Level 22: Shadowdusk Hold - Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage

Level 22: Shadowdusk Hold. Shadowdusk Hold is designed for four 17th-level characters, and characters who defeat the monsters on this level should gain enough XP to advance halfway to 18th level. What Dwells Here? A Waterdavian noble family driven into exile long ago has carved out a home for itself on this level. The Shadowdusks The Shadowdusk family, like many other Waterdavian noble lineages, made its fortune in trading. Three sisters named Arandraya, Maelweene, and Yarlithra Shadowdusk became famous for sponsoring and then leading adventuring expeditions into Undermountain. One of the items they recovered from the dungeon was a tablet of black crystal that allowed contact with entities of the Far Realm. Their brother, Xerrion, came to possess the tablet and used it to contact otherworldly beings in an attempt to destroy his family's business rivals and political enemies. This contact drove Xerrion mad, and it didn't take long for the madness to spread to other members of the Shadowdusk family and come into public view. As the family's behavior grew more bizarre, local broadsheets circulated rumors that the Shadowdusks had been replaced by aberrant horrors in human guise. Their ancestral villa, Shadowdusk Hold, was burned to the ground in the Year of the Harp (1355 DR). The Waterdavian authorities who investigated the blaze never made their findings public, but the commonly held belief is that the city's Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors was responsible. All three of Xerrion's sisters were killed in the fire that consumed Shadowdusk Hold. Xerrion escaped and fled to his sisters' redoubt in the depths of Undermountain. From there, he used sending spells to contact Shadowdusk family members living abroad and brought them to live with him in a twisted, underground version of Shadowdusk Hold. Among those who answered the call was Margaraste Shadowdusk, a distant cousin whom Xerrion would later marry. Level 22 of Undermountain became a safe haven where the S...