have been locked in this room, with a special crystal ball, that allows them to communicate with other incorporeal undead across the material and ethereal planes. The communication is entirely one-sided—they are being heard, but cannot receive any sort of reply. The two have been tormenting random undead across the planes with stories of Alphatian history of chivalry, of which they have an extensive knowledge. Once the PCs enter this room, the two will treat them as expected guests, ask them to sit with them at the table or the sofa (which will appear despite not being present just seconds ago), and ask the PCs to judge their long-standing feud. The feud in itself is long and convoluted and every time the PCs seem to think it is over, some sort of plot twist will cause the whole story to take a near 180 degree shift and keep going. For the PCs to survive the entire, six-hour-long story, they must make a DC 18 Constitution saving throw or take a level of exhaustion every hour. If they do, they are allowed to determine which of the two ghosts deserves the legendary vorpal sword they are feuding over. The PCs can convince the two that either one of them should have the blade, in which case the ghosts will accept this decision and move on. Or they can convince the ghosts to give the blade to one of them with solid arguments and a DC 25 Persuasion check. In this case the ghosts will move on and the blade will materialize on the chosen PC’s lap. The weapon is a vorpal sword, but the exact type depends on what kind of weapons a character is most likely to use. When selling the sword, its value is doubled for Alphatian buyers.

If the PCs choose to attack the ghosts, they summon their Warhorse Skeletons (CR ½) and defend themselves. These warhorse skeletons have an ability to neigh extremely loudly, which works exactly like the death wail of a banshee. If the PCs kill both ghost templars, they still gain the sword, but it now bears the following curse: Any creature that attunes to this weapon becomes obsessed with Alphatian military history and memorabilia and needs to succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw whenever talking to other creatures or have to steer conversation towards that topic. In addition, each time the creature falls asleep or unconscious it must make a DC 18 Charisma saving throw or its alignment shifts to lawful evil and it becomes dedicated to both spreading Alphatian dominion over the land and to excusing and defending every crime ever committed by Alphatia. Remove curse or similar spells allow to break attunement to the sword.

8 There Was a Crooked Man

This appears to be a completely ordinary bedroom, equipped with a working toilet and a shower, except everything in this room looks off, as if slightly crooked. No one ever goes to this room and no random encounter takes place in it. If the PCs rest in this room, each one of them must roll a Charisma saving throw. The PC with the worst roll will begin to see a crack in the wall only they can see, always on the furthest wall in the room from them, at least 20 feet away. The PC will be hearing whispers, telling them to enter the crack; an alluring voice saying this hole was made for them. Every hour the PC must make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or become charmed and lured towards the crack. The crack doesn’t move when the PC approaches it. If a PC ends within 15 feet from the crack, they must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or be caught by a pair of slender, crooked hands coming off from the wall and become grappled (Escape DC 15). Then every turn the PC must make a Strength saving throw at the beginning of their turn or be dragged 5 feet towards the wall. If the PC is too close to the wall to be pulled this turn, they are dragged into the crack and killed. They can only be resurrected with a wish or true resurrection. If a PC escapes the grapple, this effect ends. Remove curse or similar spells ends this effect. If a PC is killed this way or the effect ends for other reasons, it begins affecting the PC who made the second worst Charisma saving throw. This process repeats until each of the PCs is either killed or manages to end the effect.

If any PC comments that Area 8 looks ugly, even if such claim is made outside Area 8, a crooked door appears and a Crooked Man (use statistics of Star Spawn Hulk, Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 10) comes in and attacks that PC, fighting to kill them. If reduced to half their hit points, the crooked man is violently dragged back through the door by an invisible force and the doors slam shut, and disappear. It is impossible to interrupt this or to follow the crooked man.

9 Secret Armory

Doors to this room are locked with an arcane lock spell and an alarm spell that triggers if dispel magic is cast on the door or it is opened without a key. The door has been additionally reinforced, giving disadvantage on all checks to pry them open or unlock them with thieves’ tools.

Amber Golem

Next to southern wall of this room stands an Amber Golem^³⁰ that will remain immobile unless someone attempts to identify or remove other items from this area, in which case it will attack that creature. Golems in areas 6, 13, 21 and 24 come to its aid in one round.

