Dolblunde

Dolblunde was a gnomish city located in the Underdark beneath the Sword Coast North. It was abandoned as of the mid-to-late 14 century DR, and had become the lair of Daurgothoth, a mighty black dracolich known as the "Creeping Doom".

Geography
Dolblunde was located in the upper Northdark under the hills northeast of Waterdeep. While it was deep underground, it was not as deep as many other Underdark settlements, allowing it to maintain a connection with the surface. It could be accessed via the deepest depths of Undermountain and by the so-called "Bandit Tunnels" from Maiden's Tomb Tor. It lay along the same underground route that led further down to the mind flayer city of Ch'Chitl. There was also a water- and mud-filled tunnel at the bottom of the River Dessarin that the dracolich Daurgothoth used to enter and leave Dolblunde unobserved. Lastly, the city was said to have at least one nexus point for the Trail of Mists, an ancient means of connecting gnomish settlements via the Ethereal plane.

To the northwest of the city was a chain of caverns being slowly but surely dug out by the dracolich Daurgothoth, with the eventual goal being to create a tunnel to the surface in the Sword Mountains.

The area known as the Hanging City of Dolblunde could be reached by a path through the Underdark that began at a deep hole in the ground—known to some as "the orifice"—in the Kryptgarden Forest, east of the Sword Mountains. This path led past an unidentified Underdark city of apparent duergar architecture, with many forge-fires and towers topped with magical blue flames, within a vast cavern supported by massive stalagnates through which a waterfall and deep river-filled chasm ran. However, the route was patrolled by such creatures as intellect devourers, likely from Ch'Chitl.

Description
The abandoned city was a labyrinth of passageways, both gnome-built and carved by natural forces like streams. These were wide enough for two gnomes to walk abreast and just barely tall enough for a half-orc to stand in. A large and humid cavern contained a pool of water alongside which the gnomes had built a marketplace complete with stone stalls and countertops.

As of the mid-to-late 14 century DR, the once-inhabited parts of the city were filled with cracked stone floors, broken pottery, rusted metal, shattered crates, and the bones and skulls of gnomes. The ruined tunnels had also been excavated into huge caverns by Daurgothoth for his own uses. This included a massive tunnel large enough for him to fly through, a bone- and treasure-filled lair, a scorched and wrecked half-mile-wide (1 kilometer) chamber for spellcasting experiments (guarded by a massive door that was actually a stone golem), and a storage cavern containing a vault for magic items, a library of spellbooks, an alchemy lab, and a pit for live prisoners. The dracolich had filled much of Dolblunde with undead guardians and traps both mechanical&mdash;mostly pits and spikefalls&mdash;and half-sentient&mdash;namely coiled, bony, snake-like constructs tipped with spikes as tall as a human that could lash out to skewer any living being at ranges of up to.

Another part of the city was the Hanging City of Dolblunde. Located within a jagged chasm through which flowed a river of lava, it comprised a series of stone platforms suspended over the lava itself by thick chains. These were linked by bridges and had structures, obelisks, and over-sized statues of svirfneblin in supplication built upon them. Over time, some of these bridges had collapsed, either naturally or due to traps that triggered them to collapse, and some chains had broken, causing parts to tip and fall into the lava, marking this as a clearly an architectural flaw. The gnomes used a stone aqueduct to carry water through this part of the city. By the late 1400s DR, this area also sported a massive pile of bones, likely left by one dragon or another.

Defenses
"It's quite simple. Starting from the edge, use odd-numbered blocks only, moving forward with each step, except for every fifth step, which must be a lateral move. After which you proceed, again stepping on odd-numbered blocks only. However, at the midpoint, we switch to even-numbered blocks, following the same pattern, except now we move laterally after the fourt step, until—"

- Xenk explaining the sequence

The bridges to the Hanging City were protected by ancient gnomish traps that, if not traversed by stepping on the blocks marked by Dethek runes in an intricate sequence, would simply collapse into the lava below, carrying the trespassers with them. They were in fact all too easily triggered, collapsing at the first foot upon them.

Founding and Abandonment
The city was founded in the, by several rock and deep gnome clans led by Olbrent Handstone. It became the seat of a gnomish realm known as the Duchy of Gloraela.

During the reign of Duke Ulbrent Handstone, Dolblunde joined the kingdom of Phalorm&mdash;the "Realm of Three Crowns"&mdash;when it was formed in the, alongside the humans of Delimbiyran, the elves of Ardeep, the dwarves of Dardath, and the halflings of Meiritin.

