Go to Part 1

In Part 5B: Finding Floon, I focused on restructuring the investigation into Floon’s disappearance starting with Volo hiring the PCs to find his missing friend. But that actually picks up the thread just after the Dragon Heist campaign begins. The action actually kicks off with a short sequence in which the PCs witness some Xanatharian NPCs pick a fight with a Zhentarim and then, three rounds into that altercation, a troll erupts out of the portal in the Yawning Portal with a nest of stirges clinging to its back.

It’s a good moment. Nothing wrong with that scene.

But when, thanks to the ingenuity of the wider Dragon Heist DM community, I was able to find a minor restructuring and enhancement of the sequence that, when I launched my own run of the campaign, worked really, really, really well. So I’m offering it as an addendum to the Dragon Heist remix.

STEP ONE – FIRST STEPS: During character creation, let your players know that they’re aiming to create characters who are already working together as a group. (They may have just come together for the first time, but they have, in fact, decided to work together.) You might even tell them that the first moment of the campaign will be as they step through the doors of the Yawning Portal looking to meet with their contact: They need to figure out how to weave their backgrounds together to reach that point.

In my campaign this took the form of Pashar, whose mother had been captured by pirates, and Kittisoth, a tiefling pirate who was a part of that crew, but became friends with Pashar while he was in captivity. Pashar had been released to bring back a 30,000 gp ransom for their mother and Kittisoth accompanied him. On their way to Waterdeep, they had run into Theron, a wild elf in the Ardeep Forest, who was touched by their plight and agreed to help them.

(Slight wrinkle here: Pashar been told that the ransom was “600 harvest moons.” Failing to realize that a harvest moon is worth 50 gp, he was under the impression he was seeking a 600 gp ransom… not a 30,000 gp ransom. Those who agreed to help him before the truth came out were somewhat nonplussed.)

Upon reaching Waterdeep, Kittisoth decided that a great way to make money would be to compete in the seeding brackets for Xanathar’s underground fighting tournaments. She sought out Edana, the fourth PC, who set her up with a fight, but she was then badly injured during the fight. Edana was able to make introductions to the fifth and final PC, Kora Marwood, who was both a cleric of Mystra (and could heal the injured would-be fighter) and a Harper agent who had been looking to form a crew of her own. She told them that, if they were looking for fast coin, she had a job they could all attempt together, and they headed for the Yawning Portal.

STEP TWO – FRIENDLY FACES: Show them the “Friendly Faces” handout on p. 221 of Dragon Heist and ask them to choose one of the characters pictured there. That’s the contact they’re coming to meet. You can chat a little bit about how they know them, or just jump into it.

STEP THREE – GANG TROUBLE: Before they have a chance to really start talking with their contact, however, the conflict between Yagra Stonefist and the Xanatharians begins at the table next to theirs. (Unless they picked Yagra Stonefist, in which case the trouble comes straight at them.) This is detailed on p. 21 of Dragon Heist.

Add a black flying serpent tattoo to the back of Yagra’s neck. (Note: She isn’t a Manshoonian Zhentarim; she’s with the Doom Raiders.)

Note: If they’ve selected Bonnie or Threestrings as their contact, then they’re working. Perfect excuse for them to say, “Get a table and I’ll come see you in a minute.”

STEP FOUR – A BRIEF DISCUSSION: The bar brawl resolved, the PCs have a chance to briefly talk with their contact. Turns out they’re just brokering a meeting with someone who needs the PCs’ services, and their contact hasn’t shown up. They buy the PCs a round of drinks while they wait, and that’s when—

STEP FIVE – DIP! DIP! DIP! DIP! DIP!: A chant of, “Dip! Dip Dip!” starts up in one corner of the bar and quickly spreads through the whole crowd. A young man stands up, goes to the bar, and slaps down a gold piece. Durnan nods, slides the coin off the bar, and then gives him a wooden cup and a silver bell.

The young man strips down to his underwear as the dipping song begins:

THE DIPPING SONG
Deep and dark down below,
where only fools and braggarts go,
where monster roam and dangers mortal,
few survive the Yawning Portal,
stand your ground or ring the bell,
and hope you make it up the well!

Then the young man goes over to the portal. At the edge of the portal he quaffs a beer, throws the cup down the portal, and grabs the rope. His friends begin lowering him.

Betting: Instantaneously the betting strats. (“Two silver he stays down for three minutes!” and “A copper he comes up with the cup!” That sort of thing.)

Return: After one minute, people start grumbling unhappily and others cheer; coins are exchanged as bets begin getting resolved. Two minutes pass; maybe there’s a chance for the PCs and their contact to exchange a few more words. (“So that is this all about?” “I’m not sure. But it might have something to do with this Zhent-Xanathar gang war that’s been flaring up.”)

At almost three minutes, the sound of the bell echoes up from the hole. There are groans from those who almost won their 3 minute bets. The rope is pulled up.

Troll: The young man appears over the lip of the portal — one hand holding the rope, the other triumphantly holding the cup above his head. He alights on the side of the portal and begins walking away.

He’s ten feet away from the portal when the troll clambers up from below. The PCs can see that there’s something wrong with the troll’s back; the flesh there seems to writhe. Roll initiative!

1^st Round:

• The troll attacks the dipper.
• Durnan pulls a greatsword from below the bar, vaults over the bar, and charges forward.
• The Zhents who attacked Yagra (if they’re still around) make a break for the door (along with many others).

2^nd Round:

• The flock of 12 stirges on the troll’s back explode into a frenzied flight.
• If the PCs are involved, Durnan shouts, “You focus on the stirges! The troll is mine!”
• Yagra (if she’s still around) joins Durnan in fighting the troll.

Wrapping Up the Fight: As the PCs finish mopping up the stirges, Durnan will ram his shoulder into the troll, causing it to plunge backwards into the Yawning Portal and vanish from sight. Durnan shouts, “A round of drinks on the house! Troll special!” Cheers from those who braved it out erupt!

STEP SIX – VOLO: That’s when Volo comes over. He’s the colleague the PCs’ contact was waiting for. If the PCs interceded with the trolls/stirges, Volo saw the whole thing and he’s very impressed.

If they didn’t, it doesn’t matter. (It might even be funny to have him come in and say something like, “What did I miss?” or “Just another boring day at the Yawning Portal.”) He was already planning to hire them for the job based on their contact’s recommendation, right?

