The Gargun (also called Foulspawn, orcs, or goblins) are covered with coarse fur, but have a reproductive system resembling that of some insects. Each tribe usually has one fertile queen who lays clutches of up to 80 gelatinous eggs. A Gargun lodge has separate chambers for the queen and king, and for the eggs which incubate in a pit of decomposing organic waste. (Hârn by N Robin Crossby, Columbia Games, 1983) This first boxed set introduced the system neutral Hârn campaign setting with a realistic medieval European background and a very different take on orcs.
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"Star Spawn Manglerâ Š Wizards of the Coast, by Christopher Burdett. Accessed at the artistâs blog here
[Hey! New art! Getting Christopher Burdett to illustrate some of the starspawn for Monsters of the Multiverse was a good idea. Heâs so good at textures. Previous editions of this monster used daggers, but I think switching to claws was a good idea. Makes the seer and its staff feel special, as opposed to, âyeah, some use weapons, and some donâtâ.]
Foulspawn Mangler
CR 8 CE Aberration
This creature is vaguely humanoid, with an elongated torso. It has six clawed arms, and multiple smaller appendages like the legs of a centipede that twitch and thrash along its sides. Its face is twisted, with a pointed skull and misshapen features.
Foulspawn manglers are fast and stealthy killers. Their epithet derives from their habit of playing with their victims, leaving completely mutilated corpses in their wake. They are more treasure oriented than other foulspawn, and make sure to look for shiny or otherwise interesting objects on the creatures they murder. They refer to themselves as hadremoi in the Aklo language. Manglers grow and shed arms the way some creatures grow and shed teethâthe largest pair of arms sits the closest to the head, and over time falls off and the next set grows larger. A set of appendages near the hips becomes the next set of arms, and the cycle continued.
Foulspawn manglers are mobile combatants, skittering down walls or out of cracks and crevices to ambush prey. When attacking from ambush, a foulspawn mangler can damage the psyche as well as the flesh, and those that escape a hadremoi attack suffer from nightmares and delusions for days afterwards. They stay moving throughout the combat, and can even make full attacks on the move, although doing so tires them out. Foulspawn manglers have a sense of self-preservation, and will flee from a losing fight, although they maintain a grudge and may track down creatures who best them for a rematch under more favorable circumstances.
Foulspawn Mangler     CR 8
XP 4,800
CE Medium aberration (foulspawn)
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +9
Defense
AC 22, touch 15, flat-footed 17 (+4 Dex, +1 dodge, +7 natural)
hp 90 (12d8+36)
Fort +6, Ref +8, Will +9
DR 10/magic; Immune charm, confusion and insanity effects, fear; Resist cold 10
Defensive Abilities evasion
Offense
Speed 40 ft., climb 30 ft.
Melee 6 claws +13 (1d6+2)
Special Attacks deadly dance, psychic sneak attack
Spell-like Abilities CL 8th, concentration +10
3/dayâexpeditious retreat, invisibility, mind thrust II (DC 14)
1/dayâconfusion (DC 16), dimension door
Statistics
Str 15, Dex 18, Con 15, Int 11, Wis 6, Cha 14
Base Atk +9; CMB +11; CMD 26
Feats Acrobatic Steps, Dodge, Mobility, Nimble Moves, Toughness, Weapon Finesse
Skills Acrobatics +15 (+19 when jumping), Climb +21, Escape Artist +15, Perception +9, Stealth +15, Survival +9
Languages Aklo, telepathy 60 ft.
SQ fast stealth, madness, no breath
Ecology
Environment any land or underground
Organization solitary, pair, team (3-4) or envoy (1-4 plus 1-8 mixed foulspawn)
Treasure standard
Special Abilities
Deadly Dance (Ex) As a full round action, a foulspawn mangler can make its full complement of claw attacks and make a five foot step between each attack. When it does so, it does not provoke attacks of opportunity for moving. The foulspawn mangler is staggered for 1 round after using this ability.
Fast Stealth (Ex) A foulspawn mangler can move at full speed while using Stealth without penalty.
Madness (Ex) Foulspawn use their Charisma modifier on Will saves instead of their Wisdom modifier, and are immune to insanity and confusion effects. Only a miracle or wish can remove a foulspawn's madness. If this occurs, the foulspawn gains 6 points of Wisdom and loses 6 points of Charisma.
Psychic Sneak Attack (Su) Whenever a foulspawn mangler hits a flat-footed opponent, or is flanking an opponent, that creature must succeed a DC 18 Will save or take 1d6 points of Wisdom damage. A creature can only take this damage once a round from a single foulspawn mangler. This is a mind-influencing confusion effect and the save DC is Charisma based.
