Beneath the White House are Aggah-Shan’s catacombs. This ancient lair actually predates the construction of the gambling house above by at least several decades, possibly more. It can also be reached from the Mrathrach Machine below.
Design Note: There is a map of the Lower Level of the White House on p. 311 of the Ptolus sourcebook. The maps here are designed to supersede that map.
This post contains SPOILERS for Descent Into Avernus and the Avernus Remix.
The Avernian Hexcrawl was designed for Act III of the Alexandrian Remix of Descent Into Avernus. Intended for a dedicated table, the primary assumption is that the PCs will likely be exploring the hexcrawl in pursuit of the components required to repair a dream machine. It features 40-mile hexes with custom terrain, and we’ll also be using a different set of optional rules, including:
The PCs are:
BEGINNING THE SESSION
The PCs have arrived at the Alvskraema caravanserai, located in Hex B2 next to the bridge which crosses the Pit of Shummrath. Ereshkigal’s infernal warmachine was damaged in a confrontation with a darksphinx and they came here looking for repairs.
Adi Themis realizes that the Alvskraema is serving elf meat as a delicacy, so they decide to pass on both the good and the common room. But while settling payment with Meltrus, one of the two forgemasters, Ereshkigal decides to go fishing and see if Meltrus has any leads on dream machine components.
Rolling on the Avernian rumor tables, I get this result:
Nirvanan cogboxes are used by modrons. I heard that the warlord Algoran recently captured a modron. His lair is located at the far end of the Ashlands. (Hex B6)
That’s perfect, so I just need to put that into Meltrus’ mouth:
Me (Meltrus): He strokes he wriggling, prehensile beard. “A Nirvanan cogbox, eh? Haven’t seen one of those in years. They’re mostly used by modrons, and there aren’t many of those around here. But you may be in luck. One of Algoran’s gladiators was in here a few days ago, spending his winnings on avariel goulash. He mentioned that Algoran’s out-riders had captured a modron recently.”
Ereshkigal: Algoran, huh? Where can we find him?
Me (Meltrus): “He founded a gladiatorial arena. It’s almost due south from here, built into the mountains that ring the far side of the Ashlands.”
The lead seems a little thin, but it’s close. So the PCs decide to check it out.
STARTING OUT
The PCs mount up on their infernal warmachines, which have a speed of 100 ft. They decide to travel at a fast pace, which means (using the advanced rules for expedition speed) that they’ll have a base pace of 60 miles per watch. This also means they’ll have a penalty to navigation checks, but they decide speed is more important and they won’t be able to get too far off course before they can see the mountains and navigate by landmark.
They’re starting in Hex B2 and heading south, intending to enter Hex B3. The terrain in both hexes is Wastelands and it’s Trackless, so they’ll be moving at ½ speed (30 miles per watch). They’ve already traveled one watch today to reach the Alvskraema, so they only have one watch of travel left. But they only need 20 miles of progress to reach Hex B3, so I know they’ll be getting there right at the end of their traveling day.
The group has a standard operating procedure while traveling: Kerstina takes the Navigator action, while the other two PCs take the Sentinel watch action.
As they start heading south:
I mark 20 progress, which — as we determined — brings them to Hex B3. I check the key for Hex B3 to make sure there are no special conditions or visible landmarks (there isn’t), then I reset the progress counter to 0. They’ll need another 40 miles of progress to cross Hex B3 and enter Hex B4.
MAKING CAMP
Finished with travel for the day, the PCs circle up their warmachines. They decide to all take an active watch action, then take shifts for the rest of the night (with Kerstina, then Ereshkigal, then Adi Themis taking a watch with the Sentinel action).
For the first watch:
Although they’re not traveling, I once gain make a random encounter check. No encounter is indicated.
However, when I make the oppressive environment check, I roll a 1, triggering the condition. I then roll d12, getting a 3, which indicates extreme heat. I describe the temperature skyrocketing until the wasteland scree is steaming. Everyone needs to make a saving throw, and Kerstina fails. She comes stumbling back into camp not only empty-handed, but having suffered a level of exhaustion.
The PCs decide to shuffle things up: Kerstina needs to rest and can no longer take the first watch, so Adi Themis swaps with her. They decide to just wait out the extreme heat, as traveling under those conditions would be extremely debilitating. But they get lucky: The following watch I roll another 1 on the oppressive environment check, ending the condition.
I finish making the rest of the encounter checks for the night. During the sixth watch, an encounter is indicated. I roll d100 and determine the encounter would be with 5d10 imps. However, when I make the % Tracks check, it indicates that it would be a tracks encounter. That would be an exploration encounter, and since the PCs aren’t currently moving the encounter doesn’t happen.
