TEXT:  
  
   
   
  Foreword 
  Greetings and thank you for checking out  
  Towers of the Seven Cloud Mages. 
   
    The product you see before you is written with  
  the assumption that the characters exploring the 
  locations described herein will be part of the 
  Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, or at least 
  familiar therewith. 
    If this proves to not be the case, consider changing 
  or removing entirely, any references to the lands  
  of Toril and its surrounding multiverse. 
   
    This product should not be considered an  
  actual Adventure, or even a Dungeon necessarily, 
  since only little narrative is presented, the product 
  does not concern itself with how or why the 
  characters enter and explore the locations 
  described, and because the ability to leave  
  without much difficulty is available regardless  
  of where the characters are at any given time. 
    This product should instead be viewed as  
  an opportunity for a Dungeon Master to step  
  in and weave a narrative around the many 
  encounters, both roleplaying and combat based, 
  presented herein. 
    This in turn allowing for a change in the scenery, 
  tone, and pacing of a larger adventure or campaign. 
   
  Important to note is that since this product initially 
  was designed for use alongside the book  
  Storm King’s Thunder, many encounters herein  
  are deliberately designed to be overwhelming  
  or deadly for characters below 10th-level. 
    However, the options for retreat are often easily 
  found and achieved, and with some exploring  
  of the many locations described herein,  
  many potential and potent allies might  
  be uncovered. 
   
  With all of this out of the way, I hope you enjoy 
  Towers of the Seven Cloud Mages. 
   
                                                 ~MadHatter-Himself~ 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
                    1 
  
   
  Arrival at the Seven Towers 
  As you travel through the landscape  
  of Moonwood, you see the clouds above  
  turn darker and begin to rumble. 
  Suddenly, the dark sky is lit up by a crimson  
  bolt of lightning, soon followed by a similar, 
  green bolt. 
  Then, breaking through the dark,  
  occasionally multi-coloured clouds,  
  you see a massive structure appear, 
  floating about 1000 feet in the air. 
  The structure appears to be made up  
  of a central platform, connected to six enormous 
  towers by way of multiple thin pathways. 
  The towers in turn all connect to each other  
  through additional fortified pathways. 
  Rising from where, logistically, a seventh tower 
  should levitate, instead rises an even larger 
  structure, seemingly made from the entangled 
  mass of several, unfathomably huge beanstalks, 
  appearing to grow forth from the top of the  
  two towers adjacent to the beanstalk tower. 
  A blue lightning bolt lights up the sky once 
  again, this time followed by the sight of 
  sparkling gold filling the sky, as an enormous 
  bird with golden feathers and copper talons takes 
  to the sky and lets out a lone powerful cow, 
  flying about the beanstalk tower. 
   
  When the party comes upon the tower of the cloud 
  giants, the party is at the structure’s southern side, 
  furthest away from the beanstalk tower. 
    The bird they see is a Golden Phoenix that  
  occupies the outside of the beanstalk tower,  
  being kept by Master Orkando as a half-hearted  
  pet and as a source of ash for fertilizer. 
    Though the phoenix serves the evil druid as a pet 
  and as a resource, it holds no loyalty to either  
  of the Cloud Giants, simply enjoying the easy 
  feeding and treasure it acquires from its 
  benefactors. 
    Due to this, the Golden Phoenix doesn’t pose  
  a threat to the characters as long as it isn’t 
  threatened, and if it is, it will flee after  
  losing 100 Hit Points. 
   
   
  The Golden Phoenix has the statistics of a ​Roc  
  with the following changes:  
  ●
  The Phoenix is neutral good. 
  ●
  It has an Intelligence of 7 (-2)  
  ●
  It has Immunity to Fire-damage. 
  ●
  Its ​Talons attack deals Fire-damage instead  
  of Slashing-damage. 
  ●
  While grappled in the Phoenix’ talons, 
  the target takes 3 (1d6) Fire-damage  
  at the beginning of each of its turns. 
  ●
  If the Phoenix dies, it bursts into flames  
  and turns to ash after 1d10 minutes, 
  leaving nothing still part of its body behind. 
  ●
  A golden feather is worth 100 gp  
  pr. 10 feet it is long. 
   
  Area 1: Elevated Courtyard 
  This massive, white, marble platform is hexagonal 
  in shape and stretches 120 feet  
  across in every direction. 
  50-foot-tall marble walls rise from  
  the sides of the platform, sitting upon which, 
  at regular intervals, are several massive braziers, 
  illuminating the platform in the multi-coloured 
  light of several magical flames. 
  Painted onto the floor of the platform  
  is a silver-coloured pentagram,  
  each tip of the star connected by  
  a pentagonal shape. 
  Standing atop the southeastern corner of the 
  pentagon is a large, megalithic, obsidian rock, 
  carved with several strange looking glyphs. 
  Similar looking monoliths sit at the remaining 
  corners of the pentagon, the lone exception  
  being the northwestern corner,  
  it currently standing empty. 
  Six 20-foot-wide pathways descend from this 
  central platform to each of the six giant towers, 
  floating 80 feet in the distance. 
   
  When the characters first arrive,  
  one ​Dawn Sect Kentarch​ (see Appendix B)  
  and his two subordinate ​Dawn Sect Legionnaires  
  (see Appendix B) are here, 
   
                    2 
  
   
   
  waiting for ​Master Torndo​ (see Appendix B)  
  to arrive and give them their orders to raid  
  One Stone for its ancient relic and complete  
  the stone-collection making up the pentagram. 
    Add the following: 
   
  Sitting at the edge of the platform in the 
  northeastern corner are three bald-headed  
  and grey-skinned giants.  
  They appear to spare you little mind,  
  all instead looking northward with blank 
  expressions permanently plastered to their faces. 
  Each giant wears a cingulum armor skirt, 
  made from the scaly hide of dragon wyrmlings. 
  A lone of the giants additionally wears armour 
  and a helmet, seemingly shaped magically  
  from gold ore. 
  Following the eyes of the giants, you see  
  the enormous mass of entangled beanstalks  
  rise before you. 
  Suddenly, a violet bolt of lightning strikes  
  the obsidian monolith, momentarily bathing  
  the platform in in purple light. 
  At this sudden disturbance, a single giant  
  send the monolith a brief, disinterested glance. 
   
  The stone giants are part of the Sect of the Dawn, 
  a fanatical order dedicated to the rekindling  
  of the Dawn War, the war forged at the dawn  
  of time between the gods and primordials. 
    This devotion, paired with the stone giant belief 
  that the surface is nothing more than a dream 
  realm, results in the stone giants sparing the 
  character not a single thought. 
    Engaging the stone giants in conversation  
  takes a DC 15 Charisma (Persuasion) check,  
  and even then, they only pay the characters  
  the barest of minimum of courtesy. 
    If the characters express any threatening  
  or rude behaviour towards the stone giants,  
  it will cause them to immediately attack them, 
  feeling no fear of death in their dream-like 
  surroundings and fearing no punishment for crimes 
  done against figments of their own imagination. 
   
   
   
    Lastly, despite viewing the characters as little  
  more than illusions, the stone giants are reluctant  
  to speak of their order beyond giving the most 
  superficial of details. 
    The Sect of the Dawn is a secretive and reclusive 
  order, well aware that their goals involves entities  
  far beyond their own might and senses. 
    As such, members of the sect are trained tirelessly 
  in techniques to resist manipulation, torture and mind 
  control. 
   
  Area 2: Sloping Pathways 
  This marble tunnel is 40-feet-tall and 20-feet-wide. 
  Arrowslits, sized for giants, rise from the walls  
  at regular intervals.  
  Massive, open archways exit the hallway  
  at each end of its 80 foot-length. 
   
  Depending on which pathway the characters take, 
  they can reach Area 4.F1, Area 5.F1, Area 6.F1,  
  Area 7.F1, Area 8.F1, Area 9.F1 respectively. 
   
  Area 3: Battlements  
  Large battlements stretch along the top  
  of this 100-foot-long, 30-foot-wide wall,  
  connecting a pair of giant-sized towers at each end, 
  through way of gigantic, double doors. 
   
  Opening the massive double doors takes a  
  successful DC 14 Strength (Athletics) check. 
   
  Area 4.R: Torndo Rooftop Garden 
  Neatly cut grass and bushes occupy most of  
  the available space upon this towers rooftop. 
  Potted plants stand placed here and there,  
  in aesthetically pleasing positions and patterns, 
  while moss-covered rocks are stacked on top of 
  one another at the southern edge of the rooftop. 
  Flowing down from said rocks is a small waterfall, 
  continuing its descent down into a basin located  
  at the foot of the artificial “mountainside.” 
   
   
   
                    3 
  
   
   
  Growing from a patch located at the 
  northwestern edge of the rooftop,  
  is what appears to be a bridge made up of the 
  intermingling of several enormous beanstalks. 
  All of the beanstalks, not so much lead out  
  to the beanstalk tower in the distance,  
  as much as they connect with a different  
  set of beanstalks at that location,  
  forming the tower itself. 
   
  Roaming the rooftop garden are ten  
  Giant Awakened Beans (​Awakened Shrubs​)  
  and two Awakened Beanstalks (​Awakened Trees​). 
  Lying half-asleep atop the artificial waterfall  
  is a ​Chimera​, all while an ​Owlbear​ lies 
  hoot-snoring in the shade of an apple-tree. 
  Resting in its nest within one of the larger  
  bushes is a ​Hook Horror​ as well. 
  All of these are Master Torndo’s creations and pets. 
    Master Torndo spends only little time within  
  his garden, but his personal ​Homunculus​,  
  called “Guanii” is here at most hours of the day, 
  serving as a lookout for its master. 
    If Guanii notices the party here while not 
  accompanied by Master Torndo himself, 
  it will try and sneak its way down and warn  
  its master about the intruders. 
    Leaving from the rooftop is a massive beanstalk 
  branching northward (Area 10). 
   
  Area 4.F1: Torndo Tower Entrance Hall 
  The space of this massive hall is dominated  
  by several empty cages of various sizes, 
  some placed on the chamber floor while  
  others hang from the ceiling by giant chains. 
  A black-marble spiral staircase ascends  
  to the roof above, while descending down  
  to the remainder of the tower below. 
   
  Master Torndo keeps his living experiments here, 
  though he currently has none. 
  Three ​Animated Armors​ and four ​Flying Swords 
  patrol the hall, attacking intruders immediately. 
   
   
   
  If the characters are captured by Master Torndo, 
  he will keep them locked up here. 
  Picking one of the smaller cages requires  
  thieves’ tools and a DC 15 Dexterity check. 
    A pair of massive double doors lead south from  
  this tower to Madame Hailien’s tower (Area 5.F1) 
  via the battlements (Area 3). 
   
  Area 4.B1: Torndo’s Laboratory 
  An orderly but dimly lit laboratory occupies  
  the space of this chamber. 
  Several enormous shelves line the walls,  
  all packed full of vials, reagents, and tools  
  for alchemical experiments. 
  Sparks occasionally illuminate the entirety  
  of the laboratory in strange coloured light. 
  A massive wooden table makes up the centre  
  of the chamber, upon which lies a giant gemstone, 
  it pulses with magical light, bathing the table  
  a shade of red.  
  An enormous meat cleaver, covered in dry blood, 
  is wedged into the board of the wooden table,  
  next to the shining gemstone. 
  Standing next to the table is a large tube made 
  from dark glass, it appears to be partially filled 
  with a thick liquid. 
   
  Master Torndo​ spends most of his waking hours 
  here, and is here when the characters first arrive  
  at the seven towers; being in the middle of one  
  of his experiments, commissioned by the  
  stone giants of the Sect of the Dawn. 
    Trapped within the dark tube is the form  
  of a ​Black Pudding​, used by Master Torndo  
  to dispose of waste produced by his experiments. 
  The pudding is fed regularly and therefore isn’t likely 
  to attack the party unless the tube is knocked over. 
    ​Interacting with Master Torndo.​ Torndo is an 
  unfeeling, hollow wizard who views everything 
  around him as nothing more than unprepared 
  ingredients for his experiments, alive or no. 
    Master Torndo knows that the Sect of the Dawn  
  is having him construct a vital piece of a larger 
  magical item, capable of controlling overwhelming, 
   
   
                    4 
  
   
   
  destructive forces, seeming partially elemental  
  in source. 
  Torndo also knows that his work is merely  
  part of a much larger scheme of the sect,  
  which they hope eventually will place them  
  at the top of the Ordening.  
    Master Torndo cares only little about this 
  however, viewing the stone giants’ plans as  
  little more than amusing and irrelevant. 
    Torndo, like any other cloud giant, 
  wholeheartedly 
  believes himself and the rest of his kin as being 
  superior to any other members of giant-kind, 
  and as such, any plans stone giants could craft 
  would mean nothing compared to the glory of 
  cloud giant accomplishments, his own most of all. 
   
  Treasure.  
  If the characters spend 1 hour ransacking Torndo’s 
  lab, they can assemble two herbalism kits,  
  one poisoner’s kit, and ten healer’s kits. 
    They can additionally find 3d6 vials of acid,  
  3d10 flasks of alchemist’s fire,  
  three ​potions of healing, one ​potion of greater 
  healing, one ​potion of fire breath, a ​potion  
  of psychic resistance, and a ​potion of poison. 
    Several recipes for each of the various 
  non-magical treasures listed above is placed on the 
  shelves along with the concoctions, written in giant. 
    A character who studies the recipes and notes  
  for an hour and succeeds on a DC 15 Intelligence 
  (Arcana) check learn how to produce the 
  concoctions described within. A character can 
  gather enough ingredients within the laboratory  
  to craft an additional 1d4 of each item type. 
    A character who knows a recipe and has  
  the proper ingredients can craft any one  
  of the items in 1 hour. 
    In addition to these valuables,  
  Master Torndo wears his transmuter’s stone  
  in strong silver chain around his neck. 
  The ​Transmuter’s Stone of Torndo bestows 
  Thunder-Resistance to anyone who carries it, 
  requiring no attunement to gain the benefit. 
   
   
   
  Area 4.B2: Master Bedroom 
  As you enter this room, you are greeted  
  by the silent howl-hoot of an owlbear-rug  
  lying on the floor next to an enormous 
  wood-framed bed. 
  Next to the bed stands a relatively small 
  bedside-table, standing atop which  
  is a strange-looking, vaguely humanoid,  
  wooden statuette. 
   
