Glacial Frost Worm (CR 20)

Glacial Frost Worm Garguantuan Magical Beast (cold) CR 20
AC: 28 (+1 dex, -4 size, +22 natural armor) touch 7
HD: 36d10+252 HP: 450
F: +22 R: +16 W: +12
Immunities: Cold
Vulnerabilities: Fire

MV: 30 ft, burrow 10 ft
Full Attack: +46 bite (4d6+17 plus 2d8 cold)
Grp: +61

Str: 36(+13) Dex: 12 Con: 24(+7) Int: 2 Wis: 11 Cha: 12
Feats: Alertness, Improved Initiative, Improved Natural Attack (bite), Iron Will, Weapon Focus (bite), Improved Natural Armor x 8.
Skills: +11 hide, +10 listen, +10 spot.


A frost worn cannot burrow through stone, but can manage ice and frozen earth. When moving through such hard materials it leaves behind a usable tunnel about 5 feet in diameter.

A frost worm is about 40 feet long, 5 feet in diameter, and weighs about 8,000 pounds.

Combat
Frost worms lurk under the snow, waiting for prey to come near.

They begin an attack with a trill and then set upon helpless prey with their bite.

Trill (Su)
A frost worm can emit a noise that forces its prey to stand motionless. This sonic mind-affecting compulsion affects all creatures other than frost worms within a 100-foot radius. Creatures must succeed on a DC 24 Will save or be stunned for as long as the worm trills and for 1d4 rounds thereafter, even if they are attacked. However, if attacked or violently shaken (a full-round action), a victim is allowed another saving throw. Once a creature has resisted or broken the effect, it cannot be affected again by that same frost worm’s trill for 24 hours. The effect’s caster level is 14th. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Cold (Ex)
A frost worm’s body generates intense cold, causing opponents to take an extra 2d6 points of cold damage every time the creature succeeds on a bite attack. Creatures attacking a frost worm unarmed or with natural weapons take this same cold damage each time one of their attacks hits.

Breath Weapon (Su)
30-foot cone, once per hour, damage 15d8 cold, Reflex DC 32 half. Opponents held motionless by the frost worm’s trill get no saving throw. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Death Throes (Ex)
When killed, a frost worm turns to ice and shatters in an explosion that deals 12d8 points of cold damage and 8d8 points of piercing damage to everything within 100 feet (Reflex half DC 32). The save DC is Constitution-based.

Skills
*A frost worm, due to its coloration and its affinity for burying itself in the snow, has a +10 racial bonus on Hide checks in its native environment.

Cold Subtype
A creature with the cold subtype has immunity to cold. It has vulnerability to fire, which means it takes half again as much (+50%) damage as normal from fire, regardless of whether a saving throw is allowed, or if the save is a success or failure.

Location: The Great Elsemere Wood

(distance from Cathedral of St. Carlos to Shada Monastery as the crow flies 10 miles, on foot 15-20 miles)

In the Great Elsemere Wood the forest is so thick that is it almost as dark as night. No sounds echo through the underbrush; no sky is visible through the tightly-woven canopy which towers fifty feet above. Cedars and other trees are leafless except in the canopy; the dry limbs in the interim have grown craggly and with sinister corrpution. A fire could easily destroy the forest in a matter of moments, but luckily in the rarified air of the wood, there is little oxygen to keep a flame aflame.

The soil in the forest is primarily dry earth, with substantial cracking and exposed root systems gasping for sustenance, except along the river, where the soil is muddy and in parts swamp-like. Along the river, thick spanish moss dangles from the drooping limbs, which seem to bend over the water as if to take a sip.

A small maze of a trail leads through the forest. It is by and large the only path through the thick undergrowth. The path is the above-ground manifestation of the paths the underground river has taken through the wood, attempting to avoid the evils within.

Locations

Mausoleum - Once a part of Elsemere, this mausoleum is now overgrown by forest underbrush and is barely noticable.

Fitted stones and mortar poke through the exposed root system of a stand of trees, revealing a weathered structure. There is no obvious entrance.

If the characters search around enough (DC 20, with bonuses for wilderness lore), they'll discover what was once the door, now overgrown with exposed roots. After hacking some wood, they may enter the structure, discovering a single 25'x25' room, which has been overgrown (or undergrown) by some sort of plantlife, as there is significant foliage in the chamber. The plants are undead, having consumed the haunted souls of the living. They will be detailed in a separate post. The plants will attack once the characters are fully within the structure. After dispensing of the plants, the characters discover coffins lining hte outer walls. In two of the coffins, the characters find skeletons that have not been consumed. One one's finger, there is a ring of protection+2 and on another's in a rotting bag, there is a dagger+2.

If the party casts speak with dead they will hear a first hand account of the forest's consumption of the northwest edge of Elsemere. The people became so downtrodden that many succumbed to mental illnesses, which, after burial, led to an undead state. The plants sucked the undead out of the corpses and fed on the moonlight streaming in through cracks in the ceiling, becoming the monstrosities that the characters so recently encountered.

Clearing - During certain seasons and to commemorate certain holy and unholy days, the tainted Shada Monks perform their ritual acts in the only clearing in the forest. A typical encounter with the monks and clerics will be detailed in a later post.

