The first chapter of the final book of the Sorcerer-Kingmaker adventure path conversion deals with Nyrissa's plan to sweep the Tablelands, and then all of Athas, clear of humanoid life. Unlike the other adventures, this book begins taking place on a set timeframe- each of the blooms begins as a patch of fertile land and a spring of water bubbling forth, rapidly expanding in size until it swiftly becomes an expanse of virulent and hostile nature, miles in diameter. Once dealt with, each bloom leaves a trophy which can be used to force entry to the First World.
First Bloom (day 1): The Whirling Lake. The first bloom appears as a rapid churning and expansion of an oasis or lake somewhere within the PCs' settlements. Initially, this seems to be a miracle bringing elemental life to the burnt land, but the water expands at the rate of tens of feet per minute, swiftly turning to muddy filth and overwhelming buildings which were never intended to withstand a flood. The water is infected with Sight Rot, and all of those who drink from it begin bleeding from the eyes until their eyes eventually rot away (Constitution saving throw DC 15 to resist). Within the centre of the lake are a quartet of Greater Water Elementals, which slow their churn and will defend the area if anyone approaches. Each takes the form of an inky-black fish, the understanding of which may be lost on residents of Athas. If all four of the elementals are slain, the water shoots up as a great geyser, hundreds of feet in the air, and then drains away naturally, leaving a morass of mud and silt. Trophy: A smoky-black quartz fish, about two feet long and weighing forty pounds. Second Bloom (day 8): The Shrieking Children. The second bloom appears in the Narlmarches or in Thousand Breaths forest, (or in the forest of the Sootstripe halflings, if you prefer a closer threat). Thousands of living vines (mobs of Blights) animate themselves and walk the land, killing and imprisoning any humanoids they come across. In addition, Mandragora Blights emerge as a more threatening version, attacking towns with their psychic screams, with the power of a banshee's wail attack. The swarms of Mandragora Blights are highly dangerous, even to well-equipped adventurers, but vanquishing two of them at the fungal heart of the bloom will cause it to crumble and die rapidly. Trophy: A dead Mandragora. The Unseen Threat (day 9): Sensing that her plans have been interfered with already by the PCs, Nyrissa unleashes a band of merciless hunters, squeezing them out from the portal from the Tower of Thorns- a dozen Invisible Stalkers, with instructions to hunt, and kill, each of the PCs. They journey tirelessly across the land at a flying speed of 5-10 miles per hour, unerringly making their way towards their prey, and ambush them when they have an opportunity. If they slay the PC who carries Briar, they take it and flee immediately, heading back to the Tower of Thorns as fast as they can. Third Bloom (day 12): Nights of Dread. This bloom manifests in the most densely-populated place on your campaign map- either Balic, or the PCs' home town (whichever will be more meaningful to your players). The inhabitants begin to be plagued by terrifying and disturbing dreams, and within a day or two, begin dying in horrifying ways, leaving their bodies eviscerated. This is the doing of the Nightmare Rook, an immensely powerful psionic creation which can force biofeedback on those who sleep. Confronting the Nightmare Rook might require a specific trance or consulting with a psionic master who can bring all of the party into someone's dreaming state. A variety of nightmare creatures will confront any brave dreamers (use the Quori statistics from Eberron: Rising from the Last War, if you have it) before the Nightmare Rook itself confronts them, a vast and sky-blotting birdlike shape of infinite blackness, peppered with the light of dying stars from beneath its wings. A vast feat of willpower is required to drive it away, waking everyone instantly. Trophy: A feather from the Nightmare Rook's wing, clutched in someone's hand. Fourth Bloom (day 16): The Tree of Death. This bloom grows from any tree in the lands, swiftly becoming a towering tree hundreds of feet in height and nearly fifty feet in diameter. Its roots writhe and crush structures nearby, and any water dries up rapidly as it absorbs any moisture in the area. Other trees begin to sprout around it, and grow almost as rapidly. Luckily the entire tree need not be destroyed, but enough of its roots must be severed or the trunk