There are three display cases on the northern wall of this room. They represent as follow:

Each case is enchanted, allowing Thaddeus Terion, the man attuned to these items, to summon them onto his person at will. The same magic also teleports the amber golem, which the man rides in battle.

10 Dungeons & Dragons: The Musical!

When a creature tries to enter this room without a personnel id (carried by every minion patrolling the castle), it must take one of the requisites: a sword, a bow, a staff, or a holy symbol. Once entering the room, the creature cannot leave until all four spots are filled, at which point other creatures may enter freely. Creatures who took the items must perform a musical play, taking roles of fighter, thief, mage, and priest, singing in character as they battle an illusionary amber dragon. Each round at initiative 20 the PCs must make a DC 15 Performance check, while staying in character. The dragon moves after these rolls and in this turn uses statistics of Ancient Amber Dragon^³² if no characters succeed the check, Adult Amber Dragon^³³ if one character does, Young Amber Dragon if three do, and Amber Dragon Wyrmling^³⁴ if all four do. The damage dealt to the dragon in the previous turn carries over to the next one; it dies if that would reduce it to zero hit points in the current form. Once the dragon is defeated, the door opens and the PCs can leave. All damage dealt by the dragon disappears once the characters leave the room, but any slain character remains dead. The items disappear and the trap resets in 30 minutes.

11 Lava Ooze Vending Machine

A large machine has been placed in this room. It has a display case with various magic items, each one either very rare or legendary. Instructions written on the side of the machine explain that each of these great rewards has been granted by Emperor Zandor for continuous hard work. Each item can be borrowed for 24 hours, after which it will return immediately to the machine. Or the item can be purchased permanently with a sum of 10,000 gp per item. If the PCs try to obtain an item from the machine, they will be shown how display moves the item and throws it down to where PCs can reach it… at which point the ceiling will open and 1d6+2 Lava Oozes^³⁵ will drop right on the PCs’ heads.

12 Fire Giant Kitchen

A Fire Giant Dreadnought (Volo’s Guide to Monsters, CR 14) in a chef’s hat is working in a gigantic kitchen here, pulling dead purple worms from a nearby portal, cutting them, frying them on a pan above a portal to elemental plane of fire, pulling giant buns from the oven (and replacing them with new ones from a bag of holding), spreading butter on them, putting worm meat, adding a slice of gigantic cheese, pouring dragon blood over the newly-made hamburger, and then sending it through a shaft in the northeastern wall to Area 20. If he notices the PCs, he demands they go help him. If the PCs refuse, he attacks but only fights until he reduces a single PC to 0 hit points, concentrating his attacks on a single target. Then he orders the PCs to help again, but even if they still refuse, or if he is reduced to half hit points, he just bitterly goes back to work and tells them to leave. Helping him requires each PC successfully doing one of the tasks described above, using skills, features, or spells of their choice. DC is 25, 20 if the PC has Strength 20 or more or uses magic and has Spellcasting Ability of 20 or more.

If the PCs do help him, he can grant them a small boon. He can either put a single creature under effects of the spell fire shield for 8 hours, remove a level of exhaustion, or give a creature the benefits of a short rest via a sip of his special, homemade vodka. He can grant one boon to one creature for each hamburger made; the same creature cannot receive the same boon twice. If asked why he is working this ungrateful job, he explains he needs to make money to have a fitting dowry for his niece, that he is trying to marry off to a powerful storm giant. He’s her only family after her parents were killed by adventurers^³⁶. He knows theories about what is in Area 20 (see description of that area) and will want the PCs to stay away from it.

13 Thaumaturge Office

In this room Thaddeus Terion does his paperwork. It has a desk, a library covering the whole eastern wall, heads of regular and magical beasts hanging from the walls, and the light is provided by a series of chandeliers held by the trunks of a taxidermied bodendrűcker head. An Obsidian Golem^³⁷ stands in each corner, moving in to attack any creature that enters the area, unless accompanied or granted permission by Thaddeus Terion. If a fight breaks out in this room, the alarm goes off and the chandeliers magically disappear, covering the room in darkness. The bodendrűcker head then becomes animated, attacking to restrain the intruders with its trunks. Trunk attacks have +13 to hit, reach 30 ft, deal 34 (6d8+7) bludgeoning damage, and restrain the target. A restrained creature takes damage from the trunk at the beginning of each of its turns. Trunks have AC 17 and 50 hit points each; there are 8 of them. The head has AC 18 and 150 hit points, with +0 bonus to Initiative. It makes three trunk attacks in a turn.

