A Tier 4 Adventure from Zeke Gonzalez ETERNAL SPIRALS Credits Table of Contents

THEY CAME FROM THE DEEP

Sample file A Tier 4 Adventure from Zeke Gonzalez ETERNAL SPIRALS Credits Table of Contents

Author: Zeke Gonzalez Pronunciation Guide 3 Editor: Leon Barillaro Introduction 3 Playtesters: Edward Lin, Gina Knight, Shannon Morken, Tori Queeney, Zeke Gonzalez Tips for the DM 4 Cover Art: DMs Guild Creator Resources Reliquary 4 Interior Art: Some artwork © 2015 Dean Spencer, used Background Summary 5 with permission. All rights reserved. Taag’thrith bust by Mizomei @ mizomei.com. Alhoon & mind flayer boneclaw art Taag'thrith the Dreameater 5 by John Latta. Other art provided by the DMs Guild Creator itan s orpse Resources. T ' C 7 Cartography: Dyson Logos @ dysonlogos.com Adventure Hooks 7 Layout: Anja Svare Titan's Corpse Random Encounters 8 Eternal Spirals 10 over rt C A Eternal Spirals - Map 10 General Features sidebar 13 Taag'thrith's Battle Tactics 20 Negotiation 20 Roleplaying Grz'mortak 23 Conclusion 27 Adventure Hooks 27 Extending the Adventure 29 Appendix A: Creatures 30 Appendix B: Magic Items 41 Appendix C: Tables 43

