dm:white_plume_mountain

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 +====== White Plume Mountain ======
 +
 +White Plume Mountain has always been a subject of superstitious awe to the neighboring villagers. People still travel many miles to gaze upon this natural wonder, though few will approach it closely, as it is reputed to be the haunt of various demons and devils. The occasional disappearance of those who stray too close to the Plume reinforces this belief.
 +
 +Thirteen hundred years ago, the wizard Keraptis was searching for a suitable haven where he could indulge his eccentricities without fear of interference. He visited White Plume Mountain, going closer than most dared to, and discovered the system of old lava-tubes that riddle the cone and the underlying strata. With a little alteration, he thought, these would be perfect for his purposes. The area already had a bad reputation, and he could think of a few ways to make it worse. So he disappeared below White Plume Mountain and vanished from the knowledge of the surface world.
 +
 +Today, the once-feared name of Keraptis is not widely known even among learned scholars. Or it //was// not widely known, that is, until several weeks ago, when three highly valued magic weapons named //Wave//, //Whelm//, and //Blackrazor// disappeared from the vaults of their owners. Rewards were posted, servants hanged, even the sanctuary of the thieves’ guild was violated in the frantic search for the priceless arms, but not even a single clue was turned up until the weapons’ former owners each received a copy of the following note:
 +
 +> //Search ye far or search ye near//
 +> 
 +> //You’ll find no trace of the three//
 +> 
 +> //Unless you follow instructions clear//
 +> 
 +> //For the weapons abide with me.//
 +> 
 +> //North past forest, farm and furrow//
 +> 
 +> //You must go to the feathered mound//
 +> 
 +> //Then down away from the sun you’ll burrow//
 +> 
 +> //Forget life, forget light, forget sound.//
 +> 
 +> //To rescue Wave, you must do battle//
 +> 
 +> //With the Beast in the Boiling Bubble//
 +> 
 +> //Crost cavern vast, where chain-links rattle//
 +> 
 +> //Lies Whelm, past water-spouts double.//
 +> 
 +> //Blackrazor yet remains to be won//
 +> 
 +> //Underneath inverted ziggurat//.
 +> 
 +> //That garnered, think not that you’re done//
 +> 
 +> //For now you’ll find you are caught//
 +> 
 +> //I care not, former owners brave//
 +> 
 +> //What heroes you seek to hire.//
 +> 
 +> //Though mighty, I’ll make each one my slave//
 +> 
 +> //Or send him to the fire.//
 +
 +All the notes were signed with the symbol of Keraptis.
 +
 +White Plume Mountain has tentatively been identified as the “feathered mound” of the poem. The former owners of //Wave//, //Whelm//, and //Blackrazor// are outfitting a group of intrepid heroes to take up the challenge. If the adventurers can rescue the weapons from this false Keraptis (for who can believe it is really the magician of legend, after thirteen hundred years?), the wealthy collectors have promised to grant them whatever they desire, if it is within their power to do so.
 +
 +===== Running the Adventure =====
 +
 +This version of //White Plume Mountain// is designed for a group of 8th-level player characters. Your players will need both brains and brawn to successfully complete their mission, as there are situations here which cannot be resolved by frontal assault. If your players are unused to hack-proof dilemmas, they may find this adventure frustrating or even boring. But if your players are used to using their wits, they should find this an intriguing balance of problems and action. Unless you are used to mastering lengthy adventures, it will probably take more than one session for a party to investigate all three branches of the dungeon. If this is the case, it would be best if the party were required to leave the dungeon and reenter upon resumption of the game. If they stay in the nearest village (several miles away) they will be relatively safe, but if they camp near White Plume Mountain it would be a good idea to roll for //random encounters//.
 +
 +== Placing the Adventure ==
 +
 +**//Eberron.//** On the continent of Xen’drik, the mountain could stand in the range known as the Fangs of Argarak.
 +
 +==== Adventure Start ====
 +
 +The party has arrived at White Plume Mountain, which stands alone in a vast area of dismal moors and tangled thickets. They will probably arrange to leave their horses and possessions either at the nearest village (about 5 miles from the mountain) or hidden in the Dead Gnoll’s Eye Socket, a small natural cave in the side of a hill about 2 miles from the Plume. There is really no other shelter available. The villagers know about the cave and may have mentioned it. If the party leaves no guard, they will just have to trust the villagers not to steal their belongings. (Dishonest villagers will have to weigh their fear of White Plume Mountain against their certain belief that the party will never be seen again.) The cave is easily barricaded to keep out unintelligent wandering monsters.
 +
 +White Plume Mountain is an almost perfectly conical volcanic hill formed from an ancient slow lava leakage. It is about 1,000 yards in diameter at the base, and rises about 800 feet above the surrounding land. The white plume that gives the mountain its name and fame is a continuous geyser that spouts from the very summit of the mountain another 300 feet into the air, trailing off to the east under the prevailing winds like a great white feather. The spray collects in depressions downslope and merges into a sizable stream. Steam vents are visible in various spots on the slopes of the mountain, but none of them are large enough to allow entry.
 +
 +//Map 4.1// depicts a cross-section of the mountain, showing the lava pool and the shaft of the geyser. The numbers refer to key areas inside the mountain, showing their orientation with respect to one another.
 +
 +The only possible entrance into the cone is a cave on the south slope known as the Wizard’s Mouth. This cave actually seems to breathe, exhaling a large cloud of steam and then slowly inhaling, like a person breathing on a cold day. Each cycle takes about 30 seconds. Approaching the cave, the party will hear a whistling noise coinciding with the wind cycle. If it were not for the continuous roaring of the Plume, this whistling could be heard for a great distance.
