The Hollow Marvel

A D&D adventure for 5e by Daniel Steinmann

The Hollow Marvel is a dungeon adventure module for D&D 5e. It is designed as a 3-5 hour adventure for 4-6 Characters of levels
4-6. However, depending on the choices of the DM, group composition, APL, background stories and time to spare, it is possible to
adapt this dungeon for any other RP-System and for any setting. If you think that the encounters are too difficult or too easy, feel
free to change them. The ultimate goal of a dungeon-crawl is for you and your players to have fun. If you're having fun, you are doing
your job correctly as a DM. Everything in the dungeon module is up to interpretation, modification, and improvisation at your table.

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, and all other Wizards of the Coast product names, and their respective
logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in the USA and other countries. This work contains material that is copyright
Wizards of the Coast and/or other authors. Such material is used with permission under the Community Content Agreement for
Dungeon Masters Guild. All other original material in this work is copyright 2019 by Introcaso LLC and published under the
Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild.

1

 
Long time ago, Stabelle Deqora, a female magician, artificer
and engineer was obsessed with her work. In her studio, she
worked for nobles, for governments, monarchs and the like
and created party accessories that delighted people
everywhere. During the great war she was approached by fans
who asked for commissions. She found out later that these
commissions were used to modify war machines. After that,
she swore to built harmless, steampunk creations only, with a
mixture of arcane energy and steam.
In order to make sure that her work wouldn't be used for
weapons of death, she constructed another secret studio from
gleaming brass and bronze gears. In her facility, she swore
she would finish an airship as her masterpiece during her
lifetime. Hunted by her need for cognition, and her passion,
she made out a challenge for all of her fans: To find, enter and
use her airship. Although she was quite famous and known for
her work, nobody believed she could pull it off. Many thought
this airship was a myth and Stabelle may have lost her mind,
as genius and madness are often intertwined.
But the airship exists. Her masterpiece of an airship moves
around through the air and protects her work, her plans and
her inventions. If it fell into the wrong hands, it would mean
trouble for the rest of the world. It is somewhere out there,
cloaked, floating through the air and waiting for courageous
adventurers to be found.

The PCs may have gathered clues about Stabelle's studio
during a previous adventure and may have found a curious
device. This device decloaks the ship and summons a ladder
that is let down to the ground. Through this ladder, the ship
can be entered.
  
Stabelle Deqora was no fool: Even though she made sure the
Hollow Marvel would only be discovered by fans of her art and
therefore could be assumed to be quite safe, she made clear
that the secrets inside could not be easily uncovered by
brigands or criminals - just in case. Therefore, the Hollow
Marvel has a steampunk equivalent of a security system intact
and running, although not very stable.
The name of the security system is GlidOS (or whatever
name the DM desires) and she can be really annoying.
Stabelle Deqora made use of the spell Message that can be
heard throughout the ship through little nodes, made of
speaking tubes and mechanical amplifiers that are located at
the ceiling of some of the rooms. She enchanted the devices
with the spell Scrying as well.
She also built an intelligent machine with a thorough
understanding of the security system and an understanding of
the ship: A steampunk-golem called Whitley. Whitley is
usually quite helpful and wants to take care of the ship and
repairs it when it becomes necessary.
2
Whitley has a problem, though: GlidOS has gone rogue.
The energy of the ship slightly diminished over time.
Furthermore, a group of gremlins escaped from one of
Stabelle’s facilities where she built the airship. They damaged
some wires, which led to a malfunction in the security system.
Now GlidOS tries to take control of the ship and tries figure
out how to solve this problem. She built a trap for Whitley and
gave him an electrical shock when he recharged in the crew
quarters.
When the PCs arrive, GlidOS changes her plans. GlidOS
wants to trick the PCs to restore the power source and to get
rid of Whitley. After that, she plans to get rid of the PCs as
well.
  
