The passage at the back of the Duergar Den leads into a small cavern complex connected to an underground lake of salty water. In this lake nests several salt drakes who enjoy the tests of the salty fish and other cave denizens that happen to pass their way. They are running low on salt reserves and will do all they can to acquire more. Unfortunately, the way they entered the underground complex collapsed when they consumed salt and weakened the cave structure. They attempted to dig their way out, but have begun to give up their escapade and hope to survive on the morsels they find underground, but those morsels are becoming more and more rare....
They currently have hatched 7 eggs and will defend them to the death. The female drake will not leave the chamber with the eggs. The males will hunt the area to provide her with nutrition.
Drake, Salt; CR: 8; XP: 4,800; Align: N; Large dragon (earth)
Init: +1; Senses: darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +21
DEFENSE: AC: 18; TAC: 10; FFAC: 17; HD: 11d12+33; HP: 104; Saves: For: +10, Ref: +8, Will: +8; Immune: paralysis, sleep
OFFENSE: Speed: 40 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor); Melee: bite +13 (2d6+4), 2 claws +13 (1d8+3), 2 wings +11 (1d6+1), tail slap +11 (1d8+4); Space: 10ft.; Reach: 5 ft. (10 ft. with bite); Special Attacks: breath weapon (30 ft. cone, DC 18, 3d8 slashing plus 1 Con damage)
Statistics: Str: 17; Dex: 13; Con: 16; Int: 4; Wis: 13; Cha: 11; BAB: +11; CMB: +15; CMD: 26 (30 vs. trip)
Feats: Cleave, Great Cleave, Hover, Multiattack, Power Attack, Skill Focus (Perception)
Skills: (6+Int/HD) Appraise (I)(c), Bluff (Ch)(c), Climb (S)(c), Craft ( ) (I)(c), Diplomacy (Ch)(c), Fly (D)(c) +9, Heal (W)(c), Intimidate (Ch)(c), Knowledge (Arcana) (I*), Knowledge (Dungeoneering) (I*), Knowledge (Engineering) (I*), Knowledge (Geography) (I*)(c), Knowledge (History) (I*)(c), Knowledge (Local) (I*)(c), Knowledge (Nature) (I*)(c), Knowledge (Nobility) (I*)(c), Knowledge (Planes) (I*)(c), Knowledge (Religion) (I*)(c), Linguistics (I*)(c), Perception (W)(c) +21, Sense Motive (W)(c), Spellcraft (I*)(c), Stealth (D)(c) +11, Survival (W)(c), Swim (S)(c), Use Magic Device (Ch*)(c); Racial Modifiers:
Special Abilities:
Breath Weapon (Su): A salt drake’s breath weapon is a 30 ft. cone of razor-sharp salt crystals. In addition to dealing slashing damage the salt crystals absorb bodily fluids, dealing 1 point of Constitution damage to living targets.
Languages: Draconic
Special Qualities:
Environment: temperate and warm plains
Organization: solitary, pair, or clutch (2-5)
Treasure: none
"This powerful creature resembles a blue dragon with mottled black wings and crimson eyes. Its ears are frilled and swept back against its head."
The drakes did slay a few of the duergar who entered the caverns and their equipment lies among the bones they have collected.
Treasure: 3 suits of banded mail, 7 studded leather, 5 warhammers, 3 dwarven waraxes, 6 heavy crossbows, 43 bolts, potions of invisibility (2), 167 gp
3 Brethedan wandered into the cave when it was open, but when the drakes collapsed it, they became stuck. Desperate to escape, they will barter and bargain with sentient beings. They are leary of the salt drakes and will not approach them.
3 Brethedan; CR: 5; XP: 1,600; Align: N; Large aberration
Init: +0; Senses: blindesense 120 ft., darkvision 60 ft. Perception +12
DEFENSE: AC: 17; TAC: 9; FFAC: 17; HD: 7d8+35; HP: 66 regeneration 2 (acid); Saves: For: +7, Ref: +2, Will: +9; Defensive Abilities: amorphous
OFFENSE: Speed: 0 ft., fly 30 ft. (good); Melee: 2 slams +9 (1d6+4 plus grab); Space: 10 ft.; Reach: 10 ft.;
Special Attacks: constrict (1d6+4), engulf (DC 17, 1d6 acid and paralysis)
Statistics: Str: 19; Dex: 11; Con: 20; Int: 12; Wis: 14; Cha: 11; BAB: +5; CMB: +10 (+14 grapple); CMD: 20 (can't be tripped)
Feats: Combat Reflexes, Iron Will, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (slam)
Skills: (4+Int/HD) Escape Artist (D)(c) +10, Fly (D)(c) +12, Handle Animal (Ch*) +7, Perception (W)(c) +12, Stealth (D)(c) +6
Special Abilities:
Adaptation (Ex): A brethedan’s body is extremely mutable, and can adapt to respond to virtually any situation. Once per round as a swift action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity, a brethedan can reshape its body and chemistry to adopt any of the following qualities:
- It gains resistance 5 against a single energy type (acid, cold, electricity, or fire).
- It gains an additional natural attack (bite, tentacle, etc.) with damage appropriate to its size.
- Its slam damage type changes to slashing or piercing.
- Its slam damage die increases by one step (from 1d6 to 1d8 for most brethedans).
- It gains a +4 natural armor bonus to AC.