 +
 +The cave is about 8 feet in diameter and 40 feet long. At the end of the cave, near the roof, is a long, horizontal crevice about a foot wide. The air is sucked into this crack at great speed, creating the loud whistling noise and snuffing out torches. Shortly the rush of air slows down, stops for a couple of seconds, and then comes back out in a great blast of steam. This steam is not hot enough to scald anyone who keeps low and avoids the crevice, but it does make the cave very uncomfortable, like a hot sauna bath interrupted by blasts of cold air.
 +
 +The ceiling and walls of the cave are slick with the condensed steam that runs down them. The floor is covered with several inches of fine muck. Only careful probing of the muck near the back of the cave will reveal a small trapdoor with a rusted iron ring set in it. Once the muck has been cleared away, a successful DC 20 Strength check is required to pull up the encrusted door. Magic such as //knock// or //passwall// can also help open or bypass the door.
 +
 +Directly beneath the door is a 20-foot-square vertical shaft and the beginning of a spiral staircase that leads down.
 +
 +
 +
 +==== Dungeon: General Features ====
 +
 +All corridors in the dungeon are 10 feet in height, and have been carved out of and, in some places, seemingly melted through solid rock. Unless otherwise noted, doors are 8 feet by 8 feet, made of oak and bound in iron. Though the doors are swollen by the dampness, and thus difficult to open (requiring a successful DC 15 Strength check), the wood is not by any means rotten.
 +
 +The water on the floor is about 1 foot deep, and the floor itself is covered with slippery mud. Except where flights of steps lead up out of it, this scummy water covers the floors of all rooms and corridors. The water and mud reduce average movement by one-third (speed 30 becomes 20, speed 20 becomes 15), and will necessitate continuous probing of the floor by the party as they advance. It will be very difficult to keep silent, run (without falling), or depend on invisibility (waves and foot-shaped holes in the water give one away).
 +
 +{{:img_adventure_tftyp-wpm_001-wpm01.webp| Map 4.1: Cutaway View}}
 +
 +==== Random Encounters ====
 +
 +Check once every 10 minutes for random encounters by rolling a d12; an encounter occurs on a roll of 1. If an encounter is indicated, roll a d6 and refer to the table below.
 +
 +These are monsters that Keraptis has released into the dungeon specifically for the purpose of giving the intruders a hard time. All will attack immediately. The ogres and the bugbears are magically controlled and cannot be persuaded to betray Keraptis.
 +
 +^  d6  ^Encounter              ^
 +|  1   |1 **black pudding**    |
 +|  2   |1d4 + 1 **bugbears**   |
 +|  3   |2 **gargoyles**        |
 +|  4   |1 **invisible stalker**|
 +|  5   |1d3 **ogres**          |
 +|  6   |1d2 **wights**         |
 +
 +===== Locations in the Dungeon =====
 +
 +The following locations are identified on map 4.2.
 +
 +{{:img_adventure_tftyp-wpm_002-wpm02.webp|Map 4.2: White Plume Mountain}}{{:img_adventure_tftyp-wpm_003-wpm01.webp|Player Version}} > ##### The Legend of Keraptis > >In the original publication of //White Plume Mountain//, “The Legend of Keraptis” was presented on the inside back cover. Although these details of the wizard’s former life don’t play a direct part in the adventure, a DM who shares this is information with the players can deepen the characters’ understanding of the situation and strengthen their motivation for delving beneath the mountain. > >✫ ✫ ✫ > >Well over a millennium ago, the wizard Keraptis rose to power in the valleys of the northern mountains, bringing the local warlords under his thumb with gruesome threats-threats that were fulfilled just often enough to keep the leaders in line. Under Keraptis’s overlordship, the influx of rapacious monsters and raids from the wild mountains decreased markedly, dwindled, and then almost stopped. Seeing this, the populace did not put up much resistance to paying the wizard’s heavy taxes and tithes, especially when stories were circulated of what happened to those who balked. Any nobles who protested disappeared in the night and were replaced by the next in the line of succession, who was usually inclined to be more tractable than the previous lord. > >Gradually, as dissension was stilled, the taxes and levies became even more burdensome, until eventually the wizard was taking a great piece of everything that was grown, made, or sold in the valleys, including the newborn young of livestock. Around this time, numerous reports arose in the land concerning sudden madness, demonic possessions, and sightings of apparitions and undead. Furthermore, monstrous incursions into the settled lands began to increase as raiding parties of humanoids assaulted villages, and evil and fantastic monsters appeared from nowhere to prey upon the harried peasants. At the height of this unrest, Keraptis’s tax collectors came forth with word of a new levy: one-third of all newborn children were henceforth to be turned over to the wizard. > >That edict turned out to be the tipping point. As one, the people rose up to overwhelm the wizard’s lackeys and marched on his keep, where, led by a powerful and good cleric and his ranger acolytes, they destroyed Keraptis’s final guardians. The great wizard barely managed to escape, accompanied only by his personal bodyguard company of deranged and fanatical evil gnomes. Keraptis fled to the cities of the south and west, but wherever he went, his reputation preceded him, and he was unable to stay anywhere for long. Once again moving north, he came to the shores of the Lake of Unknown Depths, where he heard tales about haunted White Plume Mountain. After investigating further, he at last found the refuge he was looking for in the tangled maze of volcanic tunnels beneath the cone. He and his gnomes vanished into the shadow of the Plume, and humankind heard no more of the evil wizard. > >That was almost thirteen hundred years before the present day. Now, seemingly, the hand of Keraptis is once again interfering in human affairs. If it is in truth the ancient wizard at work here, can he be thwarted before his power grows once more? What is his purpose in presenting this bizarre challenge to the world’s heroes? There is only one way to find out. >
 +
 +==== 1. Spiral Staircase ====
 +
 +<HTML><blockquote>
 +> The staircase is badly rusted but appears to be sturdy. The air inside the passageway is warm, humid, and rather foul. You reach the bottom of the stairs with a splash—the floor is submerged beneath a foot of water!