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, the dragon ampersand, Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual, Dungeon Master’s Guide, D&D Adventurers League, all other Wizards of the Coast product names, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in theSample USA and other countries. All characters and their distinctive likenesses are property of Wizards of the Coast.file This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of Wizards of the Coast. ©2016 Wizards of the Coast LLC, PO Box 707, Renton, WA 98057-0707, USA. Manufactured by Hasbro SA, Rue Emile-Boéchat 31, 2800 Delémont, CH. Represented by Hasbro Europe, 4 The Square, Stockley Park, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB11 1ET, UK. 2 they came from the deep Pronunciation Guide This guide shows how to pronounce many of the non-English names that appear in this adventure. Name Pronunciation Description Aganippe AG-ah-nee-pay A naiad slumbering in a dreaming shen (they/them) Almira Sapphirebond ALE-meer-ah The Starseeker of the Sisterhood Beyond Space (she/her) Astara AH-star-ah A berbalang who wanders the Titan’s Corpse (she/her) Grz’mortak GRIZZ-more-taak The elder brain imprisoned within the Eternal Spirals (it) Gyriel JEER-ee-el A deva who patrols the Titan’s Corpse (she/her) Madrigal Barsavi Mad-REH-gaal BAR-saav-ee A rogue agent of the Sisterhood Beyond Space (she/her) Ogen oh-GAIN The dead titan whose domain was water and ocean life (it) Plusscapatatt ploos-CAP-ah-tate An alhoon apprentice to Taag’thrith (it) Ratakor RAT-ah-core The leader of the Green Hand, an oni lich (he/him) Razh’tathy RAZE-tay-they An alhoon apprentice to Taag’thrith (it) A member of the Green Hand and ruler of the Eternal Spirals, an Taag’thrith TAG-thrith illithilich (it) Thymia Thigh-ME-ah A member of the Green Hand, a medusa lich (she/her) Yblurpaag EE-blur-page An alhoon apprentice to Taag’thrith (it) Introduction They Came from the Deep is an adventure designed for D&D 5th Edition that should take between 3 to 6 hours to complete. The adventure is optimized for four characters at the epic tier (levels 17-20), each of whom has at least one magic item. It can be played by D&D veterans, beginners, or anybody in-between. It uses rules, monsters, and concepts from the Wizards of the Coast’s D&D 5th Edition. Spells referenced in this supplement can be found in the Player’s Handbook and Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. When a creature's name appears in bold type, that's a visual cue pointing you to the Monster Manual. Otherwise, the monsters in this adventure come from Volo's Guide to Monsters and Alister Konezegel’s Field Guide Volume II: Aquatic Terrors and are reproduced in Appendix A. They Came from the Deep is the second installment in Pretty Little Liches: a trilogy of adventures centered around three unique liches and their lairs designed for high-level play. These three lairs and the surrounding regions can be run independently as individual adventures or tied together into a mini-campaign that centers on the destruction of the Green Hand, an organization of dangerous liches. While this adventure is designed to be able to connect to the later adventures in the trilogy, They Came from the Deep can easily be played as a single adventure in any campaign setting. Titan’s Corpse can be dropped anywhere a deity or primordial was slain in your campaign setting or made intoSample a haunting location within the Astral Plane, and file NPCs in this adventure can be replaced with existing NPCs in your campaign. If you wish to continue this adventure, pick up the previous installment Greenhouse of Nightmares and look for the final installment of Pretty Little Liches in 2020. Reliquary In Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition and several other Tips for the DM examples of fantasy, the term “phylactery” is used to describe As with any supplement, They Came from the Deep should the soul jar that a lich creates in order to sustain their be adapted to work for your group and is designed to be immortality. In reality, this term refers to a small leather box stripped for parts. Take the map or region and repopulate it containing Hebrew texts on vellum, worn by Jewish men at with villains and monsters appropriate for your campaign. morning prayer as part of their religious practices. As such, Build your own adventure from the background information. the use of the term “phylactery” as an essential part of the Steal an adventure hook or make your own. Replace the lore of an evil undead creature is inappropriate. Instead, I use history of the Titan’s Corpse with history that resonates with the term reliquary to describe the soul jar of a lich. For the the themes of your campaign. I strongly advise that you use purposes of this supplement, a reliquary is a wondrous magic this supplement however you can get the most out of it. I item which grants the lich who created it the Rejuvenation look forward to hearing the unique ways you use this content! trait: “If it has a reliquary, a destroyed lich gains a new body in This adventure is designed for the epic tier: levels 17-20. 1d10 days, regaining all of its hit points and becoming active At this level, Dungeon Masters often feel that it is difficult again. The new body appears within 5 feet of the reliquary.” to present a challenge to their players. This adventure A reliquary has an AC of 20, 25 hit points, and immunity to provides encounters with a variety of difficulty levels for such all damage. A reliquary can only be destroyed by a +3 magic characters, but also remember that you control the story. If weapon or a disintegrate spell. All of the above properties can you feel that the characters are not being challenged, feel be discerned by the identify spell or similar magic. free to increase the number of monsters, each monster’s hit points and/or damage, the DCs of traps, or any other aspect of this adventure that you feel is appropriate. This goes the Illithid Trinkets same for decreasing the difficulty: if an encounter is too Sometimes it happens that a player will roll a great check challenging, you have the power to modify it to make it more when there is nothing of significance to discover or the DM fun for your table. Before the game, create a playlist of epic simply can’t think fast enough to come up with an appropriate instrumental music or find a good song to put on loop for clue or secret to give them. Should this happen during this combats. I suggest “Five Armies” or “Volatile Reaction” by adventure, the character in question may discover an illithid Kevin Macleod at imcompetech.com. trinket. When this occurs, simply have them roll on the If your party ends up fighting Taag’thrith, keep in mind that Illithid Trinkets Table (Appendix C). These strange and alien although Taag’thrith is meant to be a difficult boss, the treasures are not required, but they give the Eternal Spirals combat should not be a drag. Do not be afraid to adjust extra character and history. things on the fly to keep combat fresh. The Taag’thrith’s Battle Tactics sidebar is designed to help DMs make this encounter as epic and engaging as possible. I find that much of keeping combat interesting is using terrain elements and a wealth of options for monsters. As such, several of the monsters, especially Taag’thrith, have a wealth of options available to it in combat. If having too many options will be paralyzing to DMs, I recommend picking a smaller subset of abilities from which you can run these encounters. In this adventure, several allies may join the party in combat, depending on the actions and decisions of the party. I recommend printing or taking pictures of the statistics of these possible allies before running this adventure. Whenever the party picks up an ally, give their statistics to your players. This reduces the burden on the DM to control too many different creatures during combat and is also fun for the players! Text to be read aloud to the players appears in boxes. Feel free to tinker with and paraphrase this text to fit your roleplaying needs, but try to keep the original messages clear, as theySample may contain important information. file