The library contains books on any kind of magical subject; research of at least an hour will produce a book allowing advantage on any check related to stated specific topic. The collection as a whole is worth 10,000 gp, 15,000 gp when sold to the right collector.

The desk contains a secret compartment, which can be found with a DC 28 Investigation check and opened using thieves’ tools with a DC 30 Dexterity check. A trap in it can be detected with a DC 24 Perception check and requires a DC 26 Dexterity check using thieves’ tools to disarm. If not disarmed, it activates if the compartment is opened without a drop of Thaddeus Terion’s blood being first dropped on the lock. It causes the whole desk and all things in it to instantly freeze and explode, dealing all creatures in a 20-foot radius 5d6 cold damage, 5d6 piercing damage, and 5d6 force damage, or half as much on a successful DC 20 Dexterity Saving Throw. The compartment contains his journal, with details of all performed experiments, as well as unwitting evidence of all Alphatian laws broken in them, worth up to 17,500 gp to any Alphatian official. It also contains keys to Areas 9 and 22, the key to the device in Area 19, and a spellbook containing all spells known by Thaddeus Terion. Finally, it has a jeweled-up volume of fairy tales and stories of knightly chivalry, that is worth 10,000 gp to a right collector.

14 Prey Posing as a Predator

All doors to this room are locked and require either a key or to be opened with a DC 22 Dexterity check using thieves’ tools. The walls of the room, as well as the ceiling and floor, are covered in reflective glass distorting all reflections in it. Magical enchantments in this room remove all immunities to frightened condition from creatures in it. If a creature attempts to open the door to Area 22 without a key, all walls begin displaying a series of flashing images of violent animals, as well as playing a cacophony of animal sounds. At the beginning of every turn spent in this area, all creatures must make a DC 22 Wisdom saving throw or be treated as under the effects of a fear spell. The effects end after one minute.

15 Military History Exhibition

Five statues are placed here, representing warriors in full military gear, each representing a warrior on a horse, dressed in clothes of the Alphatian military in different time periods. If attacked, they come to life as Guardian Warriors on Guardian Horses^³⁸ and fight to defend themselves. When even one of the statues is destroyed, the alarm goes off. There is a 50% chance another group of guardian warriors on guardian horses arrives from patrolling the castle, to switch with the ones on display, while the PCs are here.

16 Masterpiece!

This room is the workshop of a sculptor. And the sculptor is Sir Thaddeus Terion, the madman behind this place, himself. He uses the statistics of an Archmage with the following changes:

In this room he, assisted by his four magen, is working on his masterpiece—a giant, multi-armed, multi-headed, snake-tailed statue representing the likeness of every woman he kidnapped combined into one “image of perfection,” but really a twisted mockery of the Sindi culture he claims “inspired” him. If attacked, he brings this statue to life to defend him. It uses the statistics of Blackstone Gigant^³⁹ (CR 17). The statue fights until slain and will pursue the PCs across the castle. It has a connection with the horse statues in Area 15, the same as Thaddeus Terion’s connection with the warriors.

17 The Deposed Queen’s Throne Room

This is a rich throne room, with tapestries hanging from the walls and animal furs forming a makeship carpet on the floor. The resident of this room is the Deposed Queen (Goristro with magic resistance trait, CR 17) and her Four Sisters (Oni with Magic Resistance trait, Hezrou, Glabrezu, and Bone Devil, CR 7–10 respectively). Regardless of what statblocks they’re using, they all look as increasingly larger, more mutated diaboli. These five were once sisters, kidnapped from the same household. Each one was subjected to a specific kind of experiment by Thaddeus Therion, each time more refined to let them assume more and more monstrous form. Each has been then showered with praise and adoration as one step closer to perfection, only to be discarded when the next girl has been even closer to that unattainable ideal. The Queen herself was as close as Therion believed possible, until he created the Ascendant (Area 1 of this level). Now she schemes how to remove her rival and regain her old position and will try to convince or coerce the party into killing the Ascendant for her. Meanwhile the other sisters scheme against her and each other; each will try to promise the PCs vast riches and privileges if they help her dispose of the others. If attacked they will fight together, but otherwise the sisters no longer have any love for one another.