And you can pick up straight from there with Part 5B: Finding Floon.

CREDIT

On reddit, Busboy80 came up with the basic concept of the Dip and RVAthrowaway38 created the Dipping Song. I may have refined the sequencing, but this is a fantastically clever idea and my players loved it. Chants of, “Dip! Dip! Dip! Dip!” have become a running joke.

And thanks to my players: Heather, Peter, Chris, Sarah, and Erik.

Go to Part 1

The entries here modify or replace those found on p. 94-97 of Dragon Heist. They reference the map on p. 95.

THE HALL OF SECRETS

About 15 feet down the sloping hallway, the stone construction changes. To anyone knowledgable about such things, the lower portion of the hall is clearly dwarven construction.

Roughly 50 feet beyond that, the walls of the hall are covered with what appear to be dwarven graffiti — some painted on the walls, others carved. Each records a secret, most of them banal (“my beard quivers for Lorlai of the stonecutters,” “I tasted pixy dust in the third hall,” “I use rotgrub paste to dye my beard”).

This continues for another two hundred feet before the hall ends in Area V1.

DOOR OF THE CEREMONIAL VAULT

AREA V1 – ANTECHAMBER: The antechamber is twenty feet wide and twenty feet high. It seems to resonate with a silent stillness, suggestive of its great age. The far wall is dominated by a massive pair of adamantine doors bearing dwarvish runes taller than a grown man. In the center of the floor there is a bronze bas relief of a stylized sun, six feet across. Words have been carved into the floor in a circle around the bas relief.

• The Doors: The dwarvish runes read, “All that lies within belongs to the Silent Keeper.” The doors cannot be forced open or damaged in any way, and attempts to circumvent them with magic short of a wish spell fail automatically.
• The Sun: The script running around the sun is in Chondathan (the local human tongue) and, upon inspection, clearly a more recent addition to the antechamber. The inscription reads, “Know ye the hidden truth.” It’s repeated three times.
• Opening the Doors: It’s a ceremonial vault and opening the doors requires the performance of a ceremony: A single dragonscale must be laid upon the bas relief of the sun and then struck while lit by sunlight. Once that is done, the doors slide back into the walls and remain open for 15 minutes before sliding shut again. (They can be opened from the inside by simply placing a hand upon them.)
• GM Note: The “Silent Keeper” is a title belonging to Dumathoin. The Chondathan inscription was placed here be the Maroon Brotherhood.

SUNLIGHT? Certain magical effects can bring sunlight here (the sunbeam spell, for example, or Manshoon’s sunglobe). PCs could also set up a series of mirrors; this requires twenty large steel mirrors (20 gp each) and 2d4+2 hours of work get their alignment just right.

DRAGON SCALES? The type of scale doesn’t matter. They’re rare on the market, but can be found in specialty shops for 1d6 x 300 gp. The PCs might also recall running into sources for dragon scales at various points during the campaign (Zelifarn, Jarlaxle’s bedroom, the Cassalanters’ study).

MITHRAL HAMMER? Doesn’t have to be a particularly large one. It can be commissioned from local craftsmen for 150 gp.

LEARNING THE CEREMONY: Clever PCs may be able to guess the necessary ritual from the vision granted by the Stone of Golorr when they asked for the Vault’s location. If they cast an additional legend lore specifically pertaining to the doors, they’ll be told, “Three keys ye seek. Strike scale of wyrm in light of day. As the vault bears witness, so shall it ope to mithral’s strike.” The notes pertaining to the Melairkyn vault held by Kalain (see Part 5C) also reveal the necessary ritual. Alternatively, the PCs may be able to get information from the Cassalanters.

RESEARCHING THE VAULT DOOR: Researching Dumathoin with a DC 15 Intelligence (History) test reveals the existence of the ceremonial vaults and the ceremony the Melairkyn dwarves would perform to open the doors.

RESEARCHING THE MAROON BROTHERHOOD: Researching the Maroon Brotherhood’s symbols or the phrase “Know ye the hidden truth” will provide a general precis of the Brotherhood’s history:

• They were a secret brotherhood, primarily centered in Waterdeep and most likely founded during the 12^th century (although they often obfuscated that date in order to present themselves as a more ancient lineage).
• In the early 14^th century they became caught up in the Shadow Thief Affairs, their members were implicated in an assassination attempt, and the group was broken up by Open Lord Lhestyn.
• Rumors persisted for the better part of a century that the Brotherhood of the Maroon Pin had actually survived the purge and were secretly controlling Waterdeep (or even all of the newly formed Lords’ Alliance), although these claims eventually faded into legend and conspiracy theory.
• Court records from the time period indicate that a large number of the brotherhood’s members were part of the Brandath family.
• The rituals of the brotherhood largely remained secret even after – or perhaps because – their end was so precipitous. It is clear, however, that the brotherhood had accumulated any number of arcane rituals, symbols, and the like. These included the namesake pins of alexandrite, dwarven compasses (often hidden within works of art), a serpent’s forked tongue (representing the telling of secrets), scarab beetles, and the like. They seemed particularly fond of appropriating imagery from ancient or exotic civilizations.
• One example of this, found beneath the picture of a broken arrow, is the enigmatic phrase: “In beam of sun, strike dragon’s scale with mithral true upon the anvil sun.” Mid-14^th century scholars exhausted great amounts of work trying to puzzle out what the imagery of “anvil sun” alluded to, with most concluding it must refer cryptically to a site somewhere within Calimshan, possibly dating back to the lost empire of Coramshan. Debates raged endlessly about exactly which site (or sites) the passage might refer to, until Maroon Brotherood conspiracy scholarship faded away by the end of the 14^th

INSIDE THE VAULT

GENERAL FEATURES: Hidden somewhere within each room of the vault (except V6, V7, and V8) is a cartouche bearing the dwarven runes “HN” (see, also, Area V5).

AREA V2 – ENTRANCE FOYER: The three niches on the far wall (instead of holding fake doors) contain chipped frescoes of:

• Dumathoin placing glowing gems into a range of mountains (which appear to be a primeval representation of the Sword Mountains).
• Dumathoin visting the Illithid god Ilsensine (manifested in its form as a disembodied emerald brain) and bathing with it in the greenish psionic energy of the maze-like Caverns of Thought.
• Dumothoin, Ilsensine (in the form of an Illithid avatar), and Laduguer, the god of the duergar, with hands clasped in a circle of friendship.

