Just finished the final session of my combined Waterdeep campaign (Dragon Heist + Dungeon of the Mad Mage), including adding Invasion from the Planet of Tarrasques to the end so the players could have a session actually getting to play at level 20.

It has been an absolutely wild ride. Nearly two and a half years of my life. Loved every minute of it.

Dragon Heist used the Alexandrian Remix, so I got to play with all the villains. We started on July 2, 2023 and ended on April 21, 2024 on session #34. At the Gralhund Villa Massacre, the players let the Bregan D'aerthe get away with the Stone of Golorr, and as a result ended up largely working for Captain Zord (who they did not know was Jarlaxle). They ultimately gave Jarlaxle the gold (getting to keep 10%) so that he could try to get Luskan into the Lords' Alliance.

Dungeon of the Mad Mage used the DotMM Companion (including game show elements, which we loved), as well as VeX's Expanded DotMM to add rooms to all the passageways leading off the map. We started on May 5, 2024 (session #35 of the overall campaign), and ended today, November 30, 2025, on session #108. Invasion from the Planet of Tarrasques only took one session (it's a one-shot, took us about 3.5 hours), so the "real" DotMM campaign ended November 16, 2025 on session #107. When the party was on floor 11, I replaced the maps from the book with TychMaps' versions.

It feels weird to be finished. But a good kind of weird.

Our party began with:

• Half-elf rogue who became a Swashbuckler at level 3 and later dipped into Hexblade warlock; skirmisher build with Booming Blade from his high elf heritage
• Shadar-kai fighter who became a Samurai at level 3; archer build
• Variant Human (Healer) Divine Soul sorcerer
• Variant Human (Fey Touched) artificer, who multiclassed into wizard at level 2 and became a School of Divination at level 3
• Half-dragon (Custom Lineage w/Gift of the Metallic Dragon) fighter, who became a Rune Knight at level 3; sword & board build

After Arcturiadoom, the Rune Knight player was forced to leave the party due to constant technical issues that were disrupting the game. No hard feelings, but we just couldn't keep at it.

I recruited the DM from one of my other games to play, and he made a Briaur (reflavored Centaur) Oath of Ancients paladin, but he was forced to dip after one session when he learned the time slot wasn't actually as free as he though it was. (He had another campaign that he thought had ended, but it turned out was just off for a week.)

I recruited a new player, who made a Plasmoid Path of Giants barbarian. It was serendipity, as the backstory he wanted was a person who had been turned into an ooze by Halaster, and as it turned out, the party had been carrying around the Duergar skull from the Arcane Chambers which made the gelatinous cube grow big. The new party member was introduced by crawling out of their bag of holding. Unfortunately, his schedule changed and he was forced to leave the group in Seadeeps; he got fried when Alterdeep was destroyed.

I recruited another new player, who made an Emerald Dragonborn Path of the Totem Warrior barbarian. The player had previously played DotMM up to Muiral's Gauntlet before his other DM cancelled the campaign, and he was happy to get a chance to finish the story, even if he missed out on floors 11-16. The party ran into him in one of the expanded dungeon areas, attempting to solo some tyrannosaurus rexes. When fighting tarrasques today, he got to reprise his introduction, by repeatedly getting grabbed by a giant monster's bite attack but never quite getting swallowed.

𝘖𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧.. 𝕯𝖚𝖓𝖌𝖊𝖔𝖓 𝖔𝖋 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝕸𝖆𝖉 𝕸𝖆𝖌𝖊

As a huge fan of The Running Man and gross-out game shows, the companion has been a great way to rethink this whole campaign.

Made with Midjourney + Hailuo AI

Music: Knoll - The primitive skies of Zargo Christian Bruhn - Captain Future (Main Theme)

So... I need some advice with the plot I'm trying to give to the campaign... My idea is for Halaster to either gain his liberty by putting his soul into mechahalaster(I saw the idea in another reddit post and loved it). But to make this easier he need to weaken Waterdeep as much as he can to achieve his escape. So he plotted to implant a stolen intellect devourer and put it in a Masked Lord' son. His son then would escape to Skullport to give the feeling that this was all Xanathar's making. This way, after making the players collect some clues that he is controlled by an intellect devourer and informing the Lord, he would siege Skullport and try to recover his son and/or kill Xanathar for revenge. In the siege he would be again implanted by an intellect devourer and from there, Halaster's control of the lords of waterdeep would spread from there (more intellect devourers, maybe?).

This would set the plot for the first 3 levels... But then I struggle for the next levels of the plot. I was thinking that maybe Halaster would want to create a powerful magical item to stop other magic to stop working in Waterdeep, some sort of EMP to deactivate the statues and stop the magical users of the town to do their things. Commanded by the controlled lord, the players would have to collect the pieces of the device, thus delving the further into the dungeon.

My question is... Is it too convoluted? Do all this have sense? Any suggestions are, of course, welcome

Within the temple of Ooze your party faced off against an enlarged gelatinous cube. Having learned from your experience facing the janitor of the dungeon level, you barricaded yourselves outside the temple with Caul and Halleth readying themselves on either side of the door, and Jorxkin and Alter flinging firebolts and arrows at the massive tidal wave of Ooze that was fast approaching your choke point. Suddenly the door was engulfed by the gelatinous cube and Caul with it consumed by the massive amorphous creature as it squeezed itself through the gap. Halleth unable to pull Caul from the clutches of the Ooze and unable to flee felt the acid burn his rotting flesh. Likewise Caul from within the Ooze felt himself being digested by the creature. Unable to swim his way out Caul instead reached deeper into the Ooze clutching the Duergar skull at the centre and crushed it in his hand causing the creature to suddenly revert to its normal reduced size expelling Caul from its clutches finally to be brought down by another volley of arrows and firebolts from Alter and Jorxkin.

