R

are books are being stolen from a A mini-adventure for

 university library as the culprit 4 adventurers of 5th–6th level.
 behind the thefts—the wererat wiz-
ard Zamus—searches for a tome that contains a
writing Anthony Pryor
map of the city’s underground, his efforts grow- playtesting Travis, Beth, Eric, Larry,
ing all the more damaging as his frustration Erica, Greg, and Jess
mounts. Can the lycanthropic thieves be stopped
editing Mike Myler
color art Rafael Benjamin
without destroying the valuable knowledge the
maps Dyson Logos
library contains? layout Eric Life-Putnam

EN World EN5ider
Urgent Request
The adventurers are approached by the chief li-
brarian of the city’s university who explains that
several important books have vanished, and that
theft is suspected. Rather than admit that they
have been lax in their duties, the librarians ask
the party to investigate the losses. In addition to
the stolen books, some of the magical items from
EN5ider #380: Magic in the Stacks may have gone
missing as well.
“Can I count on your discretion?” the chief librarian
whispers. “We have been losing books. Well, not exactly
losing … we think our books are being stolen. Naturally,
it would not do for the university elders to learn that we
librarians have allowed important volumes to go miss-
ing. I’m asking you as a favor to discreetly find out what’s
happening. We can’t offer much, but you would certainly
have our gratitude.”
The library is closely monitored during the day
and until now the librarians have simply locked
the doors at night, assuming that this was enough
to discourage thieves. The thefts were discovered
two days ago and so far eight volumes are miss-
ing. The stolen books are from the rare reference
collection—spell books, histories, and limited edi-
tions—and normally are never allowed to leave the
library. So far none have turned up on the black
market. The librarians are unsure how long they
can keep the disappearances secret from univer-
sity authorities, so their request for the PCs to
investigate is urgent.
map that contains the layout of a forgotten sewer
system, including secret entrances to several im-
portant buildings as well as the homes of wealthy
citizens—with that in hand they intend to start a
city-wide crime wave. After searching the rest of
the library, Zamus believes that the map is con-
tained in one of the volumes from the rare books
room.
The Library
The university library is a two-story structure
with a skylight on the roof. All of its shelves are 8
feet tall and full of books. Stepladders are located
at various locations to help reach books on higher
shelves.
The walls are wood and plaster on the inside
with only a thin stone facing, allowing the rats to
easily tunnel in. They have created two giant rat-
sized passages, one ending on the main level, the
other on the upper level in the reference section.
Two others were abandoned and hidden by the rats.
1. Main Floor
The pillared section of the main floor is open to the
atrium and skylights above. Two flights ascend to
the second floor’s balconies. A small external door
in the north wall is kept barred from the inside.
The main floor houses the library’s mundane
collection—books of basic science, history, art,
and literature. A heavy candelabra set with four
plaster false candles sits atop each shelf. The fake
candles have been treated with continual flame
spells and provide dim light.

Culprits Silver Clubs. The candelabra on the two shelves

Wererat wizard Zamus and his wererat compan- flanking the rats’ tunnel entrance (X) are made of solid
ions are behind the thefts, and they have tunneled silver, and can act as clubs if used against the wer-
into the library walls with help from a horde of erats by adventurers who do not have silver or magic
sewer rats. The wererats are also searching for a weapons.

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Night in the Library  |  EN World EN5ider