- Its reach increases to 20 feet.
A brethedan can only have one modification in effect at any one time—if it selects a new adaptation, it loses any other in effect. More extreme adaptations are also possible (at the GM’s discretion), but generally take days or even months to adopt.
Combine (Ex): Thanks to their perfect communication, brethedans can combine to work together as parts of a larger organism. As a swift action, a brethedan adjacent to another can merge with it, becoming a single creature occupying both spaces. The merging brethedan forfeits its actions to augment the other, and adds its hit points (though not its Hit Dice) to the new creature’s collective total. At this time, it also chooses one adaptation—the combined creature gains this benefit, and it cannot be changed unless the combined creature uses its single adaptation action each round to do so. Any number of brethedans can merge in this fashion, but each adaptation can be gained only once (though resistances to multiple energy types are allowed). The combined creature retains the ability to swap one adaptation each round (not once per component creature). Splitting into the component creatures again is a full-round action in which all component creatures are released and the remaining hit points are divided evenly. For the purposes of Hit Die-related effects, the Hit Dice of a combined brethedan are equal to those of the component creature with the highest CR.
Languages: Brethedan; telepathy 100 ft.
Special Qualities: adaptation, combine
Environment: any sky
Organization: solitary, pair, or flotilla (3-8)
Treasure: none
"This amorphous creature looks like a fleshy, iridescent dirigible, with no visible features save for tentacles dangling down in a line."
Crawling over the ground, these vermin are hungry and looking for food.
Centipede Swarm; CR: 4; XP: 1,200; Align: N; Diminutive vermin
Init: +4; Senses: darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 30 ft.
DEFENSE: AC: 18 ; TAC: 18 ; FFAC: 14; HD: 9d8-9; HP: 31 ; Saves: For: +5 , Ref: +7 , Will: +3 Defensive Abilities: swarm traits; Immune: weapon damage
OFFENSE: Speed: 30 ft.; Melee: swarm (2d6 plus poison); Space: 10 ft.; Reach: 0 ft. ;
Special Attacks: distraction (DC 13), poison
Statistics: Str: 1 ; Dex: 19 ; Con: 8 ; Int: - ; Wis: 10 ; Cha: 2 ; BAB: +6 ; CMB: - ; CMD: -
Feats: Weapon Finesse
Skills: Climb +12, Perception +4; Racial Modifiers: +4 Perception
Special Abilities:
Poison (Ex): Bite – injury; save Fort DC 13; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d4 Dex damage; cure 1 save. The save DC is Constitution-based and includes a +2 racial bonus.
Organization: solitary, pair, or tangle (3-6 swarms)
Treasure: none
“A writing mass of legs and poisonous pincers swarm across the ground in a deadly, undulating wave.”
In a crevice of dark water rests a black pudding feasting on flesh of several fish.
Pudding, Black; CR: 7; XP: 3,200; Align: N; Huge ooze
Init: -5; Senses: blindsight 60 ft. Perception -5
DEFENSE: AC: 3; TAC: 3; FFAC: 3; HD: 10d8+60; HP: 105; Saves: For: +9, Ref: -2, Will: -2; Defensive Abilities: split (piercing or slashing, 10 hp); Immune ooze traits; Resist: cold 5
OFFENSE: Speed: 20 ft., climb 20 ft.; Melee: slam +8 (2d6+4 plus 2d6 acid plus grab); Space: 15 ft.; Reach: 10 ft.; Special Attacks: constrict (2d6+4 plus 2d6 acid), corrosion
Statistics: Str: 16; Dex: 1; Con: 22; Int: -; Wis: 1; Cha: 1; BAB: +7; CMB: +12 (+16 grapple); CMD: 17 (27 vs bull rush, can't be tripped)
Skills: Climb (S) +11
Special Abilities:
Acid (Ex): A black pudding secretes a digestive acid that dissolves organic material and metal quickly, but does not affect stone. Each time a creature suffers damage from a black pudding’s acid, its clothing and armor take the same amount of damage from the acid. A DC 21 Reflex save prevents damage to clothing and armor. A metal or wooden weapon that strikes a black pudding takes 2d6 acid damage unless the weapon’s wielder succeeds on a DC 21 Reflex save. If a black pudding remains in contact with a wooden or metal object for 1 full round, it inflicts 21 points of acid damage (no save) to the object. The save DCs are Constitution-based.
Corrosion (Ex): An opponent that is being constricted by a black pudding suffers a -4 penalty on Reflex saves made to resist acid damage applying to clothing and armor.
Split (Ex): Slashing and piercing weapons deal no damage to a black pudding. Instead, the creature splits into two identical puddings, each with half of the original’s current hit points (round down). A pudding with 10 hit points or less cannot be further split and dies if reduced to 0 hit points.
Suction (Ex): The black pudding can create powerful suction against any surfaces as it climbs, allowing it to cling to inverted surfaces with ease. A black pudding can establish or release suction as a swift action, and as long as it is using suction, it moves at half speed. Because of the suction, a black pudding’s CMD score gets a +10 circumstance bonus to resist bull rush, awesome blows, and other attacks and effects that attempt to physically move it from its location.
Special Qualities: ooze traits, suction
Environment: cold plains and underground
Organization: solitary
Treasure: none
"This black, amorphous blob piles up on itself, a quivering mound of midnight sludge that glistens darkly before surging forward."