In the, the forces of Phalorm warred with the orcs of the Everhorde, leaving them weakened when two more orc hordes emerged in the. The second of these hordes sacked and pillaged Dolblunde before their allies could make it to their aid. Phalorm collapsed the next year after their forces were destroyed by Iniarv in the catastrophe that created the Mere of Dead Men. Subsequently, in the, the gnomes of Dolblunde allied with the remnants of the human portion of Phalorm, who had formed a new Kingdom of Man.

While parts of the city were left abandoned after the orc attack, the gnomes did not leave right away. However, in the, the city was brutally attacked yet again by priests and worshipers of Urdlen. The remaining gnomes abandoned the city and the Northlands for a safer home.

Daurgothoth's Lair
In the, Dolblunde became the lair of the dracolich Daurgothoth. From there, he spied on the goings on in the region from Zundbridge to Amphail, including monitoring the traffic on nearby trade routes (i.e., the High Road, the Long Road, and the River Dessarin), and occasionally took indirect interest in Waterdeep itself through proxies like wizards or the Zhentarim.

During the Rage of Dragons in the, Daurgothoth conspired against the leader of the Cult of the Dragon, Sammaster, and ultimately seized power over the Cult alongside fellow dracolich Aurgloroasa and the lich Algashon Nathaire. As a member of this "triumvirate", Daurgothoth became known as the "First Reader" of the Cult, and his lair at Dolblunde became the epicenter of their arcane study and the creation of new spells and magic items based on lore gathered by the Cultists from as far away as the Monastery of the Yellow Rose in Damara.

In the, Daurgothoth struck a deal with a group of Selvetarm-worshiping drow exiles led by Dhairn. In exchange for the secrets of creating chitines and a promise of a share of plunder from the next 600 years of drow incursions into Undermountain, the dracolich allowed them to use a ruined marketplace within Dolblunde as a base of operations from which to launch attacks against Lolth- and Eilistraee-worshiping drow. Their plan to attack the Promenade of the Dark Maiden was discovered by an agent of Qilué Veladorn named Jub before he was slain by Daurgothoth.

Daurgothoth survived the events of the Spellplague in the, by hiding outside of the Material Plane. He subsequently returned to Dolblunde, from where he worked to rebuild the Cult of the Dragon.

In the Hanging City
Following the Battle of the Evermoors circa 1400 DR, the paladin Xenk Yendar retrieved the helmet of disjunction and, to keep it safe, ultimately stored the helmet of disjunction in the Underdark, within the ruins of the Hanging City of Dolblunde, believing it to be "the last place anyone who values their life would go." In doing so, he aided a community of deep gnomes against a band of illithids, their intellect devourers, and the elder brain Zuphelithid.

A century later, in the late 1490s DR, Xenk led a party comprising Edgin Darvis, Holga Kilgore, Simon Aumar, and Doric to Dolblunde to retrieve the helmet of disjunction. Entering via the Kryptgarden orifice, they passed the neighboring Underdark city and uninterested intellect devourers and arrived at the ruins of Dolblunde. After negotiating the trapped collapsing bridges, that is triggering and collapsing them before Xenk could finish explaining the intricately complicated technique needed to cross them, Simon used a hither-thither staff to create portals with which to cross into the city. Finding and opening a gnomish mechanical box, Xenk retrieved the helm. But that was when a band of undead Thayan assassins led by Dralas showed up. They fought valiantly, with Xenk handily taking down the whole squad of assassins and impressing the others, who provided a little aid but mostly just watched. But the undead did not stay dead for long; their wounds regenerated and they gave chase.

Then they were all interrupted by the surprise appearance of the red dragon Themberchaud, far from his home, who forced his bulk through a narrow cave opening. He took care of the undead assassins, by simply eating them, but then turned his attention to the others, chasing them around the ruins and its bridges and breathing fire. At one point, unable to fly up, he pushed a bridge down, causing Edgin to slide down toward his maw—stopped only when Xenk heroically leaped overhead and thrust his sword into Themberchaud's head. Recovering, Themberchaud chased them into a narrow cave, but could not get his head through. The damage caused seawater to leak in. In the end, though, the team forced Themberchaud to breathe gas and created an explosion that would open a water channel and free them. They emerged just offshore, in the Sea of Swords.

Inhabitants
After Daurgothoth had taken up residence in the former gnome city, it was mostly populated by his undead servants, notably skeletons, deathfangs, and bone lurkers (undead lurkers of the dracolich's own devising that disguised themselves as portcullises made of bone). His main tunnel was guarded by the skeletons of a mountain giant tribe overseen by a death tyrant.

Doblunde was also home to a number of sword spiders.