Until recently, the tribe of troglodytes that dwells in this ruined building held a tentative alliance with the Carrion King and his gnolls. In particular, Grundmoch and the gnoll assassin Rokova, the Carrion King’s Keeper of Secrets, held what could even be called a friendship.
When Zayifid arrived several months ago and chose Rokova as his victim to impersonate in order to secure his infiltration of the Temple, he never considered the priest’s friendship with the troglodyte. So when Rokova suddenly disappeared for a few days, Grundmoch became suspicious.
The troglodyte investigated and discovered evidence of a grisly murder, but when he returned to inform the other priests of his suspicions of Rokova’s death, he discovered the high priest alive and well. Grundmoch confronted the priest, demanding an explanation for where he’d been for the past few days, and Zayifid panicked and tried to kill the troglodyte. Grundmoch barely escaped with his life, but before he fled he caught a glimpse of the imposter’s true form. Unfortunately, before he could bring this news to the Carrion King, Zayifid called council and gave testament that the troglodytes had attempted to murder him and seize the House of the Beast for themselves. As soon as the Carrion King heard this tale, he banished Grundmoch and his people and commanded that all troglodytes be sacrificed to Rovagug.
The doors blocking the west gate are of recent construction, crudely fabricated from wood salvaged within the temple and stolen from caravan raids. The hinges have long since rusted out, so the doors are wedged in place and barred from the inside. To open the doors, they must be physically dragged aside with a Level 5 Might check or broken down. At all times, troglodyte javelin throwers guard the entrance, watching through the arrow slits from area C2. As soon as the PCs come within 40 feet of the gatehouse, the javelin throwers launch a warning volley (intended not to damage but to land javelins within 10 feet of the PCs) and demand (in Draconic) that the PCs identify themselves and their purpose before approaching further.
Make an attack roll anyway, and on a natural 1, one of the javelins accidentally strikes a random PC anyway. If this happens, a troglodyte croaks out a loud “Sorry!” followed by the sounds of other troglodytes berating the thrower.
This turns into a fistfight between the guards in one of the sniper rooms that occupies the troglodytes for 1d4+4 rounds. Regardless, the remaining troglodyte guards in the adjacent room remain alert and ready.
If the PCs understand and parlay with the guards, the troglodytes draw straws and send an emissary to greet them at the door. They allow the PCs into the entry chamber but tell them to keep their weapons sheathed and their hands visible and motionless. The remaining troglodytes ready javelins, taking cover behind the adjacent doors while one of them goes to get backup. A few minutes later, PCs are led to area C4 where, surrounded by guards, adepts, and monitor lizards, they can speak with Grundmoch.
Faded tiles have cracked and crumbled into small piles at the foot of mud-brick walls. Once colorful mosaics are painted with sloppy, blood-scribed warnings written in Draconic and punctuated with gnoll scalps spiked into the walls.
The writing on the wall is in Draconic, and consists of multiple anti-gnoll sentiments like “Death to the hyena infidels!” or “All hail Grundmoch the redeemer!” or “Rovagug claims the stink of hyena flesh!”
If the troglodyte guards in area C2 observe the PCs approaching this room, they open the doors on the adjacent walls just a crack so it’s easier to swarm into this room to attack them if the PCs make it this far.
Narrow archer slits open along the slightly curved outer wall. Propped near each of the slits leans a handful of javelins. The remainder of the room is stripped bare.
The floor in the southern room is scrawled with strange chalk marks that form some sort of grid of four 5-foot-wide squares, and littered with smooth, polished stones. The grid and stones are used in a primitive gambling game the troglodytes play to pass the time.
Creatures: If the PCs manage to creep up on the building undetected, they find all four of the troglodytes stationed here in the southern room gathered around the grid and gambling on the fates of several mice they drop into the center of the grid. Each other grid has a large scorpion, one leg tied to a spike driven into the center of each grid by alength of twine, so that each scorpion can reach just to the edge of its square. One troglodyte stands at each corner, and any mouse fortunate enough to make it out of the grid earns the troglodyte guarding its square a polished rock, while the mouse gets rewarded by being placed back in the center to await the next round of the game.