The whole airship is a puzzle and a dungeon in itself. There
are several objectives the PCs need to undertake in order to
make the airship their own:
1. Enter the ship with the help of the device found in one of
Stabelle’s facilities during a previous adventure.
2. Find different keys to gain access to various rooms inside
the dungeon.
3. Power the Condenser Orb on the bridge by repairing the
damaged wires in the engine room or by taking another
fully powered Condenser Orb from the engine room to the
bridge.
4. Find the operation manual in order to operate the ship
properly and in order to reset the security system.
5. Find the key to access Stabelle’s vault.
6. Survive the final boss encounter and escape with the ship
The flowchart on page 2 is supposed to help navigating the
adventure.
 
GlidOS is a terrible, lying, manipulative artificial being (think
of „HAL9000“ from "2001: A space Odyssey", „AUTO“ from
Wall-E or „GladOS“ from Portal). Make sure to roleplay
GlidOS with a calm, neutral voice, perhaps slightly uneasy,
although she might say evil things from time to time (Those
who played Horizon: Zero Dawn and the DLC might have a
slight advantage here). Whitley has a robotical voice, mainly
neutral in nature, but has some peaks in his voice from time
to time.
 
GlidOS tries to lure the PCs into a trap. Her story goes as
follows: She was ordered by her master Stabelle Deqora to
guard the airship until a worthy being enters it and takes it as
their own (true). But GlidOS failed: Stabelle’s servant Whitley,
a steampunk-golem, has gone rogue (lie) and tried to overtake
the ship (lie).
He wants to see GlidOS gone and cut off her energy supply
(lie) with the help of some gremlins who damaged several
wires (true). GlidOS managed to defend herself against
Whitley (lie) and trapped him in the crew quarters (true).
She explains that, as Whitley has gone rogue (lie), he will be
ready to attack the intruders if they enter his space (not
necessarily), so they have to be careful and kill him as soon as
possible (lie). Because her energy runs low, she is not able to
tell the security system to leave the PCs alone (basically true,
although fishy). So she warns the PCs, they may have to face
several attacks during their descent into the ship (true). She
apologizes for this (lie).
 
 
The airship has all the features of a standard airship from
Ebberon. It is an elemental vessel that looks similar to an
oceangoing ship, but is replete with control fins and rudders
rather than sails. The ship does not rely on wings for lift,
however. It is able to fly equally well on the sides or even
upside down. The airship cannot actually land. The ring of the
elemental prevents the bottom of the hull from getting closer
than 10 feet to the ground. It has to dock at a special dock at
one of Stabbele’s facilities. This gives the adventuring party
another hook for further adventures, as they have to recharge
and refill the airship.
 
The ship’s main deck runs between the foredeck (with pooping
possibilities) and the bridge. The main deck is surrounded by a
ring around the hull, suspended on four struts jutting outward.
The airship can move in all three dimensions, with or without
the aid of the wind.
This is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used
are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.
The ship’s clock, a brass-and-copper object, hangs at the hull
of the bridge. The foredeck is a slightly raised deck with stairs
that stands some 5 feet above the main deck. The railing
contains several holes and magical cannons that are not
functioning at the moment. The bridge stands several feet
above ground with a balcony surrounding it. It can be
accessed from the main deck through a ladder and a door at
its back or via an elevator (which is not functioning or
accessible right now.
Developments: The main deck is the entrance of the
dungeon. It is only accessible through a ladder that drops
down when a device from Stabelle’s facility is pressed. The
ship decloaks and a ladder is summoned to enter the main
deck. When the PCs first arrive at the ship, GlidOS greets
them with a question what the security password is. The PCs
won't know the password, so GlidOS sees them as intruders.
She unleashes 3 Tridones (MM, p.225) to see how strong the
PCs are. When the PCs are victorious, she speaks to them
and tells them her story (see "Roleplaying GlidOS" and
"GlidOS's Story"). She apologizes for any inconvenience and
says she tries to help, but is barely able to.
’ 
The door to the Captain’s quarters is locked and can be
accessed through the device from Stabelle’s facility, but
not by pressing the device, but by putting it into an indent. The
indent is placed where usually the keyhole would be.
There are two walls in this room that divide the Captain’s
quarters even further. Both internal doors are unlocked. The
main room contains a bed, several chairs and a desk. The
Captain’s cabin is richly decorated, its walls covered with
intricate carvings. Two rich carpets flank the bed. The furniture
has some ornaments on it. You can see a soft carpet lying on
the floor of the second room with a liquor bar. The third room
has the appearance of an office. The desk here is unoccupied,
with several papers scattered on it.
There is a money pouch laying on the desk containing 300 gp.
There are three marbles located here that are needed for the
puzzle in the main control room. Any PC reading the
documents on the desk will deduce that Stabellle had mixed
feelings about GlidOS and Whitley.
3
 Stabelle writes that she hopes that GlidOS works as intended
and that she an Whitley will work nicely together. The office
desk holds also the key to the bridge.