18 The Predators’ Den

This whole area has been turned into a miniature jungle. There is no light in this room. The Predator hunts here. She was once one of the kidnapped girls, but the experiments changed her drastically. She is now a wild, furious animal, seeking to consume those who tormented her. She retains the ability to reason and talk telepathically and can be convinced to ally with the PCs if freed from this room, with a DC 25 Persuasion check. Lower the DC by 5 if the PCs make convincing enough arguments. However, her hunger will keep pushing her; if not fed a creature every hour she is traveling with the PCs, she will need to make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or attack the nearest creature. DC increases by 2 for every hour she goes without feeding.

The Predator uses the statistics of Marilith, but have her longsword changed to three claw (+9 to hit, 10 ft, 2d6+4 or 12 slashing damage) and three bite (+9 to hit, 5 ft, 2d8+4 or 14 piercing damage) attacks. She has advantage on all Stealth checks and advantage on all attacks against a creature that didn’t yet move in initiative order this turn. Moreover, any creature that took more than 30 damage from claws and bite attack in a single turn loses a limb determined randomly (1d4, 1 – left arm, 2 – right arm, 3 – left leg, 4 – right leg), and any creature reduced to 0 hit points by them is torn to shreds and killed. Resurrection or the combination of a weaker spell of similar effect with regenerate can bring a creature killed this way back to life.

After slaying a creature, the Predator will grab its body and retreat into her den—a 60-feet-deep cave at the end of a hole in a randomly determined place in the room. Due to the magical nature of the room, the entrance to the den changes location every time the PCs enter it. The Predator always knows how to find it. Once inside the den, the Predator will consume the body of her victim. Consumed victims no longer can be resurrected, sans a true resurrection or wish spell. The Predator regains lost hit points equal to the slain creature’s hit point maximum, any excess being turned into temporary hit points. She then sleeps for 1d6 hours before getting hungry and running to hunt again. Asleep she is incapacitated. She doesn’t heal or goes to sleep if she eats a creature outside the den.

Nagpa

19 Vulture and a Lady

A Fowryn Oedran^⁴⁰ and a Nagpa (Mordekainen’s Tome of Foes, CR 17) are both trapped here, chained to opposite walls. Their knowledge has been vital in the creation of the 9Thaumaturge’s works, but once he didn’t need them anymore, he locked them in this room. Each one blames the other and believes to have been somehow betrayed by them. In the center of this room is a mechanism that drains their magical energies, with a control panel anyone can use. Each of the two will do anything to be freed, promising any sort of help. However, neither wants to see the other one free. Each will try to convince the PCs to drain the other to death and redirect all energy drain unto them. If the PCs agree, the creature they choose to side with will be set free, but driven to madness, attacking indiscriminately. The resulting amalgamation has the combined hit points of both creatures, uses whichever Ability Score, Armor Class, Skill, Saving Throw, Speed, Spell Save DC, or Attack Bonus is better, has access to all spells and special abilities and attacks of both creatures.

It is impossible to free one creature without killing the other without using a key, which can be discerned with a DC 15 Investigation or Arcana check. If freed together, both prisoners attempt to tear each other’s throat before turning on the PCs, rage at freeing their hated enemy outweighing gratitude for their own freedom. If just one of them is free, they will honor whatever deal they made with the PCs to the letter.

It is possible for a PC or multiple ones to try to drain energies of one or two creatures for themselves; discerning how to do it requires a DC 20 Arcana check and then another one to perform the draining. Doing so the PC must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or be reduced to 0 hit points. If the saving throw is successful, the PC can gain as many of these benefits as the difference between save DC and result of the roll, plus one:

The PC’s alignment then shifts to Neutral Evil and they must make a Wisdom saving throw of DC equal 15 + number of benefits gained or roll three times on indefinite madness table.