  This is where Master Torndo goes to rest and relax. 
    The owlbear-rug is a ​Rug of Smothering​ with  
  60 Hit Points, while the giant-sized bed is an 
  abnormally large ​Mimic​ with the following changes: 
  ●
  The mimic is neutral evil. 
  ●
  Its type is Construct. 
  ●
  It is Huge in size and has 126 Hit Points. 
  ●
  It has an AC of 15 due to its size. 
  ●
  As an Action, the mimic can make Pseudopod 
  attack or a Bite attack, both attacks dealing  
  16 (3d8 + 3) damage on a hit. 
  The Bite attack dealing an additional  
  4 (1d8) Acid-damage as normal. 
  ●
  The massive mimic has a Challenge Rating  
  of 3 (700 XP). 
  Both of these creatures are creations made  
  by Master Torndo, and as such do him,  
  or characters in his company, no harm. 
    The strange-looking figurine is in fact  
  a three-dimensional puzzle, allowing the user  
  to replace pieces at will, creating absurdist art-pieces 
  at a mere whim, something the continuously 
  malleable mind of Master Torndo finds endlessly 
  amusing and relaxing. 
    The puzzle in its finished state depict the 
  three-dimensional image of a voluptuous  
  female humanoid body. 
   
  Treasure.  
  Lying within the drawer of the bedside-table  
  is a ​Spell Scroll of Bones of the Earth,  
  as well as Master Torndo’s Spellbook. 
  Its binding is made from adamantine and its pages 
  are sheets of steel, and is kept closed by iron chains, 
  the book weighs 500 pounds. 
   
   
                    5 
  
   
   
   
  It contains all the spells Torndo has prepared  
  plus the following additional spells: 
  blink, bones of the earth, control winds, earthbind, 
  elemental bane, flame arrows, fly, investiture of 
  flame, investiture of ice, investiture of stone, 
  investiture of wind, ​knock and ​polymorph. 
   
  Area 5.R: The Hailien Observatory 
  As you find yourself upon the rooftop of this 
  tower, the air around you becomes noticeably  
  dry when inhaled. 
  Stacks of books and piles of paper and 
  parchment, the vast majority of which,  
  appearing to detail astrology,  
  and written in several different languages,  
  cover up the floor-space of most of the area,  
  only to let up and leave a mostly clear area 
  surrounding what appears to be an enormous, 
  brass spyglass, connected to a wood and  
  brass frame. 
  The glass eye of the spyglass ascends skyward, 
  seemingly looking at an iridescent bubble, 
  forming a domed ceiling above the roof  
  of the tower. 
   
  When the party arrives, five ​Guard Drakes  
  (if not available, use ​Dragon Wyrmlings  
  lacking Flying speed and Breath Weapons)  
  are here, one of each colour. 
    The drakes are a gift from a high-ranking member  
  of the Cult of the Dragon named Rezmir,  
  whom Hailien aided in the recent past. 
  Hailien now keeps the drakes as pets and uses  
  them as guards for her observatory. 
    Hailien is forgetful when it comes to feeding the 
  drakes and they are therefore quite hungry when  
  the characters appear and will attack them 
  immediately if Hailien isn’t here or with them  
  when they appear. 
    If ​Madame Hailien​ (see Appendix B) is here,  
  she is wearing her ​Beholder Crown  
  (see Appendix C), and add the following: 
   
   
   
   
  Standing at the spyglass, looking through it  
  at the skies above, is an old cloud giantess,  
  dressed in a white but ragged silken robe, 
  and wearing a dark crown on her head,  
  several protrusions branch out from the crown,  
  all topped with different-coloured gemstones.  
   
  The iridescent bubble is a modified  
  and permanent casting of the  
  Mordenkainen’s private sanctum-spell,  
  with the lone purpose of keeping out troublesome 
  weather-phenomenons, such as rain or hail.  
    What will likely be the first thing to draw  
  the characters’ attention is Hailien’s personal  
  Farseer of Illusk, an enormous telescope-like 
  contraption useful for observing and studying 
  heavenly bodies. 
    The ​farseer can however also be used in a  
  manner similar to that of the ​arcane eye-spell. 
  In that mode, the ​farseer can view a location  
  within fifty miles of it. 
    Turning and focusing the device this way requires 
  considerable amount of skill, strength and practice, 
  the device is however in a pristine condition due  
  to Hailien’s expertise with its use. 
    A character who inspects the contents of Hailien’s 
  Study (Area 5.B1) recognizes the ​Farseer of Illusk 
  with a Successful DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check, 
  if not, the DC increases to 20. 
    After its true purpose is ascertained,  
  using it to view distant locations requires  
  a Successful DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check,  
  a DC 15 Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check,  
  and a DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check. 
    If the Strength check fails, the character is incapable 
  of pushing about the massive and heavy gears of the 
  contraption. 
    If the Intelligence check fails, the desired location 
  can’t be found. 
    If the Dexterity check fails, the image is too 
  distorted to convey any meaningful information. 
    When the characters find it, the farseer is focused 
  on the lair of a colony of Death Tyrants,  
  located on the (luckily) faraway located planetoid 
  Atropus, the World Born Dead. 
   
                    6 
  
   
   
  Characters might wish to try and take the device 
  with them upon leaving the seven towers. 
    Doing so may well be a difficult task,  
  as the farseer is both bulky (20-feet-tall and  
  made up of approximately 150 pounds of brass,  
  crystal, iron and wood). 
    ​Hailien spends most hours of the night here, 
  observing the night sky through the ​farseer,  
  while going to bed only just before dawn. 
    Due to her experience with the device,  
  Hailien adds a +8 bonus to the  
  Intelligence (Arcana) check,  
  Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check, 
  and the Strength (Athletics) check to operate it. 
  She additionally has Advantage on all of the  
  checks as well. 
    ​Interacting with Madame Hailien.​ Madame 
  Hailien is, to put it simply, completely insane. 
    Years of studying the Far Realm and the 
  aberrations leaking from this plane of existence, 
  ripped her mind apart long ago and she is now  
  only vaguely aware of her own existence and 
  surroundings. 
    An upside to this madness is however that she  
  is quite passive giant, welcoming visitors happily 
  regardless of who or what they are (assuming she 
  notices such visitors being present at all). 
    Madame Hailien loves company and freely  
  engages anyone who asks in conversation,  
  happily explaining the details of her field of study, 
  and describing or aiding visitors in the operating  
  of her ​Farseer, if characters were interested  
  in doing so. 
    This absentmindedness also comes with  
  a heavy downside however. 
  If Hailien was to feel threatened, she would enter 
  into a mindless, violent rage and it be almost 
  completely impossible to calm her down again, 
  while anything alive still remains within her 
  presence. 
   
  Treasure.  
  The entire collection of books, scrolls,  
  maps and notes, strewn about the floor, is worth 
  10,000 gp in its entirety, assuming the characters 
  have the means to haul it away from the tower. 
   
  This might be a difficult task however,  
  since much of the collection is sized for giants. 
    A better option for the characters might be spending 
  10 minutes poring over the collection  
  and making a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check. 
  On a Successful check, the characters find the  
  four most valuable pieces of the collection,  
  each worth 1000 gp. 
    Additionally lying amid the mess of books  
  and notes is Madame Hailien’s Spellbook. 
  The spellbook is ragged, weatherworn and covered  
  in stains, mainly from wine, it weighs 110 pounds. 
    Perhaps due to its damaged state  
  (or perhaps due to something more ...unnerving)  
  much of the spellbook is rendered indecipherable;  
  it does however contain all the spells Hailien  
  has prepared plus the following additional spells: 
  crown of madness, darkness, demiplane,  
  dream, eyebite, fear and​ feeblemind. 
   
  Area 5.F1: Hailien Tower Entrance Hall 
  This massive entrance hall is a mess. 
  Mountains of garbage litter the floor,  
  and fill giant buckets and barrels to the brim. 
  Most any kind of waste is represented here, in one 
  place or another, massive and empty ink-vials,  
  tons of parchment, moldy foodstuffs, discarded 
  clothing of giant size, and bodily waste, is 
  collected, and presumably disposed of eventually. 
  Coming up a massive spiral-staircase, which 
  connects this floor with floors above and below, 
  is a grotesquely fat and bloated creature with  
  three legs and a pair of spiked tentacles protruding 
  from its back. 
  Riding atop this horrid monstrosity is a small 
  creature with wrinkly, purplish skin and a lone, 
  gigantic eye looking in your direction. 
  The creature wears a bright-pink wizards’ hat and 
  carries a skull-topped mace in one monstrous hand, 
  and a wooden stick with the rotting corpse of  
  a toad strapped to it, in the other. 
   
   
   
   
                    7 
  
   
   
  This is where all the things not needed by  
  Madame Hailien eventually ends up. 
  The insane and somewhat forgetful wizard  
  has long been bad at taking care of herself,  
  and as such has taken a ​Nothic​ named “Grûgg”  
  and an ​Otyugh​ called “Sparkle” into her service. 
    The Otyugh devours all the waste produced by  
  the giantess and anyone else residing in her tower,  
  at any given time, while the Nothic serves Hailien  
  as her personal butler, making sure she eats,  
  sleeps and bathes regularly, in addition to 
  instructing Sparkle in what he can and cannot 
  devour. 
    Grûgg’s last task is welcoming and guiding 
  visitors about the tower. 
    When the party shows up, the reason Grûgg 
  appears it to instruct Sparkle to devour a barrel 
  containing excrement. 
  However, once the presence of the characters 
  comes to his attention, Grûgg will instead greet 
  them courtly and offer to escort them to meet 
  Madame Hailien, wherever she may be at the time. 
    If he comes under attack, Grûgg carries a  
  Mace of Terror and a ​Wand of Polymorph,  
  and will use them freely to create himself  
  an opportunity to escape and find his mistress. 
    Although Sparkle is a frightening sight,  
  his fat appearance, even for an Otyugh is  
  an indication of just how well fed he is within  
  the tower of the giantess, and as such,  
  the creature isn’t inclined to attack the characters 
  unless it comes to feel threatened by them. 
  In summary, the Otyugh is well fed, not trained. 
    Two pairs of massive double doors lead north  
  and southwest from this tower to Master Torndo’s 
  tower (Area 4.F1) and Madame Graupelle’s Tower 
  (Area 6.F1), both via the battlements (Area 3). 
   
  Area 5.B1: Hailien’s Study 
  The spiral staircase of this white,  
  marble tower descend to end at what appears  
  to be complete emptiness, infinite space 
  stretching out before you. 
   
   
   
  Uncountable stars twinkle before you in multiple 
  colours, arranged in several constellations,  
  some familiar, some unknown to you,  
  but all connected by lines of silvery light. 
  Seemingly suspended in empty space 
  is a massive bed, a giant-sized desk,  
  and several bookshelves, filled with  
  enormous books and scrolls. 
  Lying atop the giant bed are a pair of grotesque, 
  spheroid creatures with several eyestalks 
  protruding from their form, and a singular  
  central eye, dominating each of their forms. 
   
  Despite the wondrous sights within this area, 
  the starry visage is nothing but a permanent  
  illusion and everything here is perfectly solid,  
  the floor and walls of the room are easily found. 
    This is where Madame Hailien goes each dawn  
  to rest after having observed the night sky during the 
  available hours of darkness. 
    A pair of ​Spectators​ reside here at all times, 
  having been summoned here by Hailien years ago to 
  guard a treasure stored in her room… or at least, 
  that used to be their task. 
  Madame Hailien has in her forgetfulness forgotten 
  what the two beholder-kin were guarding,  
  or that they were even guarding anything at all,  
  and has long since thrown the treasure out of her 
  home as any other unwanted garbage. 
    The Spectators are aware of what they once were 
  the guardians of, but neither of them have any 
  interest in sharing this information, or even  
  that they used to guard the treasure. 
  If the characters were to convince the Spectators  
  to tell them anyway, the treasure could  
  be most-anything of the DMs choosing,  
  an item of mighty Divination-magic would  
  be appropriate, like a particularly powerful  
  Crystal Ball or similar 
    The Spectators now reside here, not because  
  they have to, but simply because they enjoy  
  their now newly-found, pampered treatment,  
  as Madame Hailien has taken to thinking of the  
  two creatures as fat cats or similar egocentric pets. 
   
   
                    8 
  
   
   
  As a consequence of the Spectators new status, 
  Hailien given both of the aberrations names,  
  but due to her forgetfulness, no name ever sticks  
  for long and neither of the Spectators care to 
  remember their names. 
    The current names of the beholder-kin, 
  used by their giantess mistress, are “Plum”  
  and “Olive,” both named so after the hues  
  of their skin, but who knows how long those  
  names will last. 
    Located in the centre of the room is a 
  Teleportation Circle hidden away “underneath”  
  the starry illusion, standing in the circle and  
  saying “Nehd” would once have teleported  
  a character to the Hailien’s storage room,  
  however, a few years ago, Madame Hailien had an 
  accident within the storage room, causing large 
  amounts of spellscrolls magical concoctions to  
  fall off their shelves and create a chain-reaction  
  of arcane energy, resulting in the bottom floor  
  of the tower now being filled completely by  
  both physical barriers in the form of something 
  akin to a cave-in, as well as magical hazards,  
  the area now being a Wild Magic-zone of unique 
  potency, casting ​Detect Magic or similar magic 
  within this room reveals this Wild Magic-zone, 
  as a huge area of overwhelming magical energies. 
    Due to this arcane accident, the ​Teleportation 
  Circle no longer functions correctly, and instead  
  of teleporting a character down to the bottom floor, 
  the character saying the circle’s command word 
  must instead make a Constitution Saving-Throw, 
  taking 10d10 Force-damage on a Failed save, 
  or Half as much damage on a Successful one, 
  as well as being flung 20-feet across the room, 
  away from the circle. 
   
  Area 5.B2: The Far Zone 
  If one or more characters somehow manage to  
  enter this area without immediately being crushed 
  to death by the boulders filling up the entirety of 
  the room, that character instead takes 6d6 damage 
  at the beginning of each of its turns, from arcane 
  energies flowing wildly throughout the room. 
   
   
   
  The type of damage is determined randomly  
  by rolling on the Wild Charge-Table each round: 
   
  Wild Charge-Table 
  Damage Type (1d8) 
    1 
  Fire 
    2 
  Cold 
    3 
  Lightning 
    4 
  Thunder 
    5 
  Psychic 
    6 
  Radiant 
    7 
  Necrotic 
    8 
  Force 
   
  If the characters aren’t repelled by even this,  
  roll once on the Magic Items Table I, 
  and 1d4 times on the Magic Items Table G 
  (at this point, they would have earned it). 
   
  Area 6.R: Cage Arena 
  The rooftop of this tower is a small amphitheatre, 
  complete with a massive, domed cage taking 
  up the centre the floorspace here. 
  A large trapdoor leads down from here,  
  into the remainder of the tower below. 
   
  The lady of this tower, Madame Graupelle spends 
  much time here, enjoying battles to the death 
  between captives and her summoned minions. 
    The domed cage is made up of two separate  
  sections that can be lifted to connect with each  
  other to form the domed cage, or lowered,  
  parting the two sections from one another,  
  opening up the area for free movement. 
  Only a creature as large and strong as a giant  
  has the ability to raise and lower the two sections 
  without the assistance of spellcasting. 
   