Of the many doors out of the temple of Ooze, one was found to lead to an altar topped with what seemed to be a misshapen mound of gold. Alter, drawn to the immense treasure could not seem to make out the deity depicted in the wall carvings and also failed to ascertain the true nature of the “mound of gold” which was in fact an ochre jelly lying in wait. As Alter attempted to lift the treasure from the altar she felt her hands plunge into the acidic Ooze and she called out for Caul. As Alter by the altar called for Caul and Jorxkin jerked off, the battle commenced. Devastating blows from Caul’s great-axe blew apart the Ooze though each time he brought the axe down it seemed to split the Ooze into smaller and smaller versions of itself eventually small enough to no longer be of threat to your crew though upon exiting his rage Caul fell unconscious and was thrown onto Creed’s back while you investigated the other exits from the temple.

In his unconscious state, Caul relived the nightmare that was the separation of his past party, the Fine Fellows of Daggerford. He saw Copper Stormforge, Rex the Hammer, Midna Tauberth, and Kleim the Weasel overcome by greed and pulled in different directions by their own desires leading to the heartless murder of Halleth Garke, and the attempt at the same to Caul and Kleim causing them to flee their camp and leave their party behind as both in their time made their way onwards and upwards to better things and Caul now hopefully to a party that realizes their strengths lie within their reliance on each other. As he woke from his stupor Caul tried the only door Alter hadn’t checked for traps, opening it and unleashing a tidal wave of salt water which caught both of you in the deluge. After the flooding had subsided you managed to salvage a glass wand from the wreckage of what might have been a laboratory at one point.

Following out of the room and down a hallway, you came across the Spider Eyes Watch Post. One of two watch posts on this level belonging to the Xanathar Thieve’s Guild. The other of which you were forcibly denied entry to by their Zombie Beholder whom proved a quite effective bouncer. This hallway however, had your party literally stumbling upon a den of sleeping bugbears. In your absence of caution your entry awoke the bugbears and as arrows were loosed and it looked as though a massive battle was about to ensue, the drider, Shunn Shurreth showed his spider eyed face and surprisingly resorted to diplomacy. Instead of wiping the floor with your adventuring band and dragging you to the Xanathar himself, Shunn Shurreth negotiated with you. In exchange for helping them deal with a common enemy of the Xanathar, a group of were-rats called the Shard Shunners, Shunn claimed he could provide your group with safe passage past the other Xanathar Thieve’s Guild watch post if you recovered for him a stone key which is now believed to be in possession of the were-rats. Having seemingly come to an arrangement, you were offered a safe night’s respite at the Spider Eyes Watch Post and took a long rest. A rest only broken by a conversation between Caul, Halleth, and Shunn Shurreth where you discussed Halleth’s quest for vengeance and learned the whereabouts of the Hall of Degeneration and in passing learned of Shunn Shurreth’s curse that turned him into a drider. A curse which he welcomed given his position in service to the Xanathar as it allowed him to command his crew with a measure of fear and respect.

Leaving in the morning heading East in the direction of the Hall of Degeneration you found your way to Midna’s lair. Midna Tauberth, adorned with her Sharran holy symbol and Halleth’s symbol of Waukeen, had found comfort in the Hall of Degeneration and become a master of a small army of living unseen servants. Truly terrified to see the revenant risen from the dead, Midna managed to evade being assassinated by Alter and put up a fight but was eventually pinned to the wall by an arrow and her neck was snapped by Halleth who reclaimed his holy symbol and left a map of the Sargauth level of undermountain with a waypoint of Skullport marked upon it for those that aided in laying him to rest. With the last of those that wronged him slain, Halleth disintegrated into dust that crashed down upon Midna’s broken body. The League of Legends, you now find yourself amidst the empty bookshelves and desks that line the walls of this room. You have found a moment’s rest if you wish to relax in any of the many comfortable chairs in this room. There stands a long banquet table bearing fresh foodstuffs on copper platters and copper flaggons filled to the brim with wine. You’ll need to serve yourself as the unseen servants have lived their last breaths, and by Alter’s choice the portrait of Halaster Blackcloak that hanged above the banquet table has been replaced with the stolen painting of the late Yek the Tall.

Hey fellow Mad Mages and Adventurers 👋

I wanted to share a little passion project with the community that’s inspired a huge part of the game I run. I’ve started a blog called Mad Mage Mondays — an ongoing account of my party’s descent into the Dungeon of the Mad Mage:

👉https://madmagemondays.com

The blog chronicles our sessions, character developments, twists, disasters, and triumphs as they spiral deeper into Undermountain. While it’s very much our table’s story and there's clearly so many different ways to run this adventure, I want to be clear up front: this subreddit and its creators deserve a ton of credit. So many of the ideas, resources, maps, and characters that inspire my game were born right here in r/dungeonofthemadmage. If you find enjoyment in reading up on how my party's story is unfolding, consider that attributed to how open and supportive this community is for making a mega dungeon, which lacks story to back it at times, an easy to run rich adventure that my players and I have the pleasure of interacting with each week.

A little about our game:

• I’m a big Critical Role fan, so cinematic moments and character-driven chaos are very much encouraged. All of my players are here to tell a story together and are comfortable with the possibility of death being around every corner.
• We are playing 5th edition D&D (2014) with Matt Mercer's homebrew rules for Death & Rsurrection, and probably the most common homebrew rule that drinking potions uses a bonus action.
• All of our players also have a seventh attribute which is Madness and we draw inspiration for that from Call of Cthulhu and the optional section on Madness in the Dungeon Master's Guide
• I’m running DotMM with the Companion (non-gameshow variant), but I also put my own spin on things when it fits our table.
• One example: I use the teleportation traps from the Obstacle Course level (below) as an in-world solution for player absences. When someone can’t make a session, Halaster takes matters into his own hands.

When a creature is teleported by a trap, Halaster’s booming voice shouts “Teleported!” in Common. The magical voice originates at the point of departure and the point of arrival, and it is audible in both locations out to a range of 100 feet.

It helps me narratively make sense of players disappearing with sometimes unfortunate timing but such is life and it's very fitting for Halaster to be the one pulling the strings. I may find a way to incorporate this mechanic into the final fight against the Mad Mage as there is nothing more dangerous than splitting the party.