Image by Mike Sass, Š (?) Wizards of the Coast. Accessed at the artistâs website here
[Much like the sorrowsworn before them, this is a monster family with a weird and shifting pedigree. So much so, in fact, that they have a different name every time they appear! This family of monsters first appeared in 3.5â˛s Monster Manual V as the ushemoi, subterranean aberrations whose gimmick was hyperspeed Lamarckian evolution. They get tougher the longer you fight them, you see; some of them gain attack bonus and AC the more damage they take, others gain better spellcasting the more spells they cast. This was, clearly, a lot of paperwork for a GM, and so that gimmick was dropped when they reappeared in 4eâs core Monster Manual as the foulspawn. There were five foulspawn, as opposed to only four ushemoi, because there was one for each of the main monster ârolesâ in the 4e system (controller, brute, soldier, skirmisher, artillery) and they were designed to be used together in encounter building. Their appearances were tweaked slightly, but the foulspawn are clearly built on top of the ushemoi. In Mordenkainenâs Tome of Foes, they became âstarspawnâ instead of âfoulspawnâ, and the abilities of the brute and the soldier were collapsed back into one creature. And they didnât get illustrations! The only starspawn that gets a picture is the âlarva mageâ, which is the D&D 5e version of the Worm that Walks. Some of the unused illustrations (like the one above) have made it to the internet, as well as some of the new pictures theyâre getting in Monsters of the Multiverse.
So I had a lot of decisions to make with these entries. Which version of the ushemoi/foulspawn/starspawn to use as my base? Which name to give them? What pictures to use? Iâm sticking to the 4e foulspawn designation, but giving them ushemoi as an endonym, and the ushemoi species names as type endonyms (although the lashemoi is the least like the grue it eventually became). My base is the 5e statistics, but I am incorporating more of their 4e abilities, because 5e monsters tend to be a little boring mechanically. And Iâm making them natives of Aucturn because it seems like a logical place in the Pathfinder setting for them to live. @thecreaturechronicleâ placed them there as well, as the spawn of the daelkyr, but Iâve made them more ânaturalâ lifeforms from that unnatural world.]
Foulspawn (Ushemoi)
The planet Aucturn slumbers. Believed by the maddest sages to be the embryonic form of an Outer God, that mysterious world nevertheless has characteristics of life. And like large organisms the multiverse over, smaller things live on it, surviving on its excretions and relying on it for shelter. These commensal creatures are the foulspawn.
Foulspawn are vaguely humanoid creatures with warped bodies and even more warped psyches. They are spawned in pits where secretions of Aucturn mingle with organic debris, and the larger the wound, the more fecund it is in foulspawn. They call themselves the ushemoi when speaking in Aklo. Foulspawn can be found carrying out strange, destructive missions on multiple worlds, presumably in some way serving the needs of their home planet. As Aucturn is the site of a careful dĂŠtente between the servitors of the Great Old Ones and the Dominion of the Black, ushemoi may be found among either of these forces, although they are not slavishly loyal to either.
Foulspawn is a subtype of aberration with the following racial abilities:
Madness (Ex) Foulspawn use their Charisma modifier on Will saves instead of their Wisdom modifier, and are immune to insanity and confusion effects. Only a miracle or wish can remove a foulspawn's madness. If this occurs, the foulspawn gains 6 points of Wisdom and loses 6 points of Charisma.
No breath (Ex) as the universal monster ability.
Telepathy 60 ft.
Foulspawn Grue
CR 3 NE Aberration
This small humanoid creature has stooped posture and wrinkled skin, from which black bristles protrude at irregular intervals. Its hands and feet end in sharp, cracked nails. It has no nose and a fanged maw.
Grues are among the weakest and most numerous of the foulspawn. The bristles that grow off of their bodies are filamentous structures more akin to the contents of a blackhead than anything else, and foulspawn grues spend much of their idle time picking and squeezing at them. Foulspawn grues are fidgety and twitchy in general, and often giggle nervously. They are called âlashemoiâ in Aklo.
Foulspawn grues prefer to attack from ambush or alongside larger, more powerful foulspawn. Their madness is contagious, and creatures standing too close to a foulspawn grue suffer from flashes of color, emotional surges and other minor hallucinations. They usually target the weakest seeming individuals, and enjoy drawing out their assaults into extended torment sessions rather than finishing off any one victim. This also helps to spread their maddening bite, which causes more potent confusion. One side effect of the maddening bite is to make its victims target the grue that bit them above other targets, which allows more powerful foulspawn to take advantage of the distraction.
Foulspawn Grue         CR 3
XP 800
NE Small aberration (foulspawn)
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +2
Aura confounding (20 ft.)
Defense
AC 16, touch 15, flat-footed 12 (+1 size, +3 Dex, +1 dodge, +1 natural)
hp 27 (5d8+5)
Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +6
Immune confusion and insanity effects
Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee 2 claws +7 (1d4), bite +7 (2d4 plus maddening bite)
Spell-like Abilities CL 3rd, concentration +6
3/dayâdaze monster (DC 14, no HD cap), mind thrust I (DC 13)
1/dayâdimension door
Statistics
Str 10, Dex 16, Con 13, Int 9, Wis 3, Cha 14
Base Atk +3; CMB +2; CMD 16
Feats Dodge, Nimble Moves, Weapon Finesse
Skills Acrobatics +9, Climb +6, Escape Artist +9, Perception +2, Stealth +13
Languages Aklo, telepathy 60 ft.
SQ madness, no breath
Ecology
Environment any land or underground
Organization solitary, pair, pack or envoy (2-12 plus 1-8 mixed foulspawn)
Treasure incidental
Special Abilities
Confounding Aura (Su) All creatures other than foulspawn within 20 feet of a foulspawn grue suffer a -1 penalty on all saving throws and a -4 penalty on all concentration checks and Perception checks. This is a mind-influencing confusion effect.