   
                    9 
  
   
   
  A small creature can however fit between the  
  bars of the cage if they squeeze and Succeed  
  on a DC 15 (Acrobatics) check. 
    A massive set of lockable trapdoor-openings  
  lead down from here to a marble spiral staircase 
  which connects with the rest of the tower. 
    Due to their size, the locks can’t be picked  
  by normal means, but a character can stick  
  an arm inside the lock and make a DC 20  
  Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check to unlock them. 
  When the characters first arrive at the tower, 
  the trapdoors are locked; either due to it being  
  so late in the night that Madame Graupelle  
  is fast asleep. 
    Alternatively, an arena-match is currently  
  being fought, meaning that both the trapdoors  
  are locked and the cage is raised and locked, 
  and therefore, the party forcing entry to the  
  rooftop would place them directly in the middle  
  of the battle potentially taking place. 
    If the arena-match is in progress,  
  Madame Graupelle​ is here, watching a 
  Salamander​, summoned by her, fighting a 
  Unicorn​ to the death for her amusement. 
    The fight has been progressing for a little while 
  and both creatures have lost 20 Hit Points as a 
  result, the Unicorn is additionally “wearing”  
  a pair of ​Dimensional Shackles, preventing it  
  from teleporting, and is being targeted by  
  the ​Confusion-spell by Madame Graupelle  
  to make it resist her games less. 
    Madame Graupelle is accompanied  
  by her beloved ​Displacer Beast​ pet called  
  “Naht” and her ​Magmin​ familiar “Roej.” 
    ​Interacting with the Unicorn.​ The name  
  of the unicorn is Fentûlon, and if he is given  
  the opportunity, he will introduce himself  
  as an inhabitant and guardian of Moonwood. 
    If the party attempt to aid Fentûlon during his 
  moment of distress, by attempting to dispel the 
  Confusion-spell, by healing him, or by attempting  
  to remove his magical shackles, Fentûlon will 
  thank the party and offer his aid in opposing the 
  giants of these flying towers, as well as share with 
  them what he knows of the giants’ activities;  
    
   
  Fentûlon knows that the flying towers have been 
  circling about the region of One Stone for the last 
  few days and have never strayed far from there. 
    Fentûlon also knows that Stone Giants have been 
  skulking about the same region over the last few 
  tendays, though he doesn’t know if these two groups 
  of giants have any association. 
    Lastly, the unicorn knows that the cloud giant 
  mages have collected several rocks emanating  
  arcane energies, all seemingly located on the  
  large central platform (Area 1), and he suspects  
  that the giants might intend to steal the One Stone, 
  since it has similar properties. 
    ​Interacting with Graupelle.​ The lady of the tower, 
  unlike her fellow mages, has held onto a good 
  portion of her cloud giant-heritage, and enjoys  
  many of the joys of her kin at large, riches,  
  games and gambling means much to her. 
    If the characters arrive at her tower and engage  
  her peacefully, Graupelle will welcome them  
  like any gracious host, and invite them to watch  
  a cage-match with her.  
  If the party declines her invitation,  
  Madame Graupelle will lose interest in the 
  characters’ presence and request that they leave  
  her and her home in peace immediately. 
    If the first time the characters meet Graupelle  
  is while a cage-match is ongoing, and the characters 
  find themselves inside the domed cage with the 
  fighters, then Graupelle will see them as nothing 
  more than additions to the fight and be delighted  
  at their appearance, instructing her summoned 
  Salamander to concentrate its attacks on them  
  and keeping them inside the cage. 
   
  Treasure.  
  Madame Graupelle wears a giant-sized monocle, 
  which serves as a ​Gem of Seeing when she  
  spectates arena-matches between creatures  
  capable of invisibility. 
  She additionally carries a ​Spell Scroll of greater 
  invisibility and two ​Iron Bands of Bilarro,  
  as well as keys for both the domed cage and  
  the trapdoors. 
  Lastly, Graupelle has her Spellbook on her. 
   
                    10 
  
   
   
  Its binding is edged with gold and set with rubies, 
  while its pages are of paper rather than cheaper 
  parchment, the book weighs 110 pounds. 
  It contains all the spells Graupelle has prepared, 
  as well as the following additional spells: 
  arcane gate, cloudkill, confusion, demiplane, 
  dimension door, Evard’s black tentacles, flaming 
  sphere, fog cloud, grease, Leomund’s secret chest, 
  misty step, Mordenkainen’s magnificent mansion, 
  plane shift, stinking cloud, and​ watery sphere. 
   
  Area 6.F1: Graupelle Entrance Hall 
  This massive entrance hall has enormous  
  and lavish banners in several colours,  
  hanging from the walls. 
  A grand marble staircase spirals up to the roof 
  above, and downwards to the floors below. 
  Covering a large portion of the floor next to  
  the staircase, is the sight of a magic circle, 
  shining dimly in colours ever-changing. 
  Hanging on the southern wall, partially covered 
  by a giant curtain, is an enormous mirror,  
  nearly 30-feet-tall and framed in gold and  
  set with pearls emeralds. 
  Silver platters, many with domed lids and  
  sized for humanoids, float about the hall, 
  seemingly on their own. 
  As you take in your surroundings,  
  one of the platters float towards you,  
  removes its lid and reveals ten filled  
  glasses of champagne. 
   
  The silver platters are all carried by permanent 
  castings of the ​Unseen Servant-spell, with a range 
  allowing them to roam the tower, but nothing more. 
  The servants are instructed to make guests feel 
  welcome while they wait for an occupant of the 
  tower to meet them. 
  Guarding the staircase against thieves and invaders 
  are two ​Invisible Stalkers​. 
    The magic circle in the centre of the room serves 
  Madame Graupelle as both a ​Teleportation Circle, 
  connecting all the floors of the tower, except for the  
  rooftop, as well as serving as a Summoning Circle 
   
   
  for when the lady of the tower performs her arcane 
  experiments, or simply acquires new pitfighters. 
    The most interesting part of the entrance hall is 
  without question the giant mirror, which in truth  
  is a uniquely massive ​Mirror of Life Trapping. 
  The enormous mirror weighs 400 pounds. 
    The mirror is currently inactive, and only Madame 
  Graupelle knows the command word to activate the 
  mirror; casting the ​Identify-spell or similar magic  
  on the mirror will however reveal the properties of 
  the mirror as well as its command word “Smukkest” 
  Such a casting will additionally reveal that all  
  twelfth prison-cells within the mirror are occupied, 
  but it won’t reveal by whom or what. 
    If the characters stare into the mirror while  
  it is inactive, read the following: 
   
  As you stare into the mirror, your reflection 
  becomes blurred and hazy. 
  A moment later, your reflection is gone altogether, 
  replaced by the vision of a beautiful, young 
  woman, standing barefoot amongst the mists  
  in the distance. 
  The woman appears to be unaware of your 
  presence, can you even be considered present? 
  But as you look at her, her expression suddenly 
  changes to that of a frown as she turns her head  
  to look in your direction. 
  You feel for a moment like your eyes meet,  
  but the expression on the young woman’s face 
  makes it apparent quickly that she doesn’t truly  
  see you. 
  The woman then smiles, her frown gone,  
  and turns her back to the mirror, pushes forth  
  her behind and proceeds to mimic the mockings  
  of a baboon in your direction, turning her face 
  back toward the mirror and sticking out her  
  tongue at you, finally ending her strange antics  
  by making a gesture you’re certain would be 
  considered quite rude amongst several circles  
  of elder-nobles across the region. 
  The vision of the woman then fades,  
  swallowed up by the mist and then again  
  replaced by your own reflection. 
   
   
                    11 
  
   
   
  The vision was that of one of the prisoners within  
  the mirror, this particular woman’s unique powers 
  allowing her to sense the party observing  
  her outside. 
  If the party continues to look into the mirror, 
  visions of other prisoners might appear,  
  though they would be unaware of being watched, 
  and as such would either depict creatures stumbling 
  confused through the haze, some banging 
  helplessly at the mirror to try and escape it,  
  and some simply sitting or laying around  
  in the mist, resting. 
    Since the characters have no way of knowing  
  who or what is in each cell, if they choose to free 
  someone, roll randomly on the Mirror-Table,  
  or simply choose one, the numbers correspond  
  to the cells the creatures occupy, so if the 
  characters begin naming cell-numbers, creatures 
  are released as described below: 
   
   
  Mirror-Table  Prisoners    (1d12) 
    1 
  Marid 
    2 
  Abominable Yeti 
    3 
  Green Dragonborn ​Gladiator 
    4 
  Storm Giant​ scout 
    5 
  Nycaloth 
    6 
  Young Red Shadow Dragon 
    7 
  Blink Dog 
    8 
  Githyanki Knight 
    9 
  Yuan-Ti Malison​, type 2 
    10 
  Tyrannosaurus Rex  
    11 
  Water Weird 
    12 
  Diancastra the Pleasureseeker 
   
  ●
   
   
  ●
  Marid. ​This aquatic genie, which  
  introduces itself as Abbas Al-Fadl,  
  Reef-​Khalīf of the Rose-Water Mountains, 
  has been imprisoned within the mirror of 
  Madame Graupelle for one-hundred-and-one 
  years, and as a result, has become rather bitter 
  and openly antagonistic to anyone within his 
  presence, showing no gratitude whatsoever  
  to any of his freers. 
    The Reef-​Khalīf is capable of granting 
  wishes and will indeed do so for any 
  character who requests such a gesture, 
  offering a single character one wish each. 
  However, due to his bitterness, the Marid  
  will do everything in his power to corrupt  
  the wish and make the outcome of the wish  
  as terrible as possible, exploiting any 
  loophole within its wording. 
    Once he has fulfilled any wishes, or if  
  no character engages him in conversation,  
  the Marid will cast ​Plane Shift on himself  
  to leave for the Elemental Plane of Water. 
  ●
  Abominable Yeti.​ This beast is confused  
  and enraged, attacking anything it sees  
  when it is freed from the mirror. 
  ●
  Green Dragonborn Gladiator.​ This lawful 
  neutral dragonborn introduces herself as  
  Keanu Powderbreath, a merchant, sailor  
  and occasional mercenary, hailing from 
  Lantan, an island in the Sea of Swords, 
  she is however reluctant to speak much  
  about her home. 
    Keanu happily offers her liberators her aid  
  if it means that she stands a better chance  
  of surviving and escaping this flying place 
  and her former captors, and return to society. 
  ●
  Storm Giant Scout.​ This male giant, 
  referring to himself as Grúnnar, impassively 
  shows his appreciation for his freedom, 
  informing the characters that he is on a quest 
  to find the missing king of Maelstrom, 
  Hekaton. 
    What this Chaotic Evil giant fails to mention 
  is that he is given this task by the king’s 
  daughter, Princess Mirran, and that if Grúnnar 
   
                    12 
  
   
  ●
   
  indeed was to manage to find the king, 
  it would be his task to immediately slay 
  him, making sure he couldn’t interfere  
  in her ongoing schemes. 
    Grúnnar has no particular interest in aiding 
  the characters in any meaningful way, 
  wishing only to leave the flying towers  
  to report to his princess, informing her  
  that he was imprisoned when questioning 
  the cloud giants, making him suspicious  
  of them but currently with no evidence  
  of their involvement in, or knowledge of, 
  king Hekaton’s disappearance. 
    If Grúnnar was to become suspicious  
  of the characters, or if they began asking  
  too many questions, he wouldn’t hesitate 
  attacking them immediately, feeling  
  nothing but contempt for smallfolk. 
    Grúnnar is a ​Storm Giant​ with the 
  following additional feature: 
    ​-Keen Hearing and Sight. The giant has 
     Advantage on Wisdom (Perception) 
     checks that rely on Hearing and Sight. 
  ●
  Nycaloth.​ Calling itself Fraz-Aran,  
  this Yugoloth when freed will be openly 
  hostile to the characters, questioning them 
  for knowledge about Madame Graupelle 
  and her whereabouts. 
    If Fraz-Aran comes to believe the 
  characters are withholding information 
  about her, it will become violent, killing  
  off anyone not needed for questioning. 
    If Fraz-Aran comes to think the characters 
  don’t know anything about Madame 
  Graupelle, it will simply leave them  
  with a sneer. 
    If Madame Graupelle is present when the 
  Nycaloth is freed, or if it comes to know  
  her whereabouts, it will immediately seek 
  her out with the intend of slaying her for 
  capturing it, even going so far as to allying 
  with the characters if they stand against her. 
  ●
  Young Red Shadow Dragon.​ This young 
  dragon, referring to itself as Molik’loex, 
  once ruled as god-king over a Yuan-Ti 
  kingdom within the jungles of Chult. 
   
  ●
   
  According to the beliefs of the snake people, 
  ruling as the literal manifestation of their 
  uppermost deity, Dendar the Night Serpent’s 
  might, while the primordial god still 
  slumbers. 
    More centuries ago than the draconic 
  god-king is aware of, the young shadow 
  dragon, with the help of great magics,  
  entered the infamous tomb of the demilich, 
  Acererak; searching the ruins for further 
  additions to his already earthshaking hoard. 
    Within this tomb of horrors, the dragon 
  found itself in a battle against a momentous 
  foe, a battle cut short by its entrapment  
  within a massive magical mirror. 
    Unless ​Diancastra​ is present when he  
  is freed, the shadow dragon cares about 
  nothing other than escaping his containment 
  and returning to the jungles of Chult. 
    However, if his ancient foe is present, 
  the dragon’s pride and hate towards her will 
  stir him into taking up the battle once again, 
  this time to the death. 
  ●
  Blink Dog.​ This canine-like fey wants 
  nothing other than to escape the mirror  
  and the towers of the cloud giants. 
    In light of this, the blink dog will simply 
  attempt to flee once it has been freed. 
  It has no intention of fighting or talking 
  anyone, unless it doesn’t absolutely has to. 
  ●
  Githyanki Knight.​ A smuggler of 
  smokepowder by trade, Abhaj-Jamitar  
  is capable of speaking both Common and 
  Undercommon, having her base of operations 
  mainly having taken place in the hidden city 
  of Skullport below the great city of 
  Waterdeep, a place she wishes to return  
  to with as much haste as possible. 
    Abhaj-Jamitar has little to no interest  
  in interacting with or aiding the characters, 
  believing them to be capable of doing nothing 
  other than slowing her down. 
    However, were the characters to prove  
  her otherwise, she would likely be inclined  
  to join them, as well as aiding them. 
   