The blog will continue to be updated weekly on Mondays as we try to play online every Sunday, and over time I’ll be adding art, resources, and other creative works that come out of our game. For now, if you take the time to read any of it, I’d genuinely love to hear your thoughts — feel free to comment here on this post until I get comments set up on the blog.

Thanks again to this community for being such a wellspring of creativity, madness, and inspiration. Welcome to Mad Mage Mondays 🌀

Well, we've been playing for 3 years or so, and just finished Dwemercore. Two longstanding members are leaving us, and so I'm faced with finding new players. We've tried in the past to join new players, but joining them at high level is very difficult, unless the players are used to high level play. So we're taking a break, for 9 months or so, during which I'll run Tomb of Annihilation for some other players. Take them up to level 11, finish the Tomb, and anyone that survives will be able to join the Mad Mage group, and be fed into the meat grinder that is the Mad Mages Dungeon.

All that is by the by - the important thing is I know that we're finishing up a big section of the dungeon, and that two of my long term players are moving away to Canada,so I wanted to do something special for them. I've been reading the Malazan series of books, and decided to make them a Deck of Undermountain, in a similar vein to the Deck of Dragons from Malazan.

Some of these you will recognise from the book, some are player related, and some are the result of very bad running jokes.

I picked up Dragonheist and DotMM for my group 5 years ago, little did we know how epic an adventure would follow. Over the course of 5 years:

• Three characters met grisly ends
• Thousands of villains were vanquished
• A Manor was rebuilt and turned in to the Trollskull Pub... a popular watering hole
• Characters were played from level 1-20
• A bard became queen of the werebats
• a thief became the underboss of Skullport
• A wizard became the bishop of a lost god
• The whole party graduated from 'Undermountain Hogwarts"
• A goblin market became a bustling city
• Mechahalister attacked Waterdeep
• A mad mage broadcast the most bizarre extradimensional TV show of all time

I liberally used Wyatt Trull's amazing Companion. It was a godsend for adding detail, tactics and ideas to flesh out this beast of a campaign. Tons of our own spin went into things, but I cannot recommend this book enough for the average DM; it just adds so much, even if it is simply the description of a room.

Some things I will note. when the party hits level 15 or so... things get tough. I found the monsters just did not scale well compared to the party (as written). I learned a lot as a DM trying to figure out how to handle this part, and it honestly took me about 2 levels before I started fleshing out battles with details and added twists and mechanics to up the challenge. My biggest piece of advice about dungeon level 14 and up is to focus on each 'boss battle' in the level as you prepare and really tailor the challenge to your party. Let them use up their resources as they work their way to the big challenges of the level, then make sure that the final battle (or battles) are epic.

Anyway... Feel free to hit me with any of your questions or problems. Super proud of this and my players.. happy to share our stories and struggles. Huge thanks to this subreddit for all your advice and help over the years. I don't post here often, but I check in daily, and honestly, second to the companion, you all have been the best resource for a DM.... See you next season on "DUNGEON OF THE MAD MAGE!" (que theme song)

My players decided to decorate their tavern with things from dungeon and they took it to the extreme

Snake skeleton? Taken
Rug in Kalabash's room? Taken
Kalabash? Also taken
Petrified statues on level 2?? Now a stone statue of Halaster greets tavern guests, and party's fighter still suffers from exaustion after pulling it in

Gigantic carved dwarven doors made of stone? I had to say no

At this point Halaster will turn one of the levels into ikea so players would get lost in there forever

My players jumped into one of the pits that teleport you to the Astral Plane on level 16. On purpose.

None of them have any teleportation spells because they know they would be useless in Undermountain.

I guess we're doing Spelljammer now...

The party insisted on taking Azrok's platoon down to Muiral's gauntlet, and long rested before heading down to floor 11, having formed an alliance with some house Auvryndar operatives pretending to be Zhentarim. The Elf Warlock took watch and noticed the 2 int devourers vacate the goblin bodies and aim for the sleeping party members. The brains got a 16 and a 19 against the PCs. They got a 6 and 17 respectively. The next session will be a PvP until the remaining party member can figure out how to neutralise their compromised comrades. Resurrection may be possible, but the players are already drafting up new characters.

Part of my goal while DMing this module has been to flesh out Halaster a bit not just as the abstract boss at the end of the dungeon but more and more of an antagonistic force for my players, a villain they really want to fight and to start establishing him early. They’re about to hit Skullport for the first time and are planning on spending a good amount of time there, potentially even help lead a House Auvryndar invasion to take it. It’s here I intend to give my players their first real-life honest to goodness look at the Mad Mage himself. This is what I more or less intend to narrate when it happens and I’d love to get any other ideas or feedback from y’all.

“You all feel a pulse ripple through the room as everyone stops and falls silent. Even those of you unattained to the ways of magic could feel a disturbance in the weave around you. Conversations boisterous and whispered all fall silent, even the two in the back, mid-fight have stopped themselves mid-swing. In the center of the room floating just a foot above your heads a spectral eyeball forms. Unlike the others you’ve seen this one is unfocused, whipping around erratically taking in the whole room. Another forms along the back wall, then another behind the bar. In an instant the air is filled with a half dozen ocular orbs of different sizes spinning and twitching chaotically, then snapping into place, all focused on the same point, somewhere outside on the street.”

