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ADVERSARY ROSTER

^* Key ring with seven keys (shackles in D12 & D22, chests in D30).
^** Carries spellbook (see DIA p. 23) and Missive of the Hidden Lord Ψ handout.
*** Carries Mortlock’s Correspondence handout.
**** Has Assassin’s Orders handout.

Stat blocks for Dead Three cultists can be found in Descent Into Avernus, p. 231-235.
Corpsedamp zombie stats can be found here.
See Art of the Key: Adversary Rosters for details on using an adversary roster.

QUESTIONING CULTISTS

CULTISTS

• The abductions/murders are actually being carried out by a team based out of the Poisoned Poseidon in the Brampton neighborhood.
• They have the support of one of the Council of Four! (Or, at the very least, someone very powerful.) Most of the low-ranking cultists don’t actually know who it actually is, and they might speculate: Ravengard, Stelmane, Portyr, Vanthampur. The ducal representative (Mortlock, although not all of them know his name) is here in the dungeon.
• The local cult leaders are Yignath (Iron Consul of Bane), Flennis (Myrkullian Master of Souls), and Vaaz (Death’s Head of Bhaal). They may be able to give some indication of their current location.

CULT LEADERS

Yignath, Flennis, and Vaaz are obviously more knowledgeable than the rank-and-file cultists.

• They have been receiving missives from the Shield of the Hidden Lord, which is currently in the possession of the Vanthampurs. (See “Lore of Gargauth” in Part 3B of the Remix.)
• Under Gargauth’s guidance, they have formed an alliance with Duke Vanthampur. They have also received this temple complex in exchange for their service (proving the divine purpose of their actions).
• They know that Duke Vanthampur is a Zarielite. They believe that Zariel is responsible for the fall of Elturel, with an army of devils responsible for sacking the city.
• Their primary liaison with the Vanthampurs is Mortlock Vanthampur. Mortlock provides them with the target list for their murders. (They don’t know where Mortlock gets the names.)
• Each leader also knows the contents of the Missives of the Hidden Lord addressed to them.
• Vaaz: Can also reveal the information in the Assassin’s Orders (that he was hired by Amrik and Thurstwell Vanthampur to kill their brother and was to send evidence to Amrik at the Low Lantern when the job was done). Within just the past hour, he has dispatched an assassination team to kill Duke Portyr at a charity event being held at the Beloved Ranger in the Wide.

MORTLOCK VANTHAMPUR

Mortlock is not inclined to betray his family, but if he realizes that the attempt on his life was coordinated by Amrik and Thurstwell he will feel betrayed himself and be more likely to help the PCs (if they agree to giving him an amnesty for his own role in all this).

• The Vanthampurs are Zarielites. Mortlock is not a true believer, but he’s loyal to the family.
• Duke Vanthampur is using the Dead Three cultists to murder specific targets. Mortlock’s brother, Amrik, is responsible for identifying these targets: He provides the names to Mortlock, who passes them along to the Dead Three cultists.
• Amrik has set himself up as a black market resource for smuggling refugees into the city. He holds court at the Low Lantern, fleecing refugees who want to bring their loved ones inside the city.
• Duke Vanthampur is working in coordination with a powerful cult leader that escaped from Elturel just before its fall. The Duke is protecting this cult leader in the basement of Vanthampur Manor. (Mortlock does not know the identity of this cult leader.)
• The cult leader brought two powerful artifacts with him from Elturel, one of which was a shield in the likeness of a demonic face. Mortlock’s other brother, Thurstwell, was fascinated by these artifacts.
• He also knows the history of the Dungeon of the Dead Three, and how it was given to the Dead Three cultists in exchange for their alliance.
• If questioned, he can provide background on the Tiamat treasure found in Area D30: Yignath had his followers steal it from a vault owned by the Hhune noble family. They kidnapped Satiir Thione-Hhune in the process. Satiir and one of the artifacts were taken to Vanthampur Manor at his mother’s request.
• Duke Vanthampur has ordered the assassination of Duke Portyr. A Dead Three assassination team has already been dispatched to a charity event at the Beloved Ranger where the Duke is planning to make a speech within the hour (see Part 3J: The Portyr Assassination).

Go to Part 3F-D: Dungeon of the Dead Three (Handouts)

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For ease of use, these key entries are designed to completely replace the matching entry in the book (unless otherwise noted).

Design Note: My actual process for assembling the revised key is pretty straightforward. First, I run through my list of things that I think need to be changed. When I’m not writing essay-long explanations of my thought process for public consumption, this would usually just be a short, bullet-pointed list.

In addition to stuff that I think needs to be fixed, this list would also include any cool ideas that reading through the key had spurred in my imagination. You can see a little bit of that here with Area D13 and the corpsedamp zombies, but I’ve mostly eschewed it for this exercise.

Once that’s done, I simply run through my revelation list (as seen in Part 3C), and place every clue that’s supposed to appear in the location. It’s not unusual for this to be a two-way street, with additional clues being added as I develop the revised key and then being added to the revelation list (instead of vice versa).

D4. NORTH MASSAGE ROOM

In addition to the normal key for this room (DIA, p. 20):

Secret Door: Opened by rotating a circular piece in the stained glass window next to it.

D7. BHAAL’S ALTAR

In addition to the normal key for this room (DIA, p. 21) there is a wax tablet and stylus lying on the altar next to the entrails. This tablet contains various prophecies which have been divined from the entrails:

• When the box is opened in the house of Alaundo, the path forward shall be revealed.
• One of four shall be damned to Hell. One of four shall be struck by a thunderbolt. One of four shall rise.
• The great Sun shall be blackened and the devil legions of Avernus shall conquer Elturel.
• Conflict shall come to the Great Cities of Waterdeep, Athkatla(?), and Iriaebor.
• Volcanic fire shall tremble the peaks of Orsraun.
• Of the West shall speak the Tears of Selûne, and they shall weep upon the Inner Sea.

GM Note: The “house of Alaundo” refers to Candlekeep (Alaundo founded Candlekeep and foresaw the coming of the Bhaalspawn). The “great Sun” refers to the Companion. The other prophecies are either nonsense or unrelated to Descent Into Avernus (although players might conclude that “one of four” refers to the Council of Four).

D9. DEAD THREE DOORS

Each door is carved with a full-figured bas relief of a different person.

Wisdom (Perception) – DC 10: The carvings are very old The stone is worn and some of the carvings show other signs of damage, along with some evidence of recent repairs. (For example, one of Bhaal’s scythe-like hands appears to have been broken off and only recently re-attached.)

Intelligence (Religion) – DC 10: On success, recognize the figures as depicting the Dead Three.

• East Door – Bane: A tall, armored man wearing a bucket helm. His right gauntlet is painted black and clutches a set of shackles.
• South Door – Myrkul: A cloaked figure whose face is hidden under a cowl. In his skeletal hands he clutches a screaming human skull.
• West Door – Bhaal: A powerfully built, skull-headed man with long, curved blades where his hands should be.

D12. BANE’S ALTAR

Generally use the normal key for this room (DIA, p. 22), but if Yignath is present, rather than torturing Klim Jhasso for fun, he is using a blacksteel razor to carve infernal text into his skin. (If Yignath is no longer present, the blacksteel razor lies on the altar.)

Blacksteel Razor: Blacksteel is dark, silent, and nonreflective. It makes no noise when striking other objects or creatures (even if it is broken or shattered). Blood clings to the razor, rather than spraying or dripping.

Infernal Carvings: “In the name of Bane, we offer adulation to Zariel, Archduchess of Avernus. In the name of Bane, we give the blessing of one god to another. In the name of Bane, we give blessing unto the unholy conquest of Elturgard. In the name of Bane, we offer adulation under the fear and tyranny born in her name.”