4 they came from the deep Undead Thralls Mind flayers are notorious for terrible experiments with the Taag`thrith biology of their servants in order to “improve” upon them, and the current master of the Eternal Spirals is no different. In this adventure, players will encounter undead creatures, the Dreameater thralls of Taag’thrith. These thralls use the statistics, shown When the gith were still enslaved by the illithid, a gith was in bold, of creatures from the Monster Manual, with the born with extraordinary psionic ability. The illithids quickly following changes: ensnared and experimented on the baby, transforming it into • The creature’s type is undead. a powerful guardian subservient to the elder brain. Eventually, • They possess the Undead Fortitude trait: “If damage reduces the time came for the thrall to be transformed into an illithid, this creature to 0 hit points, it must make a Constitution but something strange happened during ceremorphosis. saving throw with a DC of 5 + the damage taken, unless the The gith, reborn as the illithid Taag’thrith, retained traces of damage is radiant or from a critical hit. On a success, this its old memory; its mind expanded to understand the scope creature drops to 1 hit point instead.” and horror of the suffering of its people. With this newfound perspective, Taag’thrith came to hate illithids and sympathize Should you choose to enhance the difficulty or add some spice with the gith. to any of these encounters, roll randomly or choose traits to add to these monsters from the Thrall Modifications table (Appendix C). Revolutionary Taag’thrith was able to use its tremendous psionic power to shield its sentience from the elder brain and the other illithids. Taag’thrith freed the gith and organized the destruction of the illithid colony from which it came. Despite its dedication to the cause, Taag’thrith was seen by the gith as nothing more than another mind flayer. Trapped by its illithid biology but determined to win its people’s trust, Taag’thrith swore to eat only the brains of mind flayers. Taag’thrith and the gith travelled the Astral Sea, finding and wreaking havoc on illithid colonies and setting prisoners and thralls free. Over time, the psychic effect of eating so many illithid brains caused Taag’thrith to become more like that which it sought to destroy. After several decades, Taag’thrith lost interest in the gith and became obsessed with Maanzecorian, the illithid ideal representing complete comprehension of all knowledge. Background Summary Psychic Dissonance Long ago, three powerful villains plagued the land: Rakator the Midnight Emperor, Taag’thrith the Dreameater, and Although Taag’thrith still possessed a deep-seated hatred of Thymia Scarletscale, Mire’s Fang. Thymia Scarletscale was a the illithid and their creations, it came to respect the illithids’ medusa druid dedicated to encouraging nature to retake and ideals and methods. After striking out alone, Taag’thrith destroy all civilization. Ratakor was an oni philosopher who created a small laboratory, the Eternal Spirals, within the aimed to give birth to an avatar of Shar, the Goddess of Night. corpse of a dead titan. Within its new lair, Taag’thrith set about Taag'thrith was a mindflayer arcanist who schemed to create their new goal: combining arcane magic with psionics to a 10th level spell capable of trapping all humanoid creatures create a spell that would allow it to accumulate the knowledge in a dream over which it held dominion. of all sentient life on the Material Plane. In order to sustain itself, Taag’thrith fed on a collection of mind flayer brains from Ratakor, Thymia, & Taag'thrith realized they could not achieve its decades of travel with the gith. These brains, kept alive for their individual goals during a mortal lifespan. They combined their sustenance, assailed Taag’thrith with constant psychic their resources to form an organization known as the Green assaults. After years of this conflict and little headway in Hand and collectively ascended to lichdom. However, they research, Taag’thrith was discovered and recruited by Ratakor were consumed by the needs of their singular reliquary: the to become part of the Green Hand, which offered Taag’thrith Pearl of Putrescence. The Green Hand became trapped undeath as a path to freedom from the elder brain’s assaults within the Pearl and faded from history. Many years later, and the time constraints of the mortal coil. Thymia, Ratakor, the Pearl was discovered by disciples of the Green Hand and and Taag'thrith used their collective powers to ascend to destroyed.Sample The destruction of the Pearl released the liches, lichdom. However, shortly after theirfile ascension, the liches of who then created their own individual reliquaries and set out the Green Hand were forced to seal themselves within the to achieve their individual goals. Only the bravest heroes can Pearl of Putrescence. seek out these liches and destroy them before their plans reach fruition! they came from the deep 5 Tenth Level Magic Upon the Pearl's destruction and the liches’ subsequent on as apprentices. Then Taag’thrith attacked and magically release, Taag’thrith returned to the Titan’s Corpse and sought imprisoned the Elder Brain. After this, Taag’thrith and its now- a safe place within which to hide its reliquary. Taag’thrith was alhoon apprentices began the arduous project of clearing the eventually able to trick the xothian, a grotesque tentacled small colony of the Elder Brain’s thralls and illithids. While abomination born from the Titan’s Corpse, into swallowing the they have made a great deal of headway in this side project, reliquary. With the reliquary secure, Taag’thrith returned to Taag’thrith is distracted by its main aim: the creation of a the Eternal Spirals. Finding that an elder brain had heard the 10th level spell capable of trapping all humanoid creatures psychic cries of the illithid brains and recolonized the Eternal in a dream over which Taag'thrith has complete control. Spirals in its absence, Taag’thrith infiltrated the colony and Taag’thrith believes that this will grant it understanding of all discovered a group of mind flayers secretly practicing arcane knowledge held by the creatures trapped within this dream magic. Taag’thrith promised to reveal arcane secrets and world’s sway. bestow undeadSample longevity to these mind flayers and took them file