Small Temple - Four adepts catetake this small temple to Nerull. The details can be found in a later post.

Shada Monastery - This tall, dark building built over an underground cistern is where the Shada Monks hone their nefarious craft. The monastery will be detailed in a later post.

The black squares on the map in the wood are huts of monks and adepts who have moved out of the monastery for one reason or another. Most of them just prefer living outside the overcrowded monastery, but a few wish to leave the ranks of Shada. They may be conscripted or convinced to leave the wood altogether if the party plays their encounters right.

Magic Item: Paddle of Punishment

(note: the image is but an artist's rendition, or rending an artist's butt...)

This paddle has been used to render punishment for past shall we say improprieties. Often kept behind the counter by more benevolent shopkeepers to deal with meddling kids, this paddle does 1d2 damage to those who receive the business end in the behind. In addition, upon a succesful hit, if the creature hit has less HD than the attacker, it deals a round of stun followed by a round of confusion, then 1d10 rounds of guilt. This is usually enough to teach 'em a lesson! For those with equal HD, only 1 round of confusion is dealt. For those targets with more HD, the result is usually anger.

Optional addition: 1-3 spikes can be added for real puinshment (1 spike adds +1 damage, so all three makes the paddle 1d2+3)

The price of the paddle is never spoken of outside merchant's circles, so it's up to the DM to scale the price based on appropriate "market forces."

Location: The Hamlet of Elsemere

(note, this map contains locations within The Great Elsemere Wood as well)

Stats:
The Hamlet of Elsemere, pop 90ish
Wealth: Gold Piece Limit: 100 gp
Ready Cash: 450 gp
Power Center: Magical: chaotic evil priest of St. Cuthbert / The Old Ones
Community Authority: 2nd level warrior
Highest level NPCs in the community:
Barbarian: 1st
Bard: 2nd
Commoner: 9th
Druid: 4th
Expert: 7th
Fighter: 3rd
Rogue: 4th
Sorcerer: 1st
Warrior: 2nd

Part of the village of Elsemere has been reclaimed by the forest. The mausoleum was once the edge of town, but it is now hundereds of feet inside the forest. If the party investigates close enough, they will find old tracks leading into the forest - what was once the road through town.

The present-day town is surrounded on three sides by farmland and on one by Elsemere Wood. Corrupted fey creatures have their own nefarious names for the dark forest they call home.

Notable locations:
C: Once the center of town, the Cathedral of St. Carlos has been taken defiled and corrupted by a priest of St. Cuthbert.
F: The Fallen Lumber Inn is the last operating inn in this dwindling economy.
M: This makeshift mill processes the remaining lumber produced by the townspeople of Elsemere.
Entrances to the Wood: Dark and foreboding, these narrow creases in the forest provide a crawlspace into the interior. Characters taking these paths should beware.

Notable characters:
Morbane the Mad Monk (CR3)
Another important person in town is the scholar's mentor, who is studying the forest. Perhaps she is the 4th level druid.
Another is the cleric who didn't make the list. His level should be around 10ish +2 for the begotten of the old ones template...
Pava the Wise occasionally visits this hamlet, so she may be present. Also Temas Falkor sometimes makes his bardly way here to gain knowledge. He is writing a song about the encroaching forest brought on by the sadness of the Elsemereans.

Other:
If the characters seek a vantage point from which to view the forest, they spy the stony towers of the Shada Monastery, which from its position on a hill in the Wood, peeks through the overgrown canopy.

If the characters ask around enough, they may learn some facts about the monks who study in the monastery, including Morbane, the Mad Monk of Elsemere, who splits his time between the hallowed halls of Shada and the muddied streets of Elsemere.

Another post will cover the locations within the Wood.

The Begotten of the Old Ones (CR 5)

The result of prolonged exposure to Old Ones, persons too near their reality warping effects undergo a transformation into beings which resemble them in some ways. These changed creature's features are bestial and reminiscent of fish, lizards, and amphibians, with claw-tipped hands or occasionally tentacles for arms. They are cunning and physically powerful, yet twisted and crippled in appearance. These creatures are ruled by the Old Ones through fear, violence and mental domination.

Those that can still speak do not usually chose to do so. Instead they mainly communicate simple thoughts to each other by telepathy, accompanied by whimpering groans and croaks.

usually chaotic neutral with evil tendencies
Medium Size Abberation
Init: +2 Senses: darkvision 60'
Listen +7 Spot +7
Languages: Telepathy 60' and either common or none

AC: 17 (+2 dex, +5 natural armor)
HP: (HD 9d8+ 27)
Defenses: SR 15, DR 5 / lawful
Fort: +6 Ref: +5 Will: +5

MV: 20, swim 30 or fly 30'
Attack: +10 appendage 1d6+4 or +10 greatclub 1d12+6
Full Attack: +11 appendage 1d6+4 and +11 appendage 1d6+4 +10/+5 greatclub 1d12+6
Attack Options: Lightning Touch
Space / Reach: 5ft. / 5ft.
Base Attack: +6 Grapple: +10

Str: 18 Dex: 15 Con: 17 Int: 9 Wis: 12 Cha: 6
SQ: DR 5/lawful, SR 15, darkvision 60'
SA: spell like abilities: blur
Feats: weapon focus (appendage), power attack, ability focus (Otherworldly Gaze), quicken spell-like ability (blur)
Skills: +7 listen, +7 spot

Lightning Touch (Su): Begotten of the old ones can generate, as a free action, a burst of electricity from within their bodies that damages and may stun their victims. The touch deals 1d8 points of electricity damage and stuns the target for 1d4 rounds. A DC 17 Fortitude save avoids the stun effect - the save is constitution based. They may use this ability once per round, delivered by melee attack.