cut through. A spellcaster who chooses to Defile in this region treats everything within a mile of the tree as lush terrain. Once the tree is felled, it rots rapidly, and the water table slowly restores to its normal level. In the vicinity are a half-dozen Treants, which protect the trunk with their lives. Trophy: A scrap of heartwood from the colossal tree, which oozes sap. Fifth Bloom (day 17): The Knurly Briars. This bloom manifests anywhere in Hills or Plains, transforming into a vast area of briars scores of feet tall and round, like a vast, primeval forest. Their spikes are sharp enough to pierce mekillot hide, and shred humanoids with ease. Within the growth of toxic-green briars can be seen some gigantic figures stalking effortlessly through the briars. Reaching the heart of the bloom will require battling through several Plains Giants which have become Yellow Musk Zombies, and then confronting the colossal Yellow Musk Creeper, defended by yet more of the zombies. On slaying the Creeper, the briars begin to wither. Trophy: A seed pod from the Yellow Musk Creeper. Sixth Bloom (day 22): Rise of the Mireworms. This bloom manifests in the Hooktongue Slough, where wriggling violet worms infest the mud and drag down any creatures slow enough not to escape them. Some grow to truly enormous size, and become a trio of Purple Worms which attack through the muddy mire. The worms continue to grow, and the mud must be excavated to a depth of around ten feet, finding the writhing knot of worms from which they seem to be spilling. Trophy: The knot of worms, about the size of a man's fist. Seventh Bloom (day 25): Old Man of the Desert. This bloom manifests as a colossal heaving of sand out in the desert, which might be witnessed by traders or travellers, but might just as likely go unnoticed. However, tales swiftly begin to be told of a mountain range that is there one minute and gone the next, or of isolated settlements which have vanished, buildings and all, into the sand. The truth is that a truly enormous Hatori, over two hundred feet long, has emerged from the First World and cruises the sandy wastes without equal or fear. This beast is all but unstoppable, and able to demolish entire infantry companies in moments. If slain, one of its eyes falls to the ground as its body begins to decay, an uncut green gemstone the size of a human's torso. Trophy: The Hatori's eye gemstone. Eighth Bloom (day 26): War of the High Folly. The final bloom manifests not far from the PCs' capital city, unleashing a horde of First World soldiers upon their defenses. This will involve a large mass combat, defending the walls from murderous beasts, giants wielding bizarre life-shaped weapons and armour, blood-drinking plants, and even more strange things. In the distance, a white marble tower can be seen against the insanely blue sky of the First World, with a vast winged, reptilian figure flying lazy circles around it. This attack is disorganized and poorly-arranged, each 'group' of combatants powerful but varied, and with no strong leadership or battle-plan. Nyrissa's minions are not grouped in ways that make their talents or powers synergistic, and sometimes even confuse one another with their attacks. This battle will be desperate, and the PCs should be hard-pressed but on their home ground. Fighting off the attack and pressing forward to the heart of the bloom means the PCs can close the portal, leaving all of the vegetation gone, and a 100-foot radius of shining black obsidian sand. Trophy: A handful of obsidian sand. Ninth Bloom (day 28): Cataclysm Beast. Nyrissa's last and most deadly minion is a creature which she has painstakingly life-shaped for centuries, hoping that such an avenue would never be needed. On the day of this final event, although no clouds are to be seen in the sky, peals of thunder rumble across the Tablelands every ten minutes or so, like a Tyr-storm is above. From dusk, these become even more frequent, and with a flash of green light and a final ear-splitting crash, a rent from the First World tears open at the site of the eighth bloom. What emerges is a monster unlike Athas has seen before- what would be termed a kaiju in other planes of existence. This creature is imbued with the resilience of an earth drake, the might of a Nightmare beast, and the bio-engineered powers conferred by life-shaping. The cataclysm beast is around fifty feet tall and seventy feet long, with glowing bioluminescent lines and spots on its hide that glow as its taps into its powers. The beast is enormous, and moves