6 they came from the deep Titan`s Corpse Background The Eternal Spirals is an alien structure built upon a deceased titan. The titan in question was Ogen, a nature domain deity of water and ocean life who was lost to the minds and hearts of the people who once worshipped them thousands of years ago. Ogen was humanoid in form but possessed six scaly, muscle-bound arms and the lower torso of a beautiful fish. The vibrant colors of their scales have long since been bleached by the rigour of death. As Ogen’s body succumbed to the infinity of time, it was filled with briny ocean water and gave birth to strange creatures. After splitting from its gith comrades, Taag’thrith discovered Ogen’s corpse and used its magical expertise to create a laboratory on one of Ogen’s vast palms. While Taag’thrith was trapped within the Pearl of Putrescence, Ogen’s corpse was marked for investigation by the Sisterhood Beyond Space, a band of explorers who study dead gods. Their investigation attracted the attention of the ulitharid Grz’mortak, who discovered the abandoned Eternal Spirals and completed its transformation into an elder brain there. However, Grz’mortak is an especially cruel and greedy elder brain, especially unpopular with the rest of the colony. Several mind flayers within the colony began practicing the arcane in secret. When Taag’thrith returned, these traitors assisted Taag’thrith in capturing Grz’mortak in return for the lich’s knowledge of how to complete the transformation into alhoons. When the party arrives, Taag’thrith is tinkering with magic to create a 10th level spell, and the alhoons are studying and hunting for Grz’mortak’s remaining thralls and minions. A swarm of cranium fish, Grz’mortak’s final living ally, hides while searching for a way to free or assist Grz’mortak. Adventure Hooks Pearl of Putrescence If the party destroyed the Pearl of Putrescence as described in An Artifact and a Villain, Rhino Heartsbane (human priest of Lathander, he/him/his, chaotic good), gives the party a map indicating the locations of each individual lair of the Green Hand and declares that each of the liches and their reliquaries must be destroyed. The map marks Taag’thrith's lair upon the Titan’s Corpse with an ink sketch of an emaciated illithid’s head. Adventure is Out There The Sisterhood Beyond Space is interested in bringing their first troop of Young Explorer Scouts to the Titan’s Corpse as an introductory mission. The lead Starseeker of the Sisterhood, Almira Sapphirebond (high elf veteran, she/her, lawful good), hires the party to perform a thorough reconnaissance mission of the Titan’s Corpse, eliminate the Samplemost threatening dangers, and reportfile back their findings to ensure a more controlled environment for the Young Explorer Expedition. Almira promises the party a sum of 3500 gp or a diving suit (Appendix B) to each character upon successful completion of this mission. they came from the deep 7 Apocalyptic Visions. Rahab Mating Frenzy Opulence (tiefling archmage, they/them, chaotic good) has had several visions of an enormous, tentacled brain burrowing Two sinuous and slimy creatures come into view winding and into the flesh of the Titan’s Corpse and establishing a lair undulating around each other, moving furiously and making there. They promise the party their choice of either a ring of terrible, wet sounds. shooting stars or a wand of polymorph if the party can find and destroy this creature. Opulence offers the party both items if they return with a magic item worthy of trading. The Titan’s Corpse gives rise to many terrible aquatic creatures such as these two rahab (Appendix A), who are in the midst of a mating frenzy. Upon seeing the party, one of the Random Encounters rahab looks upon the party with bulbous eyes and shrieks in Abyssal, “Blood to bind our sacrilegious ties!” The creatures When the party traverses the Titan’s Corpse, they are then attack. When one rahab is killed, the other flees while imperiled by both its unnatural aquatic inhabitants and gnashing its fangs in rage. the dangers of the landscape itself. Check for a random encounter after every 30 minutes that the adventurers sychic inds spend travelling across the Titan’s Corpse by rolling a d20. P W On a roll of 15 or higher, an encounter occurs. Roll on Upon the Titan’s Corpse, the decomposition of Ogen’s mind the Titan’s Corpse Random Encounters table or choose and deific power frequently gives way to storms of psychic an appropriate encounter. If the party travels through the energy. The party’s travel is disrupted by psychic winds (see saltwater environment within the Titan’s Corpse, use the “Astral Plane” in Chapter 2 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide). random undersea encounters from the “Underwater” section in chapter 5 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide. Some of these random encounters hint at larger stories which are not part of this adventure. DMs are free to use these tidbits of worldbuilding as hooks for other adventures, remove them entirely, or incorporate them any way they feel is appropriate. Titan’s Corpse Random Encounters d6 Encounter 1 Berbalang 2 Mating Frenzy 3 Psychic Winds 4 Angelic Publican 5 Nudibranch Cavern 6 Dreaming Shen Berbalang

