One I just wrapped up today, a small kingdom was being terrorized by a large pack of gnolls led by a half orc warlock whose patron was yeenoghu and who was gathering the components to perform the ritual of releasing to set yeenoghu lose upon the world and turn it into a slaughter house. Took about 9 months. Party was level 10 by the end.
-The king is dead, and the kingdom falls into a massive power struggle over who takes the throne, with the PCs caught in the middle as the royal guard or something.
-The party is transported to a plane of existence and must find their way back out. It's simple concept, and you have a lot of planes to choose from.
-Miners have recently struck gold at a small mining outpost, and people everywhere are coming to participate in the gold rush. However, something is killing the miners, and the PCs need to figure out what’s going on before it’s too late.
These are off the top of my head, so feel free not to use them if they’re not what you had in mind.
The players are in a world where in order to decide what the next Era is like the gods choose champions and those champions lead kingdoms/mercenaries and try to kill all opposing champions. The opposing champions would depend on whether the gods were arguing over good vs. evil or law vs. chaos. If the gods are arguing about good vs. evil then the party must be all good and neutral, or all evil and neutral and must defeat the other side (whether that be the good or evil champions). The players get to choose whether they're average people in this world just trying to survive the God War, or if they are champion hopefuls trying to impress the gods. If they become a champion of a god they get an epic boon.
Idea 2:
The world is compromised of 4 or 5 kingdoms at constant war and a penal colony separated from the rest of the continent by a mountain range. The PCs are accused of crimes and sent to the penal colony (whether they actually committed the crimes is up to the player). The penal colony is a harsh desert with various predatory wildlife and even worse people. The penal colony has a few towns but those towns are run by whoever is the strongest in the area and their gang, making them places of barely constrained chaos and hotspots for crime. The penal colony is secretly the ruins of the continent's former greatest kingdom and the last of its royal bloodline is trying to bring it back. The players can try to take over the penal colony and have each of them run a city but if they do that they'll eventually have to deal with the rise of the former kingdom, or they can run into and try and help bring back the kingdom (this could be for gold, glory, revenge, or really any reason). Alternatively, they could just try and survive the penal colony and have a more survival-horror game.
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call me Anna or Kerns, (she/her), usually a DM, lgbtq+ friendly
Do you have any idea of what kind of campaign you want to do, like mystery, horror, hack and slash, planar, et cetera?
Here are some random ideas:
Something planar-themed, where someone is trying to open a planar gate and let a bunch of monsters through to take over the material plane.
The characters work for a larger power like a government or church whose enemies are trying to overthrow them and the PCs are trying to stop the enemies.
There is a mysterious murderer who has been slowly picking people off, and the PCs need to figure out their motives and defeat them.
They get trapped in the Underdark and need to get out safely, but discover some sort of villainous scheme and need to stop it before it fully unfolds.
The PCs are wandering monster slayers, and they begin to notice a bunch of patterns in the monsters they fight and realize that these monsters are pawns of a greater power.
They stumble upon a planar gate and end up getting pulled through it, ending up a long way from home and need to find their way back to the material.
There is an evil spy somewhere in their system of government, and the PCs need to find out who it is and their motives, slowly narrowing down a list of subjects. If you want an extra surprise, you can make it the person who sent them on their quest or an ally trying to direct the blame away from them and frame someone else while they quietly scheme.
These are super loose ideas so you can tweak and personalize them, but if you want more elaboration I can do that.
Two people or groups with directly opposite goals: in the case of my own game, Law and Chaos.
One side, a pair of elves, are trying to make the Material Plane into a chaotic paradise similar to the Feywild. Their motivation is to bring back the “good old days”: the primordial chaos enjoyed by the first elves, before they were locked into static mortality by Corellon.
The other side, a group calling itself the Order of Law, wants to make the Material Plane into a place of Absolute Law, similar to Mechanus. They believe that this will bring a golden age of stability and justice.
Each side believes that it is working for the good of all the world, and will try to recruit the PCs as they become more powerful. Every deliberate action the PCs take counts toward either Law or Chaos, although they don’t know that at first. The characters must eventually decide whether to favor one side, or stop both, preserving the balance of Law and Chaos in the Material Plane.
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I live with several severe autoimmune conditions. If I don’t get back to you right away, it’s probably because I’m not feeling well.
Primal Blade Do you have any backstories for your PC. I started our adventure as a simple way for my group to play when our main campaign could not. It was just supposed to be a simple hack and slash. One I had not DM anything in 20yrs, 2 none of us had played more than maybe one session of 5e. I had come up with a League for bounty hunters and the party was just supposed to show up and pick from the bounties and go and kill.
Well, long story short this is the group's campaign. I had made the group do backstories though and wouldn't you know it the warlock has made a pact with Mephistopheles. looking him up and finding Mephistopheles what to rule all the realms, plans, and anything in between made the end goal easy for me. Stop the cult of Mephistopheles. Right now they are responsible for the small groups across the realms being enslaved. I used the paladin's temple to push the story. They had seen the aftermath of many raids on small villages and caravans. The rumors slavers were at work but on a scale that has not been heard of. The temple came up with the plan to try and infiltrate the cult not with the party but a pair of paladins that were to be sold to the slavers. some info made it back. The party was charged with capturing one of the cultists. They have now I can feed paths from the temple and the even the league oh and I have a halfling rogue that loves using his underbelly contacts. I did not plan for that one let me tell you and twice it has bitten me. I had to come up with paths just because I gave them info that was just supposed to be FYI. They decided they wanted to run the leads down.