20 Junior Wants a Hamburger

The floor of this room is covered in oil (as effects of grease spell) and made into a slope towards the center, where there’s a hole in the floor. The hole leads to a demiplane on which sleeps a Gargantua (Bigby’s Glory of the Giants, CR 23) named Junior. Writing on the walls in Giantish translates to “In appreciation of your efforts”, “For my BIGGEST fan”, “Take care of my little boy” and “Remember, he loves hamburgers!”. Each one is signed “Gargantua”. This connects the abomination in the hole to the legendary mage of the same name, hence why everyone calls it Junior. What exactly is the nature of this connection, however, is not known. Theories vary from it being the result of Gargantua using his trademark magic on a giant, through a bastard child he had with some sort of giantess, to that he stole it from another world to study and then didn’t feel like putting it back.

Any creature that is knocked prone in this room begins to slide towards the hole 5 feet per turn. Standing up requires a DC 15 Athletics or Acrobatics check. If the PCs make too much noise (impose Stealth checks when it feels appropriate), Junior will reach through the hole and try to grab them with his hand, making Slam attacks with disadvantage, but instead of being dealt damage, the creature is grappled and Junior will begin dragging it to the hole to consume. To escape the grapple a creature must beat an opposed Athletic check.

If a creature gets dragged to the hole, Junior makes a Swallow attack (+15 to hit, 5 ft, 24 (3d10+8) piercing damage, and the target lands in his stomach, taking 1d10 acid damage at the beginning of each of its turns.

21 Thaumaturge’s Bedroom

A giant, lavish bed is laid in the center of this room, with various luxuries placed around. The walls are covered in tapestries and paintings of knightly adventures; they are worth a total of 20,000 gp. A Clay Golem is placed in this area, obscuring and protecting a mirror hidden under a bedsheet. It will attack anyone who tries to see the mirror, quickly joined by the golems in Area 13.

Any creature who looks into the mirror must succeed on a DC 20 Charisma saving throw, or suffer complete amnesia, forgetting their identity. Failing the save by ten or more will also reduce a character back to first level. Greater restoration, or a similar spell, removes these effects. Thaddeus Terion uses the mirror to disarm his enemies and would-be assassins, then lying to them and convincing them they’re his loyal servants. Entire human personnel of the castle are victims of this mirror. Destroying the mirror will release all the memories; every knight, scout or mage in the facility goes mad through an influx of mixed, contradicting memories, fighting to kill any living creature they see. All creatures within 60 feet of the mirror when it is destroyed must succeed on a DC 18 Wisdom saving throw, rolling on indefinite madness table on a failed save, or temporary madness on a successful one. Immediately after destroying the mirror, the bronze golem from Area 24 enters the room to kill everyone in it.

22 Most Honored Guest’s Quarters

This room is full of riches and luxuries of all sorts. It is currently occupied by Go’Rero, Efreet Amir^⁴¹ who maintains the portals to the Elemental Plane of Fire in the southern wall of this room and in Area 16. He uses two portals to move between his room and the rest of the castle. He has no interest in fighting the PCs unless attacked, in which case he will defend himself, and retreat through his portal back to his palace in the Plane of Fire, if reduced below half of his hit points. If he is attacked, two Efreeti (CR 11) immediately emerge from the portal to aid him. An army of two hundred efreet awaits on the other side of the portal, ready to defend their amir to the death, should the PCs try to pursue him through it.

Go’Rero is interested in a deal. He will clue the party about his cooperation with Thaddeus Terion, admitting he is helping him power the castle and also provided him with much information about the nature of his research. In the eyes of the efreet, none of Terion’s discoveries could be possible without him and thus he deserves fair reward. However, when he demanded one—to give him the Ascendant (Area 1 of Level 2) as a bride—the thaumaturge refused. Now the Amir offers the PCs his original payment—one million gold or assortment of magic items matching that sum in worth—in exchange for delivering to him the still-alive Ascendant, so that he can take her to the Plane of Fire and marry her.

If the PCs agree to the deal, he will inform them how to turn Control Jewels off or against their master, as well as about the four pieces of Dark Spirit trapped in Areas 27 to 30 and its role in the Ascendant’s transformation. If the PCs agree to his deal, he will call off an efreet that guards each of these areas, but warns them of the dangers of freeing the spirit, even if it is necessary.

If the PCs deliver the Ascendant, in any of her forms, to him, Go’Rero will retreat into the Plane of Fire and turn off both portals. Within a year, with his new bride, he will overthrow the current Sultan and sit on the throne. Within two years he will assemble for an invasion on the material plane, launching coordinated assaults on Sind, Hule, and the Emirates of Ylaruam at the same time. Even if stopped in one place, he will establish a foothold in another of the three, becoming a constant threat to the Known World from that point on.

