It's no fun to conduct a heist if it's in a boring place. No one is getting dressed, assuming false identities, and preparing for epic showdowns just to steal a nonsensical item from the local market. The locations in Dungeons & Dragons new adventure book Keys from the Golden Vault make up half of what's so cool about this latest adventure.
From a flying train to a floating city, a grand ball, and an impenetrable prison, the adventures in the Golden Vault take place in some truly spectacular locations. Here are the coolest places you'll be secretly visiting in this adventure.
7 A Castle Worthy Of A Fairytale - Party At Paliset Hall
Any time you make your way to the Feywild, you know it's going to be a magical experience. In Party at Paliset Hall, you'll get the chance to attend a lavish gala, complete with exotic races and gorgeous scenery, as each gala is set during the winter solstice. Coaches pull up to the palace by unicorn as the Feywild and material plane intermingle in the foyer. A beautiful deep lake is key to teleporting into the Fey realm, allowing you to enjoy the winter solstice festivities before the actual gala begins. It's a perfect fairytale setting outside of the missing you're on.
6 The Heart Of A Broken World - Heart Of Ashes
The visual awe you'll get when first imagining Ghalasine and the Castle Cinis cannot be replicated. When you first arrive in the grim and desolate city, you'll notice the floating portions of the city and the curse affecting it in the middle.
A huge black spherical void is slowly sucking up buildings as they dissolve into ash. There's nothing quite like finding out how to get to a floating part of the castle. The void is constantly consuming the city of Ghalasine, and even traversal can be fatal. It's a location you'll never forget.
5 A Magical Train Ride - Affair On The Concordant Express
An interplanar train ride that you'll never forget, the concordant express isn't your standard means of transportation. It's one of the more unique locations in the Golden Vault because there's just so much to do, and it's just a train. The layout of this location can actually change. While you'll have the Engine Car and Caboose, you won't be able to get a full read on all of the compartments in the train, because not even the modrons know which train cars will be there.
The dynamic train has hands that place down tracks in the Engine Car and pick them back up in the Caboose to send them back to the front and continue the cycle. This means this train can handle any type of terrain, and it'll take you on a wild ride, especially with the prisoner being jailed in the jail car.
4 The Underground Ticking Clock - Tockworth's Clockwork
You'll meet Tixie Tockworth in Little Lockford, and she will remind you of the quintessential gnome tinkerer of the fantasy genre. However, the city of Little Lockford is a character all its own in the Tockworth’s Clockworks adventure. This city is located in the Underdark, meaning there's a complex network of tunnels and systems and a full-on magma lake that you probably weren't expecting.
At the point you join the adventure, the town has been evacuated, leaving only wandering monsters and automatons programmed to kill. Imagine traveling through a ghost town with clockwork automatons ready to rip you apart and a lava lake that'll burn you to a crisp. It's a cool zombie-style location with a brilliant design and an intriguing map to explore.
3 The Inescapable Prison – Prisoner 13
If you travel far enough north on the Sword Coast, you'll find the prison of Revel's End. Sitting atop an icy cliff, this impenetrable prison holds the worst of the worst as far as criminals go. One of the cool aspects of the prison here is preparing for the extreme cold you'll need to deal with. With temperatures of 0 degrees Fahrenheit (−18 degrees Celsius), you'll need to be wary of taking on levels of exhaustion as you try to survive the harsh conditions just making your way to the prison.
You'll also encounter representatives from Neverwinter, Baldur's Gate, and Daggerford, adding cool references to other areas you'll probably be familiar with. Inside the prison are locations such as the Hall of Absolution, prison cells with interesting characters, or the tower roof. While it may not sound cool now, imagine sitting 140 feet above the prison's roof and 300 feet above sea level, looking out at what has to feel like an inescapable situation. A remarkable yet chilling image to keep in mind.
2 The Museum Exhibit – The Murkmire Malevolence
Exploring a museum is always a cool thing to do; imagine though, being able to get into all the places you aren't supposed to. Varkenbluff's Museum of Natural History has some really remarkable locations to investigate. If you've got a curious character interested in prehistoric predators, underground wonders, ancient plants, and ancient cultures, you might want to visit the museum. Of course, there's also the mischief you can cause by unlocking some display cases and overloading some magical barriers. It's all in the name of research, of course.
1 Casino Games At The Afterlife Casino – The Stygian Gambit
Literally, the coolest thing here is that you get to go to a casino in D&D. From the cashier stations to the security mirrors and the actual casino games you can play at a table, the Afterlife Casino is definitely a place you'll want to visit on your adventures. In a cool twist; the Afterlife Casino gets its name due to its location. Built into a natural cavern, the cavern was carved by a river with the nickname the River Styx. The River Styx is a way to get to the afterlife, hence the casino name.
Getting to the casino is a unique experience, as you'll go from a carriage to a downriver boat ride to the secretive yet lavish casino. Once inside, there's still so much to do aside from the heist at hand. You can watch Cirque Maladomini perform, check out the 100-foot waterfall, check out the Nessus restaurant, and visit the Phlegethosian Spa and Stygian Baths for a massage and steaming pool treat. You'll definitely want to see everything you can do in the Afterlife Casino, and you'll want to come back once you're done with the emission.