D13. MORGUE

• Far end of the room has collapsed. Four wooden beams brace the ceiling.
• Three sarcophagal slabs have been converted into work tables. Two are covered with vials, alembics, and similar alchemical and arcane apparatus. The center slab has a human cadaver lying atop it, partially dissected with its various organs and viscera neatly organized around it. (If Flennis is taken by surprise here, she will be actively studying the corpse.)
• Several large pipes have been bolted to the collapsed wall of rubble. They twist their way towards a huge vat of iron standing near the sarcophagal slabs.
• If they have not been taken from this room, three bloated corpsedamp zombies are strapped to the north wall. Various tubes leading from the iron vat are attached to the corpses.

Wisdom (Perception) – DC 14: To notice the very faint smell of rotten eggs. It can be traced back to the collapsed wall, where the smell is stronger. (Anyone specifically inspecting the collapse will automatically detect the smell.)

• This is corpsedamp gas. See areas D15 or D18 for full description (including guidelines for identifying the gas and its properties). There is no risk of explosion here as the gas is not sufficiently concentrated.

Iron Vat: This is a pressurized vessel, collecting corpsedamp gas that’s leaking through the collapsed wall. The tubes connected to it are designed for the creation of corpsedamp zombies (the current crop is more or less ready to go). The tubes have long needles at the end of them and are basically just jammed into the corpses.

• If the pipes weren’t harvesting the corpsedamp gas here, the leak would be much more significant.

Dissected Corpse: A DC 14 Intelligence (Arcana) test suggests that someone is experimenting with exposing internal organs individually to the corpsedamp gas.

Work Tables: The Missive of the Hidden Lord Ω handout can be found here.

D15. SMALL FLOODED ROOM & GAS BUILDUP

On Approach: DC 10 Wisdom (Perception) check to notice the smell of rotten eggs. (Once in the chamber itself, the smell intensifies to a putrid stench anyone will immediately notice.)

• Four rotting wooden beams rise from the murky water to brace the ceiling here.
• A pile of rubble in the northwest corner.
• Northern tunnel narrows to just 2 ½ feet wide.

Rubble: Nothing of interest here.

Corpsedamp Gas: Open flame triggers explosion (4d6 fire damage, DC 15 Dexterity saving throw for half damage). All wooden beams are destroyed by the explosion, which may trigger a roof collapse. The explosion burns away the gas, which builds up slowly and becomes danagerous again after 24 hours.

• Intelligence (Arcana) / Wisdom (Survival) – DC 12: Misidentifies the gas as stinkdamp; a toxic and explosive gas.
• Intelligence (Arcana) / Wisdom (Survival) – DC 15: Correctly identifies the gas as corpsedamp. Most often extracted by necromancers from rotting corpses, it has a number of properties favorable to their work.
• Intelligence (Arcana) – DC 18: Corpsedamp gas is particularly notable for allowing the creation of corpsedamp zombies — shambling undead literally bloated by the mass of gas used to animate them. Corpsedamp zombies are vulnerable to fire, but explode when killed.

Roof Collapse: If the beams are destroyed, 25% chance of roof collapsing. 4d10 bludgeoning damage, DC 15 Dexterity saving throw for half damage. Room remains open, but is difficult terrain.

• A roof collapse in this area will have an additional 50% chance of extending 1d4 x 5 feet up each passage leading to this room. (Check for each passage.)

D17. MYRKUL’S ALTAR

• A dry room.
• The north wall is partially collapsed.
• A stone altar in the center of the room with humanoid skulls and bones piled around it. The top of the altar is covered with dozens of half-melted, unlit candles made of black wax.

Wisdom (Perception) – DC 14: Notice the very faint smell of rotten eggs. It can be traced back to the collapsed north wall, where the smell is stronger. (Anyone specifically inspecting the north wall will automatically detect the smell.)

• This is corpsedamp gas. See areas D15 or D18 for full description (including guidelines for identifying the gas and its properties). There is no risk of explosion here as the gas is not sufficiently concentrated.

Altar:

• If one or more black candles are lit, they shed a green light that reveals black writing on the walls. It reads, in Common, “RISE AND BE COUNTED!”
• If someone says, “RISE AND BE COUNTED!” within 5 feet of the altar, the words vanish as bones hidden under the debris at the north end of the room rise up and knit together, forming three animated human skeletons that obey the commands of whoever spoke the words.

Black Candles: These candles have been marked with the names of those targeted by the Dead Three cultists — Edmao Eduarda, Wemba Oshrat, Madhuri Akhila, Leiv Diomids, Aneta Diomidis, Annika Silverleaf, Shohreh Letitia, Iolanthe Oshrat. (Valeria Nuska and Weronika Nuska would also be included if Amrik has identified them.)

• Intelligence (Religion) – DC 14: These candles symbolically offer “Myrkul’s blessing” (i.e., death) unto those named upon them. Myrkullites believe that the smoke from the candles rises up, seeks out the lungs of the one so “blessed,” and blackens them. (Some magical versions of the candles do just that.)
• GM Info: This ritual is not a required part of the cultists’ dark work. It’s just the priests’ way of offering an unholy blessing to their task.

D18. LARGE FLOODED ROOM & GAS BUILDUP

On Approach: DC 10 Wisdom (Perception) check to notice the smell of rotten eggs. (Once in the chamber itself, the smell intensifies to a putrid stench anyone will immediately notice.)

• The room is flooded.
• The ceiling is supported by numerous wooden beams.

Corpsedamp Gas: Open flame triggers explosion (4d6 fire damage, DC 15 Dexterity saving throw for half damage). All wooden beams are destroyed by the explosion, which may trigger a roof collapse. The explosion burns away the gas, which builds up slowly and becomes danagerous again after 24 hours.

• Intelligence (Arcana) / Wisdom (Survival) – DC 12: Misidentifies the gas as stinkdamp; a toxic and explosive gas that is heavier than air.
• Intelligence (Arcana) / Wisdom (Survival) – DC 15: Correctly identifies the gas as corpsedamp. Most often extracted by necromancers from rotting corpses, it has a number of properties favorable to their work. It is easily mistaken for stinkdamp, and is similarly heavier than air.
• Intelligence (Arcana) – DC 18: Corpsedamp gas is particularly notable for allowing the creation of corpsedamp zombies — shambling undead literally bloated by the mass of gas used to animate them. Corpsedamp zombies are vulnerable to fire, but explode when killed.

Roof Collapse: If the beams are destroyed, 25% chance of roof collapsing. 4d10 bludgeoning damage, DC 15 Dexterity saving throw for half damage. Room remains open, but is difficult terrain.

D19. PARTIALLY COLLAPSED CRYPT

• Most of the room has fallen in.
• Debris field mostly buries a stone sarcophagus.

Wisdom (Perception) – DC 14: Notice the very faint smell of rotten eggs. It can be traced back to the collapsed south wall, where the smell is stronger. (Anyone specifically inspecting the collapse will automatically detect the smell.)

• This is corpsedamp gas. See areas D15 or D18 for full description (including guidelines for identifying the gas and its properties). There is no risk of explosion here as the gas is not sufficiently concentrated.

Sarcophagus: Empty. Looted years ago.

D20. HALF-PLUNDERED CRYPT

In addition to the normal key entry for this area (DIA, p. 24) the far wall of the crypt is badly cracked, but shows signs of being repaired. (Corpsedamp was also leaking into this room, as in Area D19, but efforts have been made to seal the cracks and prevent the leak.)

