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Description
It's been awhile since I've submitted battlemaps, mainly because I've been a bit lazy in my campaigns and built off other cartographer's maps and really don't feel comfortable submitting something that was basically someone else's idea, no matter how it ended up. This one, however, is totally mine, and made using the fantastic Dungeon Alchemist. The idea is that it's a gauntlet for ultra-high level characters, at least in the 16th level range. The skull pillars do necrotic damage to anyone crossing them, the sky tops out at 30 feet, so flying over the lava is pretty much a death sentence, unless immune to fire. Each area is walled off by a wall of force, and recovering a gem leads to the next area. Of course, some groups may simply disintegrate the wall of force, which leaves you with the decision on whether to reinforce it, or simply let them skip one or more encounters (and any associated treasures, of course). The top two areas have gems for the bottom right area. Opening the door to the right area opens a gateway to the Plane of Fire in the south wall, and there are already a pair of royal salamanders in the room. Each round, more salamanders and other fire creatures from the Plane arrive until the gate is closed. There are hard to pull levers on either side of the gateway that will close the doors to it.

The northern area on the left has several fun features. The statues outside are nabassu demons, which animate and attack anyone trying to open the doors. At the same time, some of the bone pillars animate - I made them basically a CR 8ish swarm. The two statues inside are golems made of a material, such that can absorb static magic and enchantments with a successful roll as a reaction (much like counterspell)- in other words the party's enchantments such as haste, aid, bless, etc. and can even temporarily absorb magic from permanent magic items, rendering them non-magical until the energy is released. Of course, they release the energy in a spherical electrical blast that causes damage based on what they absorbed. But getting to them, and the book they guard with the gem the PCs need in its cover (the book itself was a Manual of Health), they have to deal with the traps in the preceding room (which can be avoided by going on the roof), the well that emits corrupted healing energy, doing radiant damage to the PCs and pulling them towards the pit, and the evil treant that is healed by said energies. My group handled things one at a time rather than all at once and were never really threatened, although a group coming in past the traps may have a difficult time.

The middle area has two walls of force leading into it, as well as lots of lava and iron floors. The statues outside cry lava, doing damage to anyone near them, but are otherwise harmless unless attacked or the PCs breach one of the walls of force without a gem, as they animate as fire-breathing golems if these conditions occur. In the far room is a large, magical key, which dispels the multiple enchantments, chains, and locks preventing egress from the room, Normally not an issue for high-level characters, but taking heat damage, and possibly levels of exhaustion if you choose, may influence them to try the obvious key. In this case it works, opening the way and it can even be used on the magical ice chest beyond that radiates cold so bitter it causes significant damage to any but the key beaer. Inside the chest is gobs of treasure and the next gem.

The entrance to the next area is blocked by rubble. If the characters clear it quickly they can get in without issue, but if they spend lots of time, or it takes lots of time (normally around 10 minutes of work for one strong character) during which a wandering monster or the skull pillars attack. The area beyond has several cells and lots and lots of chains, complete with chain devils and their canoloth pets. Be careful on how many devils you put in if there is no tank, as each devil can animate four chains, and the action economy can get out hand quickly if there is no one to draw their attacks by being a credible threat or taunting them, or both. By the time the fight is over, the party will likely at least need a short rest, and maybe a long one depending on how things have gone, and the area is conveniently not near as hot as the other areas, so that can be done without penalty. There is a wall of force separating the area from the middle which spans the lava. There is a false door in the middle of this area on the north wall that opens to the sea of lava, and the mouth behind it is enchanted to emit a shout powerful enough to propel characters out of the door and into the lava with a failed save. The shout also alerts the lava's inhabitants, in the case a modified devil shark (from tome of beasts, not sure which one). If this occurs, it can be a very deadly encounter if the shark manages to swallow a character -- if it swims out into the lava the character will likely perish. The characters will have to put the heavy doors back into place, which then lock shut for the next group of adventurers. While the doors are open, not only does heat pour in, but whatever creatures you have inhabiting the lava will likely get curious as to what their friend the devil shark is up to.