A hunched figure with large, leathery wings crouches over a set of small bones which she has cast upon the ground, nodding her head as she gazes upon the results.

Astara (berbalang (Appendix A), she/her, chaotic neutral) came to the Titan’s Corpse seeking the ancient knowledge engraved within the calcified heart of Ogen, but she was unable to find it. She knows where the Eternal Spirals is but believes Grz’mortak still rules there and refuses to approach the structure. She is happy to exchange this information with the party in exchange for help unearthing the lost secrets of Ogen and does not attack unless provoked. She follows the party with her Spectral Duplicate if she believes they harbor an interestingSample secret, whether related to Ogen or not. file

8 they came from the deep Lost Angel Dreaming Shen

Approaching you is a tall, muscular woman clad in gleaming Resting upon the Titan’s Corpse ahead of you is a vast, closed armor, with shining blue skin and large, feathered wings. clamshell. Sparkling and moving through the air around the Clipped to her belt is the end of the leash that is strapped clamshell are bursts of vibrant colors that twist into shapes: around the waist of a large, many-headed serpent drooling a green fish swimming amidst neon seaweed, a merman acid. She hails you as she approaches: “Wanderers! By the fighting a purple shark, a sinking ship wreathed in bright red grace of Ogen, I pray your travel has been blessed!” tentacles.

Gyriel (deva, she/her, chaotic good) once served Ogen and This shen (Appendix A) is asleep but awakens if disturbed. has marched across the Titan’s Corpse ever since Ogen died. The clam shell opens suddenly and casts prismatic spray Gyriel slays anybody or anything that she believes to be an in the direction of the disturbance as instinctive retaliation. affront to Ogen’s memory and nurtures the monsters borne When there is no further threat to its slumber, the shen of Ogen’s corpse, including Applesauce, her pet hydra. Gyriel drifts back to sleep. Within the shen’s shell and resting on requests a spiritual offering from the party in return for its internal fleshy mass is a large, flat pearl which acts as unmolested passage across the Titan’s Corpse; she accepts a spellguard shield, 1d4 rainbow pearls (500 gp), and the food for Applesauce, 1,000 or more gp, or a magic item. Gyriel sleeping naiad Aganippe (use dryad statistics, they/them, and Applesauce attack anyone who insults Ogen’s memory neutral good). Once awakened, Aganippe is overwhelmed with or attempts to pass without paying the toll. Gyriel stumbled horror at the realization that Ogen has died in the thousands across the Eternal Spirals once and refers to it as “The Salted of years they were asleep. They request the party’s aid, Chapel.” Gyriel is aware of the Conductive Salts feature of the claiming that they can bring Ogen back to life by drowning structure (see General Features sidebar) but doesn’t recall themself within the ocean of Ogen’s skull. exactly where the building is. Nudibranch Cavern

Beneath your feet, the ground begins to shake and liquify. A putrid stench fills the air as the flesh beneath you gives way to a yawning cavity filled with water.

Each of the characters must succeed on a DC 16 Dexterity saving throw or fall down 100 feet into this water-filled chasm, taking 35 (10d6) bludgeoning damage when they collide withSample the surface of the water. Floating within this file water-filled cavity in the Titan’s Corpse are 2d6 giant nudibranchs (Appendix A) who attack any character that falls inside. Climbing back out of the chasm requires a successful DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check. they came from the deep 9