D23. DOOR

Instead of a secret door, the door leading to D27 is a normal wooden door.

D26. BHAAL’S REST

• The middle of the room is occupied by an open stone sarcophagus, but the floor has been cleared (as a resting place for the followers of Bane).
• There are six dusty bedrolls on the floor.
• Sconces in the north and south wall.
• There are three footlockers against the far wall.

Footlockers: Two of these are battered and worn with years of use. The third is clearly of better construction and is also padlocked. (This latter footlocker belongs to Vaaz and contains the Missive of the Hidden Lord φ and Vaaz’ Correspondence handouts.)

D30. TIAMAT’S STOLEN TREASURE

Use the normal key entry for this room (DIA, p. 26) except for Chest 4.

Chest 4 contains a bronze crown with fire spires (250 gp) that weights 2.5 pounds. Each spire is shaped and painted to resemble one of the five kinds of chromatic dragon (black, blue, green, red, and white). It has been carefully packed in shaped padding; there is a second hollow in this packing material that would appear to fit a mask, but there is nothing in it. (GM Note: It does not fit the mask from Chest 3. This mask is located in Vanthampur Manor.)

Crown: Around the interior of crown is an inscription, written in Draconic: “From Avernus we summon her. To Tiamat we pledge fealty.”

Go to Part 3F-C: Dungeon of the Dead Three – Adversary Roster

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The revised background for the Dungeon of the Dead Three is covered in Part 3B: Lore of the Vanthampur Investigations. Short version: Duke Vanthampur discovered an ancient temple dedicated to the Dead Three under the Heapside neighborhood. She sealed off the connections to the sewers and built the Frolicking Nymph bathhouse on top of it in order to create a secret entrance. She has most recently offered the temple to the Dead Three cultists in exchange for their assistance (which currently takes the form of murdering refugees).

There are a number of elements in the Dungeon of the Dead Three that we’re going to be adjusting, polishing, or enhancing. We’ll start by looking at those issues in detail, then present a revised key, and round things out with an adversary roster.

THURSTWELL’S IMP SPIES

We’ll start in the very first room of the dungeon: D1, the Courtyard.

An invisible imp is perched on the southeast fountain. If the characters look as though they intend to cause trouble, the imp observes them quietly until they enter the bathhouse, then flies to Vanthampur Villa in the Upper City to alert Thurstwell Vanthampur, the oldest of Duke Thalamra Vanthampur’s sons. Thurstwell instructs the imp to return to its post but takes no further action, hoping that the characters dispose of his brother, Mortlock

Thurstwell’s imp spies actually turn up several times and they almost always do the same thing: They invisibly watch the PCs while taking no action. Then they fly to Thurstwell and report what they saw. And then Thurstwell doesn’t do anything with that knowledge.

Ever.

My first instinct when seeing an element that’s designed so that the PCs never become aware of it and which has no impact on anything the PCs will do or experience is to just delete it. (It’s actually kind of amazing how many published adventures include this sort of thing.) But there are a couple of clever imp interactions and the central idea of Thurstwell as a crippled spider stuck in his home, able to exercise his will upon the world only through his imp servitors while jealously observing his able-bodied siblings going out and about in the world, is a really great character beat.

So what we really need here is for the imp spies to become meaningful. Which primarily means that Thurstwell needs to take meaningful action in response to what the imps see. A few possibilities:

• He sends an imp to barter with the PCs. (He’d probably like them to kill one or both of his brothers. If he’s feeling daring, or if the PCs have already succeeded at eliminating his brothers, he might even ask them to kill his mother so that he can take her place at the head of the family. If the PCs were to go all in on this, you could have an alternate trajectory where, the job done, he asks them to take the infernal puzzlebox to Candlekeep and have it opened.)
• He sends a murder squad of Dead Three Cultists (Descent Into Avernus, p. 28) to kill the PCs.
• He sends an abduction squad to kidnap a refugee that the PCs care about so that he can use them as leverage. (Maybe to leverage them into an alliance. Maybe to force them to back off.)

Basically, if you play Thurstwell as proactive and Machiavellian, he can either become an unexpected ally or a hated enemy (or both).

WATER LEVELS

There are several text-to-map mismatches in the dungeon, but the most significant are those related to the flooding in the dungeon.

First, Area D8 is described as a “dry alcove”:

In addition to the coloring, the stairs should be placed NORTH of D8, not east.

The design of the dungeon actually does a good job of having the flooded portions of the dungeon consistently lower than the rest of the dungeon. Which is why the failure to color in Area D23 (which is correctly described as flooded in the text) is also an error:

You may want to mark your copy of the map to make sure you get these details right while running the adventure.

THE DEAD THREE DOORS

Let’s take a look at Area D9. There are four passages that lead out of this area: One comes from the entrance, while the others lead to cultists/shrines belonging to one of the Dead Three Gods (Bhaal, Bane, Myrkul).

There are also three doors in Area D9:

• East: Bane
• North: Bhaal
• South: Myrkul

Am I crazy or should the door to the north actually be to the west so that all of the themed doors match the themed content behind them?

In practice, this would mean that the PCs are likely to come in from the entrance and be presented with three creepy doors that they have to interpret and choose and between. Not only is this a cool moment that would set the tone for the entire dungeon, it’s also an opportunity for a meaningful choice. Instead, there’s just a random choice stripped of meaning.

The simple solution here is to just move the door (and you’ll see that in the revised key below), but we’ll also be delving more deeply into the possibilities here in Part 3G: Xandering the Dead Three.

DUNGEON GAS

Area D18 is filled with explosive gas.

The gas has these properties:

• Invisible
• Lighter than air
• Smells like rotten eggs

These are the properties of modern natural gas (which is actually odorless, but since 1880 has had the smell added through the use of an odorant called mercaptan). I’m fairly certain this is not a coincidence, and the designers probably just defaulted to the explosive gas they were most familiar with.

But it’s a choice worth examining. For example, D18 is actually the lowest point in the complex, so it might make more sense to go with a heavier-than-air gas that could CONCENTRATE here, rather than a lighter-than-air gas that dissipates. This would allow you to describe the faint smell elsewhere in the complex where the gas is entering the area (D13, D17, and D19 would be good choices).

This is about more than just being “logical” or having an “accurate simulation” (the layout of the dungeon is designed; you can design it however you want). It’s about meaningful choice and problem-solving: If the PCs can detect the presence of gas leaks before entering Area D18, it gives them the opportunity to gather information and then use that information.

(The adventure kind of does this by saying that any character approaching D18 detects the smell and can make a skill check to recognize its significance. But that’s just a bang-bang interaction; not an opportunity to think, analyze, and make meaningful choices.)

Similarly, D18 is a chokepoint. You have to walk through it to get from one side of the dungeon to the other. “Bringing a lit torch or other open flame into the gas-filled room triggers an explosion…” But: “Followers of the Dead Three carry torches…” Hmm.

The adventure notes that the cultists will extinguish their torches before passing through Area D18, but it’s probably a stronger choice to go one step further here and give them light sources that reflect the environment: Safety lamps or light spells, for example. PCs, seeing this, could realize the danger of an open flame.

In addition to problem-solving, this type of thing also gives the dungeon the feeling of a complete environment rather than just a bunch of disconnected, individual rooms.

So what we’re looking for is a gas with these properties:

• Invisible
• Heavier than air
• Has a distinctive smell (naturally, without the addition of odorants)

In researching safety lamps I discovered that the word dampf, in German, means “vapour.” In England, the term became used to describe a variety of gases encountered during mining:

• Firedamp refers to a flammable gas, most often methane.
• Whitedamp refers to a smothering, toxic gas (usually carbon monoxide resulting from burning coal). This is the gas which canaries were famously used to detect.
• Stinkdamp is hydrogen sulfide. Poisonous, corrosive, and very flammable, with the foul odor of rotten eggs.
• Afterdamp, the toxic mixture of gases left in the aftermath of an explosion. Could be any mixture of the above.