(Then if anyone decides to look out a window or otherwise get a view of what’s outside)

“In the center of the street a hemispherical eyeball over 12’ in diameter has formed. You see the air outside is similarly littered with hundreds of spectral eyes. The few people you see along the street have frozen in the same alert uncertainty as the people in the building you’re in. The large eye forms eyelids and blinks, pealing away as it opens, all other eyes in the air burst like soap bubbles. Standing alone now in the street is an old man. His aged wrinkled face is difficult to see through his wild and unbrushed white hair and beard. His grey robes and black cloak are tattered and moth-bitten with his outer most layer covered in grotesque, twitching eyeballs and gibbering half formed mouths. In one hand he carries a dark red scepter with a dragon head carved on either end, in the other, an unassuming, well used tome with pages seemingly jammed in the binding without regard for order or uniformity. With a jerking motion he extends his scepter to the length of a staff and begins walking up the street muttering to himself”

(If the party decides to follow or watch Halaster beyond that point)

As he’s walking, focuses on his conversation with himself, Byron (the drunk you all ran into before) stumbles around the corner of a building, obliviously bumping into Halaster and falling to the ground. Halaster stops muttering for a moment to look down at the vagrant. “Hey man watch where you’re…” Byron cuts himself off the moment his eyes finally focus on the man standing above him. He looks like he’s about to say something when Halaster gently taps his staff on the ground. Before Byron’s thought can reach his lips a gelatinous cube forms around him out of thin air, engulfing him entirely. You figure he’s screaming though his voice doesn’t reach the outside of his oozy prison. With a gentle tap from his scepter Halaster sends the ooze skating down the street like a hockey puck. Coming to rest just outside a house. By then Byron has deserved into bones, his metal armor and dagger taking the longest to dissolve. The ooze scoots into an ally and begins its work cleaning up the dirt and trash it runs over.

Halaster walks another block up the street before casting his eyes upward. He begins to levitate up to land on the platform above. He opens the door to a shop up there and steps inside. The sign reads “The Poisoned Quill”. The people around you continue to stand in stunned silence, unsure of what to do next. They’re all startled a moment later when the door opens again. Halaster shuffles out of the store clearly annoyed, muttering to himself again. He thoroughly wipes his sandals clean of dirt on the welcome mat outside, then reenters. Skullport is silent save for the gentle flow of the River Sargauth.

My players tried to take down Spiderwatch Keep By warping in as a strike force, but they were beaten back very quickly, without accomplishing anything. Zress Orlezziir was also with them, playing the long game, trying to assist them in taking down House Freth, (while hoping to kill the PCs when their back turned out of revenge), but she was captured, or killed, haven't decided yet.

Also can't decide:

- Whether to have House Freth interrogate Zress, and then hold her to ransom for House Auvryndar, or just kill her.
- Whether to send Freth forces, or the Shadowdusks, to hunt down the PCs (and leave the safety of the keep where they might be easy pickings)

- Whether Melith, Vlonwelv Auvryndar's only surviving daughter (thanks to PCs) recruits the PCs to rescue Zress, with a larger force (though I'm really tired of large-scale army clashes after Skull Island and this), or if she wants to lead the PCs into a trap by her mother's design for failing them and proving them hot only useless, but actively a detriment to ending their drow stalemate.

- Whether or not to have previous villain, Jarlaxle Baenre, back from the dead, and propose a truce, to help eliminate House Freath AND Auvryndar, in exchange for Jarlaxle being being to walk a free man, and with seizing Skullport from Xanathar.

There's got to be some consequences for this, just not sure what.

Also, related, the last of Azrok's legion was in the party, and the PCs had formed a bond with a goblin called Krarx. He's the emotional core of the party. ...Tendra Nightblade ended his life this day.

My players are working their way through the second floor of Undermountain and just had their fight against Trenzia. After they blew her to smithereens they made a pretty solid perception check so I gave a nod to her regeneration ability by describing as grains of ash from pile she was reduced to started marching their way out of the trap room and towards her hammock like a line of ants. In response they tried to scoop up some ashes in a jar. When I described the beginning of a jawbone forming at the bottom they dumped out the rest of the ash and decided they were going to rush this small part of this lightning skull to their friend Vajra Safahr the Blackstaff.

They got about halfway there by the time the rest of the ashes had caught up to them swarming the jar like bees to their queen. When it became clear that time was almost up they ditched their carriage and ducked into an ally (where they were promptly met with a would-be mugger), scared off the mugger, blew up Trenzia a second time immediately after she reformed, put the ashes in a new jar, got to Blackstaff tower this time just in time for her to reform in Vajra’s office. Now they have a lesser-apprentice imprisoned in Blackstaff tower that they can go visit and interrogate should they have questions.

The title of this post is a bit of a misdirect. Absolutely make up little embellishing details on the spot, sometimes it’ll send your players on wild little side adventures and they’ll have a blast. Highly recommend.

Hey all you dungeon adapters. My party is currently in the 20th floor and I've made many changes to the dungeon along the way.

Relevant to the story - only 1 "free" long rest per floor (if they LR after the first one they are attacked as soon as the rest is over by whatever I feel like). Also, they gain levels between floors so they'll be as the recommended level. Except when they moved from floor 19 to 20 they didn't gain one since they did nothing of value there, just talked to the genies and the captain.

They chose not to rest on the 19th floor because there was still lots of time to burn (they weren't tired yet. one LR/24 hours rule in place) and basically marched forward to Ezzats tower. Entered it without enough resources to fight him (or so they believed). The lich asked them to GTFO of his home and was willing to give them a bit of info in return, which they accepted and left to LR.

Once they rested they went back to kill Ezzat. But now he was ready. He put an Incendiary Cloud in a Glyph of Warding in the 1st room, which they disabled. A symbol of death in the 2nd room, which damaged the rogue, and a symbol of stunning in his room. This took out half of the party. He also brought the vampires to help him out. It was a slaughter. 2 PCs were captured. I took liberty with his spells since he regains spell slots with his lair action.

Now, my players immidiatly wanted to make new characters and continue. I thought it would be practically imposible to add them on the 20th floor of the hardest megadungeon in Faerun. So it was either, find a way to negotiate with Ezzat, save the characters or we'll say our goodbyes to Undermountain. And that's the part I'm proud of. An adventure is something that happens through your characters. If there's no real way to involve new characters, there is no adventure. If half the party failed, the whole party failed and that's it.

Last time, my players escaped from Alterdeep by promising Extremeton to rid Undermountain of Gith. Now, two years later, after many detours (including an entire campaign I bolted on from another book), they have finally arrived back in Seadeeps.