with slow but inexorable power. It makes a beeline for the city walls and immediately begins wreaking havoc, impervious to all but the most powerful weapons. If it can be felled, it begins to fall apart into separate pieces, decaying rapidly until its glowing heart is all that remains, nearly as big as a half-giant. Trophy: The Cataclysm Beast's heart. CATACLYSM BEAST Gargantuan monstrosity (titan), unaligned Armour Class 21 (natural armour) Hit Points 450 (25d20 + 175) Speed 40ft. Str 25 (+7); Dex 9 (-1); Con 25 (+7); Int 3 (-4); Wis 11 (+0);Cha 1 (+0) Saving Throws Dexterity +6, Constitution +14, Intelligence +2 Damage Immunities Lightning, poison; Bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from non-steel attacks Damage Resistances Psychic, fire, force Condition Immunities Charmed, frightened, paralyzed Senses Blindsight 10ft., passive Perception 10 Languages - Challenge 21 (33,000 XP) Forged in Lightning. When the cataclysm beast would take damage from a lightning effect, it is healed half the amount of damage it would take instead. Legendary Resistance (2/day). If the cataclysm beast fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead. Magic Resistance. The cataclysm beast has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects. Prismatic Reflection. Any time the cataclysm beast is targeted by a magic missile spell, a line spell, or a spell that requires a ranged attack roll, it has a 50% chance to be unaffected, as the effect simple reflects harmlessly from its hide. Siege Monster. The cataclysm beast deals double damage to objects and structures. Actions Multiattack. The cataclysm beast uses its Frightful Presence, then attacks with either two claws or its bite and its tail. It may alternately use its Frightful Presence, and then make tail attacks against up to three targets who are adjacent to one another. Bite. Melee weapon attack: +13 to hit, reach 10ft., one target. Hit: 30 (3d12+7) piercing damage. If the target is a creature, it is grappled (escape DC 15). Until the grapple ends, the target is restrained, and the cataclysm beast can't bite another target. Claw. Melee weapon attack: +13 to hit, reach 10ft., one target. Hit: 21 (3d8+7) slashing damage. Tail. Melee weapon attack: +13 ro hit, reach 20ft., one target. Hit: 21 (4d6+7) bludgeoning damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 22 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. Frightful Presence. Each creature within 100 feet of the cataclysm beast and aware of it must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or become Frightened for 1 minute. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, with disadvantage if the Cataclysm Beast is in line of sight, ending the effect on itself on a success. If a creature's saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the creature is immune to the cataclysm beast's Frightful Presence for the next 24 hours. Charge. The cataclysm beast's bioluminescent marks begin to glow brightly, and it can move up to half its speed. On its next turn, it can use its Ultrablast action. Ultrablast. The cataclysm beast cannot use this ability unless it has used the charge action in the previous turn. The cataclysm beast emits a line 100 feet long and 10 feet wide from its chest. Each creature in the line must make a Dexterity saving throw (DC 21). A creature takes 35 (10d6) lightning damage and 35 (10d6) force damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. Legendary Actions The cataclysm beast can take 2 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be chosen at a time, and only at the end of another creature's turn. The cataclysm beast regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn. Attack. The cataclysm beast makes one claw attack or bite attack, or one tail attack. Move. The cataclysm beast moves up to half its speed, demolishing any buildings in its way and turning them into difficult terrain. With her month of terror ended, Nyrissa will again try to breah the planar barriers from the First World, with a 10% chance of success per bloom which hasn't been shut down. If she fails, she will not be able to attempt such a feat for another year, while the PCs are equipped with the trophies they can use to open the portal from their side. Tune in next week for details on exploring the First World! Also posted on Game Masters Stash on 26 February 2021. Comments are closed.
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AuthorI'm Luke. He/him pronouns. Archives
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