Maddening Bite (Su) A creature bitten by a foulspawn grue must succeed a DC 14 Will save or be confused for 1d4 rounds. Any results of âattack nearest creatureâ are treated as âattack the foulspawn grue that attacked you most recentlyâ instead. This is a mind-influencing confusion effect, and the save DC is Charisma based.
Madness (Ex) Foulspawn use their Charisma modifier on Will saves instead of their Wisdom modifier, and are immune to insanity and confusion effects. Only a miracle or wish can remove a foulspawn's madness. If this occurs, the foulspawn gains 6 points of Wisdom and loses 6 points of Charisma.
Image by Christopher Burdett, Š Wizards of the Coast. Accessed at the artistâs blog here
[The arkamoi was the second weakest of the ushemoi originally, at a CR 4. The star spawn seer, on the other hand, is the second strongest of the 5e star spawn, at a CR 13. Something something assumption that spellcasting is stronger than martial abilities. My mechanics hew pretty close to the 5e version, but I gave it the foul insights of the 4e version. I wanted to justify calling it a seer, you know?]
Foulspawn Seer
CR 12 CE Aberration
This creature is swollen and misshapen, as if it were a tumor sculpted into a humanoid form. Its face is piggish, with an upturned nose and beady eyes. Its skin texture is filled with whorls and loops of tissue, like the surface of a brain, although tentacles and antennae grow from it at irregular intervals. It carries a staff made of bone and sinew in its clawed, webbed hands.
Foulspawn seers are more powerful and vastly more intelligent than most other foulspawn. They are the masterminds of the ushemoi, maintaining spawning pits on Aucturn and leading missions of madness and destruction on other planets. They can teleport between worlds, and given a few days, a handful of foulspawn seers can deliver an entire army of foulspawn to a new location. The tentacles that grow from their body are sensory organs that can feel vibrations, pick up scents, and detect subtler stimuli. Foulspawn seers are called arkamoi in Aklo.
A foulspawn seer uses its mastery of cosmic forces in combat. Their comet staffs are charged with the force of high gravity and phenomenal velocity, and can deal force damage at both melee range and at a distance. They can teleport at will, and often use this ability to trade places with their minions in order to let them absorb blowsâa wise fighter of foulspawn will kill the rest of the envoy before dealing with the seer, or otherwise curtail their ability to teleport. A foulspawn seer can even use teleportation offensively, creating a miniature wormhole that transports and crushes foes simultaneously. Other foulspawn fight better with a seer in their ranks, its mad insights feeding into their minds telepathically.
Foulspawn Seer         CR 12
XP 19,200
CE Medium aberration (foulspawn)
Init +2; Senses blindsight 30 ft., darkvision 60 ft., Perception +18
Aura foul insight (20 ft.)
Defense
AC 27, touch 18, flat-footed 25 (+2 Dex, +6 insight, +9 natural)
hp 152 (16d8+80)
Fort +12, Ref +9, Will +15
DR 15/magic; Immune confusion and insanity effects, mind influencing effects; Resist cold 10
Defensive Abilities bend space, insightful defense
Offense
Speed 30 ft., out of phase movement
Melee comet staff +17/+12/+7 (1d8+7 plus 2d6 force) or 2 claws +16 (1d6+4)
Ranged 2 warp orbs +14 touch (5d6 force plus stun)
Special Attacks collapse distance
Spell-like Abilities CL 16th, concentration +21 (+25 casting defensively)
At willâdimension door, dimensional anchor, mind thrust III (DC 18)
3/dayâconfusion (DC 19), quickened dimension door, shield, telekinesis (DC 20)
1/dayâego whip IV (DC 21), interplanetary teleport, psychic crush II (DC 21)
Statistics
Str 18, Dex 15, Con 21, Int 22, Wis 8, Cha 21
Base Atk +12; CMB +16; CMD 28
Feats Combat Casting, Dimensional Agility, Great Fortitude, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Quicken SLA (dimension door)
Skills Bluff +21, Intimidate +24, Knowledge (arcana) +25, Knowledge (dungeoneering, geography, religion) +22, Perception +18, Sense Motive +18, Spellcraft +25, Stealth +21
Languages Aklo, Common, Draconic, Elder Thing, Undercommon, telepathy 60 ft.
SQ madness, no breath
Ecology
Environment any land or underground
Organization solitary, cult (2-3) or envoy (1-3 plus 1-8 mixed foulspawn)
Treasure incidental (masterwork morningstar, other treasure)
Special Abilities
Bend Space (Su) As an immediate action when it would be hit by an attack, a foulspawn seer may teleport to the space of another foulspawn within 60 feet, and teleport the foulspawn to its space. This results in the attack hitting the other foulspawn and the seer taking no damage. A foulspawn seer can use this ability a number of times a day equal to its Intelligence modifier. This is a teleportation effect.
Collapse Distance (Su) As a standard action, a foulspawn seer can teleport another creature of its choice within 60 feet. If the creature succeeds a DC 23 Will save, it does not teleport, but takes 5d6 points of force damage. If it fails, it takes 10d6 points of force damage and teleports to another square of the foulspawnâs choice within 60 feet of its original position. All creatures within 10 feet of its original position take 5d6 points of force damage (Fort DC 23 negates). This is a teleportation effect. A foulspawn seer can use this ability 3 times a day, but must wait 1d4 rounds between uses.