 +</blockquote></HTML>
 +The spiral staircase descends about 100 feet before ending in area 1. Sensitive characters will feel it thrumming to a continuous low vibration (this vibration from the Plume geyser will be noticeable everywhere in the dungeon). In the humidity, lamps and torches will burn fitfully and give off a lot of smoke.
 +
 +Floating on the water are splotches of green and white subterranean algae. This algae or algae-like fungus also clings in patches to walls and ceilings. It is harmless, and can be found almost everywhere in the dungeon where there is water.
 +
 +==== 2. Riddling Guardian ====
 +
 +A rather mangy, bedraggled **gynosphinx** squats in the space where the three corridors converge. A //wall of force// along the south side separates the gynosphinx from those who approach from that direction. This wall of force is weaker than most, and can be brought down by //disintegrate//, //dispel magic//, or //passwall//.
 +
 +The sphinx will let the characters pass (by removing the wall of force) if they can answer the following riddle:
 +
 +> //Round she is, yet flat as a board//
 +> 
 +> //Altar of the Lupine Lords//
 +> 
 +> //Jewel on black velvet, pearl in the sea//
 +> 
 +> //Unchanged but e’erchanging, eternally//
 +
 +The answer is “the Moon.” If the wall of force is destroyed or circumvented, the sphinx will attack.
 +
 +==== 3. Hidden Slime ====
 +
 +Midway along the corridor that runs northeast, the floor is covered by a large patch of green slime (see “Dungeon Hazards” in chapter 5 of the //Dungeon Master’s Guide//). Because the slime is covered by water, it is not easily detectable, and characters might walk through it and not even notice they have done so until it has eaten through their boots and started on their feet.
 +
 +==== 4. Glass Globes ====
 +
 +The door to this room appears normal on the way in: a large iron-bound oak door, swollen by dampness and difficult to open. When the characters have entered the room (or as many of them as are going in), the door will slam shut behind them. No tools, weapons, or magic available to the adventurers will open the door or prevent it from closing. Only the proper key inserted in the keyhole on the inside of the door will unlock it.
 +
 +In the room, suspended from the ceiling by unbreakable wires, are nine silvered glass spheres, each about 2 feet in diameter. Unless otherwise noted, magically looking inside a sphere, such as with a //clairvoyance// spell or a //ring of x-ray vision//, will show that it contains some apparent treasure and a key. (Each sphere holds a key, but only one of the keys opens the door.) A good, hard crack with a weapon will shatter any of the spheres (each has AC 13 and 3 hit points), dropping its contents (if not caught) into the muck below.
 +
 +Number the globes 1 through 9 for your own reference. The globes contain the following items:
 +
 +  * **Sphere 1.** Three folded-up **shadows**, 300 worthless lead pieces, and a false key. (The shadows aren’t visible to magical inspection.)
 +  * **Sphere 2.** A //spell scroll// of //fear// and a false key.
 +  * **Sphere 3.** Jewelry worth 12,000 gp, a false key, and an angry **air elemental**.
 +  * **Sphere 4.** A //potion of flying// and a false key.
 +  * **Sphere 5.** Eleven worthless glass gems and a false key.
 +  * **Sphere 6.** Phony glass jewelry, a false key, and a **gray ooze**. (The ooze fills the entire globe and isn’t visible to magical inspection.)
 +  * **Sphere 7.** A //spell scroll// of //hold person// and a false key.
 +  * **Sphere 8.** The actual key and a silver ring. When the ring is released from the sphere, it speaks to the characters telepathically:
 +
 +<HTML><blockquote>
 +> “Stop before you put me on. I confer the following powers upon my wearer: //invisibility//, //haste//, immunity to charms, //fly// once per day, //detect magic//, and one //wish//. I also provide the benefits of protection and spell turning. The only drawback is that once a year I permanently eat a small part of your life. I must be worn before I can leave this room; merely carrying me away is not possible. If ever I am removed from my wearer’s finger, however, all my powers are lost. So you must decide right now who will wear me forever.”
 +</blockquote></HTML>
 +This situation is a basic loyalty and intelligence test. Will the party members cut each others’ throats over the ring? Will they be suspicious enough to simply leave it alone? If they take time to think about it, they’ll likely realize that the ring must be a hoax.
 +
 +Someone who puts it on can cause it to exhibit any of the powers mentioned above, except for the //wish// spell, as long as it remains in the room. While it is located here, the ring enables the wearer to produce the indicated spell effects at will (except for //fly//), and it also acts as a //ring of spell turning// and a //ring of protection//.
 +
 +Once the ring leaves the area, however, it has no abilities and can’t talk.
 +
 +  * **Sphere 9.** Gems worth 600 gp and a false key.
 +
 +==== 5. Numbered Golems ====
 +
 +<HTML><blockquote>
 +> Five flesh golems are clustered against the north wall. Each has a number on its chest: 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13. Number 5 says, “One of us does not belong with the others. If you can pick it out, it will serve you, and the others will allow you passage. If you pick the wrong one, we will kill you. You have sixty seconds.”
 +</blockquote></HTML>
 +The correct choice is 9, because it is not a prime number. Give the players an actual 60 seconds to figure it out.
 +
 +If the characters give the wrong answer, roll initiative. The **golems** lumber forward to confront the intruders, trying to prevent anyone from moving through the door to the north. The monsters will pursue enemies that flee to the south, but they won’t climb the stairs that led to area 6.
 +
 +If the characters answer the riddle correctly, events unfold as promised: the golem numbered 9 becomes an ally of the party, accompanying the characters if they so desire, and the other four golems become inert again.
 +
 +==== 6. Turnstile ====
 +
 +<HTML><blockquote>
 +> A short flight of stairs leads up to a dry corridor. Just around the corner is a turnstile.