This humanoid’s scaly hide is dull gray. Its frame resembles that of a cave lizard, with a long tail and crests on its head and back.
Health: 7
Armor: 2
Damage: 4
Movement: Short
Modification: Level 4 to Stealth, Specialized in Low-Light Spotting.
Languages: Draconic
Combat: During Combat The troglodytes prefer hit-and-run attacks, seeking cover whenever possible, attacking then fleeing as they try to draw pursuers into the fire of their allies.
Troglodytes also emit a powerful stench that is unpleasant to all creatures that are not troglodytes.
Stench: All creatures within short range must make a Might Check. Failure means they are sickened for a minute, given them a disadvantage to all checks.
Equipment: Club, 3 Javelins
Morale The troglodytes fear Grundmoch more than death, and in his presence they fight until slain. Otherwise, they try to flee into the surrounding mountains if brought below 2 hit points.
Tiny monstrous scorpion
Health: 3
Damage: 2 + Poison (1 damage to speed)
Two sets of double doors sit along opposite walls of an open-air court. On either side, narrow wings extend for fifteen feet. Three large pillars run down the center of each of the wings. Swept against the walls lie piles of rubble from a collapsed ceiling.
The walls hold faint traces of calligraphy written in Ignan, though the writing style is antiquated and the engravings are barely legible, and judging from the surviving fragments, they are short prayers to Rovagug.
Creature: A troglodyte hides on the roof above the door leading to area C4. If anyone approaches without proper accompaniment, he triggers the trap as they attempt to open the doors.
This humanoid’s scaly hide is dull gray. Its frame resembles that of a cave lizard, with a long tail and crests on its head and back.
Health: 7
Armor: 2
Damage: 4
Movement: Short
Modification: Level 4 to Stealth, Specialized in Low-Light Spotting.
Languages: Draconic
Combat: During Combat The troglodytes prefer hit-and-run attacks, seeking cover whenever possible, attacking then fleeing as they try to draw pursuers into the fire of their allies.
Troglodytes also emit a powerful stench that is unpleasant to all creatures that are not troglodytes.
Stench: All creatures within short range must make a Might Check. Failure means they are sickened for a minute, given them a disadvantage to all checks.
Equipment: Club, 3 Javelins
Morale The troglodytes fear Grundmoch more than death, and in his presence they fight until slain. Otherwise, they try to flee into the surrounding mountains if brought below 4 hit points.
Trap: The troglodytes have piled a large stack of bricks above the doors to area C4. A lever and wedge behind them allows a single troglodyte to topple the entire stack into the doorway, smashing whoever stands beneath.
Type mechanical; Search Level 5; Disable Device Level 5
Effects
Trigger manual; Reset manual
Effect falling bricks (all targets within 10 feet of the double doors to area C3); 6 damage (Level 5 Speed Defense check for half )
The broad dome crests twenty feet above the floor, supported by stone arches inlaid with glittering fragments of rock crystal. The dome itself is damaged, missing several sections that have been crudely repaired with stretched hides. Beyond the arches, tiled walls square off the outer perimeter of the dome. Set into the floor beneath the dome is an elaborate mosaic of an intertwining sun and moon. The once stunning inlay is badly chipped. Chained to several of the arches hang the half-devoured remains of slain gnolls, their corpses crawling with flies. Most of the bodies are missing the majority of their legs and feet. A single word has been crudely carved into their chests.
At either end of the dome, double doors provide exits, while a small staircase in the southeast corner of the chamber leads down to area C6. The word carved into the chests of the dead gnolls is “infidel,” written in Draconic.
Creatures: A cabal of troglodyte clerics uses this chamber to perform sacrifices, in which they release pet monitor lizards to devour tied and hobbled interlopers in the name of Rovagug. Currently, only three adepts occupy the dome, happily tending to their pets with scraps of raw gnoll meat. The missing gnoll feet are evidence of the work of the monitors whenever they’re left alone here.
This humanoid’s scaly hide is dull gray. Its frame resembles that of a cave lizard, with a long tail and crests on its head and back.
Motive: Feral savages that hunt for either sport or food.