Comet Staff (Su) By spending eight hours, a foulspawn seer can transform a staff into a comet staff. This functions as a +1 morningstar. In the hands of the foulspawn seer, it deals an additional 2d6 points of force damage on a successful hit, and is required as a focus to use its warp orbs. These abilities function for no other creature, including other foulspawn seers. A foulspawn seer can only have a single comet staff at a time.
Foul Insight Aura (Su) All foulspawn within 20 feet of a foulspawn seer may choose to roll twice on a single attack roll, saving throw or skill check each round and take the better result. The foulspawn must declare that it is using the ability before knowing the result of the roll.
Insightful Defense (Ex) A foulspawn seer gains an insight bonus to its Armor Class equal to its Intelligence modifier. It only loses this ability if helpless or stunned.
Madness (Ex) Foulspawn use their Charisma modifier on Will saves instead of their Wisdom modifier, and are immune to insanity and confusion effects. Only a miracle or wish can remove a foulspawn's madness. If this occurs, the foulspawn gains 6 points of Wisdom and loses 6 points of Charisma.
Out of Phase Movement (Su) A foulspawn seer can move through solid objects and squares occupied by enemy creatures. It provokes attacks of opportunity as normal for this movement. If it ends its movement inside a solid object, it is shunted to the nearest empty space and takes 1d10 damage. A foulspawn seer under the effects of a dimensional anchor or similar effect cannot use this ability.
Warp Orb (Su) A foulspawn seer can fling a single warp orb from its comet staff as a standard action, or two as a full round action. Treat these as ranged touch attacks with a range of 80 feet and no range increment. A creature struck takes 5d6 points of force damage and must succeed a DC 23 Will save or be stunned for 1 round. The save DC is Charisma based. A warp orb is blocked by a shield spell or brooch of shielding as if it was a magic missile spell.
âFoulspawnâ by Dave Allsop, Š Wizards of the Coast
[Is there a hulk in the house? As I mentioned previously, the foulspawn didnât get art in 5e when they were initially converted into starspawn. Some unused art has been posted, and some of the art thatâs set to appear in Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse has already made it online before that bookâs âofficialâ release date in May, but the starspawn hulk is not among them. So Iâm using the 4e pic, which like much of the art in 4eâs Monster Manual is a group shot. Notice the berserker in front, some of the abilities of which I am moving onto the hulk. I like this image; it makes me think that Iâve wandered into a particularly bad neighborhood in Halloween Town.]
Foulspawn Hulk
CR 10 NE Aberration
This giant humanoid is apparently skinless, its body a seething mass of muscle and tendons. It has no nose and far too many teeth, and does not seem to blink.
Foulspawn hulks are the largest and strongest of the common foulspawn. In Aklo, they are known as turlemoi. Hulks act as brute force and bodyguards for ushemoi incursions, and are fanatically devoted to the foulspawn seers under their care. They are favorably disposed to other foulspawn primarily from a culinary perspective. Without a fowlspawn seer to rein them in, a hulk will happily eat its fellows. Under guidance from a seer, the hulks limit themselves to scavenging carcasses, and help clean up sites of battles and make evidence of the foulspawn difficult to find.
A foulspawn hulk can disrupt tactics with its mere presence. Creatures fighting in melee near a turlemoi start attacking unintended targets. Otherwise, a foulspawn hulk is too dim to have much tactical acumen besides âhit the biggest enemy the hardestâ. Â They prefer to fight in melee, but pitch boulders at foes that keep their distance. Opponents trying to turn a foulspawn hulkâs strength to their advantage are in for a rude surprise. Any attempt to charm or control a foulspawn hulk creates a deadly psychic feedback between the hulk and the caster.
Foulspawn Hulk         CR 10
XP 9,600
NE Large aberration (foulspawn)
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +9
Aura random violence (20 ft., Will DC 19)
Defense
AC 24, touch 11, flat-footed 22 (-1 size, +2 Dex, +13 natural)
hp 126 (12d8+72)
Fort +12, Ref +6, Will +11
DR 10/magic; Immune confusion and insanity effects, divination, mind-influencing effects; Resist cold 10
Defensive Abilities psychic mirror
Offense
Speed 40 ft.
Melee 2 slams +16 (2d8+7/19-20x2)
Ranged rock +11 (2d8+10)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks rend (2 slams, 2d8+10 plus tripping rend), rock throwing (80 ft.)
Statistics
Str 24, Dex 14, Con 23, Int 7, Wis 7, Cha 16
Base Atk +9; CMB +17; CMD 29
Feats Combat Reflexes, Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative, Point Blank Shot, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Weapon Focus (slam)
Skills Acrobatics +9 (+13 when jumping), Climb +14, Intimidate +10, Perception +9, Swim +14
Languages Aklo, telepathy 60 ft.