The webbing hides a secret wall in the west that can be activated via twisting the antler trophy in the cells of the previous room. Opening it leads to more deadly trappage - note the dragon head coming out of the wall which will greet the clever character opening the secret door. The dragon breathes deadly energy of your choice whenever the room is entered, but the lever seemingly will cause this bad behavior to stop, slowly ticking once for each round until it resets. It is accessible via the gate in the south wall in the corridor. Initially, the lever holds for 5 rounds, but each use thereafter shortens the duration by 1 round until it resets, which may be a surprise when the characters attempt to use the connecting moon gates. When the first person walks into the gate, two enhanced moon nymphs (who are naturally invisible in bright light, which there is an abundance of here) will prove to be a likely difficult encounter, as the party will be split and the nymphs invisibility, along with their psychic and other abilities, will make them dangerous foes. The base stats for the moon dryads can be found in one of Kobold Press's monster books. I played the nymphs as vindictive chaotic brats, whose only loyalty was to each other, but they can certainly be played in a variety of ways -- maybe even just playful and not violent at all if the PCs have been having an exceptionally difficult go at this.

Once out, the PCs will need to go north, where the crypt area is. You can of course set it up with your favorite undead. The way I set it up was to have an inscription above the door hinting that the sarcophagi held the remains of Faerunian heroes, and disturbing them would incur their wrath, but the characters could then take 4 of the armaments interred with them. The two smaller coffins to the right held heroes that had betrayed their cause, which is the encounter the PCs will face unless they think of some strange way to avoid the two mask wights (again, Kobold Press monster). The green areas have poison gas of the deadliest variety, such that the only way to cross the chamber to the other side is to pass over the larger coffins, which are easily identified as belonging to the evilest of villains in the realm - two death knights. This can be avoided by using the golden portals on either end of the room, which connect. Alternatively, the bone staff, which is of course too heavy for mage hand, although telekinesis would pull it out, si charged and its sole function is to cause these undead to save or be stunned, which can help immensely. There are no instructions with it, if you play with standard rules however, it can easily be identified over a short rest or using the identify spell. Unfortunately, the mask wights reform in an hour, so the characters will have to fight them again unless they completely destroy their sarcophagi.

The heroes' coffins are no threat to the PCs as long as they don't defile them. But as soon as someone opens one, or even attempt to, twelve vengeful spirits will arise and attack. For this one I made the group of them a legendary monster, and gave it the ability to take legendary actions at any time (but no more than once a turn) rather than only after a character's turn. Between the legendary actions (one allowed each spirit to attack until one of the spirits misses, another put ectoplasmic goo on characters failing a save that gave them advantage, and another allowed one to sacrifice itself to absorb damage from an area effect attack, subtracting its individual hit points from the effect's total damage) and the sheer number of spirits they proved a difficult foe for my group.

The next room has an anti-life shell preventing entry - the key is to the north in the middle of a special kind of fire, which I called wytchfire, that basically is so painful when it burns it requires checks to try and grab the item within. Alternatively, the sphere can be bypassed through any number of magical means. When the room is entered, however, the statues animate and attack. I made them gargoylian demons with big axes that could teleport away just before getting hit. Although it was a cool power, they really didn't have the muscle to back it up and the PCs finished them off pretty easily. I thought that was fair after they opted to fight the heroes and almost lost a character. Entombed in the iron maiden is a woman who is a hero of old, one of the most famous of her time. She claims she has been drained of most of her power - despite this she is still formidable and if equipped and treated fairly will accompany the PCs. I called her Silveryeye (and did a render or two of her) and gave her warlord stats with a few extras and took away their eternal healing power. Also in the iron maiden is the gem needed to drop the wall of force preventing access to the bridge.

Next is the ice area, which was guarded by a 400hp enhanced remorhaz, and the room is frigid enough to cause 2d6 cold damage per round, and the floor is slippery as hell. When the remorhaz attacks from under the ice, its heat will cause the ice to melt and steam to rise -- how much you want the elements to play into this encounter is up to you. The remorhaz is legendary, of course, but if you go this route make sure you play it like a beast and not an intelligent monster. With multiple attacks and its swallow ability it could easily kill a couple of characters if played intelligently, more if they have bad luck. The gem found

Past the remorhaz is the final area. The cages hold shadow bears which are invulnerable to most magic and weapons, and can possess those entering the room. The two statues emit anti-magic fields in a 15 ft. radius. When the characters come though the bears start trying to possess them, and the players will undoubtably be surprised when their attacks have no effect. The bears (as a group) can only possess a given person once, and can be warded with protection from evil, or slain with radiant magic. They are also destroyed when brought into the anti-magic, so the characters will have to do a little thinking on how they will handle the encounter. For my part, I had the bears go on pre-determined initiatives. They possessed a character failing a DC 18 Wisdom saving throw, doing 6d6 psychic damage immediately. The character must make the same saving throw against a charm - if this fails the character locks themselves in one of the cages, defending themself if necessary, and taking 6d6 psychic damage at the start of each of their turns until they break the charm (make this save first) and then the psychic (can only be attempted if first save is made). The encounter could be very difficult, depending on how quickly they catch on, so with hack n' slashers you may want to provide some obvious clues. With very cagey groups, those possessed do not meekly go into the cage to await their fates, instead they attack their compatriots to the best of their ability.