 +</blockquote></HTML>
 +The characters will discover that the turnstile rotates in only one direction (counterclockwise). They can pass through it easily when moving to the east, but it will probably have to be destroyed on the way back. A golem or a strong character could rip it out with a successful DC 24 Strength (Athletics) check.
 +
 +==== 7. Geysers and Chains ====
 +
 +{{:img_adventure_tftyp-wpm_003-totyp-04-05.webp}}
 +
 +<HTML><blockquote>
 +> The door opens onto a stone platform in a large natural cave. Opposite the entrance in the distance is another stone platform. Between them, a series of wooden disks is suspended from the ceiling by massive steel chains. The cave floor seems to be covered by a pool of boiling mud.
 +</blockquote></HTML>
 +The ceiling is 50 feet above the level of the platforms. The cave floor is 50 feet below. Two spots in the mud are the locations of geysers. The northern one erupts once every 5 minutes, the southern one every 3 minutes. The stone platform opposite the entrance is approximately 90 feet away.
 +
 +The disks are about 4 feet in diameter and 3 feet apart. Each disk is attached to its chain by a giant staple fixed in its center. The disks swing freely and will tilt when weight is placed upon them.
 +
 +The disks and the chains, as well as the walls of the cavern, are covered with a wet, slippery algal scum. This coating gives off a feeble phosphorescent glow. Climbing the chains or the walls requires a successful DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check.
 +
 +When the geysers erupt, they reach nearly to the roof of the cavern, and creatures holding onto the disks or the chains might be washed off to fall into the boiling mud. The damage a creature takes from a geyser depends on how close a creature is to the geyser when it erupts (see the table below). Creatures that succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw take half damage.
 +
 +In addition, a creature that is on a disk or holding onto a chain when a geyser erupts must succeed on a Strength saving throw (see the table for DCs) or be knocked off and fall into the boiling mud.
 +
 +^Location                 ^Damage               ^  DC^
 +|Adjacent to geyser       |27 (5d10) fire damage|  14|
 +|One disk away            |22 (4d10) fire damage|  13|
 +|Two disks away           |16 (3d10) fire damage|  12|
 +|Three disks away         |11 (2d10) fire damage|  11|
 +|Four disks away          |5 (1d10) fire damage |  10|
 +|Anywhere else in the area|3 (1d6) fire damage  |   —|
 +
 +Any creature that falls into the boiling mud takes 44 (8d10) fire damage at the start of each of its turns for as long as it remains in the mud.
 +
 +{{:img_adventure_tftyp-wpm_004-wpm03.webp| Map 4.3: Geysers and Chains}}
 +
 +==== 8. Coffin ====
 +
 +<HTML><blockquote>
 +> The door opens into an area of utter blackness.
 +</blockquote></HTML>
 +{{:img_adventure_tftyp-wpm_005-totyp-04-06.webp}}
 +
 +The room beyond the door is the lair of a **vampire** named Ctenmiir. He is compelled by a curse to remain here in a trance except when roused to defend his treasure, which lies in a niche in the floor under his coffin. The vampire automatically awakes at the approach of intruders.
 +
 +The room is affected by a //darkness// spell, which the vampire is not hindered by because he has truesight. If the vampire needs to leave this area to pursue intruders, the door to the room is littered with tiny holes through which he can pass in mist form. If the magical darkness is dispelled, it renews again automatically at dawn.
 +
 +**//Treasure.//** The space beneath the coffin contains //Whelm//, a sentient warhammer (see “//Sample Sentient Items//” in chapter 7 of the //Dungeon Master’s Guide//), 10,000 sp and 9,000 gp in six leather sacks, a //potion of mind reading//, and three //spell scrolls// (//conjure minor elementals//, //dispel magic//, and //magic mouth//).
 +
 +==== 9. Pool and Drain ====
 +
 +As the characters move along the water-covered corridor, they can see that the water is deeper in a small circular area to the east. This space is a 10-foot-deep pit. At the bottom is a wheel connected to a valve. Turning the wheel requires a successful DC 20 Strength check.
 +
 +When the wheel is turned, a channel will open, and all the water in the wet corridors will drain out in 1 hour. Also at the bottom of the pit is a secret door that is concealed by illusion magic. The door cannot be detected by sight, but can be discovered through the use of magic or by someone who examines the area by touch and succeeds on a DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check. The doorway leads to Keraptis’s Indoctrination Center (see “//Escaping the Dungeon//” at the end of the adventure).
 +
 +==== 10. Deceptively Deep Room ====
 +
 +<HTML><blockquote>
 +> Ahead is what appears to be a water-covered room, with steps rising out of the muck on the far side.
 +</blockquote></HTML>
 +Most of the area is actually a 15-foot-deep pool. The only shallow spaces are those that run mostly around the perimeter of the room, where the water is only 1 foot deep.
 +
 +The deep area that makes up most of the room is inhabited by two **kelpies** (see //appendix B//). As the characters move into the room, the kelpies will rise to the surface, and each will attempt to charm a character.
 +
 +In the eastern wing of the pool are two partly enclosed areas with entrances that are accessible only from beneath the surface of the water. These areas are partially covered by a roof along the east edge, where the water is only 1 foot deep. The southern chamber is the kelpies’ lair, which contains their treasure. The northern chamber is empty.
 +
 +**//Treasure.//** Scattered about the kelpies’ lair are 600 gp, a piece of jewelry worth 2,000 gp, and a suit of //+1 chain mail armor//.
 +
 +==== 11. Spinning Cylinder ====
 +
 +<HTML><blockquote>
 +> The stone corridor changes abruptly to a spinning cylinder, apparently made of some light-colored metal. The inner surface rotates rapidly. It is painted in a dizzying black-and-white spiral pattern, and it glistens as if coated with some substance.
