D&D 5E - The Rise of Tiamat

L E n t r a n c e P l a z a
The entrance to Diderius’s tomb stands in what was once
a large paved plaza. The remains o f a fountain are now
little more than a stone circle set around a crumbling
hole in the ground leading to a well deep below. Two
stone statues stand in the courtyard, rising twenty feet
high. Behind them, a forty-foot high edifice is carved into
the cliff side, dominated by relief columns carved with
strange, otherworldly scenes.
The left-hand colossus is a bearded human male
wearing exotic clothes, but its face is smashed beyond
recognition. It holds a balance in its right hand and a
cudgel at its side, its left hand raised as if in warning.
The colossus to the right of the entrance is a young
human male wearing similarly exotic clothing, the
left half of its head cracked off and lying at its feet.
The statue holds a shepherd’s crook in its left hand
and a sword at its waist, its right hand raised in
warning as well.
The relief-carved scenes around the entrance depict
things Diderius glimpsed in the divination pool,
including other worlds and planes that never came to
be. Use your imagination when describing these scenes.
The entrance to the crypt is 30 feet up atop a stone
stairwell that stops 10 feet short of a platform jutting
out from the cliff face. Varram’s cultists (see below)
have left a ladder leaning against the edifice that allows
characters to climb up to the entrance.
C u l t i s t C a m p s i t e a n d R u i n e d F o u n t a i n
Varram’s cultists have made camp in the plaza near the
ruined fountain. A campfire is burning down here, and
three bedrolls show where the rearguard cultists are
camped. Seven shallow graves have been dug east of the
campsite—casualties from the cultists’ exploration.
The guards are dead, having been dragged off and
eaten by trolls living in the tunnels beneath the well.
Those sewers remain largely intact, and the 3 trolls
that dwell there have discovered that using them to
move between the crypt and the plaza makes for good
foraging in the area. If the party rests here or in area 5,
the trolls attack in the night. A troll fights until reduced
to one-third or fewer of its hit points before retreating to
the safety of the well.
The entrance to the tunnels is too narrow for even a
Small character to squeeze through. The trolls dislocate
their hips and shoulders to pass through, taking 10
bludgeoning damage that they quickly regenerate.
A p p r o a c h i n g t h e S t a t u e s
When the party approaches the statues, read
the following.
As you approach the statues, you hear the sudden sound
o f grinding stone. The colossal figures turn their massive
heads, their shattered features staring down at you. Two
voices issue forth in unison, booming out as though
erupting from the deep earth.
“ Halt. You come before Diderius, ether walker and
conduit o f clairvoyance. Behold ye now his wondrous
triumphs. Diderius extends wisdom, and Diderius offers
knowledge. W hich do you seek?"
If a response of “We seek wisdom,” or “We desire
knowledge” is given, or the characters roleplay an
obsequious or self-deprecating response that might
please an egotistical wizard, the statues respond. They
say, “Diderius shall grant you what you seek, but only
if you heed him and continue to show proper respect!”
They then revert to their original positions.
The adventurers’ positive response earns them
beneficial warnings, courtesy of the magic of Diderius.
Warnings are detailed in the areas to which they apply.
Any response other than “knowledge” or “wisdom”
that is not in some way flattering to Diderius—including
questions for clarification—results in the statues
reverting to their initial positions. The characters are
free to continue on into the complex, but they receive no
benefit from this interaction.
2. A n t e c h a m b e r
W hile an illusion still shows a tomb with gilded carvings
and silver censers, these are mere shadows. Looters
have defaced and ruined the relief-carved walls, and the
censers are long gone. Set between the carvings are a
dozen alcoves recognizable as funerary niches, though
these contain only splinters of bone. At the far end of
the chamber, a stone door hangs ajar. Marks on the door
and frame indicate that it was recently forced.
3. Wa t c h f u l St a t u e s
Six statues stand here, all of cowled wizards leaning on
staffs, their faces obscured by deep hoods. The hollows
the hoods form are particulalry dark. Niches between
the statues once held skeletal guardians that fought the
cultists. The bones of more than a dozen humanoids
now litter the ground.
Characters who chose well when speaking with the
statues in area 1 are struck by a sudden thought when
they enter this area: “Some secrets are not meant for
mortal minds to know. Look away from the darkness in
which such knowledge hides.”
Statue Trap. When the first adventurer passes the
halfway point of the room, the sound of grinding stone
announces the statues turning their cowled heads to
follow the characters’ movements. The characters must
not look into the darkness in the statues’ hoods. Any
character who does must make a D C 15 Wisdom saving