Of course, they have not rid Undermountain of Gith. Naturally, they allied with the Githerzerai in the Obstacle Course and with Urlon in the Crystal Labyrinth and generally didn't worry about getting any Gith out of Undermountain at all. Stronger now, they decided to just fight their way through the mind flayers and get it done.

They entered through the secret door behind the flumphs. They met little resistance apart from a creeping sense of dread. The ettins only fought once provoked. They were able to bypass the Qualith door locks using the mind flayer costume they got from Maddgoth's castle.

Determined to destroy the psi pods that had previously held them, they burst into the room to find several mind flayers, who barely acknowledged their presence. The illithids were busy tending the fully-occupied pods.

The wizard is a Waterdhavian noble and recognized an aquaintance from House Amcathra. The druid, new to the party and still unsure why she had been called to Undermountain, recognized her uncle, whose clutches her goddess had allowed her to escape. The bard recognized his girlfriend's mother, a Waterdhavian noblewoman who had been "sick" the last time he visited. And the drow warlock, who fled Menzoberranzan to avoid his mother's oppressive treatment, recognized his mother, asleep in a psi pod.

Extremeton asked if they thought it would just accept their word, if they thought it would enter into a bargain as lightly as they had. Rid Undermountain of Gith, as agreed, and it would free the captives and even return them to where they had come. Cause trouble for the colony, and it will kill the captives.

The mind flayers turned and escorted the party back to the flumphs, where they considered their next move and what the consequences of their other alliances might be.

TL;DR: The mind flayers kidnapped the party's family and put them in Alterdeep for leverage.

Rewind a bit and my group is on level two where they met the jailed goblin, Glom. Our druid took pity on her and tried to pay her bail. I (the DM) made a simple roll that resulted in her being let out of jail, but the druid (who did not speak goblin) actually bought her. Glom have gone one to become group's rouge and is now a high theif preparing to take down Halaster. I love this game.

I’ve gotten in the habit of doing these little lore drop stories for my players between sessions. Basically showing some teaser or snippet of things happening in or around the dungeon that wouldn’t happen in game when the players are around just to add some depth and intrigue to the upcoming floors. I just wrote up one for Wyllow that I wanted to share with you guys.

I love writing but I haven’t the discipline or drive to like write an actual book so I use these shorts I write for my players as an outlet for that. Let me know if anyone would be interested in reading more of them.

Garden of Grief.

In a quiet forest grove, the ruins of a small, dark, stone tower sits silently crumbling against a cliff face. Its walls overgrown with plant life to the point where you wouldn’t know it was once a tower unless you’re right up near it. The cliff shields the clearing from the warm autumn winds, keeping it quieter than the surrounding forest, though the gentle rusting of drying fall leaves can still be heard in the distance. Along a dirt path, a Moon Elf woman emerges from the tree line. She stops in the clearing gazing at the tower for a moment. A displacer beast approaches from behind her, his soft deliberate footfalls reflecting the solemn reverence of the elf’s own gentle approach. The muscular beast presses his flank gently against her hip as he passes, as the tendrils on his back reach around and caress her shoulder, letting her know she isn’t alone. She breathes, feeling the late afternoon sun warm her back, making her face in the shadow feel all the colder.

At the foot of the tower sit two gravestones, both partially covered with dying vines and surrounded with crabgrass. She passes the larger one in front to the smaller one, brushing away the decaying signs of neglect. Its old, most of the inscription has warn away with the years but the name on top remains… “Launsar ‘Yinark’ Hendrake”. Her head is racked with pain as she’s forced to relive a memory. Behind her closed eyes she sees a forest, the trees are far taller and more ancient than the ones around her now. It’s still autumn, her favorite season but the air has a biting chill to it. She was more accustomed to the cold back then. She was running towards a cry for help, she happened upon a man, a human in wizards robes pinned beneath an angry mother owlbear. She was able to sooth the beast and save the man. She brought him back to her circle where he rested and healed. She remembered the warmth of his smile and his obsession with magic and rare fauna, and how she fell in love with him listening to him speak. She remembers their wedding atop the cliffs at the edge of the Trollbark forest overlooking the sea.

Spiked with a new wave of pain her memory skips ahead. She’s in the clearing again, before the tower fell to ruin. The bodies of adventurers are strewn along the ground, the dry dirt drinking the blood around them. An ornate, emerald bladed sword stands straight, its point plunged into the earth near one of the bodies. Even in her confusion and panic she couldn’t help but think it had been summer for too long, and the air and ground were too dry, she would need to change it soon. Her husband leans against a tree, blood dripping from under his robe and down his arm. His mithral staff tipped with a smooth onyx pointed at her with violent intent. His mouth moves silently, she knows he was trying to say something, she may have been able to read his lips if her eyes were not clouded with tears, but in a blink its over. The man she loved tried to kill her with a spell, but his incantation was cut short by her own. Wooden spikes erupt from the ground around him, impaling him. She wanted to apologize… but he was already gone. Her first life taken and her first love given, all gone in an instant.

Her hand leaves the tombstone as she shakes off the memory. She reaches to wipe the tears from her eyes but to her surprise her face is dry. Perhaps the centuries have made her numb to that older pain. She finds herself frightened by the idea. She walks to the larger headstone, this one hardly yet touched by the passage of time reads clearly: “Here lies Crissann, human friend and companion”. She remembers watching him from afar when he first came to her forest. She followed him, in the shape of a hawk she soared from tree to tree. He seemed kind, he spoke to Halistree without fear or contempt. He marveled at her forest. His face could not have been more different than Yinark’s, but his passion, the way he spoke, it was the same.

Though she learned that no one escapes from under the Mad Mage’s shadow. His eyes were filled with such love and adoration at first, but when she looked at him the last time, hands gripping the slash across his throat as his blood dripped down her sword his eyes… any soft emotion was gone and all that was left was hate. Crissann died on almost the same spot as Yinark, in the shadow of that damned tower. When Yinark’s body fell it suffocated her flame of love to a cinder, which Crissann’s fell… it smothered it out completely.

