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HEART OF DARKNESSA lair for five 18th-level adventurersIn the depths of the Underdark, an elder purpledragon and his minions dwell in a complex of twistingpassages and almost organic contours. The peopleof the surface might claim that the beast is no dangeras long as he stays below, but dwarves and other deepdwellers who have suffered his depredations disagree.HistoryOnly the eldest dwarf sage recalls that these cavernswere once home to a clan of beholders that carvedthem from living rock. What happened to those creatures,no one can say, but their home did not remainabandoned long. For over a century, the purple dragonOrukurtz has used the Heart of Darkness as his homeand the center of his ever-expanding territory.EnvironmentThe stone floors are normal terrain, and ledgesrequire a DC 27 Athletics check to climb, unlessnoted otherwise.Scattered on the walls and floors are patches ofphosphorescent fungus that infuse the area with dimlight. As such, all squares not otherwise illuminated(by a light source the characters bring with them) arelightly obscured, granting concealment to creaturesin them. The area descriptions and tactics discussionsassume that the PCs bring a source of bright light withthem (enabling them to see normally within the radiusof that light, but also denying them concealment).The caverns and passageways constantly twist andslope, running under, over, and around each other.Elevation shifts are shown on the map. The caves havestalagmites and columns, but none have stalactites;Orukurtz has broken them off to make flying easier.Approaching the CavernsUntil the PCs enter the lair, nothing suggests that thecaves ahead of them are different from those behind.The descriptions below assume that the PCs comefrom above (either of the two passages marked 1), notfrom deeper in the Underdark.Orukurtz in BattleThe elder purple dragon is a canny strategist andrarely, if ever, engages in a straightforward battle. Insome ways, the Heart of Darkness is not only a setof individual encounters but also a single runningencounter with frequent interruptions.In each encounter presented below, Orukurtzappears briefly several rounds into the fight. Helaunches a single round’s worth of attacks (or perhapstwo, if the PCs try to impede his escape), and thendeparts again.Until the end of the battle, use the dice to determinewhen and if the dragon returns, in the samefashion as determining when a power recharges. Rolld6; on a result of 5 or 6, the dragon reappears. (Donot roll on the round following his departure fromthe battle; the dragon is absent for at least 1 round ashe makes his way through the twisting tunnels of hislair.) Each time that Orukurtz appears, his tactics aresimilar: He attacks briefly and then departs. Specifictactics are detailed in the encounter spreads; usethese as examples to determine the dragon’s behaviorin any optional encounters that you use.Assume that each time the dragon appears in asingle area, his breath weapon, bloodied breath, andfrightful presence have recharged.When the dragon reappears, he can do so throughany of the entryways to the combat area. He knows hislair well enough to speed through it, and he appearsfrom whichever entrance is most tactically advantageous.Alternatively, he might phase in through a wallif doing so grants him combat advantage. Otherwise,he uses his phasing movement purely for escape.Orukurtz never rejoins an ongoing combat after allthe other monsters are dead. It’s easy enough to hear thesounds of battle—or lack thereof—so PCs who kill theiropposition and then sit with readied actions, waiting forthe wyrm to reappear, are doomed to disappointment.Because of this running battle, each encounter hasthree possible level ratings.✦ The initial encounter level assumes that thePCs spend most of their time battling the othercreatures present, but that Orukurtz makes appearancesas described above. On the average thedragon fights for roughly one out of every threerounds, so this level treats him as a hazard and usesone-fifth of a level 19 solo’s normal XP (2,400 XP).✦ The second (the lowest) encounter level is the level ofthe encounter if Orukurtz does not appear, whetherbecause he has been slain, he has fled the lair, or thePCs have somehow blocked his access to the area.✦ The third (the highest) encounter level is the levelof the encounter if Orukurtz chooses to stay andfight, rather than continue to depart and comeback. He does so if the fight is the last one remainingin the lair—that is, if the PCs have defeated allother tactical encounters, as well as any optionalencounters that you choose to include. (Othercircumstances under which the dragon mightstay and fight to the end are provided in the tacticalencounters.) The PCs gain full experiencepoints for Orukurtz (12,000 XP) when the dragon126CHAPTER 3 | Dragon Lairs