 +</blockquote></HTML>
 +The 30-foot-long cylinder is 10 feet in diameter and spins counterclockwise at about 10 feet per second. The inner surface is covered with slippery oil. It is possible to slide through the cylinder by propelling oneself along the floor, but walking through this area without being knocked prone requires a successful DC 20 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check.
 +
 +==== 12. Burket’s Guardpost ====
 +
 +Watching through the arrow slit at the end of the passage is an alert guard named Burket (LE male human **veteran**). If he sees intruders approaching, he will wait until they are halfway through the spinning cylinder and then ignite the slippery oil with a flaming arrow.
 +
 +The oil burns for 2d4 rounds if the fire is not extinguished. On the first round, the burning oil deals 9 (2d8) fire damage to any creature that enters the spinning cylinder or starts its turn inside the cylinder. On later rounds, it deals 2 (1d4) fire damage to such creatures.
 +
 +**//Development.//** After Burket shoots, he then warns his lover, the wizard **Snarla**, to close and lock the shutter over the arrow slit and move to defend the door that adjoins the corridor. They stand ready to engage anyone that enters.
 +
 +**Snarla** is a **werewolf**, her Intelligence is 16 (+3), and she has the following additional feature, which increases her challenge rating to 5 (1,800 XP):
 +
 +> **//Spellcasting.//** **Snarla** is a 6th-level spellcaster. Her spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 14, +6 to hit with spell attacks). She has the following wizard spells prepared:
 +
 +> Cantrips (at will): //fire bolt//, //light//, //mage hand//, //shocking grasp//
 +
 +> 1st level (4 slots): //magic missile//, //shield//, //thunderwave//
 +
 +> 2nd level (3 slots): //mirror image//, //web//
 +
 +> 3rd level (3 slots): //dispel magic//, //fear//, //haste//, //stinking cloud//
 +
 +If Burket is killed or if **Snarla** finds herself in a bad situation, she changes into werewolf form and attacks with desperate savagery, giving her advantage on all her attack rolls.
 +
 +If she is captured alive and made to talk, she will tell the party only that she is charged with keeping the kelpies and other denizens of the dungeon fed. There are strange gaps in her memory concerning her employer or any section of the dungeon other than her own. She has never been past the doors at //area 14//. Burket knows even less than she does.
 +
 +**//Treasure.//** The room has a couple of benches and a table, upon which are a large candlestick (worth 10 gp) and **Snarla**’s spellbook. The book contains the spells that she has prepared and no others. It is protected by an explosive runes //glyph of warding// that deals 5d6 fire damage.
 +
 +==== 13. Snarla’s Sanctum ====
 +
 +<HTML><blockquote>
 +> Unlike the room you just left, this place is beautifully decorated. The floor is covered by fine rugs, the walls by erotic tapestries and shimmering curtains, the ceiling by an intricate mosaic depicting a summer sky dotted with fleecy clouds. In the northeast corner is a large and lavishly covered bed, strewn with cushions. Next to it on a low table is a buffet of sweetmeats, cakes, and other delicious-looking comestibles. In the northwest corner of the room is a brass-bound oak chest.
 +</blockquote></HTML>
 +Anyone who tries out the bed will find that it feels quite uncomfortable, and anybody who samples the food will be disappointed in the extreme, finding it tough and not very tasty.
 +
 +In fact, the room is covered in illusions; a //true seeing// spell or similar illusion-piercing magic reveals that the opulent bed is only an old straw mattress, and the delicious treats are just ordinary rations. The walls, floor, and ceiling of the room are quite bare. A //dispel magic// spell will automatically remove the illusion.
 +
 +**//Treasure.//** Only the brass-bound chest appears as it actually is. The chest must be opened while uttering a command word known only to **Snarla**, or it will emit a //stinking cloud// spell that lasts for 1 minute. Inside are 400 ep, 300 gp, and seven gems worth a total of 1,300 gp.
 +
 +==== 14. Flood Doors ====
 +
 +The three doors along the corridor are made of thick metal, their edges flanged so that they overlap the door jamb on the north side and thus can be opened only by pivoting them to the north. The north side of each door has a handle so that it can be pulled open from that direction.
 +
 +These barriers are emergency doors, whose purpose is to prevent the dungeon from being flooded by the boiling lake at area 15, in case of an “accident.”
 +
 +==== 15. Boiling Lake ====
 +
 +This boiling lake is several hundred feet deep, extending down to the red-hot rock below, and reaching nearly to the ceiling of the cavern it occupies, 50 feet above the level of the sunken ledge described in //area 17//. It is fed by an underground stream that enters from the northwest at a depth 100 feet below that of the ledge. Its run-off flows through a channel to the east, above the ledge, near the ceiling of the cavern.
 +
 +Any creature that enters the boiling lake takes 44 (8d10) fire damage immediately and again at the start of each of its turns for as long as it remains in the lake.
 +
 +{{:img_adventure_tftyp-wpm_006-wpm04.webp| Map 4.4: Boiling Lake}}
 +
 +==== 16. Blow Hole ====
 +
 +The run-off from the boiling lake cascades down through a series of near-vertical lava-tubes to the base of the blow hole, 800 feet below the level of the dungeon. There the water strikes molten rock and is instantly converted to steam. It is ejected up the blow hole and out the top of the volcanic cone, forming the continuous geyser of White Plume Mountain. The boiling water here is just as dangerous as the water in area 15.
 +
 +==== 17. The Boiling Bubble ====
 +
 +A sunken stone ledge projects out into the boiling lake. The corridor from the dungeon continues out into the lake under a magical force field that keeps out the water by forming a sort of elastic skin. The shape of the corridor is not square in cross-section, but rather semicircular, as if a series of hoops were supporting the ceiling.