The final room I just had as a combat encounter - the black statue turns into a modified evil deva who was a dark angel when the door is opened, and immediately summons a pair of Valkyries on celestial griffons to fight the characters. The Pale demons who had forced the characters onto this gauntlet had previously told them if they completed the gauntlet, they would stop their invasion and return the characters unharmed. Of course, Silveryeye was not part of that deal, and they will never part with her, no matter how much the characters threaten, cajole, or lawyer them. In my campaign she was pretty much their lifeline and the one who provided them with a quality they very much lacked, creativity. Without it, they were trapped in their dead realm forever, slowly starving with no more essense to feed on. With it, they had a gateway to the character's universe. They could wait a few centuries before coming back, but to take her would take away any chance they had at another invasion, and they wouldn't give that up.

The whole gauntlet can feel very railroady, but many of the traps and situations can be avoided through clever use of magic. In fact, if they can get past the skulls (which prevent teleportation and quickly reform if destroyed) and the lava (which has devil sharks and lava worms), then they have probably done something quite clever. Congratulate them for avoiding the adventure and getting no treasure.

You can of course set it up anyway you like, and I hope this gives some ideas or inspiration for those of you who do your own campaigns, and maybe interesting reading for those who don't.

As an end note, this map was exported with a 3d perspective POV, as I am submitting it in DeviantArt for its artistic value rather than as a battlemap. Unfortunately it kinda makes it unsuitable for vtt play if you are using exact measurements, as the walls often intersect gridlines. Further, the dynamic lighting will be unavailble as well - you would have to set that up. I already have a bird's eye view of the map, and will happily provide the files needed to get the automatic dynamic lighting to any who want it through email or Discord.

Description
It's been awhile since I've submitted battlemaps, mainly because I've been a bit lazy in my campaigns and built off other cartographer's maps and really don't feel comfortable submitting something that was basically someone else's idea, no matter how it ended up. This one, however, is totally mine, and made using the fantastic Dungeon Alchemist. The idea is that it's a gauntlet for ultra-high level characters, at least in the 16th level range. The skull pillars do necrotic damage to anyone crossing them, the sky tops out at 30 feet, so flying over the lava is pretty much a death sentence, unless immune to fire. Each area is walled off by a wall of force, and recovering a gem leads to the next area. Of course, some groups may simply disintegrate the wall of force, which leaves you with the decision on whether to reinforce it, or simply let them skip one or more encounters (and any associated treasures, of course). The top two areas have gems for the bottom right area. Opening the door to the right area opens a gateway to the Plane of Fire in the south wall, and there are already a pair of royal salamanders in the room. Each round, more salamanders and other fire creatures from the Plane arrive until the gate is closed. There are hard to pull levers on either side of the gateway that will close the doors to it.

The northern area on the left has several fun features. The statues outside are nabassu demons, which animate and attack anyone trying to open the doors. At the same time, some of the bone pillars animate - I made them basically a CR 8ish swarm. The two statues inside are golems made of a material, such that can absorb static magic and enchantments with a successful roll as a reaction (much like counterspell)- in other words the party's enchantments such as haste, aid, bless, etc. and can even temporarily absorb magic from permanent magic items, rendering them non-magical until the energy is released. Of course, they release the energy in a spherical electrical blast that causes damage based on what they absorbed. But getting to them, and the book they guard with the gem the PCs need in its cover (the book itself was a Manual of Health), they have to deal with the traps in the preceding room (which can be avoided by going on the roof), the well that emits corrupted healing energy, doing radiant damage to the PCs and pulling them towards the pit, and the evil treant that is healed by said energies. My group handled things one at a time rather than all at once and were never really threatened, although a group coming in past the traps may have a difficult time.