AREA V5 – THE SECRETS ROOM OF HARLSNOD DARKSHINE: Dwarven runes upon the wall read, “In these halls which his craft has wrought, the master architect Harlsnod Darkshine lays his secrets.”

• GM Note: Harlsnod Darkshine designed and built the ceremonial vault. The treasure represents his own personal “secret offerings” to Dumathoin; whether the practice of sealing secrets into such offerings is literally true (and those secrets can somehow be extracted or simply whisper into the wind if the treasure is removed from the vault) is up to you. Harlsnod’s tomb can be found on p. 183 of Dungeon of the Mad Mage.

AREA V6 – HAMMER AND ANVIL:

• Frescoes: The frescoes in this room depict the construction of the Temple of Dumathoin and the Heart of the Mountain (Level 6, Areas 15 and 16 of Undermountain, see p. 86-87 of Dungeon of the Mad Mage). In addition to the hammer inset into the wall, there is a secret compartment behind that hammer (DC 12 Intelligence to find if you’ve removed the hammer, DC 17 otherwise). The compartment contains maps of Level 6 of Undermountain, along with detailed notes showing the calculations used to determine the location of the Heart of the Mountain and the divinatory properties which resulted from “the whisper of the Keeper of Secrets Under the Mountain”.

AREA V8 – DUMATHOIN’S TRUTH: This entry replaces the original room key.

• Set into the floor is an adamantine trap door with a pull ring.
• The walls are covered with frescoes depicting Dumathoin, Ilsensine, and Laduguer working together on some arcane project; not only are they surrounded by papers covered in dwarven runes, but strange, glowing diagrams fill the air around them. Dumathoin has turned from the work and seems to stare into the center of the room.
• Trapdoor: The trapdoor is false and cannot be lifted. Anyone who touches the trapdoor or its pull ring must succeed on a DC 18 Dexterity saving throw or be struck by rays of magical fire that spring from the painted Dumathoin’s eyes, dealing 4d10 fire damage. The trap doesn’t trigger if the target has total cover.
• Frescoes: A DC 15 Intelligence test reveals that work depicted in the frescoes seems to focus on dwarven anatomy.

DESIGN NOTE: THE MAIN VAULT

You can run the main vault exactly as written. Personally, I found the back story of Aurinax and the dragonstaff of Aghairon to be a fairly convoluted bit of continuity to introduce at literally the last moments of the scenario. I considered trying to drop some lore into earlier sections of the scenario regarding Aurinax and his relationship with Lord Dagult, but it still ended up feeling like an unneeded complication. So when I run the campaign I’ll simply be dropping a red dragon down there. A straight, uncomplicated dragon fight to end Dragon Heist!

If your players are familiar with the Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms video game, however, they might get a kick out of the familiar face.

THE BROKEN CIRCLE OF GODS

The images found throughout the vault, if revealed to (and believed by) the dwarven public, would be like dropping a fireball into the doctrine of the Morndinsamman (the council of dwarven gods). The events they depict predate the falling out between Laduguer and Ilsensine, and the breaking of the friendship these three gods once shared.

In the official lore, both the strange concord between Dumathoin and Ilsensine as well as the exact details of the falling out between Ilsensine and Laduguer are mysteries. Introducing these images into your campaign will peel back one layer of this mystery, although it may only result in even more questions being asked.

If you (or your players) choose to pursue this, this is my rough canon for this history:

• When the world was much younger than it is today, Dumathoin and Laduguer explored the roots of the world together. There they met Ilsensine. Or, at least, one of his ganglia – the “tentacles of infinite length” that stretch from Ilsensine throughout the many worlds.
• In doing so, they may (or may not) have been responsible for mind flayers coming to Faerûn for the first time.
• In any case, the three of them became friends, joined by a common interest in the secret paths of knowledge, the hyper-mental patterns by which knowledge itself is birthed into the world, and the deep places of the world.
• At a much later point in time, Laduguer approached his two friends with thoughts on how the dwarves Moradin had created could be improved. To perfect these ideas still needed much work, and the three friends fell to work.
• When the Morndinsammar discovered what they were doing, however, they were outraged. Laduguer covered for Dumathoin, but he and his daughter, Duerra, were cast out of the Morndinsammar.
• Laduguer continued his work, straining his relationship with Dumathoin. Things fell apart completely, however, when Laduguer discovered that Ilsensine had appropriated “his” work and actually begun having his illithids experiment on captured populations of dwarves. (This would eventually lead to the creation of the duergar.)
• Laduguer felt betrayed, the gods fell to war, and the acrimony between them became irreparable. During their conflict, Duerra was secretly captured by the illithid and became part of the duergar experiments.

The history which followed, in which the duergar became a slave race only to eventually lead at least one rebellion against their illithid overlords (one of which may or may not have involved Deep Duerra leading an army which captured an illithid city, see Polyhedron #110), is a mixture of legend and truth which I leave to someone else to untangle according to their need.

DESIGN NOTE

GM Tip: Encourage any players creating dwarf PCs to choose Dumathoin as their god. It’ll let the revelations of the Vault land heavily.

AFTER THE VAULT

The total hoard of 500,000 gold coins weighs 10,000 pounds. Transporting it out of the Vault is not a simple task. And, if the PCs are planning to keep it, the question of where to store it is not an insignificant one. (The sum will raise eyebrows and call a lot of attention if they simply try to deposit it at a bank, for example.)

If the PCs are working for the Cassalanters, their noble patrons are able to literally throw a mass of manpower at the problem. They arrange for a dozen carts loaded with empty barrels and several dozen trusted servants to arrive at the Brandath Mausoleum, rapidly load the gold into the barrels, and then cart it back to their estate.

If all else goes quiet in the Grand Game, the remaining response teams are likely to be assigned to watch the PCs. Whatever plan they came up with for moving the gold (whether it involves the Cassalanters or not), don’t be afraid to use whatever response teams are remaining to complicate their scheme. A running battle through the streets of Waterdeep sounds like a lovely way to wrap the campaign up.

On that note, if the PCs do something to alert Laeral Silverhand that they have the money (and she knows or can easily conclude where it came from), she will politely ask them to return it in exchange for a 10% finder’s fee. But she’ll only ask once.