 +
 +The protective skin is soft, resilient, and uncomfortably warm to the touch. Under any pressure it immediately becomes taut, and any character unwise enough to puncture it with a piercing weapon will cause a stream of scalding water to rush into the corridor, hopefully burning the idiot who made the hole for 2 (1d4) fire damage). Thereafter, any creature that enters the space with this stream of scalding water or that starts its turn there takes that damage. The skin will not “heal” once it is compromised. Major damage to the skin, as from a slash with a sword or an axe, will collapse the field like a deflating balloon in 1d6 rounds.
 +
 +After 30 feet the corridor gives way to an oval-shaped, domed area enclosed by the protective skin. Here lives the **guardian of the treasure**, a Huge **giant crab** that has the following changes, which increase its challenge rating to 8 (3,900 XP):
 +
 +  * It has 161 (14d12 + 70) hit points.
 +  * Its Strength and Constitution are 20 (+5).
 +  * On one of its claws it wears a rune-covered copper band that makes it immune to being charmed, frightened, and paralyzed. (The copper band is worthless as a treasure, for the magic is keyed to this crab.)
 +  * It has an improved claw attack:
 +
 +> **//Claw.//** //Melee Weapon Attack:// +9 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 27 (4d10 + 5) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 14). The crab has two claws, each of which can grapple only one target.
 +
 +The crab will intelligently attack intruders, being careful not to bump the protective skin walls. The crab is experienced in fighting in this manner, as is evidenced by the bones scattered about, but the characters are not. You will have to watch for characters whose actions might rip the water skin, especially any foolish enough to use two-handed weapons or a violent spell such as //fireball// or //lightning bolt//. Such people are likely to get the whole party boiled.
 +
 +{{:img_adventure_tftyp-wpm_007-totyp-04-08.webp}}
 +
 +**//Treasure.//** At the north end of the domed area is a heavy chest firmly attached to the floor. In it is //Wave//, a sentient trident (see “//Sample Sentient Items//” in chapter 7 of the //Dungeon Master’s Guide//), 1,000 gp in small sacks, twenty gems (two big ones worth 1,000 gp each, one big one worth 5,000 gp, and seventeen others worth a total of 3,935 gp), //goggles of night//, and a //stone of good luck (luckstone)//.
 +
 +**//Development.//** A character who grabs //Wave// while the protective skin is collapsing can save the lives of those nearby by using the trident as a //cube of force//. //Wave// will instantly make its bearer aware of this property and allow the bearer to instantly become attuned to it if that person worships a god of the sea or is willing to convert on the spot.
 +
 +Characters protected by the cube will probably end up being blown out the geyser at the top of the mountain. The air-filled cube will float, drain down the cascade, and be ejected from the Plume—a rocky ride.
 +
 +Characters could also survive the boiling lake with a combination of immunity to fire damage and the ability to breathe water.
 +
 +==== 18. Hall Pit ====
 +
 +Halfway down the corridor that leads to the northwest is a 10-foot-long, 10-foot-deep open pit, filled with and hidden by water. If the characters aren’t testing the floor ahead of them, those in the first rank must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw to avoid falling into the pit.
 +
 +==== 19. Metal-Heating Corridor ====
 +
 +<HTML><blockquote>
 +> A series of copper-colored metal plates lines the walls of the path before you.
 +</blockquote></HTML>
 +The plates are 6 feet high and 6 feet wide, and cannot be damaged or removed. They produce an invisible electrical field that extends from floor to ceiling throughout the 70-foot-long corridor. The field isn’t directly harmful, but metal objects that pass between the plates become heated. Metal will become uncomfortably warm after moving 20 feet into the field, painfully hot after 30 feet, and hot enough to deal fire damage at 40 feet and beyond. The field affects armor, weapons, equipment, and even treasure made of metal.
 +
 +A character in metal armor who tries to move through this corridor would take damage as follows: 4 (1d8) fire damage at 40 feet, another 9 (2d8) fire damage at 50 feet, an additional 16 (3d10) fire damage at 60 feet, and another 22 (4d10) fire damage at 70 feet.
 +
 +Characters not wearing metal armor but carrying metal weapons or equipment will feel only slight discomfort when passing between the plates. Metal carried in wrappings of cloth will burn through by the 50-foot mark, and it will similarly burn through leather by the 60-foot mark. Armored characters might have no recourse other than to remove their armor, then drag, push, or use magic to get their metal armor and weapons through the corridor, and then suit up again. Armor pulled through the corridor by ropes will heat up enough to burn through the ropes at 60 feet, leaving a pile of hot metal lying in the water.
 +
 +The only sovereign remedies for this dilemma are area effects that deal cold damage, such as //ice storm// or //cone of cold//, which will nullify the effect long enough for the party to dash through.
 +
 +==== 20. Ghoul Ambushers ====
 +
 +Behind the secret door, eight **ghouls** wait in ambush for intruders to come through the heat-induction corridor. These ghouls wear amulets that make them immune to the Turn Undead ability.
 +
 +==== 21. Stairs Up ====
 +
 +These stairs lead up out of the water to the dry corridor beyond.
 +
 +==== 22. Frictionless Trap ====
 +
 +When the characters pass through the door from area 21, describe the features of the room beyond depending on how much of the chamber they can see.
 +
 +<HTML><blockquote>
 +> The path to the west is broken by a sizable gap, and you can see the glint of metal at the bottom of the opening. The floor beyond this area has a silvery sheen.
 +> 
 +> In the distance you can see another hole, beyond which is a patch of floor that adjoins the western wall.
 +</blockquote></HTML>
 +The openings in the floor are pits, each 5 feet wide and 10 feet deep. Their bottoms are lined with rusty, razor-like blades. Anyone who falls in takes 6 (1d12) damage and must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or contract a disease called super-tetanus (see below).
