Dl3.

MORGUEUnless the characters approach this room quietly and without

light sources, they alert the occupants here. De- scribe the area to the
players as follows:

This partially collapsed room has three wooden beams bracing its ceiling.
Situated between the beams is a scorched wooden table with a human
cadaver resting atop it. A frighteningly thin woman in a black robe is
studyingthecorpse, herface largelyhidden underacowl. Around her feet creep
a swarm ofskeletal rats.

The necromancer looming over the corpse is Flennis, a female human

master ofsouls (see page 234 for her stat block) and the highest-ranking
follower of Myrkul in the dungeon. Use the swarm of rats stat block in the
Monster Manual to represent Flennis's skeletal rats, which are undead
instead of beasts. The swarm can be turned by any character with the Turn
Undead feature, but spells that target beasts have no effect on it.

Flennis is preparing to make a zombie out of the corpse on the table, but the
animate dead spell takes1 minute to cast, which means she must deal with
the characters first. Her skeletal rats attack the nearest foe, and she casts
spells while using the table for cover.

Treasure. ln addition to her robe and her flail, Flennis carries a dusty
spellbook that contains all the spells she has prepared. The book has black
leather covers and sports a tiny, skull-shaped locking mechanism. Flennis
has the key to the lock stuck in her hair. A character can also pick the lock
with a successful DC 10 Dexterity check made with thieves' tools.

The first time a creature other than Flennis opens the book, a wisp of black
smoke rises from its pages and co- alesces into a skull that cackles madly for
a few seconds before dissipating. The creature holding the book when the
smoke appears must succeed on a DC 14 Consti- tution saving throw or be
cursed for 24 hours, during which time the creature has vulnerability to
necrotic damage. A remove curse spell or similar effect ends the curse on
the creature.