The middle area has two walls of force leading into it, as well as lots of lava and iron floors. The statues outside cry lava, doing damage to anyone near them, but are otherwise harmless unless attacked or the PCs breach one of the walls of force without a gem, as they animate as fire-breathing golems if these conditions occur. In the far room is a large, magical key, which dispels the multiple enchantments, chains, and locks preventing egress from the room, Normally not an issue for high-level characters, but taking heat damage, and possibly levels of exhaustion if you choose, may influence them to try the obvious key. In this case it works, opening the way and it can even be used on the magical ice chest beyond that radiates cold so bitter it causes significant damage to any but the key beaer. Inside the chest is gobs of treasure and the next gem.

The entrance to the next area is blocked by rubble. If the characters clear it quickly they can get in without issue, but if they spend lots of time, or it takes lots of time (normally around 10 minutes of work for one strong character) during which a wandering monster or the skull pillars attack. The area beyond has several cells and lots and lots of chains, complete with chain devils and their canoloth pets. Be careful on how many devils you put in if there is no tank, as each devil can animate four chains, and the action economy can get out hand quickly if there is no one to draw their attacks by being a credible threat or taunting them, or both. By the time the fight is over, the party will likely at least need a short rest, and maybe a long one depending on how things have gone, and the area is conveniently not near as hot as the other areas, so that can be done without penalty. There is a wall of force separating the area from the middle which spans the lava. There is a false door in the middle of this area on the north wall that opens to the sea of lava, and the mouth behind it is enchanted to emit a shout powerful enough to propel characters out of the door and into the lava with a failed save. The shout also alerts the lava's inhabitants, in the case a modified devil shark (from tome of beasts, not sure which one). If this occurs, it can be a very deadly encounter if the shark manages to swallow a character -- if it swims out into the lava the character will likely perish. The characters will have to put the heavy doors back into place, which then lock shut for the next group of adventurers. While the doors are open, not only does heat pour in, but whatever creatures you have inhabiting the lava will likely get curious as to what their friend the devil shark is up to.

The webbing hides a secret wall in the west that can be activated via twisting the antler trophy in the cells of the previous room. Opening it leads to more deadly trappage - note the dragon head coming out of the wall which will greet the clever character opening the secret door. The dragon breathes deadly energy of your choice whenever the room is entered, but the lever seemingly will cause this bad behavior to stop, slowly ticking once for each round until it resets. It is accessible via the gate in the south wall in the corridor. Initially, the lever holds for 5 rounds, but each use thereafter shortens the duration by 1 round until it resets, which may be a surprise when the characters attempt to use the connecting moon gates. When the first person walks into the gate, two enhanced moon nymphs (who are naturally invisible in bright light, which there is an abundance of here) will prove to be a likely difficult encounter, as the party will be split and the nymphs invisibility, along with their psychic and other abilities, will make them dangerous foes. The base stats for the moon dryads can be found in one of Kobold Press's monster books. I played the nymphs as vindictive chaotic brats, whose only loyalty was to each other, but they can certainly be played in a variety of ways -- maybe even just playful and not violent at all if the PCs have been having an exceptionally difficult go at this.

Once out, the PCs will need to go north, where the crypt area is. You can of course set it up with your favorite undead. The way I set it up was to have an inscription above the door hinting that the sarcophagi held the remains of Faerunian heroes, and disturbing them would incur their wrath, but the characters could then take 4 of the armaments interred with them. The two smaller coffins to the right held heroes that had betrayed their cause, which is the encounter the PCs will face unless they think of some strange way to avoid the two mask wights (again, Kobold Press monster). The green areas have poison gas of the deadliest variety, such that the only way to cross the chamber to the other side is to pass over the larger coffins, which are easily identified as belonging to the evilest of villains in the realm - two death knights. This can be avoided by using the golden portals on either end of the room, which connect. Alternatively, the bone staff, which is of course too heavy for mage hand, although telekinesis would pull it out, si charged and its sole function is to cause these undead to save or be stunned, which can help immensely. There are no instructions with it, if you play with standard rules however, it can easily be identified over a short rest or using the identify spell. Unfortunately, the mask wights reform in an hour, so the characters will have to fight them again unless they completely destroy their sarcophagi.

The heroes' coffins are no threat to the PCs as long as they don't defile them. But as soon as someone opens one, or even attempt to, twelve vengeful spirits will arise and attack. For this one I made the group of them a legendary monster, and gave it the ability to take legendary actions at any time (but no more than once a turn) rather than only after a character's turn. Between the legendary actions (one allowed each spirit to attack until one of the spirits misses, another put ectoplasmic goo on characters failing a save that gave them advantage, and another allowed one to sacrifice itself to absorb damage from an area effect attack, subtracting its individual hit points from the effect's total damage) and the sheer number of spirits they proved a difficult foe for my group.