   
                    13 
  
   
   
  ●
  In addition to her Silver Greatsword, 
  Abhaj-Jamitar is armed with a ​Hunting Rifle 
  and an ​Antimatter Rifle (see chapter  
  9 in the ​Dungeon Master’s Guide),  
  and carries enough ammunition for each 
  weapon to last her for months,  
  located within a ​Bag of Holding she  
  wears at her hip. 
    Abhaj-Jamitar can fire either of her  
  rifles as an Action on her turn:  
  she is considered proficient with  
  both weapons and adds a +6 bonus  
  to hit with them. 
  ●
  Yuan-Ti Malison, Type 2.​ A former 
  worshipper of the shadow dragon, 
  Molik’loex, this female Yuan-Ti,  
  known as Gixaak, was among the first 
  scouts discovering and investigating 
  the tomb and traps of Acererak. 
    Gixaak is not aware that her king  
  and god is entrapped within the mirror,  
  and if she were to learn so, she would  
  turn hostile to pressure her freers into 
  freeing him as well. 
  ●
  Tyrannosaurus Rex.​ This massive beast  
  is hungry and panicked upon its release, 
  attacking anything within its line of sight. 
  ●
  Water Weird.​ One of Madame Graupelle’s 
  favorite summoned arena-fighters,  
  this water weird delights its mistress  
  by choking out the life of its opponents. 
    It would normally be found within its tank 
  within Graupelle’s bedroom (Area 6.B2), 
  but said tank was damaged during the 
  weird’s last match, and it is therefore stored 
  within the mirror until Madame Graupelle 
  can acquire a suitable replacement. 
  ●
  Diancastra the Pleasureseeker.​ The last 
  prisoner of Madame Graupelle is Diancastra 
  (see Appendix B), giant demi-goddess of 
  trickery, adventure, sexuality and fertility. 
    As one can imagine, Madame Graupelle  
  is not aware that she is holding one of her 
  own pantheon captive within her mirror,  
   
   
   
   
  the cloud giant mage was simply aware  
  that a being of immense power was stored 
  within the last cell of it, and that it therefore 
  would be wiser not to interact or free the 
  prisoner.  
    If the character witnessed the vision of  
  the woman within the mirror, then what they 
  saw was Diancastra, engaging in one of her 
  antics since she could sense their gazes upon 
  her with her divine senses, even in her 
  currently, magically entrapped state. 
    Upon her release, Diancastra will cheerfully 
  express her gratitude to the party and inform 
  them that she intends to rewards them for 
  their aid, but that she currently feels incapable 
  of doing so properly, and that she desires to 
  once again run below skies of the multiverse, 
  after having been trapped for more than two 
  centuries, in the mirror. 
  For this reason, the goddess will inform the 
  party that she intends to leave them as soon  
  as possible, but that she will return at a later 
  time to repay her debt to them. 
    Leaving as soon as possible doesn’t mean 
  immediately; Diancastra will inform the party 
  that she was fighting a Shadow Dragon when 
  she was trapped in the mirror, the dragon 
  interrupting her during a self-imposed 
  challenge she was going through,  
  to explore and survive several deadly traps 
  located within the tomb of a Demilich,  
  though the name of the tomb and demilich 
  escape her after this long. 
    Diancastra however knows that the Dragon 
  she fought was trapped alongside her,  
  the creature seeming to not have been part  
  of the traps of the tomb, and that the dragon 
  still resides within the mirror. 
    As a result of this, Diancastra will express 
  her desire to finish her battle with the dragon, 
  and will invite the characters to join her in  
  her battle, if they are interested. 
    If the ​Young Red Shadow Dragon​ already 
  has escaped the mirror, and Diancastra is  
   
   
   
                    14 
  
   
   
  ●
  released, then the two enemies will 
  immediately enter combat, keeping their 
  attacks focused on each other. 
    If the dragon has already been slain by  
  the time Diancastra is freed, the goddess  
  will congratulate the characters on their 
  victory and extend her offer of aid as 
  normal. 
   
  Two pairs of massive double doors lead northeast  
  and west from this tower to Madame Hailien’s 
  tower (Area 5.F1) and to the tower of Master d’Zud  
  (Area 7.F1), both via the battlements (Area 3). 
   
  Area 6.B1: The Storage 
  It is impossibly quiet within this massive 
  chamber, not even your own breathing or 
  movements is audible. 
  The chamber is cast mostly in darkness,  
  but through the dark you see a grand marble 
  staircase spiraling its way above you,  
  as well as downwards. 
  One of the only sources of light within the 
  chamber, is a magic circle, shining dimly  
  in ever-changing colours, located next to  
  the staircase. 
  Partially visible through the darkness are several 
  cages of various sizes, occasional movements 
  seen from within, and large, shining eyes staring 
  back at you, through the dark. 
   
  This is where Madame Graupelle keeps her many 
  pitfighters locked up between matches. 
    The magic circle in the centre of the room serves 
  Madame Graupelle as a ​Teleportation Circle, 
  connecting all the floors of the tower,  
  except for the rooftop. 
    Aside from a 20-foot-dome covering the 
  Teleportation Circle, the entire room is targeted  
  by a permanent ​Silence-spell, for the purpose  
  of not annoying the lady of the tower, as well  
  as to foil most attempts at spellcasting within  
  the containment area. 
   
   
   
   
  The number of “fighters” present within this  
  chamber varies greatly from tenday to tenday,  
  as creatures die for one reason or another. 
    The current occupants of the chamber are  
  the following: 
   
  ●
  A fallen ​Deva​, calling itself Achaddon, 
  and which, in its fallen state, has lost its  
  mind and changed alignment to Chaotic Evil, 
  now relishing in acts murder and destruction,  
  as well as being one of Madame Graupelle’s 
  mightiest pitfighters. 
    Achaddon holds no loyalty to Graupelle 
  however, the angel would enjoy crushing  
  her skull under its mace just as much as 
  anyone else’s. 
  ●
  A male ​Centaur​ called Abelahl, whom is 
  missing an arm after an earlier arena-match, 
  and therefore lacks a Longbow. 
  ●
  An aggressive ​Chuul​. 
  ●
  A female ​Cyclops​ named Nanhildr,  
  who enjoys her simple life of pit fighting. 
  ●
  An ​Ettin​ whose heads are called Pete and 
  Fijtur, both of which enjoy their current  
  state as arena-fighters, being regularly fed 
  and given plenty of opportunities to smash 
  “puny-folk.” 
  ●
  A ​Flameskull​ which vaguely remembers its 
  former existence as a noble drow wizard from 
  Menzoberranzan named Phafein Tuin’Tarl. 
  ●
  Six ​Gnolls​ and two ​Hyenas​.  
    Madame Graupelle finds gnolls to be  
  an easy means of acquiring new pitfighters, 
  simple capture a few hyenas and have them 
  feed on anything a gnoll kills and “poof”  
  a new gnoll is spawned. 
  ●
  An ​Orc Eye of Gruumsh​ named Zemha  
  who would love nothing more than to rip out 
  the heart of the giantess holding her captive. 
  ●
  Four ​Lions​. 
  ●
  Depending on the time of day, a ​Unicorn​, 
  known as Fentûlon, might also be present 
  within this chamber. 
   
  Each cage functions as ​Dimensional Shackles. 
   
   
                    15 
  
   
  Area 6.B2: Graupelle’s Bedchamber 
  A pleasant warmth greets you as you enter this 
  oversized but lavishly furnished bedchamber. 
  Magical flames, placed floating here and there,  
  cast the chamber in a bright and warm light. 
  A giant-sized bed, fit for a king,  
  dominates most of the floorspace here. 
  The remainder of the floor is covered in the  
  dim lights of a magic circle, carved into the 
  floor. 
  A massive bookcase stands against the eastern 
  wall, filled with books of different sizes. 
  Standing atop a small table, relative to 
  everything else within the chamber, is what 
  appears to be an enormous, but empty, fishbowl. 
  A massive crack is visible in the glass near the 
  fishbowl’s bottom, offering up an explanation  
  for its emptied state. 
   
  Madame Graupelle goes here to rest and read. 
    The magic circle in the centre of the room serves 
  Madame Graupelle as a ​Teleportation Circle, 
  connecting all the floors of the tower,  
  except for the rooftop. 
    If ​Madame Graupelle​ is here, her beloved 
  Displacer Beast​ pet called “Naht” and her 
  Magmin​ familiar “Roej” are here with her. 
    The fishbowl used to contain Madame Graupelle’s 
  favourite pitfighter, a Water Weird favouring cruel 
  tactics in combat, but the bowl was damaged by 
  accident a few tendays ago, and the Water Weird  
  is therefore held within Graupelle’s magic mirror  
  in the entrance hall while she acquires a new one, 
  or until she decides to magically fix the thing. 
   
  Treasure.  
  The majority of the books present within her 
  bedchamber are either romance novels or books 
  describing the fauna and geographical features  
  of the different planes of the multiverse. 
    Most of the collection isn’t particularly valuable, 
  but characters can spend 10 minutes poring over 
  the collection and make a DC 15 Intelligence 
  (Arcana) check or Intelligence (Religion) check. 
  On a Successful check, the characters find  
  the four most valuable pieces of the collection,  
  each worth 1000 gp. 
   
  If Graupelle is here, her spellbook and other 
  belongings are here with her, as described in  
  the treasure section of the Cage Arena (Area 6.R). 
   
  Area 7.R: The Moonlight Alter 
  Blood. You see dried blood everywhere  
  before you, the dark red sticking out on  
  surfaces of white marble. 
  Large dried up pools of red cover the floor, 
  spatters are visible on the battlements here  
  and there, and leaving almost no surface to  
  its natural white, several layers of dried blood 
  paint the star-shaped form of a massive marble 
  altar, located at the eastern edge of the rooftop. 
  Baskets and buckets stand here and there on  
  the floor, most filled with rotting bones and gore. 
  Lying atop the horrid altar is several tools of 
  dissection and butchery. 
  Several tiny orbs of light float about the area, 
  casting the nightmarish scene in varying  
  degrees of illumination. 
   
  Master d’Zud goes here to perform his dark acts, 
  particularly on moonlit nights. 
    If it is night time when the characters first arrive  
  at the tower, it is likely that ​Master d’Zud​ is here,  
  preparing for one of his rituals to reclaim his iron 
  hold over his undead minions. 
    Regardless if d’Zud is here or not, his favoured  
  pet ​Catoblepas​ called “Zinew” is here 
  (use ​Elephant​ statistics to represent this creature,  
  but consider it only Large and give it the  
  Enervation Ray of a ​Beholder​ with  
  Recharge on a roll of 5 or 6). 
    The catoblepas is not particularly aggressive 
  towards strangers, he is well fed, eating freely  
  from the buckets of gore, and is trained into having  
  a personality akin to that of a lazy housecat. 
    Due to his constant close-up relationship  
  with the catoblepas, Master d’Zud is considered 
  Immune to its Stench-feature. 
    Present here at all hours of the day are ten 
  Will-O’-Wisps​, but their tasks are nothing more  
  than to keep the tower lit, and as such don’t act 
  against the characters unless they are commanded 
   
                    16 
  
   
   
   
  to do so by Master d’Zud, attacked by the 
  characters or otherwise threatened by them. 
    ​The Altar of Delban.​ This 20-foot-diameter, 
  star-shaped, altar of white marble contains  
  a fragmental vestige of ​Delban the Star of Ice  
  and Hate; any humanoid which comes into 
  physical contact with the altar which isn’t Resistant 
  to either Cold or Necrotic-damage immediately  
  takes 10 (3d6) Cold-damage and must then  
  Succeed on a DC 18 Constitution Saving-Throw 
  or be Paralyzed for 1 minute. 
  While paralyzed in this manner, the character  
  can’t be physically removed from the altar  
  by any means, magical or otherwise. 
    Acting as a guardian of the altar and bound  
  to its location, is a ​Poltergeist​ which attacks  
  any creature stuck to the altar. 
  The poltergeist can use the tools lying atop the altar 
  as ammunition for its Telekinetic Thrust action. 
   
  Undeads of d’Zud Tower. 
  All Undead-type creatures featured within 
  this tower add an additional +4 to Damage 
  Rolls and have an extra 15 Hit Points. 
   
  Area 7.F1: d’Zud Tower Entrance Hall 
  The smell of rotting flesh greets you as you  
  enter this massive entrance hall. 
  Splatters of dried blood and gore occasionally 
  covers the otherwise beautiful marble floor. 
  A grand marble staircase spirals up to the roof 
  above, and downwards to the floors below. 
  Several motes of light float about the grand hall, 
  illuminating the area in cold hues. 
  The sound of running water and steam is vaguely 
  audible here as well, echoing its way through 
  several brass pipes climbing their way across  
  the walls, all gathering at a massive brass 
  container in the southern corner of the room. 
   
  The mucky waters of the floodchamber (Area 7.B2) 
  are transported here to be purified anew and to keep 
  the water flow within that chamber running. 
   
   
  Present here at all hours of the day are ten 
  Will-O’-Wisps​, but their tasks are nothing more  
  than to keep the tower lit, and as such don’t act 
  against the characters unless they are commanded 
  to do so by Master d’Zud, attacked by the characters 
  or otherwise threatened by them. 
    In addition, roaming the hall and guarding the 
  purifier and piping are two ​Skeletons​, six ​Zombies​, 
  an ​Ogre Zombie​, and a ​Wraith​. 
    ​The Water Purifier.​ This massive boiler is made 
  from brass and is kept active through continual 
  magical heat, boiling mucky water sent to it from 
  Area 7.B2 through brass pipes, and then releases  
  the purified water back down to that area to power 
  the waterwheel located at that location. 
    The boiler and pipe-line is magically protected, 
  each section of pipe has 100 Hit Points,  
  while the boiler itself has 333 Hit Points. 
    All parts of the purifier’s system is Resistant  
  to all magical damage, and has Immunity to 
  non-magical damage. 
    Two pairs of massive double doors lead to  
  the east and northwest from this tower to Madame 
  Graupelle’s tower (Area 6.F1) and to the tower  
  of Master Derechoo (Area 8.F1), both via the 
  battlements (Area 3). 
   
  Area 7.B1: Bedchamber of Master d’Zud 
  A giant-sized double bed dominates much  
  of the floorspace of this bedchamber,  
  a black silken canopy hanging above it. 
  Standing at the foot of the double bed is  
  a closed sarcophagus made from obsidian  
  and carved with the strangely pleasant visage  
  of a happily smiling elven male, his hands  
  folded over the carving of a lyre. 
  A massive wooden desk stands against the wall, 
  stacks of dusty tomes placed atop it. 
  Two pairs of black plush-chairs are present in the 
  room, one sized for giants, the other normal sized. 
  Hanging on the wall above the desk is an 
  enormous, golden-framed painting depicting  
  a portrait of a spectral giantess, smiling down  
  at you as warmly as one would could consider 
  possible from a ghost. 
                    17 
  
   
   
  This is where the master of the tower comes to rest 
  and write down notes of his research, as well as to 
  engage his chamberlain in conversation. 
    If it is daytime when the characters first arrive, 
  Master d’Zud​ is likely here, talking to Akh’Arael. 
    Regardless if his master is here or not, Akh’Arael,  
  a sun elven ​Mummy​ and the chamberlain of  
  d’Zud is present, sitting in his chair and ready  
  to ask the characters about their business. 
    Present here at all hours of the day are ten 
  Will-O’-Wisps​, but their tasks are nothing more  
  than to keep the tower lit, and as such don’t act 
  against the characters unless they are commanded 
  to do so by Master d’Zud, attacked by the 
  characters or otherwise threatened by them. 
    ​Interacting with Akh’Arael.​ Despite his grisly, 
  mummified appearance, Akh’Arael is a pleasant 
  man with a melodious voice who enjoys company 
  and happily welcomes the characters as guests  
  of the tower, as long as they aren’t openly hostile  
  to him or any of its occupants. 
    Though currently acting as chamberlain for 
  Master d’Zud, the sun elf used to work for the 
  master as his personal minstrel. 
    If asked to perform for the characters,  
  Akh’Arael happily does so; he adds a  
  +5 to Charisma (Performance) checks. 
    ​Spiral Staircase.​ If the characters look down  
  the spiral staircase to asses what resides on the  
  floor below, read the following: 
   
  The white marble staircase continues its  
  spiraling down towards the basement floor,  
  but then comes to an abrupt stop only 20 feet 
  down from your current location. 
  You hear only silence from below. 
   
