Page 251 - Waterdeep - Dungeon of the Mad Mage_Neat

12. GHAUNADAUR SHRINE CAPTAIN N 'GHATHROD
The captain of the Scavenger is an illithid pirate named
Intelligent Oozes. Clinging to the 20-foot-high ceiling N'ghathrod. N'ghathrod is a mind flayer arcanist (see the
are three intelligent black puddings that were once sidebar in the "Mind Flayer" entry in the Monster Man·
drow worshipers of Ghaunadaur (see "Intelligent ua0 with 111 hit points. It uses a crystal orb as an arcane
Black Puddings," page 244). These oozes are hostile focus and dresses·in pirate garb. A wooden peg replaces
toward all intruders. (A battle here also attracts the one of its feet, which it lost in battle years ago. Tucked in
Huge gray ooze in area 14.) the pockets of its overcoat are four fist-sized gray gem-
Shrine. Nestled in a 12-foot-high alcove at the back stones-the control gems for the gray slaadi that guard
of the cave is a misshapen granite altar. Staring out the ship's upper deck. N'ghathrod carries a rapier as an
from it is a !-foot-diameter purple disk inscribed with affectation but it not proficient with the weapon.
Before it turned to a life of space piracy, N'ghathrod lived
a black, glaring eye. Looming behind the altar is a in a mind flayer colony on the ringed planet of Glyth, which
9-foot-tall statue carved in the form of an amorphous, is farther from the sun than Toril. A few weeks after the
forward-lurching pillar that reaches out with a dozen Scavenger became trapped in Undermountain, N'ghathrod
clawed human arms. turned on its orog crew out of hunger, killing four of them
and eating their brains. The remaining orog crew members
The disk embedded in the altar can be removed by
turning it 360 degrees counterclockwise. Removing the fled to avoid a similar fate. The arrival of adventurers pro-
vides N'ghathrod with an unexpected but welcome food
disk causes copper coins to spill out from a hollow cav- source. It tries to separate one party member from the
ity inside the altar (see "Treasure" below). others with a wall of force spell. It then uses its Mind Blast
If the altar is opened, the multiarmed representation to stun its prey as a prelude to extracting its brain.
of Ghaunadaur animates and attacks creatures within If N'ghathrod is reduced to 55 hit points or fewer, its
10 feet of it or within 5 feet of the altar. The statue is a survival instinct supersedes its hunger, prompting it to
Large object with AC 17, 50 hit points, a speed of 0 feet, surrender telepathically. The mind flayer apologizes for its
and immunity to acid, poison, and psychic damage. It assault and proposes an end to hostilities. Given a chance,
has the following ability scores: Strength 14, Dexterity it recounts how the Scavenger was orbiting Tori I when it
10, Intelligence 3, Wisdom 3, and Charisma L It has was pulled through a magic gate to its current location. It
blindsight out to a range of 10 feet and is blind beyond also reveals that the ship's spelljamming helm vanished
shortly thereafter (spirited away by a wish spell, though
this radius. the mind flayer doesn't know it). If the mind flayer and the
As an action, the animated statue makes a single characters establish a truce, N'ghathrod offers to "guard
melee weapon attack (+10 to hit) with its claws. On a the ship" while the characters set out to retrieve the stolen
hit, the claws deal 22 (5d6 + 5) slashing damage to the helm. If the characters succeed, N'ghathrod allows them
target, and any nonmagical armor worn by the target is to claim the vessel as their own, accepting a demotion un-
destroyed. til it finds a way to get rid of them.
Lair Actions. When fighting aboard the Scavenger, N'gha-
TREASURE throd can take lair actions. On initiative count 20 (losing
The altar's hidden cavity contains 2,000 cp. initiative ties), N'ghathrod can take one lair action to cause
one of the following effects:
13. THE SCAVENGER • N'ghathrod creates a magical duplicate of itself any-
where aboard the ship. Formed out of psionic energy,
The Scavenger is a 290-foot-long, 50-foot-wide, 25-ton this duplicate lasts until it is reduced to 0 hit points,
spelljamming vessel- a ship designed to travel through until it is dispelled (DC 15), or until N'ghathrod takes
space. Halaster detected the vessel as it orbited Tori! another lair action. The duplicate has the statistics of a
and lured it through a magic gate into Undermountain. normal mind flayer and is friendly toward N'ghathrod,
He then boarded the vessel, stole its spelljamming helm but not under its control. It cannot leave the Scavenger.
(the magic device that propels and steers the craft), and • N'ghathrod fills all interior areas of the ship with
took the helm to level 23, leaving the captain and crew mind-warping images and sounds of the Far Realm that
to fend for themselves. last until initiative count 20 on the next round. Any crea-
Mind flayers constructed the Scavenger to resemble a ture that isn't an aberration that starts its turn inside the
giant cuttlefish. Its hull is made of an alien resin as hard ship must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or
as thick wood. Behind the ship's tentacle-shaped rams take 10 (3d6) psychic damage.
are two circular windows of transparent crystal resem-
bling eyes, and an upper deck (area 13a) equipped with The Scavenger is buoyant but has no sails, oars, or
four ballistae manned by gray slaadi. An open hatch on other means of propulsion without its spelljamming
the upper deck provides access to the lower deck (areas helm. The vessel can hold up to 10 tons of cargo, and its
13b through 13h). The ceilings on the lower deck are 10 standard crew complement is twenty. It has AC 15, 400
feet high. hit points, a damage threshold of 20, and immunity to
The ship sits in a 5-foot-deep pool of ooze in an poison and psychic damage.
immense cavern, the ceiling of which varies from 30 Only a carefully worded wish spell can free the Scav-
to 50 feet high. A character can climb the ship's hull enger from the cavernous depths of Undermountain.
with a successful DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check; Characters who free the ship from its confines can sell it
the distance from the cavern floor to the upper deck is for 20,000 gp, minus 50 gp for each point of damage the
roughly 20 feet. ship has taken.

LEVEL 19 I CAVERNS OF OOZE