The bridge is locked and can only be accessed with a key
found in the Captain’s quarters. On the outside, the bridge
can be reached from the main deck through climbing another
ladder to a balcony that surrounds the bridge. As soon as the
PCs get access to the elevator, the bridge can also be reached
from the main deck throught the elevator.
A large steering wheel dominates the room. You can see a
Podium behind it that holds a sphere of obsidian color. A
shallow spark lies within the center of the sphere giving away a
subtle humming. The whole room is surrounded by a
windshield, enabling the helmsman to get a 360° view. At the
front of the room there is a control unit, consisting of levers,
buttons and sliders of bronze and copper. It smells of copper
and iron. The room gains access through two doors total, one
of which you entered, the other entrance is a metallic double
sided door.
Developments: The obsidian orb in the middle is the
condenser orb, powering the ship. PCs who search the room
can deduce several things.
GlidOS tells the PCs to observe the orb and see that she
only has little power left. With some of her energy left, she will
grant them access to some parts of the control unit on the
bridge so that they can use the elevator (the double sided
door). The PCs can also see a map of the ship hanging on
the wall and can see how many rooms the dungeon contains.
They can also find two marbles needed for the puzzle in the
main control room. How the control unit is going to be used
fully is unknown to the PCs for now.
 
There is one central elevator to the whole complex, connecting
the bridge with the other decks/rooms. Its interiors consist of
metallic instruments and levers. Some of the levers need a
special key to access the different decks. There is also a
numerical pad with several runes embossed upon them.
Developments: The elevator has a special security barrier in
it. For now, the PCs can only reach the storing room and the
crew quarters with the kitchen. The vault, engine room and
main control room need a special key/password to be reached.
GlidOS doesn't know where the keys are. Truth is: Whitley has
got the key to the engine room. Inside the engine room, some
of the documents give away the combination needed on the
runic number pad to access the main control room. The vault
can only be accessed after the security system has been
rebooted through the main control room.
4
This is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used
are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.

This chamber is crammed with chests and neatly ordered
weapon racks. There are several iron, copper and metal chests,
covered in a thin wood veneer.
The chests have superior locks and they contain materials,
foods, and other things a ship might need.
   
