The ruins within the walls are even more dangerous than outside, with the book recommending that PCs be 5th or 6th level before they try tackling this region. While it is possible to climb over the walls, Wall Gargoyles will animate to attack climbing and flying characters who get too close, while a pair of Tower Dragons keeps watch over the Drann River passing through the Inner City. Wall Gargoyles largely have the same stats as their regular kind, save that they have better senses such as truesight and can track the distance and direction of a target it designates as its quarry. Tower Dragons use Young Bronze Dragon stats but have truesight, a bunch of resistances and immunities, and golem-like magic resistance. Both kinds of monsters will rejuvenate unless disintegrated, meaning that even should PCs overcome them this will make wall-crawling impractical. However, a person attuned to one of the Seals of Drakkenheim will not be attacked by the monsters, and the Seal can be presented to them much like one would rebuke undead.
The safer way around these monsters is by using one of the five
Gates. Champions Gate is covered in Deep Haze and the Falling Fire has a rotating shift of guards there; Shepherd's Gate is defended by the Hooded Lanterns, who reinforced the area with ditches, stakes, and barricades; College Gate, which lies unclaimed but phase spiders run rampant here and whose webs present maddening alternate timelines and realities that force those looking upon the Gate within 60 feet to risk madness; and King's Gate, which is claimed by Zaffod the Troll King and eleven other trolls, who demand a Troll Toll of an arm and a leg from a living person. They refuse to accept the limbs of animals, claiming that they're "civilized folk" and "see fit only to dine on other civilized folk!"
The fifth gate, Temple Gate, is a bit special. It is guarded by an army of about 100 garmyr with a smaller number of worgs and hell hounds. Garmyr are anthropomorphic canines who are like the ratlings in being intelligent, capable of speech, and tool manipulation, but have a predatory desire to hunt and torture other beings. Garmyr are usually fractured into warring groups and prone to infighting, but a particularly large and powerful specimen known as the Lord of the Feast united them together. Garmyr use gnoll stats but are monstrosities instead of humanoids.
The trolls are distasteful folk, but they are willing to let people through who give them what they want; the garmyr are hostile to everyone. The Hooded Lanterns and Silver Order are eager to drive off the garmyr and claim Temple Gate for themselves, but the monsters are too numerous and dug into the defenses for them to do it alone. At some point in the campaign, ideally after the PCs explored two other Inner City locations plus the Cosmological Clocktower or met the faction Leaders, the Hooded Lanterns and Silver Order will seek a joint operation to take the Gate. Once that is done, Temple Gate will be used by the Silver Order as part of a step to retaking the Cathedral of Saint Vitruvio, where the Lord of the Feast and various holy relics of the Sacred Flame can be found.
If the PCs are on positive terms with either of the above two factions, the Leader of that faction will hire the party to act as envoys. The Hooded Lanterns want an assurance that the Silver Order isn't here as part of a greater campaign conquest due to their status as Elyria's unofficial military arm, while the Order is worried about the other factions sabotaging their retaking of the Gate and wants to ensure that the Lanterns are genuine in their aid.
The Queen's Men are actually fine with the Gate being taken, for they hope that the Silver Order will have their resources stretched too thin from manning it, while the Amethyst Academy wants to observe this faction's martial capabilities on a larger scale to see how much of a threat they actually pose when it comes to destroying all the delerium in Drakkenheim. The Followers of the Falling Fire are the only faction outright opposed to Temple Gate being taken, for they don't want the Silver Order to gain more ground in the city and thus get closer to them.
Besides sample maps for gatehouses and the overview of numbers, the specifics for the large-scale battle is very brief. The PCs will need to get into the towers and open the gates via two winches. Once that's done, the battle will be won in 1d6 rounds as the garmyr are overwhelmed. If the PCs do not intervene in the Battle of Temple Gate, the book suggests choosing whatever resolution will make the most complications for them.
Thoughts: The Battle for Temple Gate was an action-packed moment in the Dungeons of Drakkenheim Actual Play, and ideally it should be so in one's home campaigns. Taking the Gate is only one step of a greater plan, for to break the garmyr entirely the Lord of the Feast must be defeated. That monster won't show up during the Battle here unless lured out, which is a possibility offered by Lucrecia Mathias should the PCs be working for the Followers of the Falling Fire. My main concern is that large-scale battles aren't 5e's forte. Unless the DM uses house rules or divides up the garmyr's forces into set-piece encounters for seizing the winches, an actual combat played straight will be a slog. I would've liked to see more guidance on encounter design for this event.
