Page 37 - Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations

iron bars line the walls of this room, and a dripping, jagged hole swim 40 ft.; AC 14, touch 11, flat-footed 13; Base Atk +3; Grp
in the wall to the east opens into a cavern passageway. +7; Atk +8 melee (2d6+4, bite); Full Atk +8 melee (2d6+4, bite)
and +2 melee (1d4+2, 2 claws); Space/Reach 5 ft./5 ft.; SA rake
Any PCs or NPCs captured by enslaved townsfolk are brought 1d6+2; SQ darkvision 60 ft., amphibious; AL LE; SV Fort +4,
here, where they are imprisoned naked in a cell until the Ref +1, Will +3; Str 19, Dex 13, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 6.
aboleth is ready to enslave them. The gates to these cells are Skills and Feats: Hide +5, Intimidate +0, Move Silently +6,
rusty and decrepit; a DC 23 Strength check is good enough Listen +3, Spot +3, Swim +12; Alertness, Improved Initiative,
to rip one open. Unfortunately, prisoners are always tied with Power Attack , Weapon Focus (bite) .
B
B
ropes by a skum (Use Rope +1) as well. Generally, a prisoner Language: Aquan.
has to wait only 1d4+1 hours for the aboleth to call.
Possessions: amulet of natural armor +1, 2 potions of cure light
CHAPTER 2 THE DEEP MASTERS 11. Interrogation Cavern (EL 7 if ambush is prepared) wounds.
This large cavern is humid and a bit chilly. Pools of brackish water 14. Breeding Cavern
This cave smells of sickness and rotten food. Several shallow pits
glisten on the fl oor, and a single stout chair with manacles built
into the armrests and front legs sits in the middle of the room.
line the northern wall, and blood-stained manacles dangle from
iron hooks driven into the wall above the pits.
This chair is used to restrain the few individuals that the

aboleth has difficulty enslaving (such as nonhumanoids). Its Female prisoners who are enslaved and won’t be missed by
skum minions take turns questioning and beating the victim anyone in town face a truly terrible fate here. Zlorthishen

to find out what it knows, and once the victim divulges what uses them as incubators for new skum. The birthing process is
the skum want to hear and is too battered to defend itself, it is nearly always fatal, and the remains are fed to the skum or the
dragged into the cavern to the southeast to be killed. ooze in area 12. If the PCs are searching for a missing female
If the PCs make it this far without being seen, there’s a 40% NPC, she might well be imprisoned here.
chance that 1d4 skum are here when they arrive. If Huck
telepathically warns the aboleth of the PCs, all five skum 15. Zlorthishen’s Lair

(including Toruk) are here, hiding in the cave and prepared This large, underground lake ripples softly, almost as if some
to ambush the group. They do their best to bull-rush the unseen thing were writhing just below the dark surface.
characters into the water to the east, where the skum have the
advantage. This large cavern is where Zlorthishen the aboleth lives. If the
PCs arrive without alerting the aboleth, there’s a 75% chance
12. Disposal Cavern (EL 4) it is here. If it knows the PCs are coming (as is the case if
The fl oor of this long cavern angles steeply away in a 10-foot Huck warns it telepathically), it creates an illusory wall over
drop. The fl oor of the cave itself is spotless. the southern section of the cave, and then creates a persistent
image of a kopru swimming in the main cave. It hopes to trick
The aboleth, Huck, and the skum managed (with great dif- the PCs into using some of their resources against the illusion,

ficulty) to catch and herd a gray ooze into this cavern. The ooze which the aboleth tries to control in a realistic manner. The
cannot climb out of the pit, and the skum use it to get rid of image of the kopru quickly “tries to escape” through one of
victims who’ve been interrogated. A victim is tossed off the the passages to the east.
ledge into the pit for the ooze to eat; the skum stick around to If the PCs follow, Zlorthishen uses project image to send an
watch unless they’re needed elsewhere. image of itself into the cave behind them and tries to enslave
Gray Ooze: hp 31; Monster Manual page 202. them via the image. Any PC who approaches the image is hit
with hypnotic patterns. If the aboleth is discovered, it fights until

13. Skum Pond (EL 7) reduced to below half its hit points, at which time it flees into

This large cavern is fl ooded completely with cold, dark water. the depths of Raven’s Lake to heal and plot revenge.
A search of the southern section of the cave uncovers a
Zlorthishen has managed to breed only five skum so far, but respectable amount of loot that the aboleth collected from

one has already become a 2nd-level fighter. This skum is named other adventurers and victims. The spoils consist of 4,120
Toruk and serves as the leader when the aboleth is elsewhere. sp, 1,003 gp, two thunderstones, a masterwork light wooden
If the skum haven’t been encountered elsewhere in the caves, shield, a spyglass worth 1,000 gp, a potion of bear’s endurance,
they are encountered here. The water in this area is 10 feet a wand of bull’s strength (20 charges), a +1 scimitar, and a pair of
deep, so the skum prefer to fight enemies here. boots of striding and springing.

Skum (4): hp 11 each; Monster Manual page 228. Zlorthishen: Aboleth; hp 88; Monster Manual page 8.
Toruk: Male skum fighter 2; CR 4; Medium aberration

(aquatic); HD 2d8+2 plus 2d10+2; hp 24; Init +5; Spd 20 ft.,

36