If the PCs kill the Ascendant, Go’Rero becomes their sworn enemy for the rest of their days. If the PCs refuse his deal, Go’Rero will say it is regrettable but he holds no hard feelings, and retreats behind his portal. Four Efreetti will then emerge to slay the PCs, who now know too much to be allowed to live.

23 Debate Club

A Beholder (Monster Manual, CR 13) named Ambrose Maschluck resides in this room, surrounded by various books; he is reading one when the PCs enter. He will request they entertain him with a debate, if they wish to pass without fighting him. One of the PCs must volunteer and select a topic and state their position on it. Ambrose will then take the most asinine opposite position and will argue with passion for it. He is even willing to advocate for death of his own kind in the name of a good debate. The PC must succeed on six Charisma-based skill checks of their choice, with the beholder using his eyes to prevent any aid from other party members, such as Guidance or Flash of Genius. The DC for the first check is 20 and it increases with each roll by one up to 26. Every time the PC fails, they must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw of DC equal to DC of failed skill check, or suffer a level of exhaustion. Regardless whether they win or lose, after six rounds Ambrose will let them pass and give the PC who debated him a book giving advantage to all knowledge checks related to the debate topic. Upon leaving the PC loses all levels of exhaustion but for each must make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or gain an indefinite madness.

Every time tre PCs want to pass through this room, they need to select a different character to debate with Ambrose, until every member of the group has done it at least once.

Bronze golem

24 Double Surprise

Entrances to this room are hidden and can only be found with a DC 17 Investigation check. A Bronze Golem^⁴² is stationed here, attacking anyone but Thaddeus Terion and leaving only if conditions in Area 9 or Area 21 are met. There is a chest in this room, locked with an arcane lock spell, requiring a DC 20 Dexterity check using thieves’ tools to open and with a trap that requires a DC 15 Perception or Investigation check to open and DC 20 Dexterity check using thieves’ tools to disarm. If not disarmed, it releases a freezing ray, dealing the creature opening it 8d6 cold damage. Inside lies Thaddeus Terion’s greatest treasure—a Legendary Orb of Planes, allowing travel and establishing connection to planes and dimensions of Mystara once a day. By performing a special ritual inscribed in the Thaumaturge’s spellbook, one can use this to gain control of the Castle of Dreams itself, deciding when it will appear, as well as gaining control over all portals within the castle and being able to free the sidhe trapped at the Tollbooth.

25 The Butler’s Quarters

A giant coffin sits in the center of this room, surrounded by several potted banana palm trees. If opened, it reveals Count Julius, an Awakened Gorilla Vampire (CR 13 ), who was created to serve as eternal servant for many generations of the Terion family and now loyally serves Thaddeus Terion. There’s a 50% chance he will awake to perform his duties when the PCs enter this room. If the PCs meet him while awake, Julius will pretend to be a victim of his master and offer his help in slaying the Thaumaturge. If the PCs buy his lie, he will lead them either to Area 16 or 20 and then betray them, aiding enemies there against the party. If possible he will try to charm a PC or allied NPC on the way.

26 Edge of the World

The doors to this room are actually portals, leading to a demiplane designed to create an illusion of the gigantic edge of the world. The floor is covered in water rushing towards the edge, where it falls into a void. It requires a DC 15 Strength saving throw to not be swept as well. Flailing through the void results in being transported to the opposite door than the one a creature came through, but the creature must then make a DC 30 Charisma saving throw or become convinced the world of Mystara is flat as an indefinite madness. As long as a creature is affected by this madness, every time they would take an action they must succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw or they do not take that action, crushed under the meaninglessness of a small, finite world, with no new frontiers to explore.

Evil Spirit

27-30 Spiritual Combustion Engines

Thaddeus Terion has captured and split into four pieces a powerful spirit lord, then put them in four combustion engines, where their constant torture and pain is used to power the castle, allowing it to function, and to maintain mechanisms draining the draerden of its power through Control Jewels for the Ascendant’s ritual. Each engine possesses AC of 22, 100 hit points, immunity to fire and poison damage and, due to its connection to Control Gems, vulnerability to psychic damage. It can also be overloaded to the point of explosion, with a successful DC 20 check using tinker’s tools. If destroyed, an engine releases a Greater Evil Spirit^⁴³ that in rage attacks everything on sight. If the PCs manage to restrain the spirit, it can be convinced to aid them against the Alphatians, merging with one of the PCs and granting one of the following bonuses of DM’s choice (without choosing the same boon twice) or determined with a d4 roll (reroll repeated results) as shown in the table below.