This room contains several beds and footlockers. The cramped
and chaotic kitchen holds several wooden worktables,
cupboards, and stoves against the port wall, as well as virtually
every cooking utensil needed, as well as other materials like
meat cleavers, knives and the like. The kitchen is a madness of
dust, materials and knives. Some cauldrons are lying around. A
huge array of spices mingle with barrels, with unknown interior.
Some cupboards are here as well.
Developments: Whitley is inside this room. He stands
motionless turning his back to the PCs and blinks in a red
light. GlidOS will warn the PCs of Whitley and his power. The
armor plating on Whitley’s back has been removed. Anyone
examining the back can make a DC 15 Intelligence
(Investigation) check and will find a switch on success.
Pressing it causes Whitley to reboot. As soon as the PCs
see this button, Whitley will attack them, assuming they work
for GlidOS. Depending on group composition and APL,
Whitley has the stats of a clay (MM, p.168), flesh (MM p.169),
iron (MM, p.170) or stone golem (MM, p.170). The
appearance is comparable to an iron golem. During the fight,
he will say things like „HAVE TO PROTECT STABELLE’S
SHIP“, „MALFUNCTION IN THE SHIP“, „HAVE TO
REPAIR THE SHIP“. The key here is to talk to Whitley and to
convince him that the PCs are friendly and mean him and the
ship no harm. Whitley will stop attacking them for a short
amount of time and the PCs can try to reach the switch. After
that, Whitley will reboot. He can’t tell them much, only that he
was wandering around the ship as usual and tried to repair
some wires down in the engine room, because they had been
damaged by gremlins. He wanted to recharge in the crew
quarters and then everything went black for him. Whitley will
give the PCs the key to the engine room. He is missing the
key/password to the main control room and to the vault,
however. He doesn’t remember where he put it. Upon
examining Whitley's place to recharge, the PCs can see that
the area has been severely damaged.
The PCs get one marble for the puzzle in the main control
room from Whitley.
 
Predominantly, this room is much louder and warmer than all
of the other rooms. Several servos, similar to the ones in the
main control room are scattering around. Large tables are
standing around, they are covered in schematics, gears and
other equipment.

Several things that lie on the table catch your eye. One is a
staff, the other is a sphere resting in a podium, similar to the
one on the bridge. There are several large containers of
obsidian color in the center of the room.
Developments: Upon observing the room thoroughly, the PCs
find the place where the gremlins damaged the wires. Several
vents and cables are damaged and arcane sparks flash around
the area. 5 gremlins lurk in the shadows and attack the PCs
when they examine the wires and vents.
When the fight is over, GlidOS tells the PCs how to repair
the wires and/or how to recharge the Condenser orb. If the
PCs follow her explanations, she will thank them. After that,
she tells the PCs that she remembers where she put the
secret key to access the vault. This is a lie. She tries to get the
PCs to the main deck in order to finish them off in a combat
encounter (see page 5). When the PCs examine the room
further, they find the rest of the marbles needed for the
puzzle in the main control room. In addition, they find several
documents and the operation manual. Inside, they can find
the instructions needed to operate the control unit in the
main control room. Finally, they find the combination for the
runic number pad in the elevator to access the main control
room.
  
It should be mentioned that the main control room is only
accessible if the PCs got the combination for the runic
number pad from the engine room. Although the DM is free to
let the PCs access this room right away, it was designed to be
part of the final combat encounter with GlidOS.
This spherical room is very dark. There are some light sources
coming from sources that look similar to the spark on the
bridge. A subtle humming is still hearable. The floors and
ceiling contain several copper and bronze pipes and wires.
Glass squares are mounted on the walls, filled with a light blue
liquid. It shows some images. It is very warm in this room and it
smells strongly of rust, copper and the like. You can see a
couple of controls under the screens, similar to the levers,
buttons and wires on the bridge.
Developments: The large screens on the wall show whatever
GlidOS sees. The PCs need the instruction manual from the
engine room to operate the control panel. However, Stabelle's
descriptions are not easy to follow. If the PCs use the correct
pages for the main control room, they need to solve a puzzle
in order to reboot the security system. The puzzle is taken
from Nerzugal's DMs Toolkit 2 ("Colored Marbles Puzzle")
and goes like this:
On the control panel, there is a 3x3 grid. The security
system resets, when marbles are placed in a particular order
in the slots of the grid. The colors of the marbles are: Red,
Blue, Yellow, Green, Orange, Violet, White and Black. The
Instruction manual has got the following instructions: GlidOS
Security System Reboot parameters:
Orange is below Blue
Blue is right of White
Black is right of Green
This is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used
are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.
Green is right of Violet
Violet is below Black
Red is left of Yellow and above White
Yellow is left of Orange and below Violet
White is below Green and above Yellow
Red Green Black
Violet White Blue
------ Yellow Orange
DM Note
You can use another puzzle if you like. This is just a
proposition.