 +
 +The walls, ceiling, and floor of the area between the pits are covered with a substance that is totally frictionless. This silvery stuff is inert and utterly unaffected by any force, magical or otherwise. Anything that alights on the surface will move in the direction of its last horizontal impetus, bouncing off the walls (if it strikes them) like a billiard ball, until it slides into a razor-pit. It is impossible for a creature even to stand still on the surface, for the slightest movement in any direction would unbalance it enough to send it moving in that direction.
 +
 +Magic that augments movement (such as //fly//, //jump//, and //levitate//) and teleportation effects do not work in this room.
 +
 +The line near the west edge of the room is the illusion of a wall—the actual wall is 10 feet farther away. Objects that make contact with the illusory wall will pass through it and seemingly disappear. This fact tends to frustrate (at least initially) any scheme for attaching a rope to the west wall from afar.
 +
 +In fact, however, one way to get safely across is to get a rope strung through the room and fastened securely at both ends. Once this is done, characters can pull themselves across the floor and are able to control their speed. A clever party might be able to come up with other methods. Ingenuity is required.
 +
 +**//Super-Tetanus.//** A creature that contracts the disease of super-tetanus is wracked with pain as its heart races and its muscles spasm hard enough to break its bones. The creature takes 11 (2d10) damage at the start of each of its turns. If a victim is not cured by other means, it can repeat the saving throw at the end of every minute after becoming exposed, ending the effect on itself with a successful save.
 +
 +==== 23. Floating Stream ====
 +
 +<HTML><blockquote>
 +> Water not only flows through this room, it floats.
 +> 
 +> Entering a hole in the western wall, two feet off the floor, is a stream seemingly suspended in mid-air. It flows out of another hole near the northeast corner. The water is about three feet deep. You can see a few blind cave fish being carried along in the brisk current. On either side of the door are a total of six kayaks, each able to carry two riders, but there are no paddles to be found.
 +</blockquote></HTML>
 +The stream is hemispherical in cross-section where it flows through the room. The entrance and exit holes are 6 feet in diameter; they are the ends of a tunnel that connects this room with area 24.
 +
 +The water is lukewarm. Objects can be thrust through the sides of the stream, but no water other than a few drops will escape. It would even be possible to walk right through the stream, but only a very strong creature could do so without being swept off its feet (requiring a DC 15 Strength saving throw). The stream flows quite quickly from west to east.
 +
 +If characters choose to go boating into the unknown tunnel, they will have to figure out how to get in the kayaks once the kayaks are placed in the stream, the surface of which is 5 feet off the floor. These vessels tip over easily. If they successfully board the kayaks, the characters will bump along through a twisting tunnel 6 feet across. They can regulate their speed by pushing against the walls. Eventually they will emerge into area 24.
 +
 +==== 24. Sir Bluto’s Guardpost ====
 +
 +A fallen knight named Sir Bluto Sans Pite (a NE **champion**; see //appendix B//) and his eight minions (NE human **knights**) wait here to ambush any who come through the tunnel. They will be alerted by disturbances in the flow of water as the party tampers with it upstream. The stream that flows through this room is suspended in the same manner as in area 23. It continues from north to south out of area 24 and back to area 23, completing the circuit.
 +
 +Sir Bluto’s knights work in two teams of four, with two team members on each side of the stream. When a kayak comes out, a team will throw a large net over it and attempt to drag it and its occupants out of the stream and down onto the floor. When it falls, they move in to finish off the occupants with swords. To escape from a net, a creature can use its action to make a DC 10 Strength check, freeing itself or another creature within its reach on a successful check. Dealing 5 slashing damage to the net (AC 10) also frees a creature without harming it; any other creature in the same net can then use its action to free itself through that opening.
 +
 +Sir Bluto was a respected Knight of the Realm before his indictment in the River of Blood mass-murder case. His mysterious disappearance from prison left even the Royal Magician-Detectives baffled, and a reward of 10,000 gp was posted for his capture. Someone in the party is sure to recognize his one-of-a-kind face.
 +
 +**//Treasure.//** In addition to his weapons and armor, Sir Bluto wears //boots of striding and springing//. In addition, he carries the key that opens the secret doors at area 25.
 +
 +==== 25. Magical Secret Doors ====
 +
 +The secret doors at either end of the narrow corridor will reveal themselves and open only to the bearer of Sir Bluto’s magic key.
 +
 +==== 26. Terraced Aquarium ====
 +
 +<HTML><blockquote>
 +> You are looking out and down into an enormous chamber defined by terraced steps that ring the entire area and descend toward a central enclosure.
 +> 
 +> A few feet south of the door, water laps at the edge of the stone floor. Looking to the side, you can see that the ring of the terrace that lies beyond is a ten-foot-deep ring of water held in by a nearly transparent wall. Another of these watery steps in the terrace is somewhat lower than the first; at the level in between these aquariums, the terrace steps are dry, but the area is still enclosed by a glassy wall like the others.
 +</blockquote></HTML>
 +Each tier in the room is 10 feet in depth and width. The three middle levels are enclosed by 10-foot-tall glass walls that keep the inhabitants of those tiers confined. The two on either side are filled with water. All the creatures in this room have been charmed and ordered to stay in their areas as long as their glass walls are intact.
 +
 +{{:img_adventure_tftyp-wpm_008-wpm05.webp| Map 4.5: Aquarium and Prison}}
 +
 +A 10-foot-square area of glass wall has AC 15, and 20 hit points. The glass can also be broken with a successful DC 15 Strength check.
 +
 +The only exit from the room is the door that leads south out of the bottom tier. It opens into a corridor that passes under the higher tiers of the room.