So we can look at that list and identify stinkdamp as the gas we’re looking for.

In remixing the dungeon, however, there are a few more things I’d consider.

First, the risk of an explosion in Area D15. (Looking at the map it seems logical that gas flowing down to D18 would also flow down to D15.) Whether the PCs encounter D18 or D15 first, even if they trigger one explosion they’ll have an opportunity to apply that lesson and avoid the next one. (Or, if they’ve figured out how to avoid the explosions, they potentially get twice the pay-off for it.)

Second, there should be some clear indications that the cultists are trying to fix the gas leak problem. (And probably the sewage flooding the place, too. Yuck. They’re not Moander worshippers.)

Third, I think it would be cool if the cultists were USING the gas for something. Experiments in the Morgue (D13) seem cool. So rather than using stinkdamp, we’re going to use corpsedamp. Usually extracted by necromancers from rotting corpses, corpsedamp can be useful to their work in a number of different ways. I’ve previously written about corpsedamp here, including stats for corpsedamp zombies. So we’ll also swap out some of the skeletons and replace them with these experimental undead.

ELUSIVE MORTLOCK

We’ll talk about this in more detail in Part 3G, but looking at the dungeon on a macro-level it’s relatively easy to see that it’s fairly linear: There are a couple of side branches and a couple of loops, but the design strongly funnels you through the full dungeon to Area D29, where the essential encounter with Mortlock that links you to the next scenario is located.

We talk about some of the other problems with this encounter in Part 3 of the Remix, but the thing to note here, once you identify D29 as the essential Must Have Encounter™ for the adventure to continue, is that the only way to get to Area D29 is through the secret door in Area D23:

I was initially going to describe this as a weird choice, but I think we can realistically describe it as simply being a bad choice. This is something I’ve talked about before, but you’ve created a chokepoint here which makes your scenario very fragile: If the PCs don’t find/go through that secret door, you literally have to toss out the next 232 pages of the book. So a secret door is a bad choice.

But they’ve also sort of tripled down on this bad choice:

• The secret door is in a weird location: Just sitting in the middle of a hallway. That actually makes it far more likely that the PCs will simply never think to look for a door there.
• They’ve put a cultist guard here who, upon spotting the PCs, runs off to a different area. This will have the effect of making the PCs chase him, making it even more likely that they won’t take the time to search this random chunk of hallway.
• They go to oddly great lengths at several points in this dungeon to specifically prevent the PCs from learning about this secret door. (Which, again, is absolutely necessary for the entire campaign to happen.) For example, in Area D14 there is a rat. They actually take the time to specifically tell the DM that if the PCs use speak with animals, this rat DEFINITELY won’t tell them about the secret door.

I’m not a big fan of this kind of needless stonewalling in any case, but here it’s basically perverse.

Now, the work we’ve done revising the revelation lists for the Vanthampur Investigations (see Part 3C) has greatly reduced the fragility of Act I of Descent Into Avernus overall, and this is no longer a Must Have Encounter™. However, it’s still structurally ideal for the PCs to confront Mortlock here: You don’t need to force it to happen, but it also doesn’t make a lot of sense to go out of your way to prevent it from happening.

One way we could remove the fragility of this secret door would be to use the same solution we’ve applied everywhere else: The Three Clue Rule. Simply add three clues pointing to the existence of the secret door, giving the players a robust opportunity to have the revelation that it exists and then track it down.

Another solution might be making it explicit that (a) Mortlock Vanthampur is in the dungeon and (b) you need to confront/kill him. That way if the PCs have seemingly cleared the entire dungeon but HAVEN’T found Mortlock yet, they’ll know that there must be a secret door and they can scour the place until they find it.

But in this case the solution is considerably simpler:

Get rid of the secret door.

There’s absolutely no reason for this door to be a secret door, so just make it a regular door.

CRAMPED CORRIDORS

This is actually not a complaint which I have about the scenario, but one which I’ve seen expressed by a number of GMs (including several who have contacted me directly about it): The Dungeon of the Dead Three is filled with 5-foot-wide corridors and relatively small rooms, and this results in unsatisfactory combat encounters.

I haven’t actually run the scenario (so take this with a grain of salt), but I’ve run enough similar dungeon compounds over the years that my initial reaction to this complaint is strong skepticism. The claustrophobic conditions of a dungeon like this present unique strategic challenges, but it behooves the players to turn those strategic challenges to their advantage (rather than vice versa).

With that being said, to make a dungeon like the Dungeon of the Dead Three really come alive, you need to break the preconception (that’s been subconsciously ground into you by dozens, hundreds, or thousands of encounters from published scenarios) that fights “belong” to a particular keyed room.

For example, if you look at the necromite fight keyed to Area D10:

… that looks like a really boring fight. A 15’ square? With three of those squares being occupied by NPCs?

But what you need to do is recognize that THIS is the real encounter area for the fight:

It’s particularly important to understand this if you’re using a battlemap! It’s very easy to hamstring an interesting encounter by artificially limiting what you actually draw or present as the battlemap for it.

(I talk about these issues more in Running the Campaign: Dungeon as Theater of Operations if you’re interested.)

With all that being said, if this is an issue that concerns you, it looks to me like you can just interpret the map as being drawn at a 10 foot scale instead of a 5 foot scale. Nothing seems to go particularly wonky in doing so.

CULTISTS DOING WEIRD SHIT

Is it weird that one of the cultists has decided to stand guard in D23 “standing in the water” when he could go up the nearby stairs and not have his feet rot off? Yes.

But the cultists down here are doing all kinds of nonsensical shit that I don’t really understand, so maybe it’s just a gimmick that I don’t grok. For example, two days ago they killed a guy and just left his corpse floating in the water for no apparent reason. Or there’s the room where three cultists are lying on the floor “pretending to be dead”… just for fun? On the off-chance somebody chooses this precise moment to stop by?

I don’t get it. Maybe you do. But if you don’t, it’s something you might want to think about before running the dungeon.

DEAD THREE LEADERS

One subtle thing that I almost forgot to talk about because I actually did it subconsciously: Although the local leaders of the Dead Three cults do appear to be named in Descent Into Avernus (Yignath, Flennis, and Vaaz), only one of them is explicitly identified as such. The Remix not only calls particular attention to their identity for the benefit of the DM, it also gives some methods for the PCs to learn their identities.

Identifying the leaders isn’t strictly essential, so I didn’t bother doing a full Three Clue Rule work up for it, but you’ll note that I’ve dropped their names into various pieces of correspondence and you should also make a point of having cultists blabber them out when questioned.

Giving the players an opportunity to figure out the bad guys’ hierarchy here will give them a target list to aim for. This not only gives them the satisfaction of figuring something out, it also gives the Dungeon of the Dead Three a structure in play that’s just slightly more meaningful than “clear the dungeon” (even if, in actual practice, they still end up clearing every room).

TIAMAT TREASURE

There’s this weird little, somewhat abortive subplot here where the Vanthampurs have somehow stolen treasure from the hoard of Tiamat in Avernus. Some of the treasure is here in the Dungeon of the Dead Three and some of it is in Vanthampur Manor. As the PCs leave the dungeon, they encounter Tiamat cultists who have come to retrieve the treasure.