There are dozens of crates stacked together in this large room.
You can hear a loud humming and working sounds. Several
servos, little four-legged clockwork lifters, move round the
room and rummaging the crates and moving them from one
place to another.
Developments: The lifter and the servos won’t react to the
party, as long as they rebooted the vault. With a thorough
search of the vault, the PCs can retrieve the following treasure
(DMs can adjust as needed): 300 cp, 3000 sp, 2900 gp, 80 pp,
2 x Bloodstone (50 gp), Carnelian (50 gp), Chalcedony (50 gp),
3 x Jasper (50 gp), Moonstone (50 gp), 2 x Star rose quartz (50
gp), 2 x Zircon (50 gp).They can find the following magic
items:
Chapeau of magnetic inversion (wonderous item,
uncommon)
Pyrotechnic weapon (uncommon)
Eye gear (uncommon)
Charged ring (rare)
Tesla Rod (rare)
Mechanical arachnid (rare)
These items were made by /u/CrafticusPrime and are taken
from here Although Stabelle’s story is a pacifistic one, the DM
can choose to introduce additional weaponry, e. g. firearms. It
would add another layer to Stabelle’s past. May be, she was
not as pacifistic as everyone thought? May be she only wanted
to produce toys and art, but couldn’t let go of her previous
work? May be she decided that she would hide weaponry
rather than destroy it? Alternatively, if steampunk is not your
thing, you can use the following magic items instead of the
ones described earlier:
Adamantine Armor (plate) (uncommon, dmg p.150);
+1 Weapon (halberd) (uncommon, dmg p.213);
Ring of Swimming (uncommon, dmg p.193);
Bracers of Defense (rare, dmg p.156);
Boots of Speed (rare, dmg p.155);
+2 Rod of the Pact Keeper (rare, dmg p.197).
5
   
The fight against GlidOS is going to be the final encounter or
the final room of the whole dungeon. As such, it should be
climactic and at the same time engaging for all players. There
are two variants presented here to run this fight. Both
approaches work, it does not matter for the encounter which
variant the DM chooses. It is completely dependent on group
composition, player immersion, tactical thinking skills of the
players, etc.
      
When the PCs are finished with their tasks in the engine
room, GlidOS thanks them and asks them to go to the main
deck and to get the key to the vault from her as a reward. As
soon as the PCs do this, GlidOS attacks the PCs on the main
deck. This variant will be more epic as the PCs are fighting an
arcane/steampunk AI in the air with the imminent danger of
falling off the main deck. However, the PCs might not get the
idea that they have to enter the main control room or they may
be hesitant to split the party.
      

If the PCs got suspicious of GlidOS during the dungeon crawl
(which they should!), it is very well possible that the PCs want
to go straight to the main control room and try to make use of
the instruction manual. If they do so, the fight takes place
there. This is not as epic as variant 1, but can be very
challenging: Some of the PCs will straight out fight the
drones, others may defend the PCs who solve the riddle and
some should try to reboot GlidOS through solving the riddle.
The DM can still decide to run Variant 1 and have GlidOS
manipulate the elevator to open its doors on the main deck.

Obviously, GlidOS cannot participate in a fight herself. So she
mainly uses servos, drones and lair actions to defend herself
against the PCs. Don't forget to use taunts! The fight takes
place in 3 waves:
 