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Cartography by Dyson Logos

EN World EN5ider |  Night in the Library

Zamus and the rats made an entrance here but
have since chosen to focus their search on the rare
book room. Located in a narrow space between
two bookcases at the X, the tunnel opening is
covered by a section of plaster wall that the rats
remove when entering the room and it can be dis-
covered with a DC 20 Intelligence (Investigation)
check.
2. Cloakroom
Staff keep their coats, capes, wraps, street shoes,
and minor accoutrements here.
3. Staff Room
Librarians use this room for their own study or for
relaxation between shifts. It contains couches, ta-
bles, shelves, and storage areas for personal items.
4. Conference Chamber
This chamber contains tables and chairs for pri-
vate meetings and conferences.
5. Documents Room
The walls of this room are lined with shelves
containing varied documents—old manuscripts,
treaties, maps, and the like—as well as several
tables and chairs for study. A small door to the
outside is kept barred at all times. The rats have
searched the room, but sealed the entrance to
their tunnel and restored it to its original state.
Any adventurer that makes a DC 20 Intelligence
(Investigation) check finds that the wall has been
altered or repaired in the recent past, but digging
into it reveals nothing out of the ordinary.
Stairs go down to a small basement and end
at a locked door that requires a DC 13 Dexterity
(thieves’ tools) check to open. The basement is 10
feet square and built entirely of stone, preventing
the rats from tunneling. It contains various items
including food and water, old book catalogs, and
cleaning supplies.
6. Storage
Reams of parchment, blank volumes, quills, and
ink are stored on shelves in this small area.
Night in the Library  |  EN World EN5ider
7. Office
This chamber contains the full catalog of the li-
brary’s collection, as well as recent volumes listing
borrowed books, repairs, losses, and so on. The
missing books have not yet been removed from
the catalog.
8. Upper Atrium
Stairs lead from the main floor to a balcony that
runs along the outside of this chamber, which is
open to the ground floor. The library skylights are
above. Inspection of the skylights does not reveal
any evidence of entry by that route.
9. Study Room
Students are allowed to use this chamber to study
books from the reference and rare collections.
10. Chief Librarian’s Office
The head librarian’s chambers contain book-lined
shelves, a desk, small bed, table, and chairs. It is
homey and crowded, with decanters of fine liquor,
jars of aromatic tobacco, and a collection of hand-
crafted pipes. Zamus’ rats searched here but found
no clues about where the tome was located, and
sealed the tunnel behind them as they did in the
Documents Room (Area #5).
11. Reference Books
Several histories, atlases, and arcane manuals of
moderate value have been stolen from this area.
The door to the chief librarian’s office is normally
left unlocked.
12. Rare Books
Doors to the rare books room are kept locked, and
the entrance to the reference section is watched
by two guards during the day. Bypassing the
locked door requires a DC 18 Dexterity (thieves’
tools) check. Most of the losses have been from
this room. It contains the library’s most valuable
possessions—books of arcane spells, magical lore,
ancient manuscripts, and similar works. While
the books contain numerous spells (of up to 4th-
level), there is insufficient time for the adventurers