The PCs might strike on the idea that the vault is perfectly safe where it is, and they’ll just make small withdrawals whenever they find themselves in need of funds. They might even use the Stone of Golorr to make it even more secure by wiping out everyone’s memory of the Grand Game and/or the embezzled gold and/or the PCs’ involvement. That sounds incredibly clever, and unless they make some mistake to draw considerable attention to themselves you should probably let them get away with it.

Which is my final note here: The published adventure advises the DM go to extraordinary lengths to strip the treasure away from the PCs. My recommendation is not do that: Enforce logical consequences. Have people ask the PCs for help if they become aware that they have a windfall. But if the PCs get away with the ultimate heist… well, that’s just awesome.

Go to Part 6D: Faction Reports on the Grand Game

Go to Part 1

The vault in which Lord Neverember hid his stolen wealth was, in fact, constructed by the Melairkyn dwarves thousands of years ago and, today, lies beneath the Brandath family crypts.

Clan Melairkyn were the first to begin excavating beneath what is now Waterdeep. The earliest portions of Undermountain were, in fact, the Underhalls in which they made their homes and wrought their mithral-craft.

Near the Underhalls, the also built a ceremonial vault. The Melairkyn were worshippers of Dumathoin, the Keeper of the Mountain’s Secrets. Their cult believed that Dumathoin encoded his secrets in the veins of ore and precious stones he placed in the mountains he raised from the earth for the dwarven people. In their mining, the dwarves released Dumathoin’s secrets into the world. This angered Dumathoin and there was a period of discord beween the dwarves and the Mordinsamman (the council of dwarven gods). In order to appear Dumathoin and to protect his secrets, the cult would mystically bind the “secrets of the mountain” into items of finely-wrought dwarfcraft and then make offering of it to Dumathoin by securing them within ceremonial vaults.

After the Melairkyn civilization fell before an invasion of dark elves, the vault was looted and abandoned, its secrets – whatever they may have been – scattered to the corners of the world. The entrance was eventually buried by the passage of time. Nearly a millennia passed before the city of Waterdeep was founded, and the area near the vault became used as a burial ground which would expand to become the City of the Dead.

The Brandath family eventually constructed a mausoleum on the site. A hundred years later, as the mausoleum was being expanded, the excavations broke through into antechambers of the Melairkyn vault. Struck by the grand and mysterious beauty of the vault, the Brandaths of the time concealed the vault’s existence and used it as a site for performing ritual mummery based loosely on the original Melairkyn rituals as part of a secret fraternal order known as the Brothers of the Maroon Pin. A scandal eventually saw the Maroon Brotherhood shut down, and the vault lay largely forgotten under the Brandath mausoleum.

When Lady Alethea Brandath died, however, her husband, Lord Neverember, discovered the existence of the vault while making preparations for her internment in the old mausoleum. Gaining access to the inner vault, he realized it would be a perfect place to store the money he was embezzling from the city.

Once the money was safely ensconced, Neverember concealed the location of the vault using the Stone of Golorr. After blinding the Stone, he hid one of the Eyes in a crypt near his wife’s. His logic was that no one knew where the Vault was located except him, so no one would look there.

Lord Dagult, however, had not counted on the perseverance of the Cassalanters.They performed an exhaustive survey of sites associated with Lord Neverember, including his wife’s tomb. There they discovered the hiding place of the Eye and took it. (Ironically, they never realized they were standing almost directly above the vault.)

THE CITY OF THE DEAD

In 1250 DR, when Waterdeep’s graveyard had become hopelessly congested with the dead, the city began constructing public mausoleums and the character of the City of the Dead was permanently changed. Today much of it is a public park, dotted with mausoleums and crypt-complexes. (See Dragon Heist, p. 179.)

DUSK: At dusk, hundreds of driftglobes make their way from the inhavited part of the city and congregate in the City of the Dead. They spend the night here and then disperse, returning to the waking city at dawn. No one knows the reason for this.

NIGHT: At night, the City of the Dead is closed. Two city guards are stationed at each entry gate. It requires a DC 15 Dexterity (Stealth) check to slip over the walls.

GUARDIANS

SIR AMBROSE EVERDAWN (LG male human Tethyrian knight): An aging servant of Kelemvor (god of the dead), patrols the cemetery from sunset to sunrise, chasing off grave robbers and making sure the dead stay buried. Characters who creep around the cemetery in the dark have a 30 percent chance of running into him. If that happens, he escorts them out and alerts the City Guard if they refuse to leave.

BRANDATH TREANT: The largest tree growing by the main entrance to the Brandath Mausoleums is a treant. It awakens when one or more creatures approach and growls, “Only those of Brandath blood are welcome here! Begone!”

If someone other than a Brandath attempts to enter a mausoleum, the treant will animate two trees and attack. The treant and its animated allies are too big to enter all but the main chambers of Mausoleum C.

If Renaer Neverember (of Brandath blood) is present, the treant allows him and his companions to pass unmolested. It says to Renaer in passing, “Your mother was a lovely person.”

MAUSOLEUMS

The first small mausoleum built on this site was expanded with various antechambers and new crypts to hold additional members of the Brandath family. Other single-occupant mausoleums were added around the original structure, although many of these were subsequently razed to make way for the larger structures which now form the rambling crypt-complex of the Brandath family.

GENERAL FEATURES:

• Doors: The stone doors of the mausoleums are generally locked (DC 15 Dexterity check to pick the lock; DC 25 Strength (Athletics) check to force it).
• Coat of Arms: The Brandath coat of arms can be found upon the floor of each mausoleum. An DC 15 Intelligence (History) check can determine, based on the variations and progression of the heraldry, which of the buildings is oldest. (D is the oldest, followed by F, B, A, C, and E.)

MAUSOLEUM A – CELESTIAL STATUES: When this mausoleum was built, the popular style was for each grave to be marked with a statue of the deceased rendered as if they had been reborn as a celestial: Wings, glowing eyes (by way of persistent spells), and halos are common. One is carved as if they were an Empyrean – although the statue is life-size, it is surrounded by faceless, miniature people suggesting that its trues scale is much larger. Others are accompanied by couatl, pegasi, and the like.

• AREA 1: The statue in this chamber was enchanted to sing when mourners drew near. Over the centuries, however, this enchantment is fading and the voice fades and cuts, creating an unsettling and atonal melody.