SQ madness, no breath
Ecology
Environment any land or underground
Organization solitary, pair, guard (1-4 plus 1 starspawn seer) or envoy (1-4 plus 1-8 mixed foulspawn)
Treasure incidental
Special Abilities
Aura of Random Violence (Su) All creatures within 20 feet of a foulspawn hulk must succeed a DC 19 Will save whenever they make a melee attack (including natural weapons and touch attacks). If they fail, they attack a random creature within their reach instead of their intended target. This is a mind-influencing confusion effect, and the save DC is Charisma based.
Madness (Ex) Foulspawn use their Charisma modifier on Will saves instead of their Wisdom modifier, and are immune to insanity and confusion effects. Only a miracle or wish can remove a foulspawn's madness. If this occurs, the foulspawn gains 6 points of Wisdom and loses 6 points of Charisma.
Psychic Mirror (Su) Foulspawn hulks are immune to mind-influencing effects. Whenever the foulspawn hulk is targeted by a mind-influencing effect, the creature casting or originating that effect must succeed a DC 19 Will save or take 6d6 points of damage. This is a mind-influencing effect, and the save DC is Charisma based.
Tripping Rend (Ex) A foulspawn hulk may make a combat maneuver to trip an opponent as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity whenever it uses its rend special attack.
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Nyx & Sebastian's Wild Ride Part 3; Escape from the Foulspawn Prisons
(This final piece reuinites our party, only slightly the worse for wear)
Nyx and Sebastian saw one-another right away; From Sebastianâs perspective, Nyx was the only noticeable patch of shadow in the swirling sea of arcane energies sweeping foulspawn off their feet away from him; conversely, Sebastian was a literal beacon from Nyxâs perspective, a glowing effigy of chaos pouring elemental fury through the cramped prison corridors. Thinking quickly and instinctively, Nyx ducked into the shadowy enclave of her former cell and stepped into the shadowed silhouette behind Sebastian.
Nyx seized the opportunity; dragging Sebastian backwards Nyx headed deeper into the prison, down the long corridor to the looming vault at the end of the path. She reasoned that with doors that big they must be guarding something, and anywhere that wasnât these halls was an improvement in her mind. What caused her to decide to head deeper into the wreckage than back the way they had been brought was somewhat a mystery to her; it felt as though her infernal benefactor was tweaking her actions, a puppet-master pulling at her strings.
As she back-pedaled along the hallway glowing stones lining the floor stabbed at her eyes, a specter of the torturer lurking on every side of her periphery. Nyx noticed a faint glow pulsing steadily from Sebastianâs front, finding scarred lines of energy burned into a checkerboard of light over his entire front. âNo wonder heâs tired,â Nyx thought to herself as she leered at Sebastianâs burned body. It wasnât until she reached the towering door of the chamber behind her (there appeared to be some dialect of elvish scrawled above the door, but without a way to read it Nyx was left guessing at this roomâs purpose) that Nyx realized the door was barred and sealed, with no obvious way of entering.
The things down the corridor had been tracking her movements, slowly advancing on the edge of Sebastianâs light; now that she had stopped and realized the trap had been set the foulspawn allowed themselves wide, confident smiles, the teal light of Sebastianâs magic-scar glinting black off of their yellowed and cracked fangs. Panic began to shake through Nyx, confident as she was in her murderous skills she felt the odds were far too long to begin with, not counting the handicap of a dozing wizard in her clutches.
She poked and prodded Sebastian, hissing that now would be a lovely time to turn the magic back on. Sebastian burbled softly to himself, a spit-bubble popping softly between his lips as a slime-trail of exhausted drool ran down his chest. After a slap, a jab, and finally a titty-twister just as the foulspawn closed in Nyx was able to jostle the dozing mage awake; Sebastian started, looked around in a panicked half-awake fashion before letting out a shriek when he noticed the encroaching overly-limbed horde. In a surge of energy that burned brightly even through Nyxâs clamped-shut eyes Sebastian leaped backwards into his would be friend-sassin and the both tumbled ass-over-ankles through a sizzling portal of energies.
Nyx stared back through the portal in tangled bewilderment; hanging in the air was a yawning oval of fire through which she had just stumbled through. She caught a brief glimpse of the shock on the once-confident foulspawn faces before the portal snapped shut with a boom of power echoing around a much-larger chamber. As Nyxâs eyes adjusted to the now relative pitch-darkness of this room she realized the portal had traveled in a straight line: She could just barely make out the faint outline of the high-vaulted and barred doors looming against the far wall of this room. Several similar doors similarly loomed, each barred and sealed, accepting one to Nyxâs left which had been smashed down by a regiment of monsters.
A regiment, Nyx realized a moment too late, that had been in the middle of some perverse ritual inside these very chambers until they had surprised to be interrupted by two escaped victims. Infuriated to still be surrounded by unequal scales Nyx looked frantically for a way away from these horrid aberrations; The only way she saw was up. An enormous pit gaped above them; an opening in the ceiling wide enough to drive a stampede through, stretching up (in complete contrariness to normal pits) into a void of blackness so encompassing Nyx was momentarily overcome with a bout of homesickness.
âYoo-Hoo, Sea-Bass-Chun!â Nyx shouted in to Sebastianâs ear (No sense in being quiet now, she figured, since the things had already noticed their entrance). âTIME TO GET OFF YOUR ASS AND BE USEFUL!â Nyx screamed at Sebastian who had slumped onto the floor and was trying to whistle while remaining face-down. âYou asked for it, boy-o,â Nyx sighed.