If 3 of the greater evil spirits have not been slain or freed and let to their own devices and not merged with anyone, the final engine upon destruction releases an Evil Spirit Lord instead. It furiously attacks any other creature on sight and cannot be reasoned with.

If all four engines are destroyed, all Control Gems cease to function and the Ascendant’s plan of ascension is immediately foiled.

Each engine is guarded by an Efreeti, a Mage and 2 Knights. They fight to kill anyone trying to mess with or attack the engine, defending it at all costs. They immediately raise the alarm upon attack.

Concluding and Continuing the Adventure

If the PCs manage to save Phradha, her father will reward them as promised and support whichever resistance group they request him to. The PCs who completed all three Against the Wizards adventures should have the location and keys to the Last Rajah’s vault, its vast riches waiting for them. The Empire of Alphatia will also take notice of their activities, sending wanted letters and offers of huge reward after them, especially if they did not deliver any incriminating evidence against the magic-users they fought and, likely, killed. Finally, if the draerden awaiting in the Nightmare Dimension has noticed them and all of Mystara, it will soon begin moving against them and the Material Plane, becoming a new, dangerous enemy of the Known World.

1http://pandius.com/War_on_All_Sides.pdf

2Full timeline video is available here: https://youtu.be/rMJB1KGJdWY?si=lSgOLE_Kns64MbEZ, though only parts concerning Alphatia and Sind are necessary for this adventure.

3http://pandius.com/Diabolus.png

4http://pandius.com/Iron_Gargoyle.png

5Use this 5e conversion by Dungeon Dad: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uug6sfOyM2w07IFAAa7gHx6cFMYp9ue3MHtJpLhuqJI/edit

6http://pandius.com/Malfera.png

7http://pandius.com/Death_Fiend.png

8https://donjon.bin.sh/fantasy/dungeon/

9http://pandius.com/crone_of_chaos.png

10In case you lack access to that book, consider homebrew Death Hag, available here: https://www.reddit.com/r/monsteraday/comments/nksdth/more_horrific_hags_from_cr1_to_cr11_these_hags/

11http://pandius.com/Malfera.png

12http://pandius.com/Dragonne.png

13http://pandius.com/Hydrax.png

14http://pandius.com/Undead_Spirit_2.png

15http://pandius.com/Sollux.png

16http://pandius.com/Malfera.png

17http://pandius.com/Baldandar.png

18http://pandius.com/Sollux.png

19http://pandius.com/Gator_Men.png

20https://www.reddit.com/r/monsteraday/comments/3jzoao/day_22_gnoll_deathknight/

21http://pandius.com/Helion.png

22http://pandius.com/Death_Fiend.png

23I would use statistics of Klurichir (here’s a 5e conversion by youtuber Dungeon Dad: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vsrPG_IeIhhS3Fa6FOIzFAgpKBT2EV-Qx46rzpjzvbk/edit)

24http://pandius.com/Rexxen.pdf

25http://pandius.com/Undead_Spirit_2.png

26http://pandius.com/Undead_Spirit_1.png

27https://www.enworld.org/threads/5e-updates-monstrous-compendium.672508/page-98#post-8219498

28http://pandius.com/Undead_Spirit_2.png

30http://pandius.com/Golem_2.png

31https://criticalrole.fandom.com/wiki/Graz%27tchar

32http://pandius.com/Amber_1.png

33http://pandius.com/Amber_3.png

35http://pandius.com/Lava_Ooze.png

36If your players fought fire giants before, I recommend not so subtly alluding to the fact that they were probably the ones who killed them. Dreadnought won’t consider this a possibility, but it may be entertaining to watch the PCs get a bit uncomfortable.