MAUSOLEUM B – THE OSSUARIES: These four buildings in the southwest corner of the crypt-complex have been transformed into (or were built as) ossuaries. Some were “buried” by having their bones directly placed in these ossuaries, but in other cases bodies were moved here in order to make room for new arrivals elsewhere in the crypt-complex.

• AREA 2: The floor-to-ceiling shelving that once held the bones in this ossuary has collapsed, filling the entire building with tumbled piles of bone. 6 crawling claws (MM, p. 44) scurry among and tunnel through the bones (leaping out from unexpected angles).

MAUSOLEUM C – THE GRAND CRYPT: This two-storey tall building was built at the height of the Brandath family’s power and influence. Constructed of marble and porphyry, its Doric architecture is redolent of 13^th century Illuskan revivalism. The name BRANDATH is carved in Thorassian (common) letters above the doors.

• AREA 3: The vaulted main hall of the grand crypt is perpetually lit by three chandeliers with blue everburning candles. Plaques upon the floors and walls indicate where dozens of people have been laid to rest seemingly behind every wall. Bas reliefs serve as strange death masks.
• AREA 4: This side chamber is taken up almost entirely by the tomb of Sir Jom Shiaon Brandath, a half-giant. Carvings around his titanic sarcophagus indicate that he died seeking vengeance again “Lord Bombur,” who had “cruelly butchered” Sir Jom’s family with a cowardly assault upon his keep while Sir Jom was on campaign in the First Dragonspear War (1356 YD).
• SECOND FLOOR: The stairs at the south end of the building lead up to a second floor of tight, claustrophobic passages lined with crypts.

MAUSOLEUM D – THE FIRST CRYPT: This building is the oldest in the crypt-complex. BR_N__TH CRY_TS is carved in faded letters of the Dethek alphabet above the eastern doors. Age-worn stone can be seen everywhere, along with clear signs of repeated renovation. Individual crypt sites have been renovated, moved, and even removed over hundreds of years.

• AREA 5: This room was the original mausoleum on this site. See “Lady Alethea’s Tomb,” below.

MAUSOLEUM E – ULD’S CRYPT: Despite being the newest construction in the crypt-complex, this mausoleum is in very poor repair. Part of the roof has caved in, crushing several of the tomb sites within.

• AREA 6: A gravemarker identifies the sarcophagus here as belonging to Uld Brandath, a Waterdhavian magister who died in a freak accident years ago. (A gargoyle broke off the corner of a government building and fell on Uld, crushing him.) One corner of his sarcophagi has been staved in by the collapsed ceiling. Uld’s skeletal corpse wears a headband of intellect.
• CRAWLING CLAWS: Six crawling claws (MM, p.44), made from the hands of murderers who were sentenced to death by Uld, escaped from his sarcophagus and now infest the building.

MAUSOLEUM F – SMALL MAUSOLEUMS: Originally there were several dozens of these smaller mausoleums located in the Brandath crypt-complex, each containing a single body (or perhaps a small family unit). Many were raised in order to build the Grand Crypt and, more recently, Uld’s Crypt.

• AREA 7: One of the small mausoleums is obviously of much newer construction than the others. The name “LORD ANRI BRANDATH” is carved above the door. On the relatively plain sarcophagus inside, two dice appear to have been carelessly tossed (reading snake eyes). Lord Anri is, in fact, buried here. Lord Dagult had this mausoleum built and transferred Lord Anri’s body here when he renovated Lord Anri’s original resting place (see “Lady Alethea’s Tomb”).
• GM Note: Combined with the vision granted by the Stone of Golorr, this will likely function as a red herring for PCs who believe the Vault lies beneath Lord Anri’s tomb.

LADY ALETHEA’S TOMB

This room was actually the first Brandath mausoleum and it was the burial site of Lord Anri, who rested here undisturbed for many hundred years while his descendants lived, died, and were buried around him.

The ego of Lord Dagult Neverember, however, manifests in myriad ways. When his wife, Lady Alethea Brandath, died, Lord Dagult wished to exult her in death. Lady Alethea, however, had requested a simple tomb in the Brandath Crypts. Nevertheless, Lord Dagult got what he wanted by refurbishing Lord Anri’s tomb and burying her there, giving her a place of primacy.

LADY ALETHEA’S SARCOPHAGUS: Clearly newer than the rest of the crypt, a bouquet of wilted flowers lies atop her sarcophagus (which is sculpted in her likeness).

• GM Note: The flowers were left by Renaer.

PORTRAIT ON THE CEILING: A faded, chipped portrait of Lord Anri adorns the the plaster ceiling. He is identified in the portrait with a labeled banner. Fresh script around the perimeter of the painting reads, in four languages, “The beauty of our age, in death, is watched over by the spirits of her ancestors.”

• DC 14 Intelligence (History): The portrait was actually added to the crypt several centuries after Lord Anri’s time. In the portrait, he is wearing an alexandrite-tipped pin and is holding a distinctive dwarven compass in his left hand. (DC 17: These are symbols of the Maroon Brotherhood, an obscure fraternal order that was once active in Waterdeep but not longer exists.)
• GM Note: Lord Anri was not a member of the Maroon Brotherhood; the painting was commissioned by the brotherhood and added the symbolism retroactively.

SECRET PASSAGE: A DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) test discovers that the southern wall of the crypt is false, disguising the staircase leading to the old crypts beneath the mausoleum.

THE OLD CRYPTS

See the map on p. 71 of Dragon Heist.

STAIRS DOWN: Sconces for torches are placed on the walls, but there are no torches within them. The airy is dry. There is a thick coating of dust, but a large amount of fairly recent traffic has disturbed it up and down the main hall.

• DC 12 Intelligence (Investigation): The top step is scorched by a recent explosion. A DC 12 Intelligence (Arcana) check identifies this as the remains of a triggered glyph of warding. (GM Note: Triggered by the Cassalanter team that removed the Eye.)

AREA M2: One of the sconces has been ripped from the wall here and tossed to the floor.

• DC 14 Intelligence (Investigation): The remnants of a glyph of warding can be found on the floor here. It’s been rendered inactive by someone blotting out several key strokes of the glyph.
• Sconce: There was a secret compartment behind the sconce. It’s empty now. (GM Note: This is where Lord Neverember hid the Third Eye, which the Cassalanters then stole.)