Cosmological Clocktower is another site of strategic importance for further exploration of Drakkenheim. It sits in the relative center of the city, and its attic juts out above the Haze and thus is a safe place for a Long Rest. Those well aware of the Haze's dangers (including every faction Leader) know the Clocktower's value, so unless the party's already set on doing it themselves any of the five factions could hire the PCs to clear the place out of monsters.
The Clocktower is home to a clan of harpies plus a few manticores, with their leader a particularly powerful harpy known as the Crimson Countess. The Clocktower's construction is a work of architectural and magical art: confused automatons shaped like polyhedrons* are failing to repair it, while a large granite obelisk is missing its power source. Appropriate divination spells reveal that it draws upon the foundations of time and space. The Steward's Seal, one of the seals of Drakkenheim,** can be found in the Crimson Countess' nest along with a Javelin of Lightning. The Seal is an attunable item that grants several cantrips and low-level utility spells at will, along with some more powerful spells once per day such as Dispel Magic and Animate Objects. Among the spells it can cast are Create Food and Water 1/day and Purify Food and Drink at will, which can help the party cut down on rations while exploring. Not to mention avoid paying out the nose for food in Emberwood Village!
*These were modrons in the Actual Play, but use Animated Armor stats in the sourcebook.
**The Seals of Drakkenheim all require attunement, but one person can only attune to one such Seal at a time. This makes gaining full use of all six Seals a team-based effort, likely beyond the numbers of the PCs themselves.
As for the Crimson Countess, she is a CR 8 monster who is a fast-moving aerial melee attacker. Instead of the typical mesmering harpy song, she can elicit a screech that can impose the Frightened condition on multiple targets, and has a rechargeable AoE shout that deals thunder damage and can push targets away and knock them prone.
Thoughts: The Clocktower is a great location to take advantage of the enemy's aerial nature. The harpies' and Crimson Countess' special attacks can be used to knock characters off the building, adding to the danger. Additionally, the dungeon itself and the Steward's Seal are great boons for PCs in making their exploration of Drakkenheim easier, making this location quite the high-priority.
The Crater is ground zero of Drakkenheim's delerium and Haze outbreak. Beyond being filled with Deep Haze which is even more opaque than usual (blind beyond 30 feet), crackling arcs of magical lightning threaten to strike teleporting and flying targets who try to enter/exit the basin via such methods. The Chapel of Saint Gresha is on the edge of the crater, serving as the final destination for the Falling Fire pilgrimage. The place is guarded by good-aligned undead summoned by Lucria Mathias to look over the area, where she or Saint Gresha (the earlier-mentioned good-aligned wraith) can perform the Sacrament.
Beyond being a destination for PCs joining the Falling Fire, the factions other than the Queen's Men are interested in finding out what lies in the crater. This mission won't be offered unless the PCs find a powerful means of guarding against Contamination, such as the Hazewalker Plate armor or the Neutralizing Field spell. Nobody besides Lucrecia Mathas has been down there, and what she saw she isn't telling other than it has to be seen for oneself.
So, just what is down there? Besides encounters with particularly powerful Haze-warped monsters, there's a king's ransom in delerium that can be mined here plus a special Pristine Delerium Geode, but the greatest of them all is the Delerium Heart. The core of what's left of the meteor, this crystal is geometrically impossible and those who fail a DC 20 Intelligence save upon looking at it are affected as if by Feeblemind. It also radiates a dangerous amount of Haze, causing necrotic damage and Contamination even on a successful saving throw albeit at a lesser scale. Anyone who gets close enough can see a bio-organic mass growing within the Heart, with various individual organs connected by veins. Anyone who touches the Heart will see a vision of a delerium meteor crashing into a world, spreading delerium and Haze before all survivors become warped and insane. Then, the world explodes, sending even more meteors that sail through the cosmos, one of which is headed for the PC's world.