The original intention appears to have been for this stolen treasure to be a significant plot point (Descent Into Avernus, p. 6): “By returning her stolen treasure, characters can convince Tiamat to break Elturel’s chains.” But it seems to have been dropped at some point during development (although mentioned in this opening summary, the treasure doesn’t actually factor into any negotiations the PCs have with Tiamat later in the scenario), leaving only some weird vestigial bits.

OPTION #1: My initial inclination was to basically finish expurgating the material from the adventure by removing the encounter with the Tiamat cultists and just not caring about where the cultists’ treasury came from. It feels like very little (if anything) is lost if you do this, and you can easily just excise the encounter if you’d like.

ESTABLISHING LORE: However, I did see an opportunity to use the Tiamat relic in the treasury to establish the key piece of lore that Tiamat is imprisoned in Avernus (since she will factor into the Avernus section of the campaign).

WHERE DID THE TREASURE COME FROM? The explanation (and significance) of how and why the treasure was stolen from Tiamat’s hoard appears to have been lost at some point during the campaign’s revision. Rebuilding all of that from scratch is probably more complication than I’m interested in dealing with, and if you’re going with Option #1 it’s largely irrelevant.

However, some of the additional material added to the Remix established that the Dead Three cult leader Yignath is easily distracted and may be pursuing projects other than the refugee murders. I decided this would include a burglary at Hhune Manor, in which he stole this treasure and also kidnapped Satiir Thione-Hhune. Mortlock allowed Yignath to keep the money, but has sent Satiir to Vanthampur Manor to be used as political leverage.

(Because the Shield of the Hidden Lord is no longer stolen from the Hhunes in the Remix, this also explains Satiir’s presence in Vanthampur Manor.)

OPTION #2: Having done all this, I realized that the Tiamat cultists had suddenly become both relevant and interesting again. In this option, the Hhune treasures included a number of Tiamat-related artifacts, including two pieces — a mask and a crown (see relevant lore below) — that were deeply desired by Arkhan the Cruel. Wards of the Hhune vaults had long hidden them from Arkhan’s sight, but once they were removed from the vault they became vulnerable and the cultists were sent to retrieve them.

• The cultists’ interest in the artifacts will direct or redirect the PCs attention to them, allowing us to emphasize the key piece of lore.
• If the PCs are aware that the mask has been removed from the cache and taken to Vanthampur Manor, they may be able to convince the Tiamat cultists to assist them in raiding the manor.
• Alternatively, the Tiamat cultists might figure out where the mask is independently and complicate the PCs’ raid by executing their own raid at the same time.
• If the PCs assist the cultists in retrieving the artifacts, they are thanked “on behalf of Arkhan the Cruel.” If they encounter Arkhan when they travel to Avernus, he will be more inclined to aid them.

RELEVANT TIAMAT LORE: The full history of Tiamat is a twisted knot that I’m not going to attempt to unravel at the moment. There are three key facts:

• She once ruled Avernus, but the evil dragons born of the vast spawning pits she created proved ineffective in the Blood War and Asmodeus deposed her. (This epoch of Avernus would have predated even Gargauth’s rule by eons.)
• Tiamat is somehow imprisoned in her lair, which also guards the entrance from Avernus to Dis, the second layer of Hell.
• In the Year of the Bloodbird (1346 DR), Untheric cultists successfully summoned an aspect of Tiamat in the form of the Dark Lady. When the Dark Lady first appeared, she wore a simple crown and mask. It is, in fact, this crown and mask which the cultists seek. (They have no magical powers; they are merely historical curiosities held in great reverence by those who have pledged their fealty to the Dragon Queen.)

Go to Part 3F-B: Dungeon of the Dead Three (Revised Key)

Go to Table of Contents

Forty years ago, the Poisoned Poseidon was a pirate ship that tormented the Sword Coast. Its captain was the warlock Kelton Hunter, who used his ill-gotten gains to fund his infernal spellcraft. In 1457 DR, the pirate warlock sailed the Poseidon at the head of a pirate fleet into the harbor of Baldur’s Gate itself. In a duel with local adventurers, powerful spells caused the massive ship to be washed ashore, leaving it high and dry nearly a hundred feet from shore in the Brampton neighborhood. Kelton himself is said to have vanished, although locals still tell the story of how devils dragged him through a portal to Hell itself.

No one wanted to pay to have the hulk removed, and so for several years it lay abandoned, slowly sinking into the muck while serving as a breeding ground for rats and a lair for various ne’er-do-wells. When the old retaining walls of the dock (damaged during the Spellplague) were finally repaired in the 1470s, however, the ground around the Poseidon stabilized and new construction sprang up around it. The ship itself was converted into a tannery.

In 1492 DR, Dead Three cultists quietly took over the tannery. Other employees were cycled out and cultists were brought in. The Poseidon still operates as a profitable tannery, but serves as a front for cult activities.

LOCATION OF THE POSEIDON

 The Poisoned Poseidon is located here:

I’d originally looked at placing it on the far western edge of Brampton, but realized this would basically put it directly across the street from the Low Lantern (see Part 3H: Trafficking Amrik). Nonetheless, we can see how the investigation is going to send the PCs tramping about in the Brampton neighborhood, so it’ll probably be a good idea to review the details on the neighborhood and see what else is in the area before running this session.

Of course, since I’m creating the Poisoned Poseidon out of whole cloth, it doesn’t actually appear on the map. But I did pick a section of the map that fit my general image for the tangled warren of buildings I imagined lying around the ship. (Take a peek at Random GM Tip: Visualizing City Block Maps.)

With a little bit of photoshopping, though, I was able to add the ship to Baldur’s Gate (and threw in Insight Park, too):

You can buy the high-resolution isometric map and top-down map from Mike Schley’s web store. The image above is a relatively tiny section of the isometric view, but I’ve maintained the same resolution so if you buy the map you should be able to add it seamlessly using any image manipulation program.

REFUGEES ON THE DOCKS: One of the reasons for using the Poisoned Poseidon and placing it on the Docks, is to provide an opportunity to view the Elturian refugee crisis from a different angle. The docks just to the east are crowded with refugees trying to find passage on already overbooked ships. Where to? For most of them, it almost doesn’t matter. They’re hoping that the situation will be better in Amn or Waterdeep or Daggerford or Neverwinter or almost anywhere. (Many of them might believe that whatever happened to Elturel is coming for Baldur’s Gate next and they just want to get as far away as possible. See Rumors of Elturel.)

MAPS OF THE POISONED POSEIDON

In creating the Poisoned Poseidon, I hacked together several different maps. First, to position the ship into the urban environment, I took Dyson Logos’ map of Mistshore from Dragon Heist (a slice of which you can see here) and hacked it together with the Third-Story Run map from his website.

For the lower decks of the ship, I grabbed one of Mike Schley’s maps from Ghosts of Saltmarsh, did some quick photoshopping to make it match the neighborhood map of the ship, and then added a Lower Hold from Dyson’s Buried at Sea:

Dyson’s map had actually been of an ersatz ship — a crypt that had been made to resemble a ship — but that didn’t matter: For our purposes, the Lower Hold is the part of the ship that had sunk into the muck. As some point, this unintentional “basement” was expanded by knocking a hole in the back of the ship.

(It was this image that actually decided me on the Poisoned Poseidon: When considering locations that could serve as a murder sites for the Dead Three cultists, Dyson’s Wolf Tower and Vanshiro Reliquary were also on the short list.)

And, of course, because we’re hacking maps together here, the “set dressing” is that of an active ship rather than one which has been converted into a tannery. The scale also changes from 10’ squares to 5’ squares.