Otherworldly Gaze: As a standard action begotten can focus their otherworldly gaze upon a mortal creature and create a haze of confusion as the spell. A DC 17 will save is required to avoid this confusion (save is wisdom based), which lasts as long as the begotten concentrates upon it. This is a mind-affecting ability.

Spell-like abilities: blur 1/day. Caster level 5th.
DR: 5 / lawful (axiomatic)
SR: 15

COMBAT
Sometimes armed with simple weapons, but generally attacking with whatever appendages the old ones have given them, the begotten are straightforward combatants. If encountered in a group, those in the rear will focus their otherworldly gaze on those being attacked, while their brethren attack with their claws and lightning touch.


Begotten of the Old Ones - Acquired Template

Sometimes when the powers of the old ones transform an unique creature, some of it's abilities and original form remains. In those cases apply this template to the base creature to generate the statistics of the resulting creature.

Type: the creature's type changes to aberration
HD: the creature's hit dice change to d8s.
AC: gains +5 natural armor
Move: The mutations cause the creature's land move to be reduced by 10 ft, to a minimum of 5 ft. The creature gains a swim speed equal to it's previous land speed.
Special Abilities: Begotten of the old ones gain the following special abilities:
Lightning Touch (Su): Begotten of the old ones can generate a burst of electricity from within their bodies that damages and may stun their victims. The touch deals 1d8 points of electricity damage and stuns the target for 1d4 rounds. A DC (1/2 begotten hit dice + constitution modifier) Fortitude save avoids the stun effect. They may use this ability once per round, delivered by melee attack.
Otherworldly Gaze: As a standard action begotten can focus their otherworldly gaze upon a mortal creature and create a haze of confusion as the spell. A DC (1/2 begotten hit dice + wisdom modifier) will save is required to avoid this confusion, which lasts as long as the begotten concentrates upon it.
Spell-like abilities: blur 1/day. Caster level 5th.
DR: 5 / lawful (axiomatic)
SR: 15
Telepathy 60'
Darkvision 60'
CR: +2
ECL: +2

Character: Morbane the Mad Monk of Elsemere (Lvl 3)

A prodigious youth, Morbane became too powerful too fast and it drove him slightly mad. He spends much of his time pacing the treeline to the west of present-day Elsemere. It is said that his parents are buried in the mausoleum that the forest has grown over, and that this is what has driven him mad. Who is to say, really. As the other kids used to joke, "Perhaps plawing in da deep, dawk fowest has fweigtened wittle bitty Mowbane..." This scorn led him into the Shada Monastery where he trained for a few years before returning to Elsemere to seek his parents' graves. There are also those humans who say he is a Wyndm, and that's also compounding his insanity. Still others think he knows too much about the Old Ones and that that's also weighing upon his fragile soul. Needless to say, everyone agrees that he's slightly "touched."

Morbane the Mad Monk of Elsemere
Medium-size Male Human
Monk3
Hit Dice: (3d8)+6
Hit Points: 27
Initiative: +2
Speed: Walk 40 ft.
AC: 13 (flatfooted 11, touch 13)
Attacks: *Flurry of Blows +3/+3; ;
Damage: *Flurry of Blows 1d10+3; ;
Vision:
Face / Reach: 5 ft. / 5 ft.
Special Qualities: Evasion (Ex), Flurry of Blows (Ex), Still Mind (Ex)
Saves: Fortitude: +5, Reflex: +5, Will: +2
Abilities: STR 17 (+3), DEX 14 (+2), CON 15 (+2), INT 12 (+1), WIS 9 (-1), CHA 7 (-2)
Skills: Appraise 1; Balance 5; Bluff -2; Climb 10; Concentration 4; Craft (Untrained) 1; Diplomacy -2; Disguise -2; Escape Artist 7; Forgery 1; Gather Information -2; Heal -1; Hide 4; Intimidate -2; Jump 12; Knowledge (Arcana) 2; Knowledge (Local) 2; Knowledge (Nature) 2; Knowledge (Religion) 2; Listen 2; Move Silently 8; Ride 2; Search 1; Sense Motive 1; Spot 2; Survival -1; Swim 8; Tumble 8;
Feats: Blind-Fight, Combat Reflexes, Improved Grapple, Improved Unarmed Strike, Snatch
Challenge Rating: 3
Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Possessions: Belt, Monk's; Boots of Elvenkind; Gloves of Swimming/Climbing; Flurry of Blows; Outfit (Monk's Robes);