3 Servos and 3 Tridrones (MM, p.224) attack the players
 
3 Duodrones and 3 Tridrones (MM, p.225) attack the players
 
2 Quadrones (MM, p.226) and 2 Pentadrones (MM, p.226)
attack the players.
 
GlidOS can use 2 lair actions per round. One on initiative
count 18, the other on initiative count 10 (She can’t use the
same lair actions two times in a row). Her lair actions are as
follows:
Poison Gas
GlidOS runs gas through several vents through the ground.
Every PC has to make a DC 12 CON Saving throw or suffers
2D4 damage and becomes poisoned.
6
This is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used
are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.
Obscure Sight
GlidOS darkens the whole area, making it obscured until the
top of the next round. All PCs without darkvision are
considered blinded.
Snaring
GlidOS orders several wires to appear that ensnare creatures.
PCs have to make a DC 13 DEX save to avoid the wires. Once
trapped, a PC can use their action to make another STR
(Athletics) or DEX (Acrobatics) of DC 13 to break free.
Heal Dampening
GlidOS sends off a shockwave that prevents healing, stops a
target, or targets from healing for the round.
Spell Dampening
GlidOS sends off a flash of light that dampens spell effects.
Spells act as if targets have advantage on saves, or resistance
to the damage type.
 
The PCs may have different approaches for this fight. Some
may just want to attack the drones, some may take a look
around to look for weaknesses in GlidOS's defenses. But the
only possibility to defeat GlidOS is by solving the marble
puzzle in the main control room while simultaneously
engaging the security defenses. The DM should give subtle
clues that the fight against GlidOS will get them nowhere and
might very well lead to their death. Sooner or later, they
should look for workarounds and different tactics. If using
Variant 1 of the fight (see above), the DM should be lenient:
Whatever the PCs have in mind to get to the main control
room despite GlidOS taking control of the ship should work
for them.
DM Note
The main purpose of the final encounter is to
encourage tactical thinking and to keep the PCs
engaged. The GlidOS encounter was designed to
have all the PCs involved and work as a team. At the
end, they should feel that they have earned the
Hollow Marvel. If the DM has the impression that
the PCs slice through the waves too quickly, they
can add more waves with different combinations of
drones. You can even use an hourglass to give the
encounter more time pressure and narrative drive.

If the PCs manage to reboot GlidOS, she turns normal again.
The fight ends and the Hollow Marvel now belongs to the
PCs. They can access the vault, grab the treasure that is
hidden inside and now have got a flying stronghold to call
their own. They even have a robot butler (Whitley).
   

Tiny construct, unaligned

Small beast, unaligned Armor Class 11
Hit Points 10 (3D4+3)
Speed 20ft.
Armor Class 11
Hit Points 27 (5D8 +5)
Speed 40ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
4 (-3) 11 (+0) 12 (+1) 3 (-4) 10 (+0) 7 (-2)
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
Damage Immunities poison
12 (+1) 13 (+1) 13 (+1) 3 (-4) 13 (+1) 6 (-2) Condition Immunities charmed, poisoned
Senses passive perception 10
Senses darkvision 60ft., passive perception 11 Languages --
Languages -- Challenge 0 (10 Xp)
Challenge 1/2 (100 XP)
Actions
Actions
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +0 to hit, reach 5 ft.,
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 slashing damage.
one target. Hit: 5 (1d8 + 1) slashing damage.
Siphon. The gremlin drains aether from an arcane-
powered device it can see within 5 feet of it. If the
object isn’t being worn or carried, the touch
automatically drains aether. If the object is being
worn or carried by a creature, the creature must
succeed on a DC 11 Dexterity saving throw to keep
it out of the gremlin’s reach. If the arcane-powered
device grants any bonus (to attack rolls, damage
rolls, Armor Class, and so on), that bonus is reduced
by 1. If the device has charges, it loses 1 charge.
Otherwise, it stops functioning for 1 round. Left
unhindered, a gremlin can completely destroy an
arcane-powered device.

7
This is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used
are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.
 The Hollow
Marvel
This dungeon crawl adventure draws inspiration
from "The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword",
"2001: A Space Odyssey", "WALL-E", "Portal 1
and 2", "Final Fantasy" series, "Horizon: Zero
Dawn" and others.

A dungeon adventure for 4-6 characters of levels 4-6 by

Daniel Steinmann.
For use with the fith edition of Dungeons &
Dragons, Player's Handbook, Monster Manual and
Dungeon Master's Guide.

WWW.GMBINDER.COM

This is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used
are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.