The Delerium Heart can be destroyed, but it is immune to a majority of damage types and only takes normal damage from acid, force, radiant, and bludgeoning from magical attacks, and is vulnerable to thunder. It has AC 25, 500 hit points, and regains 50 hit points per round if it has at least 1 hit point. Each turn it takes damage it produces an Arcane Anomaly (d20 table of random supernatural effects) and attracts creatures as if by a random encounter. And even should that be done, the Heart will explode, dealing 50d6 total damage of 5 different damage types to everything within 500 feet, and 13 geodes will be sent flying to land elsewhere in the city which will turn into other Delerium Hearts if they're not destroyed in 1 year. And to add insult to injury, biological remnants inside the meteor will pull a Lavos and turn into a towering Tarrasque!
In Monsters of Drakkenheim, the Tarrasque was replaced with an original but even deadlier monster appropriately called the World Ender.
The discovery of the Delerium Heart will cause strong reactions among the five factions. The Hooded Lanterns will come to the realization that saving Drakkenheim is beyond their ability and they need the aid of another faction to even succeed. Mutiny and desertion will tear the organization apart unless the PCs can win them a morale-boosting victory soon. The Silver Order's mission will remain largely the same, only reinforcing their belief that Drakkenheim must be burned to the ground. Theodore Marshal will tell the PCs about the gold dragon Argonath, and how he needs to be resurrected in order to help destroy the Delerium Heart.
As for the Amethyst Academy, this will reinforce Runeweaver's desire to set up a magical containment field, which requires obtaining a Pristine Delerium Geode which can be found near the Heart if not already claimed. As for the Falling Fire, Lucrecia Mathias will reveal her ultimate plan: to store enough mortal souls in delerium fragments in the belief that they can be used to channel the power of the Sacred Flame. When the world inevitably ends, this will theoretically cause the cosmic cycle of destruction to be altered to instead spread holy energies across reality. The book notes that there's no way in-universe to prove if this will be successful or not until it actually happens, which will be a long time past the end of this campaign.
The Queen of Thieves reacts with glee to the Delerium Heart's existence. Much like how an oil baron doesn't care about climate catastrophes, she doesn't care about the world's destruction and thus only cares about taking advantage of it in the here and now. She will spread knowledge of the Delerium Heart to cause doubt and infighting among the other factions.
Thoughts: It makes sense that the crater itself will be a likely final area or climax of the campaign. As Dungeons of Drakkenheim tops out at 13th level, fighting the Tarrasque (or World Ender) will be much beyond a party's capabilities. Even if they have a golden dragon on their side, that will still be a difficult fight, and then there's the 13 geodes that will need to be destroyed afterward. The most surefire way to save the world is the hardest option, so PCs who want a happy ending (or something close to it) have their work cut out for them.
Kleinberg Estate is an old noble manor that's been reclaimed by a mage known as the Pale Man. Much like Oscar Yoren, he seeks to research the Haze. His unethical experiments involved Contaminating unwitting human test subjects, resulting in him being ejected from the Amethyst Academy and becoming hunted by the Silver Order. But unlike Oscar Yoren, the Pale Man genuinely believes that the Haze can be used for good and that his experiments can help improve people. Thus, he deliberately spreads rumors of his nature as a supposed healer. The Pale Man is capable of causing delerium dregs in his care to gain more self-awareness and thus a lucid state, but even then it's with the selfish goal of using them as minions and he never actually delivers on the promise of outright curing people.
Others only know of rumors surrounding the Estate, that a figure within is believed to know of a cure for contamination. The Amethyst Academy may hire the PCs to take back his research notes and samples (whether the Pale Man lives or dies doesn't matter to them), while the Silver Order would hire the party to kill the Pale Man and destroy his research notes.
Most of the monsters in the Estate are delerium dregs, with 3 named haze hulks plus a grotesque gargant (stone giant stats but has a damage-dealing Contamination Beam attack) who are his most favored and powerful subjects. As for the Pale Man himself, he's a CR 13 neutral-aligned Aberration who can cast up to 8th level wizard spells. He knows many of the new spells in this book, and his magic veer heavily on the offensive side with a touch of debuffs and defense. He also has access to Legendary Actions and Resistance, and his regular attacks can impose necrotic damage and Contamination. Much like a vampire, he will turn into a swarm of insects upon death and retreat to his "nest" in his underground lair in order to rejuvenate.