Environment: Underground
Health: 12
Armor: 3
Damage: 6 with Greataxe + 2 with Bite
Movement: Short
Modification: Level 4 to Stealth and attack with Greataxe, Specialized in Low-Light Spotting.
Languages: Draconic
Combat: The clerics throw their currently held meat scraps at their attackers, then step back, allowing the monitor lizard to take the front line. When they enter melee they channel their god's range into a single smiting strike. Like all troglodytes, they also emit a powerful stench that is unpleasant to all creatures other than other Troglodytes.
Stench: All creatures within short range must make a Might Check. Failure means they are sickened for a minute, given them a disadvantage to all checks.
Smite: +2 to damage and ease difficulty to hit (once a day)
Morale The clerics fight until slain.
Gear studded leather armor, masterwork greataxe, 6 javelins, necklace of bone fragments and teeth
Health: 10
Damage Inflicted: 5 points
Armor: 1
Movement: Long
Modifications: Speed defense as level 4; stealth and climbing as level 2
Combat: Monitor Lizards move very fast and use that speed to their advantage in combat. A lizard can move a long distance and still attack as a single action.
Tactics
During Combat As soon as the adepts throw the meat scraps at interlopers, the monitors turn aggressive and attack.
Morale The monitor lizards fight to the death.
The Carrion King’s gnolls all dwell within the actual House of the Beast, although not all of them can be found within its walls at any one time. Some of the tribe’s members patrol the outer temple grounds, while even more patrol the surrounding terrain or travel to other tribes to gather tribute for their king. Three categories of gnoll comprise this tribe—standard gnolls, the tougher Carrion Guards, and the Carrion Initiates. When this adventure begins, there are 43 gnolls in all stationed within the House of the Beast (23 gnolls, 12 Carrion Guards, and 8 Carrion Initiates). Every day that passes, gnolls slain by the PCs can be replenished as additional gnolls return from outlying areas, at a rate of 1d6 gnolls per day (maximum of 40 reinforcements), 1d4 Carrion Guards every 2 days (maximum of 10 reinforcements), and 1d3 Carrion Initiates every 3 days (maximum of 3 reinforcements).
Several ten-foot-wide, C-shaped alcoves stand to either side of this forty-foot-long hallway. Pillars run down the center of the hall, and scattered in several of the alcoves lie the remains of ancient offerings, most of which consists of tiny cracked perfume bottles and crumbling wads of burnt incense.
The western door opens into area C4, while the eastern door leads out to an open pathway that runs through the courtyards of the main temple. Close inspection of the door to the east reveals that it has been sealed shut via a stone shape spell—Grundmoch did this to prevent gnolls from getting into their complex. The door no longer opens as a result—beyond them lies area H8 of the middle temple of the House of the Beast.
C5a: This door opens to a spiral staircase within the southern minaret. The stairs climb upward to a small platform in the minaret 60 feet above, but are quite ricketylooking and riddled with cracks. Each round a Medium or larger creature stands on the stairs, there’s a 25% chance the stairs collapse into area C7b 20 feet below. Creatures in the stairwell take falling damage as appropriate, and could be buried as well (see page 66 of the DMG).
C5b: This door opens to a spiral staircase within the northern minaret—it is safe to traverse.
The air in this large, dark hall is acerbic, infused with the scent of the smoky braziers that provide dim lighting. Archaic frescos fade beneath layers of graffiti on the chamber’s walls, which are marred in several places by brutal axe marks. Three pairs of columns line a single walkway that cuts through the center of the room. Along the perimeter stand small semi-circular mounds formed from reddish clay soil. A pair of double doors hangs on the center of the east wall, while to the west an arch opens to a large alcove. In the southeast corner, a small flight of stairs leads up.
There are 14 soil mounds in all. Buried in each are small clutches of sand-colored, speckled eggs, each about the size of a grapefruit—troglodyte eggs.
Creatures: A pack of 5 well-trained guardian monitor lizards protects the troglodyte hatchery. Though they won’t attack troglodytes, the great lizards are quite aggressive and immediately attack anything else that enters this room.