HEADING SOUTH
The next day, the PCs load up and continue heading south. (Setting the same pace and so forth from the day before.) With 30 miles of progress per watch, I know they’ll reach Hex B4 during their second watch of travel (assuming nothing goes away).
In the first watch, I generate an encounter:
What’s the yagnoloth doing? Well, the write-up in Tome of Foes indicates that they’re often employed as contract negotiators. I decide he must be carrying (2d6) 4 pacts and (1d6) 2 soul coins to the adjunct court of Hell in Hex G1. Since he’s carrying some important material, I decide to go with Cautious more than Threatening.
And because the yagnoloth is Cautious, I decide to also make a Dexterity (Stealth) check, setting DC 13 for opposed Wisdom (Perception) checks.
The exact time of this encounter doesn’t seem to matter, so I don’t bother making an additional check to nail it down.
I now call for the PCs’ skill checks from their watch actions: A navigation check from Kerstina (which she passes) and Wisdom (Perception) checks from Ereshkigal (6, failure) and Adi Themis (18, success).
Since the PCs are traveling at a fast pace and can’t use Stealth, the yagnoloth has no difficulty spotting them.
I describe to Adi Themis the yagnoloth crossing the wastelands about several hundred feet off to the right of their path. I probably also hold up a picture:
So now what will the PCs do? Given the encounter distance and their relative speed to the yagnoloth, they may simply choose to steer wide and pass the yugoloth by. Or perhaps they’ll approach, hoping to glean more information about the region. (In which case, perhaps the yagnoloth will be the one to reveal how they can break the pact binding Elturel, if they haven’t figured that out already.) Or they may think the lone figure will be easy pickings and a chance to enrich themselves on whatever loot it may be carrying. (If so, who do the pacts the yagnoloth carries belong to? And will they come looking for them?)
A bit of local color to their journey or a pivot point which may change the entire course of the campaign? That’s the beautiful, emergent play of the hexcrawl.
TM and © 2022 Monte Cook Games, LLC
SPOILERS FOR PTOLUS: NIGHT OF DISSOLUTION
In the Night of Dissolution, a campaign for 4th to 9th level characters by Monte Cook set in the city of Ptolus, the investigations of the PCs bring them to the Mrathrach Machine, a huge structure of chaositech which has been assembled in a cavern beneath the White House, a gambling establishment owned by the lich Aggah-Shan in the Oldtown district.
In the original adventure, the PCs are led to the Mrathrach Machine via an underground tunnel. But whether they come at the complex from above or below, they may nevertheless find themselves exploring the White House or the catacombs of Aggah-Shan.
The White House and Aggah-Shan’s Catacombs are briefly described in Ptolus, p. 310-312. The Mrathrach Machine is described in Night of Dissolution. The material here is designed to enhance this material for your campaign.
These notes were developed for use in my Ptolus: In the Shadow of the Spire campaign. They’ve been adapted to 5E for use with the newly adapted release of the Ptolus sourcebook and campaigns.
Part 1: The White House
Part 2: Aggah-Shan’s Catacombs
Part 3: Mrathrach Machine
Part 4: The Balacazar Job
Part 5: Mrathrach Table Raids
THE WHITE HOUSE
Note: This map is based on the map found on p. 311 of Ptolus, but has been modified to include additional details.
LOCATION OF THE WHITE HOUSE
The White House is located on Fetch Street in Oldtown.
ADVERSARY ROSTER
| Area 1 | 2 Guards |
| Area 4 | 6 Guards + Guard Captain |
| Area 7 | 1 Guard |
| Area 8 | 1d4 Guards |
| Area 11 | 4 Advanced Guards |
| Area 13 | 4 Advanced Guards |
| Area 16 | Barras Noven* |
The adversary roster only lists the armed force the PCs are likely to meet if they cause trouble. The White House is filled with patrons, dealers, table managers, moneychangers, etc. Of particular note is Thurman Rees (steward, Ptolus, p. 613), the day-to-day manager who can usually be found in his office (Area 16). (Note that Aggah-Shan is currently out of town.)
The White House is open 24-hours per day. The guards rotate, but the general staffing doesn’t shift between day and night.
GUARDS: Veteran (MM, p. 350)
ADVANCED GUARDS: Knight (MM, p. 347)
GUARD CAPTAIN: Master Thief (Ptolus, p. 612)
BARRAS NOVEN: Barras Noven is Thurman Rees’ brother. He normally hangs out at the Onyx Spider (Ptolus, p.203). Rees hires him if the White House is experiencing any trouble (e.g., if the PCs or other adventurers raid the place or the Balacazars perform a heist). Once hired, Barras stays in Area 16 unless trouble arises. Barras doesn’t want trouble with the city watch, however, and if the authorities are involved he’ll try to slip out the secret back door (Area 19).