Nyx had, in her past, learned many ways to hurt/motivate men. There was poison, torture, extortion, and blackmail, but a lesson her first defense tutor had imparted to her never diminished it its wisdom; âSometimes a bloke just needs a good olâboot to the nadgers.â Sebastian had gotten his legs under him, and was pushing his face along the cool metal like a 1-man wheelbarrow. This happened to bring Nyxâs target to a conveniently swaying distance, and after checking for cross-drafts she brought her shadowy foot back and swiftly delivered a Pele-esque kick directly into Sebastianâs Mage-Maker.
Sebastain let out a eunuchâs falsetto shriek as consciousness returned on the intense-pain-express line. He whirled on Nyx, fury and literal fire forming in his eyes, his magic-scar a turquoise mosaic of fury. Quickly Nyx jumped on to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his. âFly, You FOOL!â she half-screamed in his ear.
âWhere!?!?â Sebastian managed to squeak out.
âUP! Where Else!!?â Nyx shouted back, digging her heels into his calves as if she was spurring on a steed.
Fury boiling like hot-tar in his veins, Sebastian scanned for a witty retort. In the growing light of his blossoming rage he could see that they were surrounded, but nothing could be seen impeding their ascent. Taking a deep breath, he told Nyx âHANG ON!â (to which she replied a curt and quiet âDuhâ) before focusing on his pain, his fury, and his feet. Tapping deeper into the chaos, allowing more energy to flow into his body from the tangential outer-reaches, Sebastian focused on the Demonâs name still floating with the flotsam amid the rest of his mind.
With a single step Sebastian could tell it had worked; Fire flowed from his feet like water from a geyser, pushing both himself and the now too-tightly clinging Nyx up the shadowy-shaft of the paradoxical-pit. Anachronisms aside they rose like a rocket through a missle-silo, pure fire a billowing blue column beneath them. The light burned at Nyx and she had to force her face into the still-wet-from-drool chest of Sebastian to keep herself from letting out a sob of terror. Sebastian however was all-too-obviously thrilled, judging by the uncomfortable bulge Nyx politely chose to not notice or mention ever.
They flew for a lifetime, until the cloying blackness of the shaft was only penetrated by Sebastianâs hot blue column of flame. A pinch at the top of Nyxâs head alerted her senses to a danger Sebastian was far too Excited to take notice of; they were quickly approaching what appeared to be a roof, and though Nyx hadnât studied any of the academicâs advanced physics she was dead-certain that at the speed of their approach they would be squashed like dretchs (poo-demons).
Extending her senses allowed Nyx to realize the ceiling was not solid, and acting quickly Nyx held on to Sebastian tighter before her head bashed into his Adams apple and slipped them both through the shadows as his screams and fire died out. They tumbled through pocketed pitch-black, in the shadowy realm between planes as they flew through the ceiling until it became the floor of a platform that filled the shaft. Nyx gasped for breath and threw herself from Sebastianâs arms as the air and light of the material plane returned its assault on Nyxâs senses.
They lied there for a time, both fighting for calm and breath by their own rights. By the time either of them had regained enough composure to stand, it became dreadfully apparent they were alone, and that their party was nowhere within sight; they stood on the bottom of a massive chamber, itâs ceiling an arched cathedral of steel and girders barely visible even through darkvision. Massive hammering plates thundered in erratic coruscations of concussive collision. Scything blades swung wildly around a narrow rod, all set over an ancient walkway.
Several circular platforms, some lying forgotten beside steel pillars, lay around the room. Sebastian was drifting amiably throughout the wreckage, eyes unfocused and not remembering to search for signs of his party. Nyx slowly stalked through the ruined amphitheater of a chamber, her steps and breaths echoing oddly off the too-dark walls. Her instincts screamed at her that this chamber was filled to spill with danger, though for the life of her Nyx failed to ascertain any greater danger than the smashing plates above.
Once again the feeling of a pinch in her attention drove Nyx to take notice of a concealed door nested into a far wall. Hissing to grab Sebastianâs attention Nyx crept closer to the gateway in an attempt to espy what lay beyond it; on the edge of her hearing Nyx could just make out a frantic jabbering in an unrecognizable tongue. Shushing Sebastian and leaning him against the door Nyx slipped into the chamber unnoticed by the squat creatures seemingly arguing over a lumpy grey form between them.
âOnly four,â Nyx whispered, mostly to herself, âtoo easy.â Stepping through the shadows Nyx appeared behind two of the goblin-ish creatures, burying her blades to the hilt in their skulls. The creatures burst in a bubble of psychic gore, red and pink matter speckling Nyx as the remaining creatures soiled themselves in unrestrained surprised terror. More of the creatures popped into existence with an effort of energy, but the copies did not fool Nyx; she recognized life-preserving tactics, and would continue to focus on her primary targets and not be distracted.
Her assassinâs training kicked in before she tried to move again; The creatures leapt into the air with surprising grace, and Nyxâs instincts alerted her to the lighter sensation in this room. She realized that she could float as easily as fly in this room, and a perverse sense of pleasure washed over her as she knew she could have FUN with these deaths. She pushed herself hard into the air while whistling for Sebastian. As the two original creatures attempted to escape her their duplicates were caught full-on in the chest by a blast of ice from Sebastianâs implement rooting them in place.