The Pale Man's research can be obtained via his notes or volunteered by him. He has a spellbook containing 6 unique spells from this book revolving around Contamination. His notes can be used to discover the Siphon Contamination spell, which basically transfers levels of Contamination from one creature to another.
Thoughts: The Pale Man makes for a challenging opponent, but one with some very valuable rewards for PCs to obtain his research. While the whole "creepy scientist" vibe seems quite close to Oscar Yoren in theme, I do believe he has enough unique aspects going for him. Partly in how I can see the DM playing up his supposedly-benevolent nature of a "healer" and his more lucid than normal dregs be used to present a sense of false hope. And partly because he seems to actually believe the lies he's selling. Yoren in comparison comes off as someone who is more self-aware of the harm he's causing but doesn't care. I like this contrast between the two mad scientists.
Old Town Cistern is part of Drakkenheim's greater subterranean network. Being located directly beneath Slaughterstone Square, the water is chock-full of corpses thrown down by the Executioner. The place is home to a creature known as the Duchess, an aboleth that is forming an underground court of dregs and aberrations. The Duchess views the Haze as an unstoppable force and decides that it's better to side with the winning team, but she is also aware that a powerful monster lives in Castle Drakken and is capable of opening a dimensional portal.* She seeks to seize its power for herself, although the campaign doesn't go into detail how she plans on doing this or if she's able. None of the five factions knows about the Duchess' existence, so it's a place the PCs will most likely either stumble on their own. Or via a hook, such as her dreg and chuul servants peacefully introducing themselves to the party elsewhere in the sewers. Alternatively, a faction can encourage the PCs to go corpse-looking in the cistern, mentioning that many adventurers who died at the hands of the Executioner likely bear a multitude of valuables.
*This monster is an Amalgamation, and thus serves as a "final boss" for a Dungeons of Drakkenheim campaign…unless one attempts to go for the Delerium Heart!
One of the Duchess' servants is the former Chancellor of Castle Drakken, and he still bears the Chancellor's Crest upon his person. It is one of the six Seals of Drakkenheim, and the Duchess' lake contains various other treasures such as delerium crystals and a rare magic item and spell scroll of the DM's choosing. The Crest allows an attuned person to understand and speak any language, and lets them cast Detect Thoughts, Sending, and Telepathic Bond once per day each.
Although the Duchess' "court" will be initially non-hostile, they offer the PCs to drink the water and touch the delerium geode present, basically attempting to get them to turn into monsters. So actually working with the Duchess is not something that will go in the PCs' favor.
Much like the Tarrasque's replacement with the World-Ender, the Duchess got her own unique stat block in Monsters of Drakkenheim. Notably, she gets a massive boost in power, becoming a CR 18 monster and is relocated elsewhere in the world of Drakkenheim despite having her origins in that city.
Thoughts: I personally feel that the sample hooks are a bit weak; the book acknowledges that PCs are likely to attack or refuse the meeting by her envoys and not to "force" the hook upon them. This more or less reduces the PCs' meeting to a chance one, which given it holds one of the Six Seals of Drakkenheim could use a stronger method to find. I also would be reluctant to use the CR 18 souped-up version, as it will be very hard to get the Seal non-violently. Maybe tricking the Chancellor or performing a "snatch and grab" at best.
Queen's Park was built to honor the many Queens of Westemär and their consorts, and the garden was open to the public across all social classes. It is covered entirely in the Deep Haze, and ironically is the current location of Queen Lenore von Kessel. Queen's Park doesn't have an all-encompassing map, being a confusing network of floral roads and groves. Locating eldritch lilies and certain areas is done as a skill challenge, with the Royal Grotto containing the Queen the one requiring the highest number of successes at 4. As these skill checks take time, staying too long in the Garden risks Contamination from the Deep Haze.