EXTERIOR
AREA 1 – ENTRANCE
The White House is fashioned to emphasize a youthful, exuberant luxury. (Some might describe it as “gaudy.”) It lavishes its patrons with pleasures.
STAINED GLASS WINDOWS: Large, stained glass windows flank the chamber, depicting the patron saints of Luck and Grace.
CLOAKROOM DOOR: A man at the door of the cloakroom (Area 3) will check bags and weapons for 1 sp per item. All weapons must be checked.
COMPANIONS: “Companions” are available for rent in the corner of the room.
AREA 2 – PUBLIC GAMBLING HALL
A dozen or so tables, sporting the highest stakes. Games include:
MRATHRACH WHEEL (A): The White House’s Mrathrach installation. A large crowd surrounds it.
MONEY CAGE (B): For the purchasing and exchange of chips. Contains 1,500 gp in various coins.
MIRRORS: Large, floor-to-ceiling mirrors line the walls, making the room feel much larger than it is. A DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check identifies them as one-way mirrors (looking out from Area 4).
AREA 3 – CLOAK ROOM
AREA 4 – FLOOR GUARDS
The White House doesn’t want a bunch of armed guards harshing the vibe on the gambling room floor, but they wait here where they can respond quickly through the secret door.
SECRET DOORS: DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check. DC 20 Dexterity (Thieves’ Tools) to pick the lock.
AREA 5 – PRIVATE GAMBLING HALL
A private gambling room for VIPS, who are brought in through the secret doors in Area 4.
MONEY CAGE (A): Contains 9,000 gp in various coinage.
AREA 6 – PRIVATE LOUNGE
“Companions” or a concierge will bring high-rollers back here. There are a dozen or so prostitutes/exotic dancers lounging or performing here.
AREA 7 – EMPLOYEE-ONLY DOOR
There’s always a guard standing on duty here. Only employees are allowed into the rear of the building.
AREA 8 – GUARD’S LOUNGE
A few chairs and a cot.
Most of the guards are NOT aware of the secret door leading to Aggah-Shan’s office (Area 9); only the Guard Captain and Advanced Guards.
SECRET DOORS: DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check. DC 20 Dexterity (Thieves’ Tools) to pick the lock.
AREA 9 – AGGAH-SHAN’S OFFICE
A huge, lavish office.
RUG TRAP: Anyone approaching within 5 feet of the desk who doesn’t say the current verbal passphrase must make a DC 20 Dexterity saving throw or be restrained by the rug, which becomes sticky and also starts drawing trapped characters down into it. (You’re literally sinking into the rug!) Restrained characters have 1d4 rounds to succeed at a DC 16 Strength saving throw to free themselves. If they don’t, they vanish completely into the rug and begin to suffocate. In addition, they suffer 1d6 points of damage per round from constriction. Once fully “submerged,” they can still escape with a DC 20 Strength saving throw.
Aggah-Shan and the Guard Captain also know a set of command words which can activate the trap in any section of the rug, or the entire floor. (Or, alternatively, end the effect.)
DESK: The desk is surprisingly sparse, containing no written matter at all. It does have a secret drawer (DC 16 Intelligence (Investigation) check to find) which contains a stolen Balacazar ledger and a key to the lockbox in Area 20.
Balacazar Ledger: Details payments, transactions, shipments, and other information that implicates the Balacazar crime bosses in Midtown, South Market, and North Market.
WEAPONS: Inspecting the weapons hanging on the walls notes that each one has dried blood on its blade.
SECRET DOORS: DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check. DC 20 Dexterity (Thieves’ Tools) to pick the lock.
AREA 10 – TO AGGAH-SHAN’S LAIR
These stairs lead down to Area 1 of Aggah-Shan’s Catacombs.
AREA 11 – VAULT GUARD ROOM
This is the antechamber to the White House’s vault.
HALL DOOR (Steel-Cored): AC 19, 40 hp, DC 18 Dexterity (Thieves’ Tools)
VAULT DOOR (10-in. iron): AC 19, 300 hp, DC 24 Dexterity (Thieves’ Tools)
AREA 12 – VAULT
The vault itself is teleport-indicted. (You cannot teleport in or out.)
COIN: Coffers of copper, silver, and gold collected from the gambling floors.