Nyx streaked through the shadowy tube like a falcon, reaching and overtaking the fleeing foes in half-a-breathâs time. Quick slashes as she passed left them spinning in a helix of bright blood, shrieking terror and agony in their weary lungs; unused to being on the prey end of the predator-prey dynamic, they gave away their positions far too easily. Nyx flung blasts of eldritch energy as well as blades into their shrieking goodnight. Sebastian had brightened considerably, finding a modicum of solace in scorching flesh from bones, and as he dispatched the duplicates the originals popped with another fiesta of gore which hung in the air like skum on water.
When their shrieks had subsided Nyx took care to stop Sebastian bouncing off the walls; unprepared for the change in his own weight, the sorcerer had bounded into the room in triumph only to found his residual energy sending him ricocheting endlessly off of the round walls of the smooth chamber. When they were able to reclaim the ground Nyx noticed the smashed-in access panel high atop the room. Lifting the weightless but completely exhausted Sebastian over her shoulder Nyx lept once more, with perfect timing and aim, to glide effortlessly through the opening.
Remiss to once-more be bound to the earth by weight as she was, Nyx soldiered deeper into the access path until she heard a basso she recognized; the booming voice of Grom making an off-color joke about elf genitals. Relieved to hear their dulcet tones again Nyx shoved Sebastian through the punched-in grating before collapsing into sleep herself. She rested, with her party, and shared in their communal nightmareâŚ
Nyx & Sebastian's Wild Ride Part 2: Devils and Demons
(In this second portion our heroes are split and suffer seperate tragedies, as well as establishing phobias and paragon paths for each of them)
The pin-points of the needles pierced her devilish flesh and thin trickles of dark blood began to flow down the table. The twisted whispering abomination from the previous room shambled in, twisting its hands so that the sickly purple light from its crown hummed through a staff made from various humanoid vertebra; The light turned piercingly bright, burning the image of the twisted forms into Nyxâs retina like a pin-hole camera. Shutting her eyes barely disrupted the awful light, and a sickened retch shuddered through Nyxâs body, the nails ripping wider gouges in her flesh.
As Nyx struggled, the foulspawn tore a section from the wall, shedding physically searing bright orange and teal light through the room. The other foulspawn retreated as the light issued a billowing miasma around the floor of the chamber. Distorted whispers as if heard from afar echoed around Nyxâs pain-wracked brain; âIiiiiiâŚ.wwwwiiiiillllllllâŚ..ssssssteeeeaaalllllllâŚyyyyyoooouuuurrrrâŚ.lllllliiiiiiifffffeee!!â
The words repeated, echoed, snaked and writhed through Nyxâs mind, the feeling driving her mad as she began to convulse against the nails. The silver pain crystalized in her veins, and for a moment everything froze. A much vaster voice boomed in the perfectly still momentâs silence: âI DID NOT GIVE YOU THIS POWER TO SQUANDER LITTLE WORM.â
Nyx recognized the voice with a draining sense of dread; it was the voice of her infernal pact, the entity her sect of the assassinâs guild pledged allegiance to in exchange for eldritch power: The Queen of the Nine-Hells of the Shadow, Lorianna. âIT IS NOT MY WILL FOR YOU TO DIE HERE, SO YOU WILL PERSIST. I HAVE SENT A WHISPER OF MY POWER TO YOU, DO NOT WASTE IT.â The crystalized moment faded as the whispers of the foulspawn returned.
Nyx found, however, after the touch on her mind of such a powerful devil as her benefactor that the whispers of this tainted abomination no longer held the same sway. Nyx could see, though the bright light still shone, as the hunched form crept closer, twisting a finger to spread its sick whispers. Nyx noticed in its hand it held a simple medical blade which it was slowly reaching towards Nyxâs exposed throat.
âIiiiiiiiiâŚ.wwwwiiiiillllllllâŚ..ssssssteeeeaaalllllllâŚyyyyyoooouuuurrrrâŚ.lllllliiiiiiifffffeee!!â the creature uttered from its lips. Nyx caught its milky-blue eye just as it came within her reach. Nyx nimbly slipped her hand from its restraint and placed her hand on the things curdled stomach.
âNot if I steal yours firstâ Nyx hissed as she unleashed her eldritch blast into the things guts; Hideous black energy screamed in the chamber as the blast blew the foulspawnâs entrails against the back wall, coating and blocking out the brilliant energy source and shunting the room into near darkness. Nyx freed her other hand, pried the blade from the creatureâs hand before slitting its throat. She then with blinding speed reached up through the hole in its guts to find the spasming heart in its chest, tearing it from its atrophied arteries and holding it before its face as it died. Wretched, agonized pain and shock frozen on its visage Nyx crushed the heart before its eyes, feeling the soul and power of the creature melt into her hand, a tiny black spark in the brilliant purple light.
As the light faded, Nyx heard an explosion of arcane force from nearby, and knew it was time to get Sebastian and leave this foul prison.
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE SET-UP YOUR PARAGON PATH âLIFE STEALER!â ADDITIONALLY, NYX HAS GAINED A PHOBIA FOR BRIGHT LIGHT!!