The next room has an anti-life shell preventing entry - the key is to the north in the middle of a special kind of fire, which I called wytchfire, that basically is so painful when it burns it requires checks to try and grab the item within. Alternatively, the sphere can be bypassed through any number of magical means. When the room is entered, however, the statues animate and attack. I made them gargoylian demons with big axes that could teleport away just before getting hit. Although it was a cool power, they really didn't have the muscle to back it up and the PCs finished them off pretty easily. I thought that was fair after they opted to fight the heroes and almost lost a character. Entombed in the iron maiden is a woman who is a hero of old, one of the most famous of her time. She claims she has been drained of most of her power - despite this she is still formidable and if equipped and treated fairly will accompany the PCs. I called her Silveryeye (and did a render or two of her) and gave her warlord stats with a few extras and took away their eternal healing power. Also in the iron maiden is the gem needed to drop the wall of force preventing access to the bridge.

Next is the ice area, which was guarded by a 400hp enhanced remorhaz, and the room is frigid enough to cause 2d6 cold damage per round, and the floor is slippery as hell. When the remorhaz attacks from under the ice, its heat will cause the ice to melt and steam to rise -- how much you want the elements to play into this encounter is up to you. The remorhaz is legendary, of course, but if you go this route make sure you play it like a beast and not an intelligent monster. With multiple attacks and its swallow ability it could easily kill a couple of characters if played intelligently, more if they have bad luck. The gem found

Past the remorhaz is the final area. The cages hold shadow bears which are invulnerable to most magic and weapons, and can possess those entering the room. The two statues emit anti-magic fields in a 15 ft. radius. When the characters come though the bears start trying to possess them, and the players will undoubtably be surprised when their attacks have no effect. The bears (as a group) can only possess a given person once, and can be warded with protection from evil, or slain with radiant magic. They are also destroyed when brought into the anti-magic, so the characters will have to do a little thinking on how they will handle the encounter. For my part, I had the bears go on pre-determined initiatives. They possessed a character failing a DC 18 Wisdom saving throw, doing 6d6 psychic damage immediately. The character must make the same saving throw against a charm - if this fails the character locks themselves in one of the cages, defending themself if necessary, and taking 6d6 psychic damage at the start of each of their turns until they break the charm (make this save first) and then the psychic (can only be attempted if first save is made). The encounter could be very difficult, depending on how quickly they catch on, so with hack n' slashers you may want to provide some obvious clues. With very cagey groups, those possessed do not meekly go into the cage to await their fates, instead they attack their compatriots to the best of their ability.

The final room I just had as a combat encounter - the black statue turns into a modified evil deva who was a dark angel when the door is opened, and immediately summons a pair of Valkyries on celestial griffons to fight the characters. The Pale demons who had forced the characters onto this gauntlet had previously told them if they completed the gauntlet, they would stop their invasion and return the characters unharmed. Of course, Silveryeye was not part of that deal, and they will never part with her, no matter how much the characters threaten, cajole, or lawyer them. In my campaign she was pretty much their lifeline and the one who provided them with a quality they very much lacked, creativity. Without it, they were trapped in their dead realm forever, slowly starving with no more essense to feed on. With it, they had a gateway to the character's universe. They could wait a few centuries before coming back, but to take her would take away any chance they had at another invasion, and they wouldn't give that up.

The whole gauntlet can feel very railroady, but many of the traps and situations can be avoided through clever use of magic. In fact, if they can get past the skulls (which prevent teleportation and quickly reform if destroyed) and the lava (which has devil sharks and lava worms), then they have probably done something quite clever. Congratulate them for avoiding the adventure and getting no treasure.

You can of course set it up anyway you like, and I hope this gives some ideas or inspiration for those of you who do your own campaigns, and maybe interesting reading for those who don't.

As an end note, this map was exported with a 3d perspective POV, as I am submitting it in DeviantArt for its artistic value rather than as a battlemap. Unfortunately it kinda makes it unsuitable for vtt play if you are using exact measurements, as the walls often intersect gridlines. Further, the dynamic lighting will be unavailble as well - you would have to set that up. I already have a bird's eye view of the map, and will happily provide the files needed to get the automatic dynamic lighting to any who want it through email or Discord.