JEWELS: 24,000 gp. 14,000 spread across 65 incredibly rare jewels; the rest in small diamonds, rubies, and pearls.
ART: 50,000 gp in rare art.
Design Note: The expectation here is that if the PCs liberally loot the vault, Aggah-Shan will track them down and make them pay for it for the rest of their (likely very short lives). He’s also, at least for the moment, a legal business owner — so he’ll simultaneously send the City Watch after them. Removing the bulky wealth, particularly the art, should also be non-trivial (and fencing it even moreso).
AREA 13 – MRATHRACH CONSTRUCTION AREA
Several long workbenches run down the length of this room, each covered in bizarre equipment of a vaguely biological nature.
Half-completed Mrathrach tables lean up against the far wall.
WORKBENCHES: The workbenches have several chaositech modules under construction, as well as a variety of papers including the Modified Mrathrach Tower Plans and Chaositech Module Shipping Manifest.
CHAOSITECH MODULE SHIPPING MANIFEST
This final delivery completely our supply of 25 bones of steel in paired, syncrotic modules customized to your requested specifications.
Deliver the payment of 5,000 platinum coins to the warehouse off Flamemoth Way.
MODIFIED MRATHRACH TOWER PLANS
Aggah-Shan–
I have enclosed the plans necessary for modifying the Mrathrach receptor modules within the Tower. The partial overlaying of your cerebral patterns onto the final matrix should reward you with the control you desire.
I am destroying my copies of these records, so that any potential leaks down here won’t get back to the Tolling Bell.
Caldor
AREA 14 – TAINT VICTIM
A victim of chaositech taint is strapped to the bed. Flesh of the nose has rotted away. There’s bleeding from the eyes and fingernails. A greasy, yellow sweat. The victim is incoherent and semi-conscious (moaning softly).
WHITE HOUSE HEALER’S REPORT: Located on the bedside table.
WHITE HOUSE HEALER’S REPORT
Notes taken by Mala Cathord, Healer of the Sacred Heat.
Patient’s Name: Haffe Brin
Patient collapsed while serving as an operator at the White House.
Symptoms are resisting treatment.
There is a fundamental corruption of the flesh; none of my efforts are having any effect. The corruption seems to be feeding upon itself.
Fingernails are chalky and weak. Sweat is beginning to manifest the inner corruption.
AREA 15 – PROSTITUTION SUITE
A private room for use by the White House “companions.” They take their johns back here (through or from Area 6).
The larger chamber keyed as Area 15 is a lavish suite. The others are fairly basic affairs with a simple bed.
50% chance that any given room is currently occupied.
AREA 16 – THURMAN REES’ OFFICE
Thurman Rees is the day-to-day manager of the White House. He has keys to all doors in the White House, as well as the lockbox in Area 20.
AREA 17 – PRIVY
Pretty much what you’d expect.
AREA 18 – FAKE OFFICE
This appears to be an office, but it’s actually maintained as a fake front to disguise the presence of the emergency bolt hole (Area 19).
A DC 12 Intelligence (Investigation) check notices an unusual coating of dust and other signs that the office isn’t actually used.
SECRET DOOR: DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check to find, DC 18 Dexterity (Thieves’ Tools) to unlock.
AREA 19 – EMERGENCY EXIT
A short hallway, mostly undecorated.
The secret doors are obvious from inside this hall.
BOLT DOORS: DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check to find, DC 18 Dexterity (Thieves’ Tools) to unlock.
AREA 20 – GAMBLING RECORDS
A relatively bare office. There’s a large, double-locked box sitting on a table.
BOX: DC 20 Dexterity (Thieves’ Tools), contains the Gambling Records. (It takes some time to piece out the details revealed by these records.)
GAMBLING RECORDS
These records detail massive payments to Aggah-Shan from various gambling establishments around town, including:
- Cock Pit (in South Market)
- Urdoch’s “Mrathrach Holes” in the Warrens (some sort of collective operation)
- Temple of the One-Eyed God
- Broken Spine (in the Docks)
- Hell’s Door (in Midtown)
- Lomwell’s (in Midtown)
Business is brisk and healthy, with one exception: Most or all of Aggah-Shan’s establishments are accepting large losses on Mrathrach games.
There’s also a complaint from a local boss about his dealers falling ill and the difficulty of finding replacements. “Figure this out. We’re sick of it down here.”
Go to Part 2: Aggah-Shan’s Catacombs
Are you running a new RPG for the first time?
DISCUSSING
In the Shadow of the Spire – Session 27D: The Maw Opens
Tee read: “The Saint of Chaos shall return and the Banewarrens shall ope their maw. And the name of doom shall be Tavan Zith.”