KEYING THE POISONED POSEIDON

I’m going to describe the Poisoned Poseidon in broad strokes. If you want to write up a detailed key of each room, it should be a fairly straightforward extrapolation.

As the PCs explore the Poisoned Poseidon, they’ll also be exploring a medieval-style tannery. My primary reference for this was Kim Rendfeld’s short article “Odd Jobs — Tanning: A Medieval Dirty Job,”which I recommend checking out.

OUTBUILDINGS: A wooden staircase on the north side of the ship leads up to the deck. A number of buildings have been erected directly next to the old hull. These mostly contain supplies for the tannery (chemicals, blades, stretching racks, etc.).

MAIN DECK: The main deck is generally kept clear, but there might be a stack of tanned hides ready for sale. A crane has been installed on the poop deck that is used to raise and lower heavy material from street level.

MAIN DECK – CABINS: The Master of Souls’ quarters are found in the fore cabin. One of the aft cabins is a meeting room. The Poseidon Correspondence handout can be found here.

LOWER DECK: Most of the lower deck is used to store the untreated skins of slaughtered cattle that are delivered to the tannery, along with the blood, dirt, manure, hooves, and horns that come with them.

LOWER DECK – CABINS: The aft cabins are used as sleeping quarters for the murder squad. The smaller fore cabin has been converted into an armory. The larger fore cabin contains three small shrines, one dedicated to each of the Dead Three.

HOLD: The fore chamber is a work floor where skins are trimmed. The aft chamber has huge vats. Here skins are sprinkled with urine or soaked in an alkaline solution of wood ash and lime before being folded, hair-side in, and taken down to the Lower Hold.

In the main hold, skins which have been treated in the Lower Hold are brought back up and placed in stone treatment vats containing a solution made from the bark of spruce firs. They remain here for as long as a year before being ready for sale.

LOWER HOLD – CATACOMBS: The various niches lining the catacomb halls are stacked with urine-soaked skins (they are kept here until the rotting hair has loosened). The four iron doors lead to small cells where prisoners are held to various purpose.

LOWER HOLD: The lower hold is studded with wooden racks on which treated hides are spread. Special knives, which hang on the walls, are used to scrape the hair off one side and whatever flesh remains on the other. Several huge vats are then used for washing: A solution of pigeon droppings or dog shit removes the lime.

In the center of the Lower Hold is a table. Shohreh Netitia’s corpse lays there. A side table contains a disturbing variety of surgical instruments and three brands (each with the holy symbol of one of the Dead Three). The Poseidon Papers handout can be found amidst these instruments and Shohreh Netitia’s refugee papers can be found among her personal effects.

• Refugee Papers: A DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) test reveals the papers to be forgeries. The forgery can also be detected if the PCs look to verify the origin of the papers (for example, by cross-referencing the refugee lists in the High Hall; or tracking down the official tabularius whose authorizing seal supposedly appears on the papers).

ADVERSARY ROSTER

* Remigio has already cast animate dead today, leaving him with only one 3^rd level spell.

Stat blocks for Dead Three cultists can be found in Descent Into Avernus, p. 231-235.
See Art of the Key: Adversary Rosters for details on using an adversary roster.

OBSERVING THE POSEIDON: PCs who place the Poisoned Poseidon under observation will be able to observe the regular routine of both the tannery and the murder operation.

• Fists of Bane and Necromites from the Lower Deck cabins relieving the watch on the main deck.
• Tannery workers collecting supplies from the outbuildings.
• A shipment of raw cattle hides being delivered from the Hamhocks Slaughterhouse.
• Tanned hides being loaded onto a cart and taken to the Wide for sale.
• The reaper leaving to go to the Frolicking Nymph Bathhouse (see Part 3F: Dungeon of the Dead Three) and then returning with written instructions. (He’s likely to then meet with the Master of Souls in the Main Deck cabins.)
• A necromite and two Fists of Bane leaving with Shohneh Letitia’s corpse (to be dumped in Insight Park).
• A messenger from the Frolicking Nymph Bathhouse carrying a letter indicating that they’ve located Iolanthe Oshrat. (The messenger then returns to the Dungeon of the Dead Three.)
• A necromite and two Fists of Bane leaving to kidnap Iolanthe Oshrat (their next victim).

QUESTIONING CULTISTS: Cult members can be interrogated, although they won’t cooperate easily. All of them know that their instructions come from the cult leaders at the Frolicking Nymph bathhouse. Only the Master of Souls knows that they are specifically targeting Elturian knights.

(The tannery workers are also Dead Three worshippers. They know the murders are happening, but they aren’t “read in,” so to speak. They do know that instructions come from some other cell of the cult, specifying who the targets are.)

Some names you can use for cultists, if needed:

• Fahul (a Fist of Bane)
• Thando Ora
• Joslyn Ifa
• Zangaroa

POSEIDON CORRESPONDENCE

Remigio—

I’m not really surprised to hear that Fahul is complaining about living in a tannery, the fastidious little weasel. I’m pretty sure Vaaz just wanted him out of his hair when he assigned him to you. If he keeps giving you a headache, remind him what the alternative is. I doubt he’ll find the noxious fumes of this sewer we’ve been gifted under the bathhouse any better.

                                                                                                                Flennis

Remigio—

Expect more Fists from the Frolicking Nymph within the tenday. And probably a couple of Night Blades. Now that the Agent has his operation fully established, he should be able to start feeding us targets at a faster clip.

                                                                                                                Flennis

Master of Souls,

I hope all things are well. I have heard complaints from one of my Fists, but I assure you that neither I nor the Emissary lend it any credence. The Emissary does suggest, however, that your minions begin dumping the bodies farther afield. He wants us to “spread the terror,” and is also concerned that the park may become a security concern.

                                                                                                                Vaaz

POSEIDON PAPERS

SHOHREH NETITIA

Hazel skin. Green eyes. Dark brown hair braided in two tresses.

Residence: Cuiric’s Boarding House

Relation: Great-Grandmother

She lives near the Frolicking Nymph. An abduction squad or observers could be sent from the bathhouse if it would be easier.

FOLLOWING UP: Cuiric’s been dead for a hundred years, but his boarding house is run by his great-granddaughter Laila. She found the door to Shohreh’s room broken down and reported it to the Flaming Fist, but there’s been no follow-up. Shohreh’s great-grandmother was a Hellrider, but there’s no clear way of discovering that (unless, of course, the PCs get clever). The relevant clue here is that whoever is feeding names to the Dead Three cultists is interested in who they’re related to (which might prompt the PCs to ask questions when backtracking the other victims, see Part 3D: Investigating the Murders).

Go to Part 3F: Dungeon of the Dead Three

Go to Table of Contents

Whether the PCs learn of the refugee murders from Flame Zodge or through the alternate hook of the refugees themselves, don’t be surprised if they decide to investigate the murders for themselves. If they’ve been recruited by Zodge, this might happen before they go to the Elfsong Tavern to meet with Tarina. The PCs might also detour to investigate after meeting Tarina but before going to the Poisoned Poseidon. Or they might backtrack and start investigating the bodies after (or during) any of the early Vanthampur nodes (although the rewards for doing so will rapidly taper off).

THE VICTIMS

There have been six victims:

• Edmao Eduarda
• Wemba Oshrat
• Madhuri Akhila
• Leiv Diomidis
• Aneta Diomidis
• Annika Silverleaf

Each body was found in Insight Park. All of them were then taken to Candulhallow’s mortuarium (DIA, p. 187) to be prepared for burial. More details on each victim can be found below in “Canvassing Victims.”