to copy these to their own spellbooks, though the
librarians may allow this on successful comple-
tion of the mission.
Zamus is convinced that the map is included
in one of the books in this collection, possibly a
memoir or history volume. His rats spend the eve-
ning pulling volumes from the shelves. Gameris
and Polly check the books for the map, and keep
any that look valuable. The stolen items are hidden
at the gang’s lair and they intend to sell the lot once
the map has been located.
The rats’ entrance is hidden at the X, beneath a
study carrel in the corner; finding it requires a DC
20 Intelligence (Investigation) check.
The Theft
The librarians lock the main doors behind the par-
ty and for a few hours the library is quiet, allowing
the PCs to explore and search the place. Entrances
to Zamus’ tunnels are extremely well-concealed,
but if located the adventurers can lay an ambush
for the intruders.
The gang arrives at midnight whether the tunnel
is discovered or not. On the first round 3 swarms
of rats and 6 giant rats creep into the rare books
room, followed on the next round by 2 wererats—
Gameris and Polly—and by Zamus himself on the
following round. The giant rats and rat swarms
search for any creatures hidden in the room and
attack if any are found.
Lowly Tactics. As soon as it’s clear they are not alone
Zamus fights rather than allow his scheme to be
discovered. He orders the rat swarms and giant rats
to attack, keeping the party busy while he casts spells
and his wererat companions harry the PCs with hit-
and-run strikes.
EN World EN5ider |  Night in the Library
Not the Books! F ighting in the library risks damaging or
destroying priceless books. The stacks are so cramped
that a natural roll of 1 on an attack roll automatically
hits a shelf. If a shelf is hit, the attacker must make
another attack roll to see if a book was damaged (AC
12, 1d6 hit points). If a creature uses a flaming weapon,
or a ranged or area effect spell such as flaming sphere,
lightning bolt, or fireball, they destroy or damage all
books within their area of effect. Further, such spells
as thunderwave or gust of wind may knock over entire
shelves, strewing books across the floor and creating
an area of difficult terrain.
If the fight is going against him, Zamus sacrifices
his rats and his wererat companions, transform-
ing into a giant rat and fleeing toward the tunnel. If
he escapes he makes his way to his lair and seizes
all the books he can carry before disappearing.
Aftermath
When Zamus is captured or killed the librarians
quickly locate his lair and recover the stolen books,
rewarding the PCs with 500 gp each. Should he es-
cape, however, Zamus vanishes with half of the
stolen books, allowing the librarians to recover
the remainder. This reduces the party’s reward
to 250 gp each, but the librarians are still grateful
for their assistance. On a successful DC 13 Cha-
risma (Persuasion) check, the librarians can be
convinced to let spellcasting adventurers copy 1d4
spells from the library’s spellbook collection using
their materials without the usual cost.
As for the object of Zamus’ search, the volume
with the undercity map remains hidden in the li-
brary and the PCs will only know about it if they
overheard him discussing it with his co-conspir-
ators, with detect thoughts, or the use of similar
divination magic. If captured Zamus may confess
his plan and in desperation offer the party a cut
of his takings if he is allowed to continue search-
ing. If by some chance the adventurers do find the
book containing the map, they may also use it to
explore or—if they are so inclined—start their own
criminal enterprise. e
Zamus the Wererat Wizard
Medium humanoid (human, shapechanger), lawful evil
Armor Class13 (16 with mage armor)
Hit Points33 (6d8+6)
Speed30 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
10 (+0) 16 (+3) 12 (+1) 18 (+4) 10 (+0) 8 (–1)
SkillsPerception +3, Stealth +6
Damage Immunitiesbludgeoning, piercing, and
slashing damage from nonmagical attacks that aren’t
silvered
Sensesdarkvision 60 ft. (rat form only), passive
Perception 12
LanguagesCommon (can’t speak in rat form)
Challenge6 (2,300 XP)
Keen Smell. Zamus has advantage on Wisdom (Percep-
tion) checks that rely on smell.
Shapechanger. Zamus can use his action to polymorph
into a rat-humanoid hybrid or into a giant rat, or back
into his true form, which is humanoid (human). His
statistics, other than his size, are the same in each
form. Any equipment he is wearing or carrying isn’t
transformed. He reverts to his true form if he dies.
Night in the Library  |  EN World EN5ider
Spellcasting. Zamus is an 8th-level spellcaster. His
spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 15,
+7 to hit with spell attacks). He has the following
wizard spells prepared:
Cantrips (at will): chill touch, mage hand, minor illusion,
shocking grasp
1st-level (4 slots): fog cloud, mage armor, magic mis-
sile, shield
2nd-level (3 slots): alter self, misty step, web
3rd-level (3 slots): counterspell, vampiric touch
4th-level (2 slots): blight, greater invisibility
ACTIONS
Multiattack (Humanoid or Hybrid Form Only). Zamus
makes two attacks, only one of which can be a bite.
Bite (Rat or Hybrid Form Only). Melee Weapon Attack:
+6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d4+3) piercing
damage. If the target is a humanoid, it must succeed
on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or be cursed with
wererat lycanthropy.
Shortsword (Humanoid or Hybrid Form Only). Melee
Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6
(1d6+3) piercing damage.
Hand Crossbow (Humanoid or Hybrid Form Only).
Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, range 30/120 ft., one
target. Hit: 6 (1d6+3) piercing damage.