TO THE VAULT: The collapsed eastern end of the tunnel is actually an illusion that conceals an intact archway filled with a heavy door of steel.

• The Arch: The keystone of the arch is decorated to appear like a mountain with a purple alexandrite gemstone in the middle of it (a variation of Dumathoin’s holy symbol). The voussoir have various symbols carved in them in alternation with dwarven runes: A dwarven compass, a serpent’s forked tongue, a scarabaeus, a brain with two tentacles (Ilsensine’s holy symbol), a broken arrow (Laduguer’s holy symbol). (GM Note: These are all symbols of the Maroon Brotherhood.)
• The Door: Obviously much more recent than the surrounding stonework (it was installed by Lord Dagult to provide some actual physical security for the vault), and has actually damaged some of the ancient symbols on the arch. It’s a 2-foot-thick vault door, with a DC 22 lock. There’s an alarm spell on the door, but it’s keyed to Lord Dagult and, assuming he’s still in Neverwinter, he’s too far away to get the ping.
• Beyond the Door: A 10-foot-wide hallway that slopes down to the Vault (see Part 6C). A glyph of warding has been placed so that it triggers on anyone stepping through the door.

DESIGN NOTES

Pretty much everything I’m doing here is aimed at giving the conclusion of the campaign enough weight to feel meaningful. Exploring the mausoleums and their history isn’t a particularly meaty interaction, but it invests the player into a specific place with specific meaning before they crack open the Vault. It also provides a nice thematic loop with the beginning of the campaign, which started with the PCs rescuing Renaer Neverember and getting drawn into his family’s drama.

Go to Part 6C: The Vault

Go to Part 1

The Stone of Golorr is described on p. 192 of Dragon Heist. What many people don’t realize, however, is that the Stone of Golorr previously appeared as part of WotC’s Stream of Many Eyes event and a tie-in ARG:

The Sage of Shadowdale hath hid on Earth a stone, of great power and imminent import. Its guardian, an exile from my realm, was spirited to Earth with this in tow; to keep it safe and secret ‘ere its prophesied return.

The continuity of the Stream of Many Eyes features a number of elements from Dragon Heist, but although it seemed to lead directly into the published scenario, that promise didn’t really come to fruition. The Stone of Golorr as it appeared here had a different back story, different properties, and even a prophesied destiny.

Since I found a number of elements in the Stream of Many Eyes continuity for the Stone intriguing, I attempted to blend the two continuities together. This effort, however, quickly went awry: Rather than simply combining the two continuities, I ended up riffing on the basic conceptual ideas and ended up basically reinventing the Stone.

There are no principles of design or anything like that which led me down this path; it’s a purely idiosyncratic creative response to the raw material. Maybe you’ll end up liking what you’ll see here, and maybe you won’t. If you do, great. If you don’t, the good news is that you can generally just use the Stone of Golorr as it appears in Dragon Heist. The only element you’ll need to pick up from here are the Three Eyes.

WHAT THE STONE IS

The Stone of Golorr is an artifact that once belonged to the Abolethic Sovereignty. For millennia it was held in a vault within the ancient floating city of Xxiphu on the world of Abeir, but it was lost during the Wailing Years.

According to some histories, it was brought to Abeir-Toril when Xxiphu first plummeted to the world and settled deep below what is now the Sea of Fallen Stars. According to others, an aboleth who came to Abeir-Toril before the arrival of Xxiphu created the Stone; or perhaps he fled to Abeir-Toril carrying the stone and Xxiphu came in pursuit of their prize. Some versions of the tale claim that the Stone was forged during the primeval battles between Shar and Selûne, in the very moment that the world of Toril was formed.

Whether the Stone predates or co-dates the creation of Toril, in arcane terms this gives the Stone a position of primacy, making it capable of effects which no magic item or artifact created in these younger days could possibly duplicate.

HOW THE STONE WORKS

When the proper ritual is performed, the Stone magically eliminates a memory or piece of knowledge from everyone on Toril except for the person who is attuned to the Stone.

PERFORMING THE RITUAL: The use of the Stone to erase memory is a special ritual-form of legend lore which takes 12 hours to cast. Performing the ritual requires:

• The ability to cast legend lore.
• Knowledge of the ritual modifications to the spell.
• The use of a second abolethic artifact, a small tetrahedron of red jade. (This artifact is still in Lord Neverember’s possession.)
• Special incenses suffused with the blood of an aboleth (2,500gp cost) and four ivory strips worth at least 50gp each.

During the ritual, the burning of the incense causes the four sides of the tetrahedron to unfold, revealing slots into which the ivory strips are then inserted. The Stone is then placed within the tetrahedron and the sides closed around it.

As the ritual completes, the tetrahedron opens once more, revealing the Stone of Golorr as it releases a burst of psionic energy. This energy attempts to refract through the person attuned to the Stone, forcing them to make a Wisdom saving throw with a difficulty commensurate to the scope of the memory or knowledge they are seeking to eliminate. (The memory of something with little significance and known to very few people would have a smaller DC than something of great significance or known to a large number of people.)

A group of people can attempt to perform the ritual together in order to reduce the difficulty of this saving throw by -2 per additional person (by spreading psionic refraction between them). The number of characters participating in the ritual is limited by the level of the character leading the ritual (i.e., a 5^th level character could lead a ritual with up to 5 people), and all participants must succeed at the saving throw in order for the ritual to be successful.

On a failure, the ritual member fails to refract the psionic energy and the memory they were seeking to erase is eliminated only from their mind. If a particularly significant piece of knowledge was being targeted, the failure might also invoke a general fugue state for minutes, hours, or days (at the DM’s discretion).

On a success, the knowledge is eliminated: Wiped clean from scrolls and inscriptions. Removed from all living memory except for those attuned to the Stone or participating in the ritual.

Note, however, that:

• This is very specific. For example, Neverember only eliminated the knowledge of the Vault’s location, which is why other lore regarding the Vault (like its existence and the keys required to open it) can still be found. As if reality had become a poorly expurgated book, you can still see where the “text” has been snipped out if you know where to look.
• This only destroys current knowledge, not the subject of the knowledge nor the ability to learn that knowledge in the future. Making everyone forget Bob, for example, doesn’t stop Bob from saying, “Hi! I’m Bob!”

