Holt's Laboratory

Featured In Modules

This lore entry is featured in the following adventure modules:

• A Wolf in Adventurer's ClothingGuildmaster Thalin Fernstride sends adventurers to meet Holt and Sage Elbera at a newly discovered dungeon just outside Kingdom Grand and assist in its exploration. The dungeon seems strangely empty—no traps trigger, no monsters attack. At its heart lies a crumbled statue and a vast mosaic showing an inverted pyramid cradling an egg, with the phrase "He who sleeps will rise" carved across the wall. Holt betrays the party: he beheads Sage Elbera, unleashes Jeffery—a burning paper dragon monstrosity—to block their escape, and vanishes. After defeating Jeffery, Sage Elbera's body is burned beyond recognition. Returning to the guild, Guildmaster Thalin Fernstride demands vengeance on Holt.
• Cold Case GrimoireSage Elbera of the Arcane Conservatory urgently hires the Adventurer's Guild to recover a stolen ancient Grimoire of Tyre and Merrick that belonged to Arcane Registry founder Tyre and was expanded by the leader Merrick.
• Dungeons and BiomancyMaster Thalin Fernstride sends adventurers with Sage Elbera to investigate a newly opened dungeon beneath the royal castle in Kingdom Grand. The dungeon contains strange stone containers filled with viscous liquid, moss-covered floors that induce madness, and shadows that move in the corners. They discover a laboratory with notes on biomancy experiments involving yetis, owlbears, and other monstrosities, as well as maps pointing to the door found in the Ancient Secrets adventure. In the central chamber, they find stone slabs depicting The Evil One creating an egg meant to destroy the world. They are ambushed by Hall Creepers that mimic their allies before escaping with evidence of recent cult activity.
• Evil from the PastThe four guildmasters of Kingdom Grand, Evenfell, Kdor, and New Arcanum send adventurers to Holt's abandoned laboratory beneath the temple of Vitalia, discovered through Sage Elbera's final intelligence. A magic mouth delivers Holt's farewell before vents release shimmering Lullwater that floods the chambers. Navigating rising water and failing magic, they recover Holt's journal revealing his childhood among the Molokite, his manipulation of their ancient desires, and his belief that their "god" was one of The Evil One's experiments—a creature grown from a tarrasque corpse through biomancy, controllable by the Lullwater. They escape the drowning ruin as the guildmasters prepare a full strike on Holt's camp at the dungeon gate.
• Scribes and SwordsThe Adventurer's Guild tasks a party with investigating strange elemental signs in the Farmlands surrounding Kingdom Grand. Livestock and trees have been burned, and strange laughter is heard on the wind. The adventurers are paired with Sage Elbera, a researcher from the Arcane Conservatory, to investigate the matter.
• Stoned in the DungeonAt the request of Sage Elbera, the Adventurer's Guild dispatches a party to a newly discovered Ancient Dungeon in the Mountain Pass. This dungeon is believed to predate Dead Wars I. The party finds the ruin is already being looted by the newly founded Road Thieves Guild.