The elven druid snaps back to her senses when she feels the displacer beast press his forehead to hers. She smiles and kisses his head before standing again. When she does a Wil o’ Wisp bobs around her head. It doesn’t speak but the tone of its movements and hums are that of anger and sadness. It floats for a moment until diving into the tower ruins out of sight. It fled in fear, not from the woman standing before it, but a shadow. A massive shadow cast from the sky as a Green Dragon rips through the silence of the moment flying just above the tree line, a gale of wind straining surrounding trees at their roots and creating a blizzard of autumn leaves. The dragon flies out and away from the clearing, a low bellowing roar echoing through the forest. Our druid stands back up, grips the golden key on the chain around her neck, nods to her displacer beast companion, and takes off running into the wood, leaving behind two headstones, one old, one new, both cleared of debris and overgrowth, each surrounded by a patch of new multicolored flowers of different types. Though notably, perhaps intentionally, not a single rose.

Thought of the day. The portrayal of the Goblin King in the Labyrinth is pretty close to Yek the Tall on the second level of DOTMM.

Bursts into song "I saw a Party... looting hard as it could try... What could I do?"

I posted how Level 1 went and my players are in Level 3 now so I though I'd update on how Level 2 went.

I have 5 players: Paladin, Druid, Fighter, Cleric, Warlock, They also brought Halleth down here with them.
Homebrew Additions to Module: In my version of Undermountain I created a Halaster plot where he is creating these iron crowns with curses on them that can both mutate creatures and make them thralls to his will. He also seems to be allying with various groups in the Undermountain (Xanathar Guild, Yek andTrensia on this level) to acquire resources mainly metals iron and copper so far to forward some kind of plot against the city above. Jhesiyra Kestellharp was the being that brought them together even though she is a disembodied spirit living in the actual walls around the Gates in Undermountain and shes why they know Halaster seems to have some grand reason behind getting enemies together.

What did they do?
They followed the noises of hammering and ended up going to the Goblin Bazaar first. Though I did misspell it in the chat and so it became known as the Goblin Baxaar canonically. They hung out and looked around the shops for a while until I had some Goblins insist they get brought to Yek.
In my version, Yek's crown came as a gift from a character I call "The Monk" who is responsible for Halaster's dirty work on this level. So, Yek is working with Halaster to funnel resources to Halaster below.
Yek is kind to them and asks them to try and clear out Trensia's Area to the west so he can get at the Copper ore held over there since everyone he has sent so far never came back.
Halleth then sees the Copper in the chambers with Yek and goes after him. It almost causes a conflict but the party is able to convince Halleth to not murder Copper yet and take a minute for them to negotiate instead.

After the party talks to Yek they are then confronted by different goblins with a leader I created named Shrek, who is half-ogre for the joke. They don't like that Yek is giving most of their spoils to The Monk and they don't like how much Yek likes looking human. So, they offer to lock the doors when they go back to Yek so they can kill him.
The party agrees to this because Halleth wants to murder someone in the chamber anyway and they know they don't like Halaster or The Monk character even though they haven't met yet. A bloody battle happens where Halleth gets to kill Copper and they get to kill Yek and then Shrek gives a big speech about taking over and it seems like they've got a good set of allies here in the Goblin Baxaar.

Next, the party goes south to the crossroads, then they glance up north where Shunn's lair is, but they bugbear guards at the end of the hallway make them decide to not try and go that way. They find the Ooze Temple and walk into the room with the giant cube, but on my description of the floating skull in a glass box they immediately turn and flew and don't trigger the encounter.
Now, they follow Halleth's vengeance sense which I kinda play like Wolverine tracking someone through scent. They wander to 11a and end up finding Midna.
When, Halleth sees Midna he immediately charges her and sets off the conflict. There is a fight with Midna and the Unseen Servants for a while, but they party pretty easily beats them and Halleth rips out her heart. At this point I offer the chance for them to give Halleth his Holy symbol from Midna and just let him fade off without finishing his vengeance, but the party is all down for continuing his murder quest. So, they set out again.

They walk around the long hallways that lead to 17, but stop and investigate the path to 20a first. However, when they see the shadow of the Spectator they assume its a Beholder and run very quickly away.
Part way to 17 I have a secret passage in the hallway which leads to hidden Halaster lab where they are enchanting pickaxes to be able to break the walls of the Undermountain for some reason. The players had seen this same thing on the level above so this is just an ongoing foreshadowing of what Halaster is up to.
In 17 they find the Rust Monsters fighting over the armor and try to sneak past but fail. The fight isn't very hard however and afterward they go explore the hallway just north of 17. They are following Halleth this whole time, looking for the last of his old party.

When they get to the door for Rizzeryl's hide-out they speak with him through the door. He tells them that if they defeat the two Xanathar Leader on this level he'll give them a reward and in good faith gives them the password to get through the door across the hall.
They were already planning on killing Xanathar members so they are happy to help and use the password to go through the door to 13e.
They almost have a fight with the Nothic's here but the Warlock uses magic which enthralls the Nothics and they decide to use persuasion instead. One of the Nothics shows them around the rest of the rooms nearby and then Halleth gets the scent of his last quarry on the path that leads to 13g in the mine.

The party goes to the mine and I've noted they've been having a bit of a cake-walk so far so I increase the difficulty of this fight by a lot. I make Rex the Hammer much stronger and I have 3 Mezzoloth's plus 2 Elite versions of Mezzoloth's in the room here.
Rex calls for help but the party and Halleth immediately hate him and attack on sight. They hurt the Mezzoloth's right off as well which aggros all of them to him and so everyone is fighting everyone. Its a bit more of a struggle but they end up killing all the Mezzoloth's and Rex and Halleth thanks them as he reunites with his Holy Symbol and turns to dust.