 +
 +**//Breaking Glass.//** If any of the glass walls are broken, a weak //wall of force// will activate immediately in front of the door on the bottom tier (preventing water from forcing the door open and escaping into the corridor beyond). If the glass is broken on both of the aquariums, the volume of water is sufficient to fill the two lower tiers and cover the floor of the middle tier to a depth of about 2 feet. The water will slowly drain out of four small drains in the corners of the bottom tier, but it will take a good three hours to do so. Of course, characters who choose to wait will be subject to the possibility of //random encounters//. Once the water is finally gone, the wall of force will disappear.
 +
 +If the characters destroy the wall of force, the pressure of the water will push open the door and the water will rush into the corridor beyond, pulling along any swimming characters and miscellaneous debris nearby. The water will collide with another wall of force that covers the door to //area 27//, and then begin draining out through a grating in the floor in the last 10 feet of the passage. The water will take only 20 minutes to drain out through this grating. (The water drains straight down through an old lava tube to a large cave with no other exits.) When the water is gone, the wall of force barring entry to area 27 dissipates.
 +
 +**//Creatures.//** The occupants of each level will be randomly distributed when the party enters, but as the intruders come near, the monsters will move to follow, expecting to be fed. They are accustomed to live food, and will ignore dead meat or other nonliving sustenance. They consider any living creature that enters their domain as food, and will attempt to eat it.
 +
 +No creatures inhabit the top tier of the terrace. The aquarium tier inside that area is occupied by six **giant crayfish** (see //appendix B//). The next lower tier is a dry level where the glass walls enclose six **giant scorpions**. Beneath and inside that is an aquarium that holds four **sea lions** (see //appendix B//).
 +
 +On the bottom tier are three wing-clipped **manticores** that are unable to fly. The manticores will not hesitate to fire their spikes at any they recognize as intruders.
 +
 +**//Treasure.//** A safe is set in the north wall opposite the door on the bottom tier. If it is opened incorrectly (that is, the trap not removed), a vibration device in the wall is triggered that will shatter the glass walls in this area in 1d6 rounds. The safe contains 6,000 sp and one piece of jewelry worth 3,000 gp.
 +
 +{{:img_adventure_tftyp-wpm_009-totyp-04-10.webp}}
 +
 +==== 27. Luxurious Prison ====
 +
 +<HTML><blockquote>
 +> Lavish furnishings and decorations are everywhere in this large room. The floor is strewn with rugs and cushions, and tapestries cover the walls. A hookah as tall as an adult human stands in one corner. The largest piece of furniture is a sumptuous divan.
 +</blockquote></HTML>
 +{{:img_adventure_tftyp-wpm_010-totyp-04-11.webp}}
 +
 +The room is the residence of Qesnef, an **oni** who lost a bet with Keraptis and as a result must confine himself in these luxurious surroundings, guarding his treasure, for 1,001 years. A //magic mouth// spell warns him of the approach of trespassers, so he will disguise himself by using his Change Shape ability to take the form of a doughty halfling warrior, claiming to be someone who has been trapped by the evil wizard.
 +
 +**//Treasure.//** Qesnef’s valuables have been casually shoved beneath the divan. The hoard includes //Blackrazor//, a sentient greatsword (see “//Sample Sentient Items//” in chapter 7 of the //Dungeon Master’s Guide//), 1,000 ep, 200 pp, four pieces of jewelry worth a total of 11,000 gp, a //potion of healing (greater)//, a //scroll of protection// (fiends), and //armor of vulnerability (slashing)//.
 +
 +In addition, Qesnef wears a //ring of protection// on his left hand and a //ring of spell storing// (with two //mirror image// spells in it) on his right.
 +
 +===== Escaping the Dungeon =====
 +
 +If the characters obtain two or even all three of the magic weapons and are finally leaving for good, they might be stopped at //area 2// by the return of the //wall of force//. A voice will speak to them out of the air:
 +
 +<HTML><blockquote>
 +> “Not thinking of leaving, are you? You’ve been so very entertaining. I just couldn’t think of letting you go, especially with those little items of mine. And since you’ve eliminated all of their guardians, why, you’ll simply have to stay… to take their places. I’ll have to ask you to leave all of your ridiculous weapons behind and let Nix and Nox escort you to the Indoctrination Center. I’ll be most disappointed if you cause me any trouble and Nix and Nox have to eliminate you. Don’t worry—you’ll like it here.”
 +</blockquote></HTML>
 +**//Creatures.//** The wall of force disappears, but coming up the south passage are Nix and Nox, two **efreet**. If the party can get past them, they’re home free.
 +
 +Of course, this whole episode can be omitted if the party has already taken too much damage. Conversely, if the characters have had too easy a time of it, this final challenge can be made tougher by the addition of one or two more **efreet** (called Box and Cox).
 +
 +If, for some foolish reason, the party decides to comply with Keraptis’s request and go with Nix and Nox to the Indoctrination Center, you will have to play it by ear. It’s not too difficult—use your imagination and make it up as you go. Just make sure that the characters are extremely sorry they ever decided to submit to Keraptis’s demands. They probably will end up as the brainwashed new guards in Keraptis’s renewed version of White Plume Mountain’s dungeon.
 +
 +
 +----
 +
 +====== Appendix A: Magic Items ======
 +
 +The magic items that are introduced in this book are detailed here in alphabetical order. The adventure in which an item appears is given at the end of its description.
 +
 +  * //Amulet of Protection from Turning//
 +  * //Balance of Harmony//
 +  * //Bracelet of Rock Magic//
 +  * //Eagle Whistle//
 +  * //Hell Hound Cloak//
 +  * //Loadstone//
 +  * //Mirror of the Past//
 +  * //Night Caller//
 +  * //Potion of Mind Control//
 +  * //Robe of Summer//
 +  * //Shatterspike//
 +  * //Spear of Backbiting//
 +  * //Stone of Ill Luck//
 +  * //Wand of Entangle//
 +  * //Waythe//
 +