  If the giantess ghost depicted in the painting  
  is mentioned in the presence of Master d’Zud, 
  the master will scowl and excuse himself, 
  leaving this floor for the rooftop to reminisce. 
    If the characters question Akh’Arael about  
  the giantess ghost, he will inform the characters 
  that she was known as Lady Hetbyrd and that  
   
   
   
  she was the master’s undead lover until she lashed 
  out against d’Zud for trying to acquire complete 
  control over her being, an act he (and Akh’Arael) 
  saw as an act of unending love and devotion, 
  and when Hetbyrd fought for her freedom, 
  d’Zud destroyed her, casting her off into the  
  darkness below in the floodchamber (Area 7.B2), 
  where she joined up with the rest of the master’s 
  unwanted minions. 
    Master d’Zud has since then spent much  
  of his research and resources on trying to find  
  a way to reform Lady Hetbyrd, this time in the 
  obedient state Master d’Zud desires for her. 
   
  Treasure.  
  Located within the obsidian sarcophagus  
  is a full ​Necklace of Fireballs along with  
  the personal instrument of Akh’Arael,  
  an ​Instrument of the Bards; Cli Lyre. 
    Stacked atop the wooden desk is several  
  giant-sized books on necromancy, all in bad 
  condition and of no noteworthy value. 
    Lying alongside the books is a giant-sized  
  Periapt of Proof Against Poison,  
  along with a ​Ring of Animal Influence. 
    Also lying amid the stacks of dusty tomes  
  is the Spellbook of Master d’Zud. 
  Its binding and pages are made from patches  
  of humanoid skin, the book weighs 110 pounds. 
  The book contains all the spells d’Zud has prepared, 
  as well as the following additional spells: 
  antipathy/sympathy, banishment, burning hands, 
  clone, creation, darkness, darkvision, eyebite,  
  feign death, gentle repose, immolation,  
  incendiary cloud, investiture of flame,  
  magic jar, silence, and​ telekinesis.  
   
  Area 7.B2: The Floodchamber 
  As you set foot within this massive chamber, 
  the total silence is replaced utterly by the 
  overwhelming roar of water flowing freely. 
  Flowing down along all walls, from pipes,  
  around you are several waterfalls, all ending  
  at the dark and flooded floor below. 
   
   
                    18 
  
   
   
  The white marble staircase comes to an abrupt  
  end in midair only twenty feet below its top, 
  the rest of it appearing to have eroded away 
  or succumbed to a theoretical, but unlikely, 
  earthquake. 
  Glistening in the relative dark near the bottom  
  of the chamber is a massive waterwheel,  
  seemingly constructed from mithral. 
  Connected to the waterwheel and made from  
  the same silvery metal, is an astonishingly  
  long but normal-sized chain, moving as  
  the waterwheel rotates under the current  
  of the waterfalls.  
  Suspended from the mithral chain,  
  moving with it as the waterwheel rotates, 
  is the form of an upside-down female  
  human with pale skin. 
  As observe the woman, she looks up at you  
  and sends you an expression somewhere between 
  cheerfulness, exhaustion, and complete agony, 
  she then lifts her arms in your directions and 
  attempts to wave, though doing so reveals  
  her arms being shackled. 
  In the next moment, the woman is plunged  
  down into the dark water below by the  
  rotation of the chain and waterwheel. 
   
  The water flooding the bottom of the chamber  
  is filled with muck and 3 feet deep. 
    Moving about the mucky water is a pair of 
  Shambling Mounds​, made up of rotting body  
  parts instead of plant-matter, the mounts have  
  the following changes: 
  ●
  They have the Undead-type. 
  ●
  Each mound has 151 Hit Points. 
  ●
  They both gain Immunity to Poison-damage 
  and the Poisoned condition, and Resistance 
  to Necrotic-damage. 
  ●
  Undead Fortitude. If damage reduces  
  the mound to 0 Hit Points, it must make  
  a Constitution Saving-Throw with a  
  DC of 5 + the damage taken, unless the 
  damage is Radiant or from a Critical Hit. 
    On a Success, the mound drops to  
  1 Hit Point instead. 
   
  The mounds are the horrific results of scores  
  of undeads being tossed off into the floodchamber  
  to meet the end of their unlives. 
    The mounds are made up of the jumbling emotions 
  of hatred and agony within the countless undeads 
  making up their monstrous forms. 
  As a result of this, all semblance of sentience,  
  is replaced by complete insanity and bestial instincts, 
  the mounds desiring nothing other than to add more 
  blood and gore to their shambling forms. 
    ​Broken Staircase.​ The spiral staircase was 
  deliberately broken by Master d’Zud when he  
  began dumping off undeads he didn’t want about, 
  setting up artificial waterfalls to prevent undeads 
  from climbing up the walls and escaping. 
    To keep out the constant noise of the waterfalls, 
  a permanent casting of the ​Silence-spell covers  
  the entrance and uppermost steps of the staircase. 
    ​Waterfalls & Pipes.​ The waterfalls originate from 
  several brass pipes, all connecting to a magical boiler 
  in the entrance hall (Area 7.F1). 
  Not visible aside from below the water are several 
  pipe-openings, pumping mucky water up to the boiler 
  for purification and to keep the water-circulation 
  going, and by extension the waterwheel. 
    The pipeline is magically protected.  
  Each section of pipe has 100 Hit Points,  
  and Resistance to all magical damage,  
  and Immunity to non-magical damage. 
    Interacting with Tenni.​ The Damaran human  
  is known as ​Tenni Kulenov​ (see Appendix B),  
  a paladin of St. Sollars and Ilmater,  
  and a monk of the Monastery of the Yellow Rose. 
    Tenni has been on pilgrimage throughout Faerûn, 
  seeking out evil wherever it may hide, and smite  
  it down in the name of all that is good and right. 
    Her search eventually drew her to the 
  overwhelming presence of undeath within the tower 
  of d’Zud, where she was over-powered by the cloud 
  giant necromancer and used in his experiments, 
  turning her into one of his horrific monsters. 
    Tenni’s undead form however proved unruly  
  and difficult to control, and for this reason  
  Master d’Zud decided to use her weakness to try and 
  break her mind, rather than discarding her outright, 
  so far with only little success. 
   
                    19 
  
   
   
  Treasure.  
  Lying scattered about the floor below the mucky 
  water is the collective treasures of hundreds  
  of victims, these treasures can however only  
  be seen while having one’s head below the  
  surface of the water. 
    Present below the water is a total of 300 pp,  
  3,000 ep, 2,100 gp, 900 sp, and 3,500 cp,  
  along with six gemstones (worth 100 gp each), 
  a ​Ring of the Ram and a ​+2 dagger. 
    ​Mithral Waterwheel.​ The large waterwheel, 
  being constructed from mithral is quite lightweight, 
  despite its significant size of 30 feet in diameter. 
    The wheel is worth 10,000 gp in its undamaged 
  and fully assembled state. 
    The chain connected to the waterwheel is 150 feet 
  long and weighs little more than a common rope, 
  it is worth 1,500 gp in its current state. 
   
  Area 8.R: The Circle of Dragons 
  You see before you the rooftop of the white, 
  marble tower, it appears mostly barren. 
  Resting atop the battlements, their claws  
  dug into the white marble from which they 
  themselves are carved, are five gargoyles,  
  each depicting a separate kind of chromatic 
  dragon, all of them looking inward toward  
  the centre of the rooftop. 
  Magic circles are carved into the marble floor, 
  covering the entire floorspace of the rooftop  
  in strange symbols, glowing in colours growing 
  gradually warmer in hues as they near the centre. 
   
  Master Derechoo comes here to unleash the powers 
  of the elements, as well as to feel the power of 
  those forces upon his own being, targeting himself 
  with destructive magics. 
    ​Circles of Power.​ Permanent magic circles  
  are carved into the flooring of the rooftop,  
  covering the entire area in a permanent magical 
  effect causing all Damage-Dealing Cantrips  
  and Spells to deal one extra die of damage,  
  and to score a Critical Hit on a roll of 18, 19 or 20. 
    Additionally, any d20 roll resulting in a 1 results 
   
   
  in an explosion of arcane energy. 
    All creatures within a 20-foot-diameter sphere, 
  centred on the caster, must make a DC 15 
  Constitution Saving-Throw, taking 21 (6d6) 
  Force-damage on a Failed save,  
  or Half as much damage on a Successful one,  
  the caster has Disadvantage on this save. 
    The effects of these magic circles cannot be 
  dispelled, but they can be suppressed temporarily 
  through the casting of an ​Antimagic Field-spell. 
    ​Draconic Gargoyles.​ The gargoyles are all 
  magically enchanted statues, each with the respective 
  Hit Points, Damage Immunities, and Breath Weapons 
  as befit for the type of Dragon Wyrmling each  
  statue represents, but with an added Resistance  
  to non-magical Slashing, Piercing, and 
  Bludgeoning-damage, and Immunity to Poison  
  and Psychic-damage, as well as to being blinded, 
  charmed, deafened, exhaustion, frightened, 
  paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, or prone. 
    When a creature steps onto the magical circle 
  without first stating “Praise Tiamat’s Glory!”  
  out loud, the trapped statues are activated, 
  when this happens, roll initiative. 
    On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties),  
  one of the dragon gargoyles can take an action  
  to use its respective Breath Weapon. 
  The gargoyles choose which statue breaths by 
  magically scanning the magic circle for intruders. 
  A creature protected by a ​Mind Blank-spell,  
  a ​Nondetection-spell, or similar magic can’t  
  be perceived in this manner. 
    The gargoyles can’t use the same statue to breath 
  two rounds in a row. 
  (The colour of each statue is described on the map). 
   
  Area 8.F1: Derechoo Tower Entrance Hall 
  Before you, you see the entrance hall of the tower. 
  However, aside from massive double doors exiting 
  the tower for the battlements, and the grand marble 
  staircase which spirals its way up to the roof 
  above, and downward to the floors below, 
  little located within the room indicates this  
  to be its purpose. 
   
   
                    20 
  
   
   
  Instead, located before you are several  
  massive sparring dummies, all in varying  
  stages of disrepair, scattered about the room. 
  Weapons, all sized for giant hands,  
  hang upon the walls or stand in racks. 
  Sitting in a small pile near the spiral staircase  
  are several boulders of massive size, while next 
  to the pile sits an enormous basket filled with 
  broken dummies, weapons and rocks. 
   
  Master Derechoo spends much of his time here, 
  training his martial prowess, as well as venting  
  his easily awakened outbursts of fury. 
    The sparring dummies are animated creatures  
  by Master Derechoo, but for the purpose of  
  giving him some challenge when he trains,  
  but also to serve as a defence against intruders. 
    The dummies animate and attack any creature 
  who enters the tower without being in the  
  company of Master Derechoo or saying  
  “Praise Tiamat’s Glory!” before entering. 
    Three armoured dummies are present in the 
  entrance hall, they each have the statistics of an 
  Animated Armor​, with the following changes: 
   
  ●
  They are considered Huge. 
  ●
  They have 45 Hit Points. 
  ●
  Their ​Slam. attack deals 12 (3d6) 
  Bludgeoning-damage on a hit. 
  ●
  Their Challenge Rating is 2 (450 XP) 
   
  In addition to the armoured dummies,  
  are an addition two cloth and straw dummies,  
  which have the statistics of ​Scarecrows​,  
  with the following changes: 
   
  ●
  They are considered Huge. 
  ●
  They have 52 Hit Points. 
  ●
  Their ​Claw. attack deals 16 (6d4) 
  Slashing-damage, but doesn’t inflict  
  the Frightened condition. 
  ●
  They lack the ​Terrifying Glare. action. 
  ●
  Their Challenge Rating is 3 (700 XP) 
   
   
   
   
   
  Scrap Basket.​ During combat, Master Derechoo  
  can use an Action once to empty his basket of broken 
  training-equipment in a 30-foot-cone. 
    Each creature in that area must make a  
  DC 20 Dexterity Saving-Throw, taking 32 (5d12) 
  Slashing-damage plus 32 (5d12) Piercing-damage  
  on a Failed save, or Half as much damage on  
  a Successful one, the area filled with waste then 
  becomes Difficult Terrain.  
    In addition, if a creature is knocked Prone within 
  the waste filled area, that creature must then 
  immediately make a DC 15 Dexterity Saving-Throw, 
  taking 3 (1d6) Slashing-damage plus 3 (1d6) 
  Piercing-damage on a Failed save, or Half as  
  much damage on a Successful one. 
    Two pairs of massive double doors lead to  
  the north and to southeast from this tower to that  
  of Master d’Zud (Area 7.F1) and to the tower  
  of Madame Sleetellet (Area 9.F1), both via the 
  battlements (Area 3). 
   
  Area 8.B1: Derechoo’s Bedchamber 
  This simple bedchamber is mostly empty, 
  aside from a lone straw pallet laying on the floor, 
  sized for a giant. 
  Blocking the way down to the floor below,  
  is a massive iron grate. 
   
  Master Derechoo spends time here only to sleep, 
  and he sleeps only little during the night. 
    Resting for him takes place within the shrine  
  below (Area 8.B2) or at the rooftop (Area 8.R). 
    ​Enchanted Grate.​ This iron grate has no 
  mechanical winch or other lifting mechanism. 
  It must be lifted manually. Any creature as big  
  and strong as a Cloud Giant can use an Action  
  to life the grate. Any other creature must Succeed  
  on a DC 23 Strength (Athletics) check to lift it. 
    Although the grate is giant-sized, its bars are close 
  enough together that even Small creatures can’t 
  squirm through. 
    Aside from simply being a difficult task to lift, 
  the grate is additionally trapped with a  
  Glyph of Warding-spell. 
   
   
                    21 
  
   
   
  Any creature who touches the grate without  
  first saying “Tiamat” and any creature within  
  a 20-foot-radius of the grate when the trap  
  is triggered, must make a DC 16 Dexterity 
  Saving-Throw, taking 27 (6d8) Lightning-damage 
  on a Failed save, or Half as much damage  
  on a Successful one. 
    To notice the trap, one must succeed on a  
  DC 16 Intelligence (Investigation) check. 
    If Master Derechoo is within the shrine  
  (Area 8.B2) when the trap is activated,  
  he instantly becomes aware of its activation. 
  However, rather than leaving to investigate,  
  he will stay within the shrine, his reasons being  
  that either the intruders died at the hands  
  of his trap, and that he in that case would refuse  
  to let a few corpses interrupt his praying. 
  Or that if they were strong enough to survive  
  his trap, then he would wish to face them within  
  the holy place of his goddess. 
   