Lenore's royal guard sought to take her to safety when the meteor fell by using a secret passage, but they failed to escape the Haze and turned into monsters. Lenore herself uses medusa stats, but her gaze attack is radiant lasers and her hair is a mass of biting tentacles that deal necrotic damage, with both attacks able to cause Contamination. She is unaware of her monstrous nature and perceives reality as a living daydream. Even in life Queen Lenore was a textbook narcissist, and believes that everything else in the world exists for her to use as she wishes. She will fly into a rage upon seeing her monstrous visage or upon hearing the names of family members who are now dead. Any PC proficient in History recognizes Lenore as the former Queen, and it is possible for characters to nonviolently parley with her. The Hooded Lanterns will prioritize bringing her to safety, even if they know she's a monster, as she is technically Westemär's only surviving legitimate ruler. Bringing her to them will net the PCs a Boon, but holding her elsewhere will earn their retribution as "royal kidnappers." Killing Lenore will fill Commander Drexel with sorrow: while he understands the PCs' choice as understandable, going forward he will not trust them in having the kingdom's best interests.
The book goes into possibilities for curing Queen Lenore, as well as how other factions will react to her existence: the Silver Order views her as beyond saving and will only accept a mercy-killing; the Amethyst Academy will promise to research a cure if the PCs help retake the Inscrutable Tower, namedroping the Pale Man as being the most likely candidate to have the research necessary for this; Lucrecias Mathias can use her spells to transform Lenore back to being a human, but will only do this if all of the senior Hooded Lanterns undertake the Sacrament and join their religion; the Queen of Thieves will attempt to kidnap Lenore for ransom.
Should Queen Lenore be appointed Westemär's ruler via the Crown of Westemär and Seals of Drakkenheim, she will prove a poor authority. She only cares for using her status for personal enrichment and will abdicate responsibility whenever possible.
The other big find in the Queen's Park are eldritch lilies, which can be used to brew potions of Aqua Expurgo, along with how much gold pieces, plant samples, and time crafting are required per dose. The book also details ways characters can grow their own eldritch lilly garden, requiring two dozen complete plants and the proper facilities, the last of which are possessed by several of the factions.
Thoughts: While Queen Lenore is a terrible choice long-term for Westemär's stability, on a short-term practical level it is a useful means of currying favor with the Hooded Lanterns. Much like the Cosmological Clocktower, the Park provides an "easier exploration reward" in the form of plants to create potions to help deal with Contamination.
Rose Theatre is a briefly-detailed location, revolving around an archmage by the name of Ryan Greymere (she/her) who possesses a custom suit of magic armor that can protect the wearer against Contamination. She turned the Theatre into her long-term residence, covered by a massive Wall of Force hemisphere powered by a delerium geode, with elementals forced into service via Planar Binding for added security. Once again, she's a mage that is wanted by the law, but instead of for the dark arts it's for overstepping the Edicts of Lumen by advocating that the Amethyst Academy use her magical innovations to take over the city of Drakkenheim. The Amethyst Academy might hire the PCs to find out what Ryan is up to and if her research has borne any fruit, while the Silver Order will want her arrest or execution.
While Ryan Greymore is upset about the Amethyst Academy turning on her and has no love for the setting's feudal order, she doesn't hold a grudge against individual mages such as Eldrick Runeweaver and instead views them as cogs in the Edicts of Lumen machine. She keeps her research notes in a Secret Chest, so killing her will be fruitless in obtaining it. As for her goals, she wishes to continue her research in peace and hopefully gain access to the Inscrutable Tower. PCs might be able to talk her into building suits of Hazewalker Plate for them, and they can do this themselves if they have access to the blueprints and materials. The latter of which are explicitly spelled out in text and have quite the high price to pay. Greymere can craft a suit of it "for free" if PCs bring her a delerium geode and get her access to the Tower. It's even possible to talk Ryan into rejoining the Amethyst Academy, at which point she becomes a valuable asset. But her political views will make it more difficult for the Academy to secure alliances with other factions.
Hazewalker Plate is a very rare suit of plate armor that is hermetically sealed and thus grants the wearer their own breathable atmosphere. It grants immunity to diseases, the poisoned condition, advantage on savings against Contamination, and resistance to poison and necrotic damage. Due to being heavy armor, unproficient PCs will be quite disadvantaged if forced to wear it.
Thoughts: Once again, a potentially valuable ally but with views and a personality that can make them a potential social hindrance! But then again, if people in Drakkenheim were rational, well-adjusted individuals, it would be a lot less fun.