USING THE STONE: Communicating with the Stone, receiving knowledge from the Stone, or performing the knowledge-erasing ritual requires the user to be attuned to the Stone. This can be a somewhat unpleasant process as the attunement takes the form of your thoughts slowly becoming compatible with the utterly alien, abolethic thoughtforms of the Stone.

THE STONE BLINDED

As Dragon Heist begins, the Stone of Golorr has been blinded by Lord Neverember; he has removed its three Eyes. This is not a physically difficult procedure: If someone is attuned to the Stone, an Eye can simply be physically popped out (or popped in). With the Eyes missing, however, the capabilities of the Stone are limited.

A simple physical examination of the Stone will make it clear that the three Eyes are missing.

BLINDED: The Stone is inert.

1 EYE RESTORED: With one Eye restored, the Stone can communicate, but still not see the secrets it once contained.

2 EYES RESTORED: Although still crippled, the Stone (and a character attuned to it) can now “see” the location of the remaining Eye and the immediate area around it. (This routes around a potential failure to figure out the location of the third Eye, and also speeds up the procedure of the third Eye Heist by essentially allowing the PCs to skip the normal surveillance requirements.)

3 EYES RESTORED: The Stone of Golorr is fully restored and operates normally once again.

SECRETS OF THE STONE OF GOLORR

The Stone of Golorr is a sentient magic item with an Intelligence of 18, a Wisdom of 16, and a Charsma of 18. It has hearing and darkvision out to a range of 120 feet. It can communicate telepathically with the creature that is attuned to it, as long as that creature understands at least one language. In addition, the Stone learns the greatest desires of any creature that communicates telepathically with it.

Speaking with the Stone is difficult as its thought processes are alien. As a result, the information it provides is often cryptic or vague.

Legend Lore: The Stone of Golorr has a maximum of 3 charges and regains 1d3-2 expended charges daily at dawn. While holding the Stone, you can expend 1 of its charges to cast the legend lore spell.

Using one of these charges, the Stone can share with its attuned holder the secrets which have been hidden inside of it, either through speech or through a telepathic burst of imagery and sensation. Its holder can direct this towards a particular secret if they are aware of its existence; otherwise the Stone will provide a secret according to its own perverse whim and alien predilection.

Examples of such secrets, ranging from the banal to the profound, include:

• Any number of horrible racial slurs.
• The elvish word essylathir, which means the beauty of eyes which are the color of a storm-tossed sea.
• The existence of a race of tawny-haired bipeds known as “fuzzies” that live in the High Forest.
• The Kingdom of Otheria, which ruled a demesne from the Sword Coast to the sands of Anauroch approximately 500 years ago.
• The name “Anu-Devan,” which was once the most popular male elven name.
• The Aurunean Invasion. Strange invaders wearing insectile helmets of mithral-and-gold came from a continent far to the west and invaded Faerûn. Apparently the Stone was used to eradicate all knowledge of the war, thus ending the conflict (since it also eradicated the navigational charts the Auruneans had used to reach what they called the Eastern Shores).
• The location of 16 bars of silver, buried in the rear yard of a tavern in Murann in 916 DR.
• The location of the Nexus (see Book of Eldritch Might III).
• An atrocity performed during the Crown Wars. Although history has long-maintained that the dark elf Ilythiiri attacked the smaller kingdom of Orishaar on the thinnest of pretenses to begin the Second Crown War, it turns out that the Orishaari actually betrayed the Ilythiiri at a wedding which was to unite their two people and slaughtered most of the Ilythiiri royal family. The knowledge of this was wiped from history by the Stone of Golorr, leaving the official histories to record only that the dark elves went to war “in supposed retaliation for Aryvandaar’s aggression against the Miyeritari. Consdiering that the moon elves of Orishaar had no connection with Aryvandar beyond a trade alliance, and the Ilythiiri had little to do with the beleaguered elves of Miycritar, this was a thinly veiled excuse for the Ilythiiri to seize some land from the moon elves.” (Lost Empires of Faerun)
• The spells blacksteel and midnight shroud (see Spells of Light and Darkness).
• The ritual required for the creation of a Hell cyst (see Part 3).
• The existence of the Shadowdusk family, and their holdings on Level 22 of Undermountain. (Or perhaps some other hook to Dungeon of the Mad Mage.)

Perceptive PCs may notice that many of these secrets were likely secured on Toril at a time when the Stone of Golorr was supposedly being held in a vault on Abeir. If they inquire on this topic, the Stone will reveal that when Abeir and Toril were reunited, it was ripped back in time to the point where the two worlds were sundered and then “skipping” through time, appearing in Toril at various, discontinuous points through history.

Memory’s Passing: If you lose attunement with the Stone you must attempt a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw or the memories you shared with the Stone (i.e., the lost knowledge you gained from it) will begin to fade from your mind

DESIGN NOTES

Another option I looked at here was to allow each secret encoded within the Stone to be locked with a passphrase. To access the secret you would need both Stone and passphrase.  (The passphrase for the Vault’s location would have been “Brandath,” which would be seeded throughout the campaign with the Three Clue Rule.)

Passphrases might be vulnerable to certain divinatory attempts; or maybe it’s a requirement that the passphrase be recorded on a stone disc. If they’re NOT vulnerable to divinatory “hacking,” the use of passphrases would allow you to control exactly what information the PCs can pull out of the Stone. And the hunt for a passphrase can become an adventure in its own right (many times over).

I decided the use of passphrases was just an extra layer of complexity that Dragon Heist didn’t need, however, and so opted not to implement it. If you do, I’d recommend that the Cassalanters have a list of several passphrases they’re interested in feeding into the Stone.

WHERE IS THE VAULT?

Those seeking Neverember’s Enigma from the Stone will receive that information in two simultaneous streams of information:

• A tangled barrage of imagery: Twisted underground tunnels lit by strange lights. An endless field of corpses. Halls of stone. A golden dragon, aging so rapidly that scales shed from its skin. The sound of a silver hammer striking stone. A beam of sunlight in a darkened room. A chisel carving Dethek (dwarven) characters which transform themselves into two words: BRANDATH CRYPTS.
• A cryptic riddle: Where laid his wife to rest ‘midst bones of son’s blood sealed, there where Anri laid himself to rest lies that which Open Lord concealed.

