D&D 5E - The Rise of Tiamat

• Taraz saw a human (Iskander) come down the corridor
ahead of the adventurers. He was carrying a mask
that resembled a dragon’s face, and he looked badly
wounded. (All true.)
• Iskander stumbled and fell off the walkway with
the mask into the infinite space beyond, where he
undoubtedly is still falling. To rescue him and recover
the mask, the characters w ill need Taraz’s help, for the
only way to get the mask back from the cosmic well
around the walkway is with a wish. The efreeti w ill
bestow this powerful magic on the party in exchange
for his freedom. (False on all counts, including the
efreeti’s ability to bestow a wish.)
• Freeing Taraz is as simple as breaking the line of salt
across the entryway. (True.)
In the end, Taraz is desperate to escape the dungeon,
and he w ill promise almost anything—short of
continued servitude—to win his freedom. Unless the
terms of the deal are ironclad, however, the efreeti
w ill seek a way to weasel out of any bargain once he is
free, and to attack the characters out of sheer malice.
Because he can fly, Taraz has no fear of falling off the
walkway, and he w ill push characters off it.
23. T i m e C h a m b e r
Two massive hourglasses occupy this irregularly shaped
chamber. Their glass globes are nearly fifteen feet across,
with each hourglass rising almost to the ceiling thirty
feet overhead. Each is suspended by chains, pulleys, and
gears in such a way that it can be turned over to set its
sand running.
Slumped against the wall at the far side o f the chamber
is the cultist who called to you from the balcony o f the
tower. His dark robes are charred and torn, and a blue
dragon mask is clutched in his red-stained hands.
In addition to his mastery of spatial magic, Xonthal
dabbled in the manipulation of time. These hourglasses
were part of his attempt to control the flow of time,
though he abandoned that research. The hourglasses
can be rotated by pulling on their chains, but the only
effect is a hideous, ear-grating groan. The sand runs, but
but the hourglasses’ magic has long since dissipated.
Casting a detect magic spell reveals faint auras of
transmutation magic within the sand of each hourglass.
An hourglass has AC 5, 25 hit points, and vulnerability
to bludgeoning and thunder damage. An hourglass
that drops to 0 hit points shatters, spilling its sand
onto the floor. Sifting through the pile reveals ld4 + 2
tiny diamonds amid the grains of sand. Each diamond
has an apparent value of 100 gp, and a character
in possession of a diamond can use a bonus action
to teleport to a space it can see up to 30 feet away,
whereupon the diamond disappears.
Iskander has been dead since shortly after he arrived
here, slain by the wounds inflicted by the elementals.
The (false) Blue Dragon Mask is bloody but undamaged.
E x i t i n g X o n t h a l ’s T o w e r
The teleport circle in area 14 can take the characters
back to any level of the tower (areas 8 to 13). The
teleport circles in those areas can take them back to
the sundial, from which they can exit the maze. The
characters are not yet in the clear, though.
However much Jorgen Pawl opposed Severin, he
remained loyal to the Cult of the Dragon. As soon as he
understood that the traitorous Iskander was somehow
in league with the adventurers, he used sending to call
an adult blue dragon from its nearby lair, telling it of
Iskander’s theft of the dragon mask.
When the characters teleport to the sundial, they are
greeted by the terrible sound of villagers screaming, a
dragon roaring, and lightning bolts tearing houses to
splinters. When they reach the edge of the garden, they
see the dragon swooping over the village and terrified
villagers fleeing in every direction. A character with
passive Perception of 14 or higher recognizes this
dragon as Lennithon, the adult blue dragon the party
faced in the Hoard o f the Dragon Queen.
Like any smart foe, Lennithon tries to fight on its
terms, not the enemy’s. It stays in the air and uses its
breath weapon to maximum effect. If the characters
refuse to face it, Lennithon is happy to wreck the village
and murder innocents in an effort to bring the heroes
into the open.
When the characters face the dragon, read or
paraphrase the following.
"The mask, fools! The mask is what I've come for. Give
it to me, and I'll leave these crawling ants with their
miserable lives. The Queen is returning! W ho are you to
hope to stop her? Give me the mask!"
This dragon is loyal to the cult, but it has no intention of
getting killed before Tiam at’s glorious return. It fights
until it is reduced to 75 hit points, then flies away to
recuperate.
C o n c l u s i o n
If any of the cultists in the tower are left alive for
questioning, or if the characters use speak with dead to
converse with either Jorgen Pawl or Iskander, they learn
nothing new of Severin’s plots. The cultists here are
motivated primarily by self-interest.
The fact that the Blue Dragon Mask is a forgery is
quickly discovered by experts at Waterdeep. It becomes
a cause for much concern among the members of the
council, some of who see it as a sign that the cult might
have placed spies within the council. Speak with dead
used to contact either Iskander or Jorgen Pawl can
shed some light on why a false mask might have been
supplied to the cultists at Xonthal’s Tower, but the false
mask might otherwise remain a troubling mystery.
The characters gain a level at the end of this episode.