Dragon Delves: The Forbidden Vale, Gardens of Xabazhut

Board

“Ages ago, four powerful githyanki who were banished from the Astral Plane for treason against their lich-queen built a ziggurat in a region now known as the Forbidden Vale. There they cultivated magical plants to extend their lives. From this idyllic capital, the githyanki conquered the surrounding region with the aid of a red dragon who followed them into exile.

Your ascent ends at a broad caldera filled with a steaming lake. An ancient ziggurat stands on an island in the lake’s center, connected to the south shore by a long stone bridge. Vegetation grows in neat rows on the ziggurat’s three tiers. Canals flow around each tier and cascade down to the lower tiers in waterfalls that create clouds of spray.”

A map of the Gardens of Xabazhut from the 5.5E anthology book Dragon Delves. This map is from Chapter 6: “The Forbidden Vale.” In this chapter the party explores a ziggurat constructed by githyanki turncoats. After centuries the red dragon dwelling within has started lighting fires in the region and must be stopped.

The dungeon features 3 levels for the ziggurat connected by a central otherworldly “lift.” There is also a subterranean level where the dragon’s lair is. I tried to make all the levels connect to one another as is described in them module.  A few notes below:

• I did not include any monsters, since DM may have custom minis they would rather use or want to alter the encounters.
• The “Limbo” room on level 1 is set up for what the players see. I would recommend using the “flight” feature for if the players try to walk across the room as normal to take the damage rather than engaging with the virtual reality.
• I added some flair to the tomb rooms on level 1 to fill out the space. There is not a ton of description in the module for these rooms, so I made them more like old living quarters and an armory.
• I added a water level marker to the outside of the map board. (see images) This will set the water to the right level for the draon’s lair. In the module it is supposed to be 50 feet deep.
• Borrowed some plants from Master CMZ’s 35 custom potted plants ( https://talestavern.com/slab/35-custom-potted-plants/ ) and TwitchWaWor’s Jungle trees ( https://talestavern.com/slab/jungle-trees/ ) to fill out the gardens.