Go to Part 6B: The Brandath Crypts

Go to Part 1

The PCs will spend a significant portion of this remixed campaign engaged with the other factions of the Grand Game: Investigating them, reacting to them, targeting them, getting pissed off at them, etc. Much of that activity will be structured around investigating the factions’ outposts and lairs, following the web of connections between them.

The revelation lists for each outpost and lair below adhere, at a minimum, to the Three Clue Rule. But you should remain alert for opportunities to dynamically generate clues in response to the PCs’ actions.

DYNAMIC CLUE – RESEARCHING A FACTION: If the PCs want to find a faction by doing general research, point them in the direction of one of the faction’s outposts. (Each outpost will contain clues that point to the Lairs, which are generally their ultimate goal.) See Rulings in Practice: Gather Information.

DYNAMIC CLUE – TRACKING BAD GUYS: Or backtracking them. Lean towards these trails leading to/from outposts, too. If the PCs are tracking the bad guys from an Outpost, though, it can be toss-up whether they’re heading to another outpost or a lair. In some cases, of course, simple logic about what the NPCs are likely to be doing will override this structural guidance, in which case you should go with the logical option.

DYNAMIC CLUE – INTERROGATION: Similar guidance applies when the PCs start interrogating faction members. If these are mooks they’ve found in the field, the interrogation will usually lead back to the outpost they’re based out of. If they’re interrogating people in an outpost, on the other hand, they’re more likely to spill the beans on the faction’s lair. Again, use common sense (particularly when it comes to established NPCs like Urstul Floxin or Nihiloor).

DESIGN NOTE

In distributing clues, my general rule of thumb for any given outpost was to include one clue in a different outpost of the same faction, one clue in a lair or outpost of a competing faction, and one clue with a response team. For the lairs, I included one clue in each of the faction’s outposts and then also includes at least one clue with a competing faction.

This was not a formula I followed slavishly and you’ll find a number of exceptions, but as a guiding principle it helped make sure that I didn’t over-cluster the clues and inadvertently create structural cul-de-sacs.

BREGAN D’AERTHE LOCATIONS

FENERUS STORMCASTLE’S HOUSE

• Letter Regarding Fenerus Stormcastle’s House (Seven Masks Theater)
• A Directive to Zorbog (Zhentarim Interrogation House)
• Sealed Letter to Fenerus Stormcastle (Response Team: Krebbyg Masq’il’yr)
• A Directive from Jarlaxle (Gralhund Villa – Artheyn Manor)

SEVEN MASKS THEATER

• Message regarding “Westra Moltimmur” and “Sapphiria’s Booty” (Fenerus Stormcastle’s House)
• Report on the Seven Masks Theater (Xanathar’s Lair)
• Playbill for the Seven Masks Theater (Response Team: Soluun Xibrindas)
• Letter from N’arl (Sea Maidens Faire)

LAIR: SEA MAIDENS FAIRE

• Report regarding guild difficulties relating to the Sea Maidens Faire. (Fenerus Stormcastle’s House)
• Following Krebbyg or Questioning Fenerus. (Fenerus Stormcastle’s House)
• Speaking with Malcolm Brizzenbright (Seven Masks Theater)
• Report on the Seven Masks Theater (Xanathar’s Lair)

CASSALANTER LOCATIONS

ASMODEAN SHRINE

• Arn’s Meeting Notification (Converted Windmill)
• Report on the Cultists of Asmodeus (Sea Maiden’s Faire)
• Proactive: Harpers hire the PCs to investigate the shrine. (see “Using the Cassalanter Outposts”, Part 3B)

CONVERTED WINDMILL

• Seffia Naelryke’s Visiting Card (Response Team: Vevette Blackwater)
• Arn’s Book of Worship (Asmodean Shrine)
• Injury Report (Terasse Estate)
• Report from Seffia Naelryke (Cassalanter Villa)

LAIR: CASSALANTER VILLA

• Proactive: Invitation from the Cassalanters
• Bregan D’Aerth’s Report on the Grand Game (Sea Maidens Faire)
• Questioning Cultists (Asmodean Shrine)
• Noble Sigil on the Mirror of the Fiend (Asmodean Shrine)
• Instructions from Lord Cassalanter (Asmodean Shrine)

XANATHARIAN LOCATIONS

GRINDA GARLOTH

• Note Regarding Gladiatorial Weaponry (Terasse Estate)
• A Recommendation for Materiel (Response Team: Fel’rekt Lafeen)
• A Directive from N’arl Xibrindas (Any Xanathar Response Team)

TERASSE ESTATE

• A Directive Regarding Materiel (Grinda Garloth)
• On the Delivery of a Mechanical Beholder (Xanather Sewer Hideout 2)
• Report from Seffia Naelryke (Cassalanter Villa)

XANATHAR SEWER HIDEOUT, TAKE 2

• Orb Confectioners’ Note (Response Team: Korgstrod Uxgulm)
• Report to Agorn Fuoco (Response Team: Vevette Blackwater)
• An Ill Man’s Note (Terasse Estate)

LAIR: XANATHAR’S LAIR

• Gralhund Report on the Grand Game (Gralhund Villa)
• Rescuing Ott Steeltoes (Zhentarim Interrogation House)
• A Note Regarding Gladiatorial Weapons (Grinda Garloth)
• Gladiatorial Gathering Point (Terasse Estate)
• Correspondence with N’arl Xibrindas (Xanathar Sewer Hideout 2)

ZHENTARIM LOCATIONS

ZHENTARIM INTERROGATION HOUSE

• Directive to Urstul Floxin (Response Team: Urstul Floxin)
• Crumpled Note (Yellowspire)
• Questioning the Zhentarim Response Teams (or being captured by them)

YELLOWSPIRE

• Tracking Urstul Floxin before the Gralhund Villa operation (Response Team: Urstul Floxin)
• Threatening Agorn Fuoco; he’ll sell out his friend to save his own life (Response Team: Agorn Fuoco)
• A Missive from Castle Ward (Gralhund Villa)
• Questioning Samara (Xanathar Lair)

LAIR: KOLAT TOWERS

• Xanathar’s Report on the Grand Game (Xanathar’s Lair)
• Cassalanter’s Report on the Grand Game (Cassalanter Villa)
• Teleportation circle (Yellowspire)
• Capturing Agorn Fuoco (Response Team: Agorn Fuoco)
• Questioning Samara (Xanathar’s Lair)

Go to Part 6: Golorr Artifacts