  Area 8.B2: The Shrine of Tiamat 
  The walls of this chamber have been decorated 
  with carvings of dragon-headed humanoids 
  flying upon lone clouds and flying carpets. 
  Abstract depictions of clouds and lightning  
  dance across the walls, all moving toward  
  the southern wall. 
  There, a massive statue, carved from basalt, 
  stands. Its form that of a shapely woman, 
  standing in the nude, but topped with five  
  long necks, ending in draconic heads,  
  their jaws open as though ready to breath. 
  Each of the multi-dragon-headed woman’s hands 
  lie resting atop one of two large obsidian chests. 
  Protruding from each of the chests, where one 
  normally would expect to see its keyhole,  
  is instead a multi-coloured star-like symbol,  
  made up of what on closer inspection appears  
  to be coloured claws. 
  Lighting up the room are several candles,  
  placed near the walls about the room. 
  Both the candles on the floor, the claws on the 
  chest and the heads on the statue share colours;  
  Blue, Green, Black, White and Red. 
   
   
  If ​Master Derechoo the Blue​ (see Appendix B) 
  hasn’t been drawn elsewhere, he is here.  
  If this is the case, add the following: 
   
  Kneeling before the dragon-headed statue,  
  his hands upon each of its hands, placed upon  
  the chests, is a cloud giant, dressed in purple robes, 
  outlined with gold. 
  At the giant’s side, a massive bladed weapon, 
  constructed entirely from ice, lies. 
   
  When not training his combat skills,  
  Master Derechoo spends most of his time here, 
  meditating and reflecting on his faith and on  
  the destructive powers of the elements,  
  both arcane and otherwise. 
    ​Interacting with Derechoo the Blue.​ Master 
  Derechoo is a loner with a short fuse and bombastic 
  temper, he keeps to himself most of the time and  
  is only in this communal tower agreement because  
  of the resources and security it brings with it. 
    Derechoo however has several secrets he keeps 
  from, not only the world at large, but his allied  
  cloud giant wizards as well. 
    First on his list of secrets is his position as  
  a high-ranking member within the reformed  
  Cult of the Dragon. 
  As a Wearer of Purple, Derechoo was present on the 
  battlefield at the Well of Dragons, when the Severin 
  the Red attempted to summon Tiamat to Toril. 
  However, when the plan ultimately failed,  
  Derechoo went into hiding, biding his time and 
  waiting for signs from his fellow surviving cultists. 
   
  (If you are playing this encounter parallel to  
  the events of ​Hoard of the Dragon Queen or  
  The Rise of Tiamat, then Master Derechoo  
  is simply keeping a low profile while waiting  
  for the final ritual to begin). 
   
  Another secret of Derechoo is the origin of  
  his title as “The Blue,” the reason being that  
  Master Derechoo isn’t a true cloud giant,  
  but rather half cloud giant, and half blue dragon. 
    Master Derechoo has honed his arcane skills 
  endlessly for the purpose of hiding his true heritage. 
   
                    22 
  
   
   
  Due to these damning secrets and his hot-blooded 
  demeanor, Master Derechoo is very likely to  
  have no interest in engaging random trespassers  
  in conversation. 
    A far more likely reaction to the presence of  
  the characters would be Derechoo spending  
  a Sorcery Point to cast ​Fireball,​ or something 
  similar, as a Subtle Spell. 
    ​Obsidian Treasure Chests.​ Each treasure chest  
  is part of a connected mechanism which can’t  
  be manipulated with thieves’ tools. 
    If the characters have a crowbar or similar tool, 
  they can attempt a DC 25 Strength (Athletics) 
  check to force open a treasure chest. 
    Additionally, casting the​ Knock-spell on the chests 
  works as well, but only once the spell has been cast 
  on each of the chests, a single chest is not enough. 
    To activate the opening mechanism of the treasure 
  chests, one must simply press down both of the 
  blue claw icons located upon the chests. 
    Doing this will result in the humanoid statue  
  of Tiamat moving her hands off the chests,  
  and the lids then opening up on their own 
  simultaneously. 
   
  Treasure.  
  The treasure chests contain offerings from  
  Master Derechoo to his goddess Tiamat, 
  once the activities of the Cult of the Dragon comes 
  underway, he intends to join his offerings to her 
  larger treasure hoard. 
    Lying within the obsidian treasure chests  
  is a ​Brass Dragon Scale Mail,​ Gauntlets of  
  Ogre Power, and a ​Ring of Shooting Stars. 
    To determine what else lies within the chests,  
  roll once on the ​Treasure Hoard: Challenge 5-10 
  and once on the ​Treasure Hoard: Challenge 11-16  
  (see Chapter 7 within the Dungeon Master’s Guide) 
    Master Derechoo carries his ​Icicle Greatglaive 
  (see Appendix C) with him at all times,  
  as well as his Spellbook. 
  Its binding and pages are all quite heavily damaged 
  from rough treatment, the book weighs 100 pounds. 
   
   
   
   
   
  The book contains all the spells Derechoo has 
  prepared, as well as the following additional spells: 
  animate objects, darkness, earth tremor,  
  glyph of warding, gust of wind, immolation,  
  lightning bolt, magic circle, Melf’s acid arrow,  
  Melf’s minute meteors, meteor swarm,  
  Otiluke’s freezing sphere, Otiluke’s resilient sphere, 
  scorching ray, shatter, Snilloc’s snowball swarm, 
  sunbeam, thunderwave, vitriolic sphere,  
  wall of stone, and​ wall of water. 
   
  Area 9.R: Beanstalk-Jungle Roof 
  The rooftop of this flying tower is covered  
  in something in-between a jungle and maze,  
  made up entirely of interwoven, oversized 
  beanstalks. 
  The air here is warmer than you’d expect from  
  the surrounding landscape beyond the tower, 
  and birds, colorful but unfamiliar to you,  
  fly and nest about the beanstalks. 
  Other exotic animals move about the beanstalk 
  jungle as well, a monkey swings from stalk  
  to stalk, while a large pair of hunting-cats  
  lie resting atop a different one. 
  Growing outward from the northeastern edge  
  of the rooftop, is what appears to be a bridge  
  made up entirely of the intermingling of several  
  of the enormous beanstalks. 
  All of the beanstalks, not so much lead  
  out to the beanstalk tower in the distance,  
  as much as they connect with a different  
  set of beanstalks at that location,  
  forming the tower itself. 
   
  If the characters haven't met Madame Sleetellet or 
  one of her illusions yet, a ​Programmed Illusion-spell 
  is activated by their presence.  
  If this is the case, add the following: 
   
  “Welcome to my garden!”  
  a voice suddenly hails you from above. 
  There, sprawled out atop a horizontally oriented 
   
   
   
                    23 
  
   
   
  beanstalk, the massive form of a female cloud 
  giant, dressed in a flamboyant jester costume  
  and wearing a face of smiling, clown makeup,  
  is visible. 
  “Feel free to enjoy your visit, but try not to 
  bother 
    my pets, or they might just bother you back!” 
  The giantess then lifts a hand and blows a kiss 
  your direction, followed by a wave. 
  “Bye my cuties!” 
  She says and vanishes in a cloud of sparkling, 
  spectral hearts, stars, and streamers. 
   
  The rooftop of Madame Sleetellet’s tower is a place 
  for relaxation for her, as well as a place where she 
  works on her currently biggest project, the creation 
  of visual environment fitting for her two pet ​Tigers 
  which spend their time here at all times. 
    Sleetellet additionally borrows out her roof for 
  Master Orkando to use for the growing of his giant 
  beanstalk tower. 
    ​Beanstalk Jungle.​ All aspects of the beanstalk 
  jungle, aside from Sleetellet’s tigers and the 
  beanstalk-bridge, are made up of illusions. 
    The jungle itself is made up of ​Hallucinatory 
  Terrain and ​Major Image-spells,  
  while the animal life is produced through 
  Programmed Illusion-spells. 
    Any number of exotic animals the DM wishes  
  can be present within the jungle. 
    ​Illusory Staircase.​ A large hole in the floor, 
  partially hidden by an illusory staircase, 
  leads down to the floor below (Area 9.F1), and 
  continues down to the floors even further down. 
    Madame Sleetellet can use an Action on her turn 
  to make the entirety of the spiral staircase real for 
  up to 1 minute. 
    Leaving from the rooftop is a massive and real 
  beanstalk, branching northward (Area 10). 
   
  Area 9.F1: Sleetellet’s Entrance Hall 
  Snowflakes drift lazily about the cold air as  
  you enter this grand entrance hall, all eventually 
  floating down and settling among the hills of 
   
   
  fresh-fallen snow, covering the floor. 
  Ornately decorated benches, sized for giants,  
  flank each of the doors leaving the hall. 
  A black, iron staircase spirals its way upwards  
  to the rooftop above, as well as down to the  
  floors below. 
  The entrance hall is mainly cast in darkness, 
  the only source of light being a lone, giant-sized, 
  lamp hanging off the side of the staircase. 
   
  If the characters haven't met Madame Sleetellet or 
  one of her illusions yet, a ​Programmed Illusion-spell 
  is activated by their presence.  
  If this is the case, add the following: 
   
  The tranquility of the moment is then suddenly 
  interrupted by a momentary “poof” sound, 
  followed by a large portion of snow being 
  catapulted into the air. 
  Once the snow has settled, the massive form  
  of a female cloud giant lying in the snow,  
  comes into view. 
  The giantess is dressed in a flamboyant  
  jester costume and wearing a face of smiling, 
  clown makeup. 
  “Welcome to my tower” 
  she then says looking in your direction, 
  “like the accommodations? Well, too bad,  
   it’s my home, you can’t stay here….  
   Not for too long anyway, so enjoy your  
   visit while it lasts!” 
  The giantess then vanishes in a cloud of sparkling, 
  spectral hearts, stars, and streamers. 
  Leaving behind a large imprint in the before 
  untouched snow. 
   
  The winter-landscape is produced by a ​Mirage 
  Arcane-spell, meaning that the characters can interact 
  with the illusion as though it was physically there, 
  picking snow off the ground and forming snowballs. 
  The imprint in the snow is part of the “performance” 
  designed into the ​Programmed Illusion,  
  as well as the mirage. 
   
   
                    24 
  
   
   
    ​Illusory Staircase.​ A large hole in the floor, 
  partially hidden by an illusory staircase, 
  leads down to the floor below (Area 9.B1), and 
  continues down to the floors even further down. 
    Madame Sleetellet can use an Action on her  
  turn to make the entirety of the spiral staircase  
  real for up to 1 minute. 
    ​Lighting.​ The lamp is an illusion created  
  by the ​Major Image-spell, layered atop a  
  Continual Flame-spell. 
    A pair of massive double doors lead to the  
  south from this tower to that of Master Derechoo 
  (Area 8.F1). 
   
  Area 9.B1: The Study 
  Books. Books everywhere. 
  Every inch of wall of this massive chamber is 
  covered with bookshelves, from floor to ceiling. 
  Near the centre of the room stands a simple  
  but giant-sized wooden writing desk,  
  stacks of books and scrolls atop it,  
  and a pair of matching chairs next to it. 
  A black, iron staircase spirals its way upwards  
  to the floors above, as well as down to the  
  floor below. 
   
  If ​Madame Sleetellet​ (see Appendix B) and her 
  simulacrum double haven’t been drawn elsewhere, 
  they are both here, sitting within each of their 
  chairs and talking. 
    ​Library.​ The vast majority of the books and 
  bookshelves within the study are produced using  
  a ​Mirage Arcane-spell, meaning that the characters 
  can interact with the illusion as though it was 
  physically there, picking books off the shelves 
  freely, though no words would be written  
  within them. 
    Illusory Staircase.​ A large hole in the floor, 
  partially hidden by an illusory staircase, 
  leads down to the floor below (Area 9.B2). 
    Madame Sleetellet can use an Action on her  
  turn to make the entirety of the spiral staircase  
  real for up to 1 minute. 
    ​Vestige of Comedy.​ Victims of Madame 
  Sleetellet’s pranks still linger within her study, 
   
   
  hateful spirits which seek to add more souls  
  to their ranks. 
  The spirits have the statistics of two ​Shadows​,  
  and a ​Poltergeist​. 
    Amused by their presence, Sleetellet has added  
  to the population of invisibles within her study 
  through four ​Unseen Servants. 
    Simulacrum.​ The simulacrum duplicate  
  of Madame Sleetellet shares her statistics,  
  but has only 100 Hit Points,  
    The simulacrum is capable of casting spells,  
  but when it does so, it uses Madame Sleetellet’s  
  Spell Slots, rather than having any of its own. 
    Interacting with Madame Sleetellet.​ A sadistic 
  prankster at heart, only ever truly happy when 
  someone is hurt as a result of her personal brand  
  of comedy, Madame Sleetellet might seem like  
  an energetic, fun, perhaps even pleasant individual, 
  but her playful demeanor is quickly cracked by  
  her bloodlust and fascination with death and misery. 
    During a conversation as well as during combat, 
  Sleetellet will emphasise playing with her victims, 
  rather than trying to overpowering her enemies, 
  she will go out of her way to do things she perceives 
  as entertaining, typically involving hiding and 
  creating replacements for herself. 
    A favorite maneuver of her’s, during combat  
  is spending sorcery points to quickly conjure up an 
  illusory rock, then make them real using her abilities, 
  then ending things up by throwing the rock from  
  an unexpected location. 
   
  Treasure.  
  Madame Sleetellet is in possession of a suit  
  of ​Glamoured Studded Leather Armor,  
  Gloves of Thievery, and a ​Wand of Secrets. 
    Lying atop her desk is Sleetellet’s Spellbook. 
  Its binding is decorated with purple stars and  
  a depiction of a crossed-over open eye,  
  the book weighs 100 pounds. 
    The book contains all the spells Sleetellet has 
  prepared, as well as the following additional spells: 
  blur, color spray, continual flame, creation, 
  hallucinatory terrain, illusory script, mirror image, 
  Nystul’s magic aura, phantom steed, programmed 
  illusion, project image, seeming, and​ unseen servant. 
   
                    25 
  
   
  Area 9.B2: Lake of Rest 
  The black, iron staircase descends in its 
  spiralling arch down to a place of overpowering 
  brightness. 
  The floor is covered in a layer of foot deep  
  water here, though you can’t see anything 
  located underneath the silvery water. 
  There are no walls here, only an endless,  
  bright, white haze stretching outward into  
  the horizon. 
  The only other feature here aside from  
  the staircase, is a white, wooden wardrobe,  
  sized for giant use, standing a few feet north  
  of staircase. 
   