ADDITIONAL VICTIMS: It’s overwhelmingly likely that the PCs will shut down the murder operation out of the Poisoned Poseidon within twenty-four hours of taking the case. If for some reason that doesn’t happen, additional victims will turn up (probably one per day):

• Shohreh Letitia
• Iolanthe Oshrat (sister of Wemba Oshrat, the second victim)
• Valeria Nuska
• Weronika Nuska (sisters)

These victims are most likely to appear if the PCs have somehow gotten lost or confused in their investigation. So use them to aggressively push increasingly obvious clues to the Poisoned Poseidon and Amrik.

Note that, as the scenario begins, Shohreh has already been killed and her body is in the Poisoned Poseidon. Valeria and Weronika are both taken at the same time, but Weronika might still be rescued from the Poisoned Poseidon after Valeria’s body turns up.

If it becomes clear that corpses cannot be safely dumped in Insight Park, the cultists will start dropping them in random locations around the city.

INSIGHT PARK

Insight Park is described on p. 189 of Descent Into Avernus. It takes up a fairly large plot of steep, gullied land that backs up directly onto the wall in the southeast corner of Baldur’s Gate, south of Cliffgate. Forty years ago it was an illegal junkyard, but a druid named Torimesh used magic to cause the rusting piles of refuse to become overgrown by a verdant forest overnight.

At the center of the park is the Drawing Tree, which Torimesh can use to produce prophetic images (see the write-up in the book for details).

Note: The published version of the park is significantly smaller than what I’m describing here. But the map doesn’t really match the description in the book, either.

TIMELINE: See “Candulhallow’s Mortuarium,” below, for a description of the corpses (which, for example, Torimesh would know).

• 10 Days Ago: The first victim, Edmao Eduarda, is found by Torimesh at the foot of the Drawing Tree.
• 8 Days Ago: Wemba Oshrat’s body is found in a clearing up near the wall by a halfling named Marvias Fleecefoot who was out for a morning walk.
• 5 Days Ago: The bodies of Madhuri Akhila and Leiv Diomidis are found Torimesh. They’d been dumped in separate gullies. (Madhuri Akhila was actually dumped the day before, she just wasn’t found until today.)
• 3 Days Ago: A fisherman named Zendreya Vereni who was tying up her boat on the piers near where the park meets the Dock Road spotted the body of Aneta Diomidis (Leiv’s sister) just inside the park boundary.
• 1 Day Ago: Annika Silverleaf’s body was found, once again in front of the Drawing Tree.

You may need to adjust this timeline somewhat depending on how quickly the PCs reach Baldur’s Gate / how long it takes them to get involved. The important detail is that the murders CANNOT start before Elturel’s Fall.

In fact you should adjust this timeline so that the first murder literally happens on the same day as Elturel’s disappearance. (The cultists knew it was coming.) Savvy players will likely pick up on the “coincidence.”

TORIMESH THE DRUID: Torimesh the druid is an elderly man now. He is both furious and heartsick about the bodies being dumped in the park. He’ll rage about the fact that the Flaming Fist has done nothing (“Nothing!”) to put a stop to it.

Torimesh can tell them:

• The timeline and identities of the victims found.
• He’s never seen any of the victims in the park before.
• The bodies were marked with ritualistic carvings he knows to be associated with the Dead Three.
• The corpses were collected by the corpse carts of Candulhallow’s Mortuarium.

He can also act as a guide, taking them to each of the sites where bodies were found.

DRAWING TREE: If the PCs don’t alienate Torimesh, he’ll offer to reveal a prophetic image from the Drawing Tree (see Descent Into Avernus, p. 190). Or, if you want it to feel more portentous, the bark of tree might simply start cracking and peeling back when they draw near.

The resulting image depicts:

• A large sword being held aloft by an angelic figure with feathered wings.
• The arms of the angelic figure are bound with chains.
• Below the figure is a large tablet or slab of some kind that is cracking into two pieces while being consumed by flames.

Note: You could swap this image out for something that would provide a more immediate clue to the murders. (And perhaps if the PCs bring one of the victims’ family members back here and ask Torimesh to do a divination for them, that could happen.) But we’ve got a pretty solid revelation list and it will be more interesting to present a prophecy that evocatively indicates the end of the campaign. See Foreshadowing in RPGs.

SEARCHING THE PARK: There are two clues to be found in Insight Park. You can predetermine which murder scenes they’re located at, put them at the first location (or first two locations) the PCs search, etc. Whatever works. The refugee papers should not belong to Annika Silverleaf or Wemba Oshrat, as their papers can be found at Candulhallow’s Mortuarium.

If you’re predetermining their placement, I recommend NOT putting either clue at the Drawing Tree. You can then put the refugee papers at another location and the tanner’s fluid at two different murder scenes. That gives you a cool interaction with the prophecy at the Drawing Tree, clues at three of the other four locations, and then a fourth location with nothing to be found (giving you a pretty good variety of experience).

CLUE 1 – TANNER’S FLUID: On the ground at or near a murder scene, a PC making a DC 12 Intelligence (Investigation) check can find a strange alchymical substance on the ground (or rubbed up against a tree or whatever).

Intelligence (Arcana) / Wisdom (Medicine)

• DC 12: It’s an alkaline solution of wood ash and lime.
• DC 15: This alcyhmical is often used in tanneries to rotten and loosen the hair of hides.

They can similarly identify the substance and its likely origin by following up with any plausible authority in the city. The nearest tannery to Insight Park is the Poisoned Poseidon.

CLUE 2 – REFUGEE PAPERS: These can be found blown into a bush or thicket near where one of the bodies was found. The papers appear to authorize the refugee to enter and reside in Baldur’s Gate. A DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) test, however, reveals the papers to be forgeries. The forgery can also be detected if the PCs look to verify the origin of the papers (for example, by cross-referencing the refugee lists in the High Hall; or tracking down the official tabularius whose authorizing seal supposedly appears on the papers).

A DC 12 Charisma (Investigation) check can be used to ask questions around town about the forged papers. On a success, the PCs are directed to Amrik Vanthampur at the Low Lantern tavern (see Part 3H: Trafficking Amrik).

STAKING OUT THE PARK: If the PCs decide to stake out the park, they’ll likely spot two Fists of Bane (DIA, p. 232; passive Perception DC 10 to spot them) dumping Shohreh Letitia’s body. They can be either questioned or followed back to the Poisoned Poseidon. (Shohreh could also easily have her refugee papers or a tanner’s fluid stain on her clothing to provide additional or reinforcing clues.)

CANDULHALLOW’S MORTUARIUM

All of the bodies were picked up by corpse carts from Candulhallow’s Mortuarium (see Descent Into Avernus, p. 187) and taken back to their morgue. Since they’re part of an ongoing investigation, gentle repose spells have been used to preserve the corpses in the Candulhallow morgue. The PCs can discover this by asking Zodge, Torimesh (at Insight Park), the victims’ families (who have been notified where their kin are being kept), or just by making general inquiries about where bodies are typically taken. (In the latter case, the PCs might also end up checking Harborside Hospital (p. 189) or the Shrine of Suffering (p. 192).

Option: You could also have the bodies split up among the three different locations, with perhaps the oldest bodies already interred in the Cliffside Cemetery. Any bodies taken to the Shrine of Suffering would have likely been at least partially devoured by the rats in the crypts already.

RITUAL CARVINGS: All of the bodies have been sliced into with a sharp knife or razor. These grisly ritual carvings are primarily in lokharic characters (the alphabet used for the Draconic and various arcane languages), but there are also other pentagrammic sigils and glyph circles suggestive of some terrible, bloody rite. In addition, each victim has a brand at the base of their spine depicting three symbols in a roughly triangular pattern (see graphic).