“What does that mean?” Elestra asked.
“I don’t know,” Tee said. “Let’s ask him.”
She pulled Zith out of her bag of holding. Tor bound him securely. Tee blindfolded him. And Dominic healed him.
As soon as Tavan Zith awoke, however, they all felt a sickening, bursting feeling erupting in their chests. Agnarr instinctively smashed the pommel of his sword into the dark elf’s nose, breaking it and sending him plunging back into unconsciousness.
In a previous Running the Campaign column, at the beginning of Act II, I discussed the fact that I designed the second act to be triggered using two external events — events that originated from outside the domain of the PCs experience and, therefore, could not be anticipated or prevented. (Or, at least, were extremely unlikely to be anticipated or prevented.)
The first of these events was the letter from Shim that arrived in Session 18, informing the PCs that (a) they had hired him during their period of lost memories to find a magical artifact and (b) he’d found it. The second, of course, happens in this session, when Tavan Zith, the Saint of Chaos, appears on the street.
The first trigger is designed to hook the PCs into the Night of Dissolution campaign, which revolves around the cults of chaos and was designed for 4th to 9th level characters by Monte Cook.
Similarly, the second trigger leads to the Banewarrens, another campaign created by Monte Cook, this time designed for 6th to 10th level characters.
As I’ve described previously, it was my desire to run the Banewarrens that was the primary impetus for the entire campaign. But when I read Night of Dissolution, I was fascinated by it. Which campaign should I run? Could we wrap Banewarrens and then run another Ptolus campaign featuring the Night of Dissolution?
Then I realized that I could just run both of them at the same time!
And although I significantly expanded both of them, these two campaigns remain the primary spine(s) of Act II.
Taking published adventures like this, combining them, and adapting them to the PCs is something I discuss in more detail in The Campaign Stitch. Often when I’m doing work like this, I will be looking for opportunities to create crossovers between the adventures — to tie them together and make them a single, unified whole.
For example, there are a number of factions in Ptolus interested in the Banewarrens and how they can be exploited. It would be perfectly natural for the chaos cults — another powerful faction active in Ptolus — to also become involved in the intrigues around the Banewarrens.
But I actually made a specific decision to NOT do that.
Instead, I used a different technique: The Second Track.
I knew that both the Banewarrens and the Night of Dissolution would be big, complicated conspiracies that the PCs would have to work to unravel. If I fully crossed the streams and truly merged the conspiracies, there was a real risk of the whole thing collapsing under its own Byzantine complexity. It would be hopelessly confusing.
But I knew I didn’t actually have to do that in order to get the same effect! When the PCs first started interacting with the two conspiracies, the players wouldn’t have the information necessary to distinguish them. So, from their perspective, the conspiracies WOULD be merged together, and they’d be utterly overwhelmed.
This meant that:
That’s the beauty of the Second Track.
With that being said, however, I didn’t want these two halves of the campaign to be completely siloed from each other. That would feel pretty artificial. So I looked for some subtle crossovers (which I knew would also seed the players’ initial confusion between the two threads).
I came up with two.
First, as we saw in Session 20, the PCs discovered the Prophecy of the Saint of Chaos in Pythoness House (a site associated with the chaos cults):
The Saint of Chaos shall return and the Banewarrens shall ope their maw. And the name of doom shall be Tavan Zith.
Tavan Zith wasn’t a big focus point for the chaos cults, but given his unique curse, the idea of him being an avatar of chaos made perfect sense. (And if the PCs did end up tipping Tavan Zith’s arrival to Wuntad or the other chaos cultists, they could easily interpret it as a sign that their time had come and the Night of Dissolution was foreordained.)
Second, I identified the Pactlords of the Quaan as a faction who could potentially intersect with both the chaos cults and the Banewarrens. (We haven’t met them yet, but they’ll be showing up shortly.) The short version is that they were big enough that I could have one wing of the Pactlords tangentially involved with the chaos cults and a completely different set of Pactlords focused on the Banewarrens. Just enough crossover that the PCs would find references to the Pactlords in both places and assume a connection, but distinct enough that they wouldn’t cause the two threads to collide with each other.
This division between Chaos Cults and Banewarrens, I should note, is quite explicit in my own notes: There’s a binder of chaos cult-related adventures and a completely separate binder of Banewarrens-related adventures. A really clear example of how you can have absolute clarity in your own perception of the campaign, while nonetheless miring the players in delightful enigma.
NEXT:
Campaign Journal: Session 28A – Running the Campaign: One Job, Multiple Patrons
In the Shadow of the Spire: Index
