Page 87 - Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations

broken off, leaving only an uneven neck stump. A cursory 9. UNUSED STOREROOM
examination of the broken statuary on the floor reveals that Piles of sodden and broken junk are jumbled throughout the

the missing heads and hands were not remotely humanoid in room.
form—instead the statues featured lobsterlike claws, feelers,
and mandibles. This room might have served an important function under the
As soon as someone views the statues closely (within 10 kuo-toa priests. It is now clogged with jumbled paraphernalia,
feet), they notice that the back of each humanoid head has a much of it taken from slain adventurers, drow, duergar, and
gaping hole. kuo-toas. None of it was particularly valuable to begin with.
These seven heads are from seven victims whose brains Years of exposure to moisture and mildew have ruined most of
were especially pleasing when Sarkt devoured them. One
it. With a few minutes of poking through the junk and a DC 15
CHAPTER 4 THE MIND FLAYERS place of honor remains unfilled. If Sarkt encounters mul- Search check, determined salvagers can turn up masterwork

scale mail, a masterwork dagger, and a pouch containing 44
tiple brains that outshine those already enshrined, it simply
sp and 18 gp.
replaces one of the former trophies. If any characters were
slain by Sarkt in an earlier encounter, the PCs find their

10. CHOIR
comrades’ heads here.
This chamber is irregularly shaped but seems to have been carved
7. THRALLS’ QUARTERS (EL 6 OR 0) that way purposefully. It is clean and dry, unlike the rest of the
These squalid rooms appear to be living quarters, but they shrine. Randomly spaced around the walls are several holes that
contain little in the way of creature comforts and no personal are big enough for a strong man to insert his arm up to the shoul-
possessions at all. der. These tubes extend to an unknown distance.

Sarkt has seven thralls: five kuo-toas, a kuo-toa cleric, a troll, When this structure was a shrine, this chamber served a vital
and the elf Oristel. The kuo-toas do most of the menial work purpose. It was shaped to be an acoustic resonator. Sounds in
and keep up appearances (such as they are) around the lair, in this room are amplified and channeled through much smaller,

an effort to maintain the illusion that this is nothing more harmonic tubes cut through the stone and leading back to the
than a dilapidated shrine to Blibdoolpoolp. Oristel the elf is rotunda. These tubes extend to an unknown distance. Those
Sarkt’s personal servant, accompanying the master wherever sounds boom into the rotunda, seeming to come from the
it goes—except into Sarkt’s true sanctum—unless ordered surrounding rock itself. The intent was not to trick worshipers
to wait elsewhere. into thinking they were hearing the voices of deities but to
At the moment, the kuo-toa cleric and four of the kuo-toas make the priests’ sermons more impressive.
are engaged in guarding or foraging in areas 2 or 5. One kuo- Sarkt maintains the chamber in working order because its

toa and the troll remain in these quarters, awaiting orders. If function amuses the mind flayer. It sometimes addresses its

they hear fighting in area 5, they go to join the fight there. thralls through this system, haranguing them for hours on
Otherwise they attack any intruders who enter this room. the superiority of the illithid race and their good fortune to
Any PCs captured by the mind flayer’s domination power have become thralls.

are assigned a pallet in these rooms (presuming they’re not
eaten right away). 11. SARKT’S TROPHY ROOM
Kuo-toa: hp 11; Monster Manual page 163. Chests and urns are arranged in clear order around the walls of
Troll: hp 63; Monster Manual page 247. this chamber. Several more stand in the middle of the fl oor.
8. THE POOL This room contains items that Sarkt finds interesting, attrac-

The walls of this chamber are natural stone with no paint or tive, or potentially useful, but that do not have immediate use
plaster. They have been scored everywhere with grooves about or require immediate analysis. The chamber is kept reasonably
the size of fi nger marks. The fl oor slopes downward very gently well ordered, unlike area 9.
toward the center, where it drops into a circular, bowl-shaped, A jeweled velvet mask worth 340 gp hangs on one wall,
stone-lined depression 15 feet in diameter and 5 feet deep at its and a masterwork trident hangs on the opposite wall. A silver
center. Moisture condenses onto the cool walls of the chamber, plate worth 400 gp is displayed nearby. The most interesting

trickles to the fl oor, and collects in the pool. and valuable piece (assuming one could find a buyer for it) is a
small golden idol of Blibdoolpoolp with aquamarine eyes and
Every kuo-toan shrine or temple includes a pool of water platinum pincers, worth 1,700 gp.
that serves both ceremonial and practical purposes. Because The door connecting this chamber to room 12 is locked with
illithids need to keep their skin moist, they bathe regularly. two locks (DC 25 and 35 Open Lock checks to open). Sarkt
Keeping the pool clean for Sarkt’s daily visits is one of the carries the only keys.
thralls’ chief duties.

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