While combat in Drakkenheim carries a greater element of risk than other 5e campaigns, it is particularly impractical here, as killing Greymere will cause her Secret Chest to be lost forever and deprive the PCs of a valuable resource. While they can get a boon from the Silver Order, a Hazewalker Plate is the kind of thing that will be hard to top off as a reward.
Saint Vitruvio's Cathedral is named after a paladin of the Sacred Flame who fought alongside the gold dragon Argonath. In times long past they saved the city of Drakkenheim from an army led by chromatic dragons, and both of them were buried beneath the cathedral. Saint Vitruvio's bones and gear became relics, while a prophecy was uttered that Argonath will be resurrected "should Drakkenheim ever fall to darkness."
The Cathedral is the residence of the Lord of the Feast and is crawling with garmyr and hell hound security. Some of the garmyr use NPC stat blocks to reflect more specialized roles. One of the garmyr, in fact, farries one of Saint Vitruvio's relics, the Phylactery of the namesake Saint. Much like Temple Gate, the sheer number of enemies plus the Lord of the Feast all but requires the PCs to gain the aid of a faction for reclaiming the Cathedral. The book mentions that it's one of the few times in the campaign where all five factions might be willing to put their differences aside and work with people they hate. In order to attain this, the PCs need to meet a rather demanding list of requirements: gain the trust of one faction, have at least one Seal of Drakkenheim, help secure the Clocktower and Temple Gate, and form an alliance between two or more factions.
The Lord of the Feast is a CR 15 enemy, possessing melee natural weapons but makes ranged attacks with a longbow with specialized ammunition: arrows that can Contaminate, restrain via snare, or pull in via a harpoon. The Lord also has Legendary Resistance and Actions, as well as being able to pinpoint invisible creatures within 120 feet and a climb speed to get favorable elevation. This may sound like a tall order, but Captain Elias Drexel and Knight-Commander Theodore Marshal are both willing to personally fight such a monster alongside the PCs.
The real meat of the dungeon is in the
Cathedral Catacombs, a 10 room crawl spread over 2 floors. There are tombs all over the place, filled with mummies who will most likely rise and attack if anyone steals valuable objects, but a few have been driven insane and will attack automatically. There's some particularly valuable loot to be had in the Vault rooms, which are opened via angling beams of light across mirrored shields spread out among the rooms. One vault holds Ignacious, the Sword of Burning Truth, and a PC must prove their worth by battling a summoned deva. The blade is a unique legendary +3 longsword that can alight with holy flames dealing +4d6 bonus radiant damage. However, Ignacio is an intelligent lawful good item that can speak out loud and communicate telepathically. It is a devout worshiper of the Sacred Flame and doesn't care whether one is part of the orthodoxy or Falling Fire, but it has no tolerance for lies of any sort and casts Zone of Truth centered on itself whenever it's drawn.
The other Vault is also opened in a similar manner via mirror shields, and holds the lineage records of the von Kessels, the King's will, and 6 Blood Phylacteries holding the blood of the royal family. These last items store the blood of someone inside, preserving it indefinitely, and if a direct blood relative of the donor holds the vial then celestial runes spell out their relation to the donor. The contents of the King's will is up to the Dungeon Master.
Lastly, Argonath's skeletal remains are held at the bottommost level directly beneath Saint Vitruvio's tomb. A Forbiddance spell prevents people from teleporting into the chamber, and the dragon can be restored to life via casting Resurrection and using either the Pristine Delerium Geode or Diamond of Mount Kadath (obtained from Castle Drakken) as a material component. Even if resurrected, the dragon will remain asleep indefinitely until someone gathers all the relics of Saint Vitruvio and commands him to awaken. We already covered Ignacio, the Phylactery, and the Sceptre, but the two remaining ones are the Shield of the Sacred Flame which is located in Castle Drakken, and the Helm of Patron Saints which is held in the Falling Fire's stronghold.
The Cathedral's aftermath can go a variety of ways based on which faction holds it. If either the Silver Order or Falling Fire hold it, they can reconsecrate the Cathedral via its unique brazier, creating the effects of a Hallow and Forbiddence spell that not only keep out monsters, but also the Haze! If multiple factions had a hand in retaking the Cathedral, they will hold a tense meeting, where several questions are raised. They range from who should control the Cathedral to what should be done about the royal documents to the fate of delerium. One or more faction Leaders will directly ask the PCs on this and other questions. Eldrick Runeweaver and the Queen of Thieves will not come in person: the former will send his Simulacrum in his place, while the latter will send a dominated person disguised as her, and will attempt to assassinate one of the other faction Leaders or a PCs if they're on her bad side.