Health: 10
Damage Inflicted: 5 points
Armor: 1
Movement: Long
Modifications: Speed defense as level 4; stealth and climbing as level 2
Combat: Monitor Lizards move very fast and use that speed to their advantage in combat. A lizard can move a long distance and still attack as a single action.
This long hall ends at a curved wall to the east where a brace of heavily barricaded double doors blocks further passage. Before the door stands a haphazardly constructed bunker of rubble and mud brick.
The heavily barricaded double doorway leads to area H8. The exit can only be forced open with a Level 7 or greater Might check. Area C7b is a small circular storage area that contains several broken weapons and bits of scavenged armor awaiting repairs that will likely never happen. Area C7a is a flight of stairs that leads up to area C5b; though they appear rickety, the stairs between here and the ground floor above are solid, and will not collapse.
Creatures: More than a half-dozen troglodytes guard the eastern door to prevent an incursion of gnolls from the east. Upon spotting adventurers, the troglodytes are confused (especially if adventurers come from the west or above). If the PCs make no attempt at peaceful negotiations, these seven troglodytes attack after a round of confusion.
This humanoid’s scaly hide is dull gray. Its frame resembles that of a cave lizard, with a long tail and crests on its head and back.
Health: 7
Armor: 2
Damage: 4
Movement: Short
Modification: Level 4 to Stealth, Specialized in Low-Light Spotting.
Languages: Draconic
Combat: During Combat Four of the troglodytes rush to attack in melee while the others hang back and throw javelins.
Troglodytes also emit a powerful stench that is unpleasant to all creatures that are not troglodytes.
Stench: All creatures within short range must make a Might Check. Failure means they are sickened for a minute, given them a disadvantage to all checks.
Equipment: Club, 3 Javelins
Morale The troglodytes fear Grundmoch more than death, and in his presence they fight until slain. Otherwise, they try to flee into the surrounding mountains if brought below 4 hit points.
An archway opens into a small semi-circular chamber with a low, curved ceiling. A mix of rubbish and dried mud seals a doorway in the western wall, though something has smashed a sizable hole through the wall just south of the doorway.
The foyer serves as the entrance to Grundmoch’s abode. Unless accompanied by troglodytes, anyone trespassing within this section (areas C8–C11) is considered a potential threat and immediately attacked without question.
Mosaics covering the walls of this room depict armored men fighting dragons and other mythological creatures with long spears and curved swords. They are scarred in several locations where the plaster and brick face has torn free. A pile of dirty hides rests in the corner next to a large wooden cask filled with bones.
Creatures: Grundmoch’s most trustworthy ally isn’t actually a troglodyte—rather, this is a creature the troglodytes have taken to calling the Gargler for the strange, fluidic noises it makes when angered. The Gargler is a gibbering mouther that Grundmoch discovered living in the region when the troglodytes first arrived in this area years ago. Grundmoch’s triumph of earning the gibbering mouther’s trust and even friendship has given the troglodytes a unique ally, but as of yet Grundmoch has been unwiling to risk the Gargler on an attack against the gnolls.
Nonetheless, the gargler is almost useless in guard duty, as it tends to lose track of its allies and has killed more troglodytes than enemies the few times it served such duty. As a result, Grundmoch keeps it close by as a personal guardian.
This horrid mass of eyes, mouths, and formless flesh stares in all directions, its countless maws yammering ceaselessly.
Health: 13
Armor: 4
Damage: 6 bite attacks 2 damage + grab (Blood Drain)
Movement: Immediate
Modification: Cannot be flanked, surprised, or sneak attacked, perception is Level 5.
Languages: Aklo
Combat: Gibbering mouthers strike at anyone that gets close.
Engulf: A target is engulfed. It is automatically attacked by 3 mounts and drained of blood. When the monster is attacked, the engulfed target takes half the damage.
Blood Drain: When a mouth grabs a target, the target must make a Might check to see if they can resist getting its blood sucked. Failure means they take one point of damage while the gibbering mouther heals one health
Gibbering: A Gibbering mouther can emit a cacophony of maddening sound. All creatures other than gibbering mouthers within short range must succeed on an intellect defense check or be confused for 1 round. Success means they are immune to the gibbering for 24 hours.