  A place of pride for Madame Sleetellet,  
  this is where she goes to sleep. 
    Illusory Staircase.​ A large hole in the ceiling, 
  leads up to each floor above this floor, 
  an illusory staircase spirals its way up from here  
  to the very top of the tower. 
    Madame Sleetellet can use an Action on her  
  turn to make the entirety of the spiral staircase  
  real for up to 1 minute. 
    ​Pit Trap.​ Located right below the illusory 
  staircase (and all holes of the upper floors),  
  lies a 40-foot-diameter, 10-foot deep,  
  spike-filled pit, hidden below the illusory water. 
    A creature entering the pits space must make  
  a DC 15 Dexterity Saving-Throw or fall in  
  (the creature has Disadvantage on the 
   Saving-Throw if it is entering the pit  
   from a floor above Area 9.B2). 
   A creature takes 22 (4d10) Piercing-damage  
  the first time it enters the pit (in addition to any 
  falling damage it might suffer from entering the  
  pit from higher floors), and takes an additional  
  2 (1d4) Piercing-damage at the start of its turn 
  every round it remains within the pit. 
    Climbing out of the pit, for a Medium or smaller 
  creature, requires a Successful DC 10 Strength 
  (Athletics) check. 
  A creature affected by the illusory terrain has 
  Disadvantage on ability checks to escape it. 
    ​Illusory Terrain.​ The water-covered floor  
  is the product of the ​Mirage Arcane-spell,  
  resulting in all of the water being Difficult Terrain. 
   
  The walls of the chamber are in turn covered  
  in the effects of the ​Hallucinatory Terrain-spell. 
    Standing against the southern wall is a giant-sized 
  bed, made invisible by the ​Mirage Arcane-spell. 
    ​Hidden Cloak.​ Hanging within the white  
  wardrobe among giant-sized circus costumes,  
  pompous dresses, and colourful cloaks,  
  is a fairly simple black cloak and hood. 
    Embroidered into the collar of the cloak with silver 
  thread is a message written in Celestial runes,  
  but which holds no meaning in that language. 
  To understand the message, one must realise that  
  the message is meant to be stated in Infernal. 
    A creature familiar with Infernal can make  
  a DC 12 Intelligence check to realise that the  
  sounds represented by the Celestial runes have 
  meaning in Infernal, and thereby interpret the 
  message. 
  The casting of a ​Comprehend Language-spell  
  or similar magic, reveals the message as intended. 
  The embroidering says the following; 
  “The rebellious must always remember 
    to make their steps become like smoke.” 
  This message refers to the abilities of the cloak, 
  it being Madame Sleetellet’s ​Cloak of Invisibility, 
  the cloak however is under the effects of a permanent 
  Nystul’s Magic Aura-spell, masking it appear  
  as a nonmagical cloak to any and all sensors. 
    For this reason, the only way of discovering  
  the cloak’s true nature is by acquiring the 
  information straight from Madame Sleetellet herself, 
  or through the use of a ​Wand of Secrets, or similar 
  magic, 
  a wand pointing directly at the cloak if it is activated 
  in its presence. 
    The last possibility is to interpret the embroidered 
  message and take it for what it is, and a character 
  therefore attempting to attune to the cloak. 
  If this is attempted, the magic aura will disappear  
  and the cloak’s true purpose will come to light. 
   
  Treasure.  
  Aside from the ​Cloak of Invisibility hanging  
  within the wardrobe (as described above),  
  lying at the bottom of the pit trap is a ​Ring of 
  Necrotic-Resistance, three ​Arrows of Giant Slaying, 
  a ​+3 Arrow, and two ​+2 Crossbow Bolts. 
                    26 
  
   
  Area 10: Beanstalk Bridges 
  A pair of 30-foot-wide pathways made up of 
  oversized, interwoven beanstalks connect the 
  otherwise empty gaps between the beanstalk 
  tower and the remaining flying tower,  
  all part of the same structure. 
  Nothing but giant-sized leafs shelter you  
  from the elements. 
   
  Depending on which pathway the characters take, 
  the beanstalks connect the following locations:  
  ●
  Area 11.F1 with Area 4.R 
  ●
  Area 11.F1 with Area 9.R 
   
  Master Orkando rarely traverses the beanstalks  
  on foot, instead preferring to either fly or to use  
  a modified version of the ​Tree Stride-spell, 
  allowing him to travel through the beanstalks. 
   
  Area 11.F1: Foot of the Beanstalk Tower 
  The beanstalk bridges intersect here, weaving 
  themselves together to tower hundreds of feet 
  upward, shaping a hollow tower, occasionally 
  interrupted by massive leafs positioned 
  horizontally, and thereby creating platforms  
  for standing on. 
  Here on the bottom level of the beanstalk tower, 
  the stalks and foliage are so tightly woven 
  together that they shape an uneven flooring. 
  Covering large portions of the beanstalk floor, 
  is a layer of cultivated soil from which different 
  kinds of vegetables grow. 
  Oversized baskets filled with food stand  
  about the room. 
  The shuffling of movement echoes faintly 
  throughout the hollow of the tower. 
   
  Master Orkando​ (see Appendix B) can hear any 
  loud activities throughout the tower, regardless  
  of where he is at any given time, and can enter  
  any floor within a moment’s notice. 
    Here at all times, guarding the bottom floor  
  of the beanstalk tower are a pair of ​Rust Monsters​, 
  an Ogre Spore Servant, a Spore Servant Knight,  
  and a mostly disinterested pack of four ​wolves​. 
   
   
  These servants have the statistics of an ​Ogre Zombie 
  and a ​Wight​, both with the following changes: 
   
  ●
  The spore servants’ type is Plant,  
  and they are Unaligned. 
  ●
  They both have a Speed of 20 ft. 
  ●
  They gain a Blindsight to a distance of 30 ft. 
  ●
  They are Immune to the Blinded, Charmed, 
  Frightened, and Paralyzed conditions. 
   
  The spore servants attack any creature approaching 
  the gardens which the servants haven’t been 
  magically instructed to ignore by the master. 
    ​Druidic Farm.​ Master Orkando spends most of his 
  day either out hunting or tending to his magically 
  sustained gardens. 
    Orkando serves as the supplier of food for his 
  fellow cloud giant mages, regardless of which  
  form such food takes. 
    If the characters spend 10 minutes searching 
  through the growing crops, they can make a  
  DC 10 Wisdom (Survival) check or a DC 10 
  Intelligence (Nature) check to identify 3d4 days 
  worth of rations, ready to be harvested. 
    ​Ascending the Beanstalk.​ There is no pathways 
  connecting one level or platform of the beanstalk 
  tower with another. 
  The tower being formed from beanstalks however 
  has plenty of handholds available for climbing. 
    A character can attempt a DC 15 Strength 
  (Athletics) check to climb along the beanstalks. 
  If a character Fails this check, it means it doesn’t 
  make any progress in its climbing. 
    If a character rolls a total of 5 or lower,  
  the character falls off the beanstalk to a platform  
  or the floor below. 
    If a character uses a rope or similar climbing tool, 
  they make the check with Advantage. 
   
  Treasure.  
  All the giant baskets contain magically infused food. 
    2d20 pieces of food within the baskets have the 
  effects of the ​Goodberry-spell, but with a potency 
  remaining active for 1 year, instead of a day. 
    Casting the ​Detect Magic-spell or similar magic 
  emphasises the still potent foods among the 
  ever-present magical auras of the beanstalk tower. 
   
                    27 
  
   
  Area 11.F2: Banana Grove 
  A grove of trees makes up this level of the tower, 
  a small group of them growing on three separate, 
  giant beanstalk leafs. 
  Growing below the crown of each of the 
  strange-looking trees are clutches of long, 
  arched, yellow-green fruits. 
   
  The druidic magic of Master Orkando allows for 
  even tropical fruits to flourish within the cold 
  landscape of northern Faerûn. 
    Guarding the banana grove at all hours of  
  the day is a dead, spore-infested Beholder. 
  The beholder uses the statistics of a ​Beholder 
  Zombie​, in addition to the following changes: 
   
  ●
  The Beholder’ type is Plant,  
  and it is Unaligned. 
  ●
  It has a Flying Speed of 10 feet (hover). 
  ●
  It gains Blindsight to a distance of 30 feet. 
  ●
  It is Immune to the Blinded, Charmed, 
  Frightened, and Paralyzed conditions. 
  ●
  The Beholder’s ​Disintegration Ray.  
  deals Acid-damage instead of its normal 
  Force-damage, but is otherwise unchanged. 
   
  The spore servant attacks any creature approaching 
  the groves, which the servant haven’t been 
  magically instructed to ignore by Master Orkando. 
    Living within the trunks of the trees is  
  3d4 ​Swarms of Centipedes​, while 1d4 ​Vultures​,  
  1d6 ​Swarms of Spiders​, and a ​Baboon​ live  
  among the treetops. 
    ​Ascending the Beanstalk.​ There is no pathways 
  connecting one level or platform of the beanstalk 
  tower with another. 
  The tower being formed from beanstalks however 
  has plenty of handholds available for climbing. 
    A character can attempt a DC 15 Strength 
  (Athletics) check to climb along the beanstalks. 
  If a character Fails this check, it means it doesn’t 
  make any progress in its climbing. 
    If a character rolls a total of 5 or lower,  
  the character falls off the beanstalk to a platform  
  or the floor below. 
    If a character uses a rope or similar climbing tool, 
  they make the check with Advantage. 
   
   
  Treasure.  
  The bananas grown here would be highly priced 
  throughout the north, they would however not last 
  long outside the tower without the sustaining magics 
  of Master Orkando keeping them alive. 
   
  Area 11.F3: Living Platforms 
  Separate, smaller islands made up of oversized 
  leafs, make up this layer of the beanstalk tower. 
  One leaf features nothing but a bedroll,  
  sized for giants, and several thick animal pelts. 
  Another leaf holds a short-legged table,  
  when compared to the size of a giant, 
  stacks of books and scrolls covering its surface. 
  The third and smallest leaf holds only a few 
  normal-sized wooden treasure chests. 
  A giant-sized golden scepter, set with several 
  scarabs carved from many-coloured gemstones, 
  lies on the leaf between the chest,  
  while the form of an oversized,  
  yellow lizard lies resting atop some of the chests. 
  The last oversized leaf displays the grotesque  
  sight of something similar to a wooden shrine, 
  carved with the image of a bestial claw and 
  covered everywhere with splatters of dried blood. 
  Hanging over-top of the shrine is the pelt and 
  monstrous head of a winter wolf,  
  its white coat coloured shades of brown,  
  gray and black through dried blood, mud and ash. 
  A massive longbow, construct from bamboo, 
  leans against the side of the sinister shrine. 
   
  When the characters first arrive at the beanstalk 
  tower, this is where ​Master Orkando  
  (see Appendix B), is most likely to reside,  
  though any loud activities anywhere else in  
  the tower would quickly pull him elsewhere. 
    Lying lazily amid the treasures of Orkando is  
  his pet ​Giant Lizard​ (it has the ​Spider Climb trait). 
    ​Furnishings.​ The leaf containing a bedroll  
  is where Master Orkando goes to sleep,  
  there is nothing noteworthy about this area. 
    The leaf featuring the low table is Orkando’s study. 
  Here he studies the arcane arts, his faith,  
  and several disciplines of biology. 
   
                    28 
  
   
   
  He sits on the leaf itself while reading,  
  which is the reason why the table-legs are so short. 
    Among other books present, a copy of the  
  “​Gospel of Saernclaws” by Garmos Saernclaws 
  can be found here. 
    ​Shrine of the Black Beast.​ Master Orkando 
  reveres Malar the Beastlord as his druidic patron 
  god, viewing favourably upon his dogma 
  emphasising the rulership of the strong over the 
  weak, and the cleansing of taints and impurities. 
    A creature can attempt a DC 12 Intelligence 
  (Religion) check to identify this shrine for what  
  it is, an abstract attempt at honoring the Beastlord. 
  The winter wolf pelt serves as an extension of this, 
  it being a representation of Malar himself in  
  Master Orkando’s interpretation, emphasising  
  the canine features of giant-kinds’ often allies,  
  the winter wolves. 
    Master Orkando goes here to pray or give tribute  
  to the Black-Blooded Pard, before or after a hunt. 
    The bow is only used for actively chosen hunts, 
  which is why it stays here most of the time. 
    ​Interacting with Master Orkando.​ If the 
  characters enter the beanstalk tower and are  
  openly expressing an intention of slaying the druid, 
  Master Orkando will be fascinated and amused  
  by the prospect of being preyed upon,  
  rather than being the predator as normal. 
    Regardless of how combat comes into being, 
  Master Orkando views fighting through the  
  eyes of a Malarite, viewing killing as a game  
  to be enjoyed, bloody, and made to last. 
    For this reason, regardless if the characters  
  enter looking for a fight or not, Master Orkando’s 
  killing instincts will be awakened by their (to him) 
  trapped state. 
   
  Treasure.  
  Lying on the “ground” of the treasure chest leaf  
  is Master Orkando’s ​Staff of Swarming Insects,  
  he however isn’t likely to take it with him 
  anywhere else in the beanstalk tower. 
    Neither of the treasure chests are locked,  
  within them lies Orkando’s mundane personal 
  belongings, as well as ​Pipes of the Sewers,  
  a ​Staff of the Woodland (which he uses as a wand), 
   
   
  and a ​Stone of Controlling Earth Elementals. 
    Placed among the other stacked books on the 
  short-legged table, is Master Orkando’s Spellbook. 
  Its binding and pages are constructed from bamboo, 
  the book weighs 120 pounds. 
  It contains the following spells: 
  Aganazzar’s scorcher, burning hands,  
  chromatic orb, continual flame, magic missile, 
  pyrotechnics, Snilloc’s snowball swarm,  
  spider climb, Tenser’s floating disk and​ web. 
   
  Area 11.A: The Storage 
  The beanstalks of the tower radically fold together 
  here, forming a spire of stalks overhead overhead. 
  It is fairly dark here, the only source of light  
  being a small gap in the beanstalk ceiling,  
  placed there to allow rainwater to be collected 
  within an artificial lake, located upon a massive 
  downward-bulging leaf, which makes up most  
  of the floorspace here. 
  The bits of leaf remaining dry is dominated  
  by several large sacks, some of them open and 
  revealing their contents being nuts and seeds  
  for future planting, as well as dried foodstuffs, 
  for future consumption. 
   
  This is where the true treasures of the beanstalk 
  tower lies according to Master Orkando. 
    The treasures of nature, and the fruits of his  
  labour are stored here for when they are needed,  
  and are therefore well protected. 
    Guarding the artificial lake, and keeping its lair 
  within it is a highly aggressive Water Weird. 
    Hiding within each and every one of the sacks  
  is a ​Swarm of Poisonous Snakes​, which attacks 
  anyone other than Master Orkando who opens a sack. 
    Lastly, sneaking about the darkened ceiling, 
  always on lookout for intruders, is the spore-infected 
  form of a ​Drider​, with the following changes: 
   
  ●
  The Drider’s type is Plant,  
  and it is Unaligned. 
  ●
  It gains Blindsight to a distance of 30 feet. 
  ●
  It is Immune to the Blinded, Charmed, 
  Frightened, and Paralyzed conditions. 
   