The book suggests an optional
Brutal Betrayal, where if the PCs earned a particularly grand enmity with a faction, then that organization's agents will have subtly planted explosives around the Cathedral and threaten to denote it unless they give in to an "impossible demand" such as giving up all the Seals of Drakkenheim or something in line with their goals. The explosion has the mechanics of a Meteor Swarm spell, and will destroy the magical Brazier.
Thoughts: This feels like a stronger version of the Battle of Template Gate. It is more explicitly detailed in terms of how each faction will not only approach retaking it, but also their goals for doing so and discussing the long-term consequences. There's a variety of personal loot and treasure along with less tangible rewards such as a safe haven in the Haze, being part of a quest for resurrecting a powerful draconic ally, and the possible resolution of a royal heir-based Personal Quest via the von Kessel archives.
I am not as fond of the Brutal Betrayal. Not only is it something the PCs cannot find out on their own ahead of time (or at least no guidelines are provided), the damage alone the Meteor Swarm can seriously injure or even kill a few of the faction Leaders. It's the kind of thing that is the most safe for Runeweaver or the Queen of Thieves to do, as the others come in person.
Slaughterstone Square is the shortest entry in this chapter. Once a valuable nexus for travel between city districts, it gained its dark namesake when the government of Westemär deployed a massive construct known as the Executioner to carry out public executions. The machine survived the meteor, but the Haze made it go berserk and it now kills anyone it finds crossing through the plaza. It will not pursue people who flee beyond it or into the Cistern, and there are no quest hooks or rewards here. The book explicitly mentions that the Executioner exists to be an obstacle to be avoided and outrun, not overcome through skill at arms and spellpower. In fact, one of the random Inner City encounters involves the PCs accidentally stumbling into the area!
The Executioner is a CR 20 Huge construct with Legendary Resistance and Actions. Its primary method of attack is a Guillotine Blade that can be used in melee or at range, and can reduce a target's maximum hit points if they fail a Constitution save. It can also vent gas dealing necrotic damage as a rechargeable AoE, and one of its Legendary Actions lets it summon up to six shadows drawn from humanoid corpses it has slain, which are aplenty in the Square. Already quite tough, the Executioner got an upgrade in Monsters of Drakkenheim to a CR 25 monster!
Thoughts: While it makes thematic sense for there to be wildly difficult fights meant to be avoided in a cosmic horror adventure, the Executioner is still subject to character optimization cheese. Namely, it lacks a personal means of three-dimensional movement to get to characters in the air or who manage to scale up nearby buildings. Its Guillotine Blade can reach up to 120 feet, but with a close range of 30 it will be taking disadvantage on attacks. But even with +15 to hit, that's going to hit most PCs anyway. A character armed with a longbow or 2014-era Eldritch Spear can theoretically plink at the Executioner's defenses from a safe distance, but with 405 hit points and amazing saving throws, such a battle will be a chore. While the shadows it summons can help counterattack long-range attackers given that said undead can fly, those are much less threatening so it's likely that mid-level and more powerful PCs might be able to hold them off.
I could be overanalyzing this, but whenever I see a monster or scenario explicitly made to be "unwinnable," I have to ask how the most common forms of CharOps cheese will be accounted for in the module. Then again, I'm pretty sure that the authors would suggest sending some Wall Gargoyles or a Tower Dragon to menace these long-ranged wonders, which is what I would do as DM.
Thoughts So Far: I like how the Inner City locations represent the mid to semi-late game nature of Dungeons of Drakkenheim. Not only are the threats and monsters increasing in power, so too are there more tangible and long-ranging consequences for the fate of Drakkenheim and possibly Westemär and the world at large. From carving out more safe zones in the Haze-filled city, determining the kingdom's next ruler, and even finding a means of destroying delerium at its source, there's so many directions a campaign can go in, which I really love!
Join us next time as we take a tour of the Faction Strongholds and discuss the stat blocks and tactics of their Leaders!