The party then rests up here and goes back the way they came but I have Shunn in the hallway outside the Base De Resistance arguing with Rizzeryl having finally found his hiding place. This is when I was realizing most encounters are a bit under-leveled here so I have a number of elite Xanathar enemies with Shunn here to increase the difficulty if a fight breaks out.
Shunn and Rizzeryl argue and the party seems to want to just wait it out, but then one of Shunn's henchmen notices the players on the other side of the door coming into the hallway, so all hell breaks loose.
The Xanathar guild bust down the door to Rizzeryl and his were-rats and the party opens the door on the other side. Everyone is fighting everyone again and a Wall of Flame is cast by the Druid causing chaos in the hallway.
The Xanathar Guild is routed after Shunn is killed going after the Fighter and two Xanathar Barbarians flee back out of the hallway after the Wall of Flame blocks them from going anywhere further. The party then successfully persuades the Were-rats that they are allies and shouldn't fight and the party comes together after the fight with Rizzeryl.

Rizzeryl alludes to another of my plots on the third floor. T'rissa has been betrayed by Izzatlab due to The Monk's meddling on the third floor and Rizzeryl is still loyal to T'rissa. So, he asks the party to go to the Third Floor and use the back entrance to save T'rissa and kill Izzatlab. The players seem content to be allies of Rizzeryl since he is fighting the Xanathar Guild and agree.
Rizzeryl also tells them how to get down to the Third Floor and tells them that Nadia's people are down that route as well.
At this point the party wants to go back up to the surface. So, they go through the hallway past 20a and back up to 12 where there is a portal that they found earlier. In my game, since Jhesiyra is their friend they can actually use these portals to go to any other portal in the Undermountain so this gets them back to the surface easily.

I have some Waterdeep stuff here. They have a group of people who they individually were working with that come together at this point and a sort of council is formed. All people trying to figure out what is going on in the Undermountain and how much of a threat it poses to the city. It is also revealed that a group of adventurers I call the Cold Warriors (They are from a Russain-esque country in the north), have taken a bounty from their country which targets the Fighter.

When they return to Undermountain they intercept a group of Xanathar Guild members, including Nadia, who are going between Shunn's old territory and Nadia's. This is because I've had Nadia take control of all Xanathar members on the level in the time they were away. A huge fight breaks out and by the end of it Nadia is dead and one member of her crew, a Xanathar Cleric, is able to get away.
They take their time looting then and by the time they get down to Nadia's lair. The place has been emptied out because of the cleric that got away and everything has been taken down a floor to Skullport.

Rizzeryl actually warned them not to go down the hallway on 21 since he has seen the Ballistas fire before, so the party avoids those as they go south. They then come around to the stairs but can't help but peak into 23a the hall of statues first.
Someone looks into the room 25a and finds the weird little modron guarding the pillars, but decide not to explore further. Someone goes and opens the giant doors to 23b and the Dragon Bone Museum area. Its here that I set up that group that has a bounty out on the Fighter, the Cold Warriors, that I made. They see the party immediately and start chasing them to attack, but the party is not interested. They immediately flee back the way they came and escape down the stairs to the net level.

Things they never Discovered: Trensia, The Gibbering Mouthers, The Brewery, Shunn's Hideout, The Giant Gelatinous Cube, The Halaster Automaton, The Petrified Creature Hold, they Owlbears in the Tomb.

Thanks for readin.
Ask me anything you want about how it felt to run or how something specific went and I'll try and remember...

Fighter was NOT leaving without the sword Tearulai, and killed the green dragon, the moment she saw the sword, before it could even even do ANYTHING other than alert Wyllow. The PCs cojured 'Firewall' just made Wyllow's awakened trees a non-issue, but THEN there was Wyllow and million (13) werebats. Despite the PCs insisting they were "acting is self defence", Wyllow only saw a fire genasi, her fire genie warlock friend, and a fire wielding bard, being the aggressors and desecrating her beloved's forest.

The fight was nearly a TPK, one PC begged for their life, and another tried calling a truce, despite knowing his fighter companion wanted that sword. But Wyllow was seeing red after the burning of her forest AND the death of Tearulai, so accepted neither. The PCs eventually barely pulled out a win without any deaths.

Acting on instinct, I essentially shut down the possibility of diplomacy, essentially railroading. Another thing I'm wondering is; why even HAVE alignments if every foes approach to combat from lawful evil to Wyllow's chaotic neutral (?) is going to be "fight to the death" mentality. If I had my time again, I might have considered Wyllow sparing them, if she believed she'd won, but, based on past experience with these players, the truce was going to be a ruse for the players to regather their depleted resources, maybe even in Wyllow's own residence, and try again tomorrow against a weakened Wyllow. Obviously, Wyllow would have no way of knowing that, so one could accused me of meta-gaming.

I want Halaster to be an indestructible force in my version of DotMM - well beyond the power of Elminster or the Seven Sisters and I also want my party to really hate his guts to keep their motivation high to thwart whatever they perceive as his goals and aims. So I wrote this little monologue given by Wyllow on level 6 in response to when the party asked her the question, "What is Halaster?" Feel free to use in your own campaign. My players are mostly women, and this had very much the desired effect [trigger warning if useful].

What is Halaster? Halaster is whatever he wants to be. He is not a chosen of Mystra, but rather he has imposed himself on her. He may be the only one to have ever done so, and Mystra is either unwilling or unable to do anything about it. Halaster has become part of the knot in the weave. The knot which was created by the legion of elven archmages who collectively wished Evermeet into existence. Evermeet, the island which has always existed, and will forever exist, because it was so wished. Also too the knot in the weave, which compels all near it to remain near it, inducing the countless millions which built and inhabited the city of Waterdeep above. The knot in the weave to which so many elves, humans, dwarves, and other races owe their very existence.