Treat dim light as bright, and anything brighter than dim as blinding. Being exposed to bright lights will constantly remind you of the horrors you suffered ď
Sebastian:
Sebastian was tossed into a room crowded with looming shadows, slimy hands roughly passing him through a gantlet of hulking foulspawn before he was hurled onto his chest by a massive pressing force of an ice-cold downpour. He found it had become nearly impossible to move, but was barely able to make out the waterfall completely surrounded him by at least a meter on each side. The downpour of water pressed Sebastian into a steel grating below him, the cold bars against his chilled and abused flesh sending shivers of pure agony through his body.
Attempting to reach his magic, Sebastian found that the deluge of water ground out any connection he had to his power. He tried in vain to make contact with the chaos inside of him to free him from this aqueous prison, and succeeded merely in driving what little breath he could draw from his body. Only by spreading out his limbs and pressing his face to the grating below him could Sebastian catch his breath.
Gazing down into the pit below the grating Sebastian expected to see a means of escape or a water run-off, but instead all he found was death; a pile of desiccated corpses lay below the grate, visible in the water-silhouette he now cast. They were not bodies but bones, chunks of flesh, as if something had picked away at them slowly. No sooner had he given life to the thought then something vile began slithering through the dank pool below the bodies where the cascade of water stagnated.
Blurred as his vision was, Sebastian could scarcely make out the finer details of the monster, a fact he will be forever grateful for; as it were, he could only see a slithering form of dozens of twisted appendages, arms and legs and limbs there werenât words for, each sporting dagger-sharp claws and sucker-like mouths. The form locked eyes with Sebastian, if it had eyes to begin with, and slowly began climbing the picked and pickled pile of body-parts below the cascade to reach up and pluck pieces from the mage. Sebastian could feel the gleeful malice emanating off of the foulspawn as it climbed its mountain of leftovers.
It muttered masterwork malignance directly to Sebastianâs overworked brain, attempting to drive the half-mad mage over the precipice of insanity and into the depths of the chasm that lies below. It showed him such horrors, horrors that only such a twisted fiend could know; deaths of a thousand innocents as a massive craft fell to earth, gouging a giant scar in the earth and leaving the Tarrasqueâs Quills as a poorly-healed wound on the planet; generations of horror, as foulspawn spread; cannibalism, barbarism, brutality; the worst a human mind could handle, and worse yet as the psychic assault continue all the while the monstrosity climbed.
The bombardment of horrors continued and peaked, showing Sebastian images of a scaly doom, clad in blackest shadow, laying around the heart of this tomb, a skeletal wizard suckling on dark secrets. The horrors too much Sebastian felt his mental foot falter at the edge of the cliffs of madness, but something held him back. Not something within him, but an outside force; the chaos he drew on, pouring out from the plane of the elementals, the djinn, the demons, enraptured him in their grasp as the monstrosity tried to pull him down.
Words floated into focus before Sebastian, unsure if they truly hung in the air before him or if it was a demonâs trick of the mind. The words read: âYOU WILL KNOW MY POWER; YOU WILL KNOW MY NAME!â They did not appear as seprate statements, but as the same statement twice overlayed, power and name sharing the same spaces. As the words faded Sebastian could see the spindly limbs of the monstrosity, now at the top of its pile, reaching up to tear Sebastian through the grating piece-by-piece. In the moment before they touched, Sebastian was once-more given a vision of the twisted black scaly doom, and demonic letters floated in the vision: âBALTHARUMZAREL.â
Without thinking the word whispered out of Sebastianâs trickling lips, and in his vision the massive eye of the scaly doom opened and focused on Sebastian. The word caused a massive tremor of arcane energy to flow into Sebastian, but without his implements to focus the energy Sebastian chose to allow his body to be the conduit for the energies despite the dangers wizards were so quick to claim this action could pose. Pure arcane energy, the four elements blended into purest light and steam and fire, lashed out in all directions from Sebastian as a shockwave flies from thunder. The water around him became steam, hissing and burning; the grating turned to molten-rain, cascading over the reaching limbs of the monstrosity as it shrieked in unknown agony; lightning laced with fire rebounded around the room, turning the entire chamber to glowing, white-hot ash.
The blastwave threw Sebastian back out the room, his back smacking into the far wall, painful through the numbed cold. He found his implements, gathered himself up, and prepared to unleash all of his pain and wrath against the creatures who imprisoned him in that timeless hell. And, he supposed, he should try and find Nyx as well, if there was time. A familiar titter bounced around his hazy skull, raw energy still crackling between his fingers and thighs. This was going to be⌠FUN!!
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE SET-UP YOUR PARAGON PATH âWILD MAGE!â ADDITIONALLY, YOU HAVE GAINED A MAGIC-SCAR!!
The scar is, unaltered, the patter of the grating across your body, but due to the magic involved you can change it to appear however you want (you just have to have an equivalent body-mass scar somewhere on your body. The scar reverts to its natural form when you fall unconscious/sleep). As a magic scar it does not appear as puckered tissue but warped flesh, shining in cracks of teal arcane energy upon your skin. Wider cracks are advised against, as legends of creatures from the outer-realm reaching through wide magic scars are the traditional scary-stories of sorcerers.