Intelligence (Arcana/Religion)

• DC 10: The runes are choral praises to dark gods, invoking their right of dominion over all of the mortal plane. “All cities shall fall to darkness,” “that which was foretold in the Prophecies of Blood is upon us,” “the Spawn shall rise from mortal flesh,” “none shall live save those who offer their kin unto the heirs of Jergal,” and that sort of thing.
• DC 15: Although to an untrained eye the symbols would appear to belong to some arcane rite or spell, the arcane components are just nonsense. They don’t really mean anything or do anything, and seem to have been carved for effect rather than purpose.

Intelligence (Religion)

• DC 10: The branded symbols are the holy symbols of Bane, Myrkul, and Bhaal; the three gods who raised themselves to divinity by slaying Jergal, the ancient God of Death.

Wisdom (Medicine) – DC 12: The brands were inflicted post mortem.

TANNER’S FLUID: A DC 12 Intelligence (Investigation) check finds a strange alchymical substance staining the clothes of one of the victims.

Intelligence (Arcana) / Wisdom (Medicine)

• DC 12: It’s an alkaline solution of wood ash and lime.
• DC 15: This alcyhmical is often used in tanneries to rotten and loosen the hair of hides.

They can similarly identify the substance and its likely origin by following up with any likely authority in the city. The nearest tannery to Insight Park is the Poisoned Poseidon.

REFUGEE PAPERS: Annika Silverleaf and Wemba Oshrat’s personal effects include their refugee papers, authorizing them to enter and reside in Baldur’s Gate. A DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) test, however, reveals the papers to be forgeries. The forgery can also be detected if the PCs look to verify the origin of the papers (for example, by cross-referencing the refugee lists in the High Hall; or tracking down the official tabularius whose authorizing seal supposedly appears on the papers).

A DC 12 Charisma (Investigation) check can be used to ask questions around town about the forged papers. On a success, the PCs are directed to Amrik Vanthampur at the Low Lantern tavern (see Part 3H: Trafficking Amrik).

Option: The Baldur’s Gate gazetteer in Descent Into Avernus does an exceptional job of seeding the locations in the city with cool scenario concepts that a DM can quickly expand on. Candulhallow’s is no exception, with the Candulhallows engaged in a variety of necromantic scams, including corpse theft. PCs coming around to ask after specific corpses (that Leylenna Candulhallow may have used to replace more high profile corpses that she’s claimed for her experiements) is an excellent opportunity to accidentally reveal the corruption, and it would be relatively easy to spin this off as a small side quest (albeit with some small risk of becoming a red herring that completely derails the PCs from the main investigation).

CANVASSING VICTIMS

If the PCs backtrack the victims they’ll be able to find friends and/or family who can provide them with background information on the victims. You can prep this material ahead of time, but with the brief biographical sketches and key information summarized below it should be fairly easy to simply improvise the interactions.

Things to think about during these improvisations:

• If they’re refugees, think about the stories that might be told about how they got from Elturel to Baldur’s Gate.
• What’s a notable experience they had as refugees after reaching Baldur’s Gate?
• How were they kidnapped by the Dead Three cultists? Were there witnesses or evidence left behind that could be used to describe the kidnapping? (Actual witnesses should be rare, but could confirm that there were definitely Dead Three cultists involved.)

In addition, there are three key clues that the PCs can acquire here:

• Forged refugee papers pointing back at Amrik. A DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) test, however, reveals the papers to be forgeries. The forgery can also be detected if the PCs look to verify the origin of the papers (for example, by cross-referencing the refugee lists in the High Hall; or tracking down the official tabularius whose authorizing seal supposedly appears on the papers).
• Verbal reports that the victims were smuggled into the city by Amrik.
• A variety of clues indicating that all of the victims were either Elturgadian knights or related to them.

Each victim’s description includes a brief summary of the pertinent clues.

EDMAO EDUARDA: The first victim. Taken from his home ten days ago. Unlike the later victims, Eduarda was a native of Baldur’s Gate. He’s survived by elven wife Neske and his half-elven son Luus.

• Hanging on the wall above Eduarda’s fireplace is the mantle of a Hellrider. It belonged to Norbaer Eduarda, Edmao’s father, who retired to Baldur’s Gate after he married (and before Edmao was born).

WEMBA OSHRAT: Wemba’s sister, Iolanthe, was an apprentice to a wizard name Bèr Nölmien in Elturel. When the crisis began, Bèr used a teleportation circle to evacuate Iolanthe, Wemba, and about a dozen other refugees directly to Baldur’s Gate. Wemba vanished just one day after arriving in Baldur’s Gate and his body was found the next day.

• Iolanthe and Wemba were among the first refugees who got their papers from Amrik. (The gates hadn’t been closed yet, but they still needed proper documentation and Amrik offered to get it for them at a fraction of the price using his “connections at High Hall.”) Iolanthe still has hers; Wemba’s are with his personal effects at Candulhallow’s.
• Iolanthe can also describe the final minutes before Elturel’s Fall. Her master Bèr would have realized that the entire city was being influenced by some incredibly powerful magical field. Notably, they were expecting more people (including Bèr) to follow them. A second circle opened, but then abruptly winked out of existence (Elturel had just been sent to Hell, disrupting the spell). A successful DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check might indicate that the spell winking out like that would be consistent with a counterspell, an antimagic field suddenly coming into effect, or one end of the portal being shifted outside the range of the spell.
• Iolanthe and Wemba’s mother is a knight of the Order of the Companion.

MADHURI AKHILA: Madhuri arrived in Baldur’s Gate in the first wave of refugees, catching a ride on a boat heading downstream. He has no other family in the city, but had been bunking with Sjang and Albaer, two other refugees who came in on the same boat. They found the door broken down and Madhuri missing seven days ago.

• Like Iolanthe and Wemba Oshrat, they were among the first refugees to get their papers from Amrik. (The gates weren’t closed yet, but they still needed proper documentation.)
• Madhuri’s paperwork was left behind in the room he shared with Sjang and Albaer. It would turn up if the PCs look through his meager personal belongings. (Sjang and Albaer also have their papers.)
• Madhuri’s father was a Hellrider. (Sjang and Albaer might mention this if asked about next of kin; or just spontaneously lament that they don’t even know how to contact him… assuming he’s still alive. Madhuri had mentioned his father on the boat ride down from Elturel.)

LEIV & ANETA DIOMIDIS: Leiv and Aneta were siblings; they were also both Hellriders. Supposedly there has been a Diomidis in the Hellriders since the legendary Charge of the Hellriders. Like the PCs, they led a caravan of refugees down the river to Baldur’s Gate only to find the gates closed. They disappeared six days ago.

• Many of the refugees they helped will report that Leiv and Aneta had helped them get their papers from Amrik Vanthampur, getting all of them into the city despite the gates being closed.

ANNIKA SILVERLEAF: Annika Silverleaf was a half-elf knight of the Order of the Companion. She’d been organizing fundraising in the city for relief supplies to be delivered to the camps outside. When she disappeared two days ago, she’d been negotiating with the Captain’s Guild to ship refugees south to Amn or north to Waterdeep as a humanitarian effort.

• She’d also been working closely with Amrik Vanthampur, connecting refugees in the camps to his services. (It’s uncertain if she knew his papers were forgeries, but it probably wouldn’t have mattered if she did.)
• Her own papers are with her personal effects at Candulhallow’s.
• Annika was one of the founding members of the Order of the Companion. She joined High Watcher Naja Bellandi’s resistance on the Night of the Red Coup, her elven father having been turned into a vampire by High Rider Ikaia (see Part 4B).

Go to Part 3E: The Poisoned Poseidon