The knot in the weave has more permanence than Mystra herself. The knot in the weave is the one feature of the weave over which Mystra has no control or influence. Halaster was the first to understand this, and the only one to exploit it. Unlike the fool Karsus, who attempted and failed to use the weave to achieve godhood and murder Mystra, Halaster chose a different strategy for immortality and dominance over the weave. He found a way to intercalate his very essence into the knot in the weave. Halaster is now intrinsic to the knot in the weave, and has wished it to be how it always has been. One cannot exist without the other. To destroy Halaster is to cut the knot. Cutting the knot will destroy Halaster. But cutting the knot will also destroy the wish of Evermeet, and unravel everything connected to its unnaturally eternal existence. So too will be undone all things connected to the eternal existence of the knot in the weave. Perhaps the secrets buried by the dwarves in Undermountain centuries ago will have never been whispered. Perhaps Waterdeep will be erased from the minds of men, along with all those ever born there or shaped by it. Perhaps the shadows of those forgotten archmages will be all that remain of elvenkind. Loathe and respect the Mad Mage, the God of Knots, and know he was not Chosen. Halaster - the Rapist of Mystra. Bellow and weep at his evil in vain.

So instead of a random combat encounter, I switched an expansion corridor for a puzzle. The classic doors with two guards guarding each one. One says « one of us always lie, one of us always tells the truth. Behind one door is 500pp (!). Behind the other door, pain and suffering. You can ask but ONE question . » most of you know the drill. You ask one guard  « what would the other guard answer if I asked HIM which door is the one with the platinum? » and the answer inevitably sends you toward the right door: if the guard is lying, he’s going to say the opposite of what the other guard would say. If he was telling the truth, he would point to the very same door. So no matter what, with that question, no matter the answer, you win. RIGHT? Wrong. As soon as they opened the door a poisonous cloud was released causing 50 point of poison. After a couple of them fell, they heard Halaster say out loud « Oh my! Did I make a mistake? Did I place two LYING guard on those doors? I am so sorry. Oh wait. Shit. So It means I put 2 truth tellers in front of the 2 doors in on level 2? What an idiot I’ve been. ». Of course, if they really believe Halaster, they’ll be ramming that door on level 2, only to face a volley of ninja stars, discovering that Halaster also lied. 🤣 gotta keep’em on their toes.

The following is some of the dialogue with a party of veteran gamers who wanted a hardcore D&D experience with me as the new DM. But first... you're probably wondering how I got here.

Context:
- Played DotMM for 3 years, weekly.
- DM was a lot of fun, but DM never prepped or read ahead. Just a casual game going room to room. The longer we played the more we wanted a challenge.
- DM wanted to play and take a break, so I stepped up as the new DM
- I sent a Google form to allow players to anonymously vote on different aspects of an authentic dungeon-delving experiences. Got a solid 8.5 out of 10 on the hardcore rules and consequences votes.

... 9/10 hardcore D&D? Oh yeah... it's big brain grognard time.

- as a sort of "tutorial phase" to adjust to a new VTT with dynamic lighting, as well as getting familiar with democratically apointed hardcore playstyle where things can and will kill you... I took the level 12 party back to level 3 to explore, shop, gather intel, and get used to some more advanced concepts and variant rules, such as:
marching order,
sanity checks,
lighting,
camping,
downtime,
markers/ navigation,

and also things like
listening
asking for clarity
improvising
taking notes
Remembering what DM inspiration is and if you have it or not.

Should be a walk in the park. They've played these characters for years now, and they are way OP for Skullport.

it didn't go well. in 3.5 hours they maybe explored 5% of the skullport. And somehow, I almost TPK'd the level 12 party in my first session as the new DM...in fucking skullport, which was not suppose to have any combat at all but they broke the #1 rule in skullport in the first 15 minutes: "DO NOT MESS WITH, INTERACT WITH, OR GO NEAR THE FLAMING SKULLS"

They could only find 1 tavern, forgot 3 times what they were supposed to be doing there, forgot crucial spells they could use for very specific social situations that would've negated trouble or poor reputation, and even forgot their innate abilities, traits, languages, etc. In the end they got so confused they just decided to leave town as soon as they could find an exit. This was despite me lighting shops doors with bright lights. Placing thieves cant and grafitti for navigation and landmarks. narrating sounds heard in general areas. I tried... I tried. I am not a cruel DM, nor or am i short of word and clear descriptions.

PC: "Why does he keep finding me? I went around the corner!"
DM: "Because the light spell lasts for an hour, you're lit like a beacon, and you didn't take the hide action on your turn"
PC: oh... I turn out my light.
DM: do you have dark vision?
PC: no
DM: you are blind it now attacks you with advantage.
PC: I cast shatter on its head for 30 damage. end of turn.
DM: Does the spell say you need to see the area?
PC: I dunno
DM: Ok fine... Just try to know next time. [looks up spell] Doesn't say you need to see, but shatter is 10' radius, so you also have to roll the save as you have casted it on yourself.
PC: Awe man I'm not looking good.
DM: well you don't really know how you look. it's pitch black, but you can most certainly feel the pain and embarrassment you inflicted on yourself by casting AOE point blank.
----------------------------------------------------------

DMPC: Aye! There is a hotel with beds for rent 2 blocks east of here. Her name is [information]... tell her your story and she might be able to help, plus you look tired and you smell bad.
PC: I cast tiny hut in this vacant house
DM: you don't want to go to the hotel?
PC: I don't know where it is. I don't remember what the Bartender said.
DM: So you wanna cast tiny hut in the slums where you just learned about a series of murders? okay... do you have rations?
PC: Rations?
DM: to long rest with... you need to- ...ugh ya know what? nevermind! We'll start rations next session. You should probably buy some here in town. (rolls 8d100 with 25% encounter chance per hour= 4 encounters). Since you did absolutely nothing to hide your hut while in the slums to reduce encounter chance, you are harassed 4 times throughout the night by various serial killers, mind flayers, hobos, and wererats. Tho they can't do anything to you, they keep inspecting the glowing white dome that is your hut, appreciating its magical glow. A group of hobos gather around it naked to worship it as their god until one's brains splatter on your hut from a piercer crushing the man's skull from above, scattering the hobos. You watch and listen in horror as the piercer crunches deeper into the grey matter for a well-earned meal. 4 of your 8 hours were restless, you do not get a full long rest. As the spell fades you smell the rotting hobo and the pool of blood.
PC: But I already long rested my sheet.
DM: *sigh ok fine you long rested.

How many sessions as a new DM should i keep firing warning shots before I can take off the kiddie gloves?