37http://pandius.com/Golem_4.png

38 http://pandius.com/Guardian_Warrior.png for both guardian warrior and guardian horse

39Use statistics of conversion by youtuber Dungeon Dad: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JFv1hakaz6rj-migmo3RDMwTEUAIbAtWadxcsFp222c/edit

40http://pandius.com/forwyn_oedran.png

41http://pandius.com/Genie_Efreet_Amir.png

42http://pandius.com/Golem_3.png

43 http://pandius.com/Evil_Spirit_2.png for both greater evil spirit and evil spirit lord

Action	Area
Trading places with the sidhe	Area 1, Level 1
Killing the sidhe	Area 2, Level 1
Tricking or betraying the sidhe in any way	Area 3, Level 1
Being too indecisive to make a choice of action	Area 4, Level 1
Surrendering or losing the fight with the sidhe	Area 1, Level 2
Killing the sidhe and looting their body	Area 2, Level 2
Killing the sidhe in more than one round	Area 17, Level 2
Failing to trick or betray the sidhe	Area 18, Level 2

Roll	Creature	Notes
1	Dream Vestige^⁵	Will attempt to slay a random creature, even other monsters or NPCs. If successful or reduced to half hit points, it will retreat to Area 4 of Level 2, in which it regains 10 hit points per minute, as long as it has at least 1.
2	1d3 Knights, 1d3 Mages and 1d3 Scouts	Patrol of human members of the staff. They fight to subdue; if at least two members are dead the rest retreat to raise an alarm.
3	2d6 Malfera^⁶	Malfera fight until half of them are slain, at which point they retreat for reinforcements from Areas 5 and 12 of Level 1.
4	Iron Gargoyle	The gargoyle will ignore the party in search of diaboli, unless there is a diaboli in the group at which point it will attack and fight to capture and deliver that character to Area 1 of Level 2.
5	2d6 Death Fiends^⁷	They fight to kill, with little to no regard for any other creature caught in the crossfire, but retreat if reduced below half hit points, going to Area 22, where they heal themselves, replenish their numbers with 2d6 additional death fiends, and begin hunting down the PCs.
6	2d6 Magen	The magen attempt to subdue the PCs; if they’re defeated the last surviving one runs off to raise an alarm.
7	Sergeant-Magus Magnus McAgnus with his escort	See Area 18 Level 1 for full description. They fight to capture; PCs reduced to zero hit points will be stabilized, dragged to Area 16 of Level 1, and stripped of their gear, which will be divided between the group. They fight to the death and raise the alarm.
8	2d6 Fire Elementals (CR 5)	The fire elementals are instructed to fight to kill any intruders; if overwhelmed, they will retreat to Area 19 of Level 1, at which point the NPC there will raise an alarm.
9	1d6-1 (minimum 1) Guardian Warriors on Guardian Horses	Upon seeing the PCs, they will charge and try to trample on their horses, then immediately ride to raise an alarm.
10	Gary the Intern (Kobold)	Gary is running with six coffees from Serraine for Thaddeus Terion. If the PCs don’t declare they step out of his way, Gary will crash into the first one who doesn’t; that PC must make a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw or take 24 or 6d6 fire damage, half as much on a successful save, as hot coffee splashes them. Gary has a modified ring of teleportation and plane shift that allows one person to teleport but only between the castle and a coffee shop in Serraine.
11	Echo	Horrible experiments in this place left their mark on the area. All PCs must roll 1d4 and then, depending on the result: 1: Make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or feel the victim’s pain, taking 2d8 psychic damage and become stunned for 1 minute 2: Make a DC 15 Intelligence saving throw or get flooded by a jumbled mess of memories, becoming confused (as per confusion spell) for 1 minute 3: Make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened for one minute, and overwhelmed with desire to leave this place once and for all 4: Make a DC 15 Charisma saving throw or become overwhelmed by victims’ thirst for vengeance and violently attack anyone within their reach for one minute.
12	Johnson’s Dine and Song	Johnson, a Dwarf Veteran, is selling food on a stand here. He sells food made out of monster parts. One meal costs 50 gp and grants the benefits of a short rest. Johnson refuses to sell to the same PC more than once within 24 hours.

Roll Result	+2 Bonus	Boon
1	Wisdom	You have advantage on all Perception checks
2	Dexterity	Double your walking speed
3	Constitution	A pair of wings sprouts off your back; you gain flying speed equal to your walking speed
4	Strength	Your limbs extend, increasing the range of all your melee attacks by 5 ft.