                    29 
  
   
   
  Treasure. 
  Collected among the many sacks stacked here  
  is 10d20 days worth of provisions in dried food  
  and nuts, assuming the characters have the means 
  to remove such large quantities of food. 
    However, more noteworthy is a sack containing 
  8d6 +4 pinches of ​Dust of Dryness,  
  and a different sack containing 4d4 x 10 dry beans 
  from a ​Bag of Beans; when these beans are planted 
  in the ground, roll a d6, on a roll of 1-3,  
  proceed to roll a d100 as normal,  
  but on a roll of 4-6, the 00 option comes into effect, 
  a giant beanstalk growing out of the ground, this 
  one however leading to nothing of particular note. 
    Lastly, lying among the sacks is a giant-sized  
  Bag of Devouring, used for getting rid of the 
  occasional waste product. 
   
   
  What comes next? 
  First, I’d like to thank you for checking out  
  this product, I hope it was useful, entertaining  
  for both you and your players, and that you  
  will find other products of my making to your 
  liking as well, in the future. 
    So, now that the towers of the seven cloud giants 
  have been explored and dealt with, the logical next 
  question would be; “What do we do now?” 
    Well, I can’t and won’t hold your hand throughout 
  every aspect of your campaign, it is yours to shape 
  along with your players after all. 
    I however do feel compelled to leave you with  
  just a bit of information about where things stand 
  after the events of this product have taken place, 
  and what can be done due to it. 
    ​The Sect of the Dawn.​ A likely first meeting  
  for the character when they enter the location  
  of the seven towers is with the stone giants of  
  the Sect of the Dawn. 
    
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  As a result of this, and the fact that they are reluctant 
  to speak of themselves, it is likely  
  that the players end up forgetting about them  
  or brushing them off as irrelevant psychopaths. 
    This thinking however is unwise, the sect is 
  dangerous, and a far greater threat to the civilized 
  folk of Faerûn than even the full scale 
  Giant-Humanoid-War many of the characters within 
  Storm King’s Thunder fears might loom overhead  
  if the Ordening isn’t restored, and Hekaton found. 
    The sect wishes to reignite the flames of war 
  between the gods and the primordials fighting  
  over Toril eons ago. 
  The scope of the ​Towers of the Seven Cloud Mages 
  does however not go into how the sect intends  
  to achieve this goal, the reason for this being  
  that it is irrelevant to the location described,  
  and because I wished to leave it open for  
  Dungeon Masters to come up with their own  
  ideas on the matter. 
    With all of this being said, here is what I personally 
  consider to be the intentions of the Sect of the Dawn. 
    The sect intends to find a way to control the 
  primordial powers of the elements, with the ultimate 
  goal of awakening and dominating the ancient 
  weapon of primordial-kind, the Tarrasque. 
    To make this possible, the sect intends to 
  manufacture a powerful magical artifact,  
  a saddle infused with primordial power,  
  and capable of dominating even a godlike being,  
  eventually resulting in the domination of the 
  Tarrasque, and the head of the Dawn Sect taking  
  the monster as his personal war-mount. 
    To create this saddle, the Sect of the Dawn  
  needs the hidden, ancient powers stored away  
  inside several relics from old Ostoria,  
  some of these being the Nightstone and One Stone 
  featured in ​Storm Kings Thunder, and is the reason 
  for the attack on the village of Nightstone at the  
  very beginning of the adventure... 
  That is at least my take anyway. 
    
   
   
   
    
   
                    30 
  
   
   
  Diancastra.​ While exploring the towers of the 
  cloud giants, the characters might have ended  
  up freeing the giant goddess, Diancastra, resulting  
  in her owing them a debt. 
    Now, there are several ways Diancastra could 
  repay this debt, an obvious way being her doing  
  the same as ​Storm King’s Thunder suggests 
  Harshnag does at the end of the book;  
  aid the characters against the Doom of the Desert, 
  if they fight her alone. 
    However, perhaps more interesting than her 
  repaying her debt, would be having her as a way  
  of elevating the entire narrative and conflict  
  of the adventure to an extraplanar scale. 
    Perhaps some storm or cloud giants have 
  interpreted the disbanding of the Ordening as 
  including the position of the giant gods themselves, 
  meaning that a mighty giant might be able to usurp 
  the thrones of the gods, if they simply could go to 
  their planes of existence. 
    Some giant would find a way of doing this,  
  and Diancastra would then call to the characters  
  for aid in keeping her siblings safe from murderous 
  giant archmages or similarly powerful beings. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Appendix A: Maps 
  The following section features maps depicting  
  the general layout and key-features of the different 
  areas of the towers of the seven mages. 
    No grid is provided and depictions upon  
  the map shouldn’t be considered to be scaled. 
    The general sizes of objects within this product  
  are primarily left to the whims of the DM. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
                    31 
  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
                    32 
  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Appendix B: NPCs 
  The following section is made up of statblocks 
  for unique characters appearing within this 
  product. 
   
  Dawn Sect Kentarch  
  These elite warriors serve as the captains and 
  commanders of the Legionnaires. 
    They wear full sets of plate armor made from 
  the wondrously enchanted golden ore the 
  Dawn Sect prizes so very highly. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Dawn Sect Lionnaire  
  These fearsome warriors make up the bulk of the forces 
  available to the Sect of the Dawn. 
    They generally wear only small amounts  
  of ornamental, golden ore armor, and they implore the 
  use of wide-bladed partizans with blades on both ends, 
  allowing them to follow up attacks with more attacks 
  very swiftly. 
                    33 
  
   
  Diancastra the Pleasureseeker  
  Diancastra is Annam’s Unruly Daughter,  
  a minor trickster goddess who delights  
  in the joy of discovery and the pleasures  
  of the mind and body.  
    She is a free spirit who never likes to stay  
  in one place, and is always curious about  
  what lies beyond the next hill.  
  She is especially favored by rebellious  
  youths and wanderers, and those with a  
  thirst for knowledge, as well as those who  
  take joy in the various pleasures life has  
  to offer. 
    She was fathered by ​Annam All-Father 
  himself, but her mother is unknown, 
  speculated to be a ​cloud​ or ​storm giant​.  
  Unlike her sister Hiatea, she did not earn  
  her divinity through feats of strength,  
  but rather by acts of wit and wile. 
    Citing her sister Hiatea as a reason why  
  she should be given divine status as well, 
  Annam issued her one task to prove it:  
  to circle the earth in an hour or less,  
  knowing she could not accomplish this task. 
    She went into ​Stronmaus​'s library,  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
                    34 
  
   
   
   
                    35 
  
   
    Diancastra’s Favoured Aquatic Form.  
  As a goddess of discovery and exploration,  
  Diancastra is a capable athlete in all aspects. 
    However, when traversing large bodies of water,  
  or when exploring underwater regions,  
  the unruly daughter of the All-Father prefers  
  to take on the form of a sea-green sea-serpent,  
  of a truly colossal size, with more than 100 feet 
  from snout to tail spike. 
    ​Sea Serpent Shape.​ Diancastra can take on  
  the shape of a sea serpent at will as an Action.  
    Her statistics, other than her size, Actions and 
  Legendary Actions, remain as normal in this form. 
    While transformed, Diancastra gains the  
  features of an ​Ancient Green Dragon​ with  
  the following changes: 
   
  ●
  Diancastra's sea serpent shape has  
  a Swimming speed of 80 feet,  
  and a Flying (Hover) speed of 80 feet. 
  ●
  The sea serpent form has no ​Claws.  
  or ​Wings. to make attacks with,  
  instead it gains the following action: 
  ●
  Multiattack. Diancastra can  
  use her Frightful Presence.  
  She then makes three attacks:  
  one with her Bite and two with her Tail. 
   
   
    ​Diancastra Spellcasting.  
  The main statblock for Diancastra doesn’t include 
  class-based spellcasting for the sake of simplifying 
  and streamlining the playability of the goddess. 
    Diancastra is however in truth a powerful 
  spellcaster, favouring enchantment and  
  illusion spells. 
    Diancastra has been known to spend  
  time on different planes of existence,  
  simply for the purpose of learning new  
  spells and forms of spellcasting. 
    If you want to give the goddess a  
  spellcasting feature, add the following: 
  Spellcasting. Diancastra is a 20th-level spellcaster. 
  Her spellcasting ability is Charisma  
  (Spell Save DC 25, +17 to hit with Spell Attacks). 
  She has the following Bard-spells prepared: 
    Cantrips (at will): ​friends, mage hand,  
                                 minor illusion, vicious mockery 
    1st level (4 slots): ​animal friendship, comprehend 
                                 languages, heroism, identify, 
                                 sleep, Tasha’s hideous laughter 
    2nd level (3 slots): ​darkvision, ​heat metal, knock, 
                                   lesser restoration, rope trick 
    3rd level (3 slots): ​dispel magic, major image, 
                                  nondetection, sending 
    4th level (3 slots): ​greater invisibility 
    5th level (3 slots): ​geas, legend lore, mislead 
    6th level (1 slots): ​Otto’s irresistible dance, 
                                  true seeing 
    7th level (1 slot): ​forcecage, regenerate, teleport 
    8th level (1 slot): ​dominate monster, holy aura 
    9th level (1 slot): ​foresight, power word heal,  
                                true polymorph 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
    ​Glaury the Serpentine Owl.  
  Diancastra always carries a ​figurine of wondrous 
  power; serpentine owl within her pocket  
  at all times. 
    Unlike normal serpentine owls, this owl,  
  known as Glaury, has no limits on how long  
  it can be active for. 
    It has an Intelligence score of 12 (+1), 
  an Armour Class of 14, and 38 Hit Points. 
    Glaury can additionally use an Action  
  to transform itself into a tiny owl. 
  Its statistics, other than its size, remains the  
  same as normal. 
   
   
   
   
   
                    36 
  
   
   
  Madame Graupelle 
  The arena-loving mistress of the sixth tower. 
  Madame Graupelle is a master Conjurer who 
  delights in summoning ever stronger and rare 
  creatures of the planes, and have them fight  
  to the death for her amusement. 
    Her morbid joys aren’t exclusive to extraplanar 
  creatures however, any creatures capable of a fight 
  is worthy of serving as her entertainment,  
  some more temporary than others.  
   
   
                    37 
  
   
   
   
   
  Madame Hailien 
  The absent-minded, elderly cloud giantess Hailien, 
  spends her days quietly studying the source of her 
  mindless insanity, the unknown horrors between 
  the unfathomable space-between-spaces. 
    For this purpose, this pleasantly quiet old  
  woman has mastered the art of divination,  
  becoming a Diviner of great renown and acquiring 
  great proficiency with a wondrous arcane relic, 
  known as the ​Farseer of Illusk. 
    As a result of this, many notable individuals  
  from highly influential organizations have come  
  to Hailien for information and instructions  
  throughout her lifetime. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
                    38 
  
   
   
   
   
   
  Madame Sleetellet the Jester 
  Mistress of the northwestern tower,  
  the flamboyant demeanour and surroundings  
  of this powerful Illusionist belies a heart  
  and mind dominated by sadistic humour  
  and spiteful self-superiority.  
    Madame Sleetellet is a mean-spirited prankster,  
  only ever truly happy when witnessing the 
  misfortune of someone else, preferable due  
  to her personal involvement. 
    This hateful jester enjoys using her illusory  
  magics to disguise well laid traps, through  
  the drawing of attention to overwhelming  
  sights and experiences. 
   
   
   
                    39 
  
   
   
   
  Master Derechoo the Blue  
  The secretive and reclusive Evoker, Master Derechoo  
  spends most of his waking moments in vigorous 
  training, seeking ever more elemental powers to be 
  harnessed freely by his magically disguised claws. 
   
   
   
   
   
                    40 
  
   
   
   
  Master d’Zud “White Hands” 
  This possessive and arrogant Necromancer  
  has long conducted his studies,  
  pushing himself ever further toward  
  the mastery of life, death, and undeath. 
    Now however, the experiments and risks  
  of d’Zud have escalated, his decisions  
  becoming all the more reckless after  
  the loss of his former ghostly companion. 
    To Master d’Zud, no price is too great  
  if it means the return and total domination  
  of his former lover. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
                    41 
  
   
   
   
  Master Orkando 
  The master of the Beanstalk Spire, this mighty Druid 
  lives his life in a state of stark contrasts. 
    Half of his waking hours, Master Orkando tends  
  to his vegetable gardens, making sure great  
  quantities of magically infused foods are in  
  steady supply for his fellow cloud-drifting mages. 
    The other half of the time, Master Orkando gives  
  up his calm demeanour to become a beast fueled  
  by bloodlust and the dogmas of Malar the Beastlord. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
                    42 
  
   
   
   
  Master Torndo 
  Legends tell of the elemental ties giant-kind  
  have within their very being. 
    However, in the case of Master Torndo,  
  his very heart and mind appears as though  
  carved from the coldest of ice. 
    A sociopath of icy demeanour, this powerful 
  Transmuter sees nothing of importance within  
  the world other than his own superiority. 
    To Torndo, everything is a resource for his  
  ever greater experiments, and a means for  
  him to prove his self-titled state of perfection. 
    Concepts such as love, friendship or anger  
  are utterly foreign to the Master, understood  
  in an academic sense, but completely unachievable 
  and irrelevant otherwise. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
                    43 
  
   
   
   
  Tenni Kulenov,  
  Revenant of the Yellow Rose 
  Formerly a human monk of the Monastery  
  of the Yellow Rose, located in the  
  Earthspur Mountains in Damara,  
  this young female undead now seeks to avenge  
  her own death at the hands of the necromancer  
  called Master d’Zud.  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
                    44 
  
   
  Appendix C: Magic Items 
  The following section is made up of unique magic 
  items appearing within this product. 
   
   
   
   
   
                    45 
  
   
   
   
   
   
  Other Products 
  If you enjoyed this product, make sure  
  to check out my ​“Box Text Companion”  
  series for ​“Storm King’s Thunder.”  
    The entry ​“Ironslag” is already available  
  on the Dungeon Masters Guild, and there  
  are more entries to come in the near future,  
  the next entry in line being the  
  “Eye of the All-Father” companion. 
   
  More Encounter Locations are also on their way, 
  written in the same format as this product. 
    The next entry to look forward to in this context is 
  “The Witch of the Haze” 
  a minor dungeon that will draw the elves  
  of the Misty Forest into ​“Storm King’s Thunder.” 
   
   
                    46 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Dungeons & Dragons [multi]/5th Edition (5e)/3rd Party/DMsGuild/MadHatter - Towers of the Seven Cloud Mages.pdf