Spittle: A Gibbering mouther spittle splashes out each round, causing the area around them hard to move through as well as splashing peoples eyes. People within immediate range have a disadvantage to checks.
A blackened hole in the center of the floor serves as a fire-pit.
Within are charred bones and bits of boards. Suspended from the walls, several soot-smeared chains create a webbed design that hangs above the pit. The ceiling is similarly soot-stained. Grundmoch occasionally uses this primitive contraption to roast live sacrifices, combining religious observances with meals. The majority of the bones in the pit belonged to gnolls.
The room is garishly decorated with all sorts of dingy bangles and miscellaneous bric-a-brac, the bulk of which sits ploughed into a pile in the corner like a cheap dragon’s horde. Threadbare tapestries, woven from faded knots of muslin, hang on the walls, their once marvelous patterns painted over with bloody smears in the symbol of Rovagug.
Creatures: This room serves as the lair of the troglodyte’s leader, Grundmoch. If PCs can reach Grundmoch without wreaking too much havoc upon his tribe, the confused and angry troglodyte can be reasoned with, especially if he feels he can gain an advantage over the imposter who turned on him and usurped his temple. If made friendly or better, he’ll even explain the strangeness of recent events—how his friend Rokova went missing several months ago, his discovery of a badly savaged body that seemed to match his friend’s remains, and the results of his confrontation with the imposter who now wears Rokova’s skin. Grundmoch remains unaware of the imposter’s true nature and motives, but suspects that he plans on supplanting the Carrion King and twisting the House of the Beast to his own ends. Grundmoch’s greatest fear is that the imposter is an agent of a rival church, perhaps even the church of Lamashtu, and that he seeks to rebuild the sacred House of the Beast into a shrine to another god.
Grundmoch isn’t interested in aiding the PCs in a direct confrontation with the gnolls, but if the PCs establish a friendly relationship with the troglodyte, he agrees to let the PCs stay in area C3 if they’re looking for a relatively safe place to rest.
You see a large troglodyte wearing masterwork breastplate and a wicked greataxe.
Motive: Leader of the troglodyte tribe on Pale Mountain, he is looking for ways to dispose of the usuper that took his place as the Voice of Rovagug in the Carrion's Kings tribe.
Environment: Underground
Health: 20
Armor: 4
Damage: 6 with Greataxe + 2 with Bite
Movement: Short
Modification: Level 6 to Stealth and attack with Greataxe, Specialized in Low-Light Spotting
Languages: Common, Draconic
Combat: Grundmoch knows he is heavily armored, and takes the first several rounds of combat to arrogantly cast his offensive spells at foes, even in melee. He saves his wand to use against enemies who prefer to fight at range. If the PCs seem to be able to hit him, he casts hold person and blindness/deafness on those PCs, then casts divine favor and switches to his +1 greataxe and channel Rovagug's power into a single strike to do significant damage. Like all troglodytes, he also emit a powerful stench that is unpleasant to all creatures other than other Troglodytes.
Stench: All creatures within short range must make a Might Check. Failure means they are sickened for a minute, given them a disadvantage to all checks.
Smite: +2 to damage and ease difficulty to hit (once a day)
Hold Person: Hold's a target in place. They cannot move or physically attack.
Blindness/Deafness: Target is affected as if in total darkness.
Equipment: Wand of spiritual weapon (Level 1d4+2; 1 in 1d4 Depletion); Other Gear +1 breastplate, +1 greataxe (Large Melee Slash)
Morale Grundmoch fights to the death.
Treasure: Grundmoch’s collection of “treasures” consists primarily of dented brass and tin objects such as cups, plates, old incense holders, candelabras, and other such bric-a-brac, most of it badly tarnished, dented, and in poor condition. A careful Level 5 Search check reveals a few more valuable pieces including a dented brass canteen inlaid with silver trimming worth 200 gp, a gold bracelet inlaid with turquoise stone worth 500 gp, and a decorative golden helmet inlaid with a few small pieces of quartz worth 900 gp.