So the party has helped me keep it going and now I have 3 ways for them to find encounters. The bounties at the league, the temple and their prisoner, and the underbelly. I know where I want the campaign to end and have some of the encounters laid out. I use some of the parties to plan others. Oh and now one has been bitten by a werewolf so there could be a side quest. The warlock has pretty much quit playing but others have joined. Mephistopheles cult still needs to stop and so the campaign is just starting for the group. They are LVL 5 and 6.
I guess, to sum up, may rambling. Can the backstories be used to build the campaign.
You awake screaming. A young priest looks at you wild-eyed and sallow of face. He tells you that he found a rod of true resurrection (Rod of Rastinon) and he started bringing back whoever he could. Any scrap of humanity, he tried to cast the rod on. He explains that he is a plainer traveler(His name is Ogrin and he has lost his mind).
RP'ing Ogrin. Ogrin is a plainer traveler, Someone who has a plain shift spell cast on him randomly roughly once a year. (cursed bloodline) He was driven to madness shortly after landing in Bluetspur from horrors unknown. After 1d10 rounds he should stop and lock eyes in the distance (at nothing) and run away from the party. If they chase him he and the party stumble onto a glowing orb of yellowish light peeling open reality around it.DC 16 to see it beforehand. The orb opens and as if pulled from another plain a group of 1d20 cultists surrounds a pool of unknown purple liquid. They are chanting loud as the ground begins to shake. If the party does not interfere they summon a horrid mass of writhing purple flesh (stats of a Neolithid) that kills all but one cultist and lumbers off toward Mnt MaKab.
MAP LOCATIONS: The shore: The shoreline of this domain in half still sea and half cliff face falling into forever.
Mount MaKab:
Calling Makab a mountain is a wild misnomer; it is a malignant deformation on a planetary scale, aspire with no apparent summit. It is the home of the elder god brain (Ted) it is covered in the purple creep twisting and pulsating back and forth. Smokestacks made of stone and creep jut out of the mountain at odd angles puking black smoke into the sky. The mountain stretches into the sky and past the clouds. Its contorted slopes stretch into the toxic heavens, and its form occupies the periphery of viewers’ attention no matter which direction they look.
Mount Makab is not a natural feature, but rather part of a colossal, illithid-designed device. Its purposes remain largely mysterious to outsiders, but one thing is certain: it amplifies psionic energy, allowing Bluetspur’s mind flayers to project their thoughts into other Domains of Dread.
The creep grows thicker here. Purple tendrils leak out of the landscape. Reaching up for any moving things. Most of the mountain is unexplored due to the god brain stopping them. Flesh-like tubes crisscross the mountain to relocate anything the god brain might want to. (little stone is left, Most of the landscape here is made from the creep.
Citadel Subtooine Below Mount Makab stretches the hive-like lair of the illithids. This mind flayer metropolis comprises innumerable interconnected compounds—laboratory vaults, custom prison-habitats, intellect devourer preserves, incubation domes, brain-filled synapse libraries, testing hippodromes, surgical theaters, and facilities that beggar rational description. Non-illithids find travel within the citadel maddening, like trying to find a specific point within a writhing knot of worms. Locations are inaccessible to creatures reliant upon basic terrestrial mobility or without the ability to access psionically controlled mechanisms. Entering Citadel Subtooine is simple, though, as fissures across Bluetspur, particularly upon Mount Makab, lead within.
Rimsa: Some places can only be found if you have been there before. Rimsa is a such location. One of the only safe havens in this land. Crystle-covered trees and a dark sky. Surrounded by thick fog Rimsa only reach out to those in need. Any nat 1 when searching or fleeing, and mists form around you and pull you in.
Deadlands: The deadlands are a sick patch of purple creep. All the creep in this section of the map is inactive. Black crystal trees grow in twisted shapes. The region reeks of death and rot. Every 1d12 rounds you must make a CON save starting at DC 1 and getting worse every time you lose. When losing a save you take and = amount DMG to the save.
The deadlands have a huge pyramid hovering over them. it is huge and dominates the landscape. it is shrouded in mist. (it is a mini domain of dread and needs a dark lord.) A Sibriex is the current "dark lord" But have little idea of how it works and is willing to give the title away.
At the center of the building sits a huge amalgamation of living meat and crystals. It breaths in long slow breaths. (This is a Mytholar made out of gibbering mouther meat, crystals, and some other unidentifiable objects)
If camping in the Deadlands 1d4 rot grubs come in the night and try to burrow into the party.. every CON save.
Forrest of glass: A huge cluster of black crystal trees. Some sickly green light emits from the center.
The river: the River is blood red and thick. It has things bobbing back and forth in it. If you follow the sources of the river back most drain out of mount.
Mount Grysl is the main location for those trying to hide from the Elder Godbrain (Ted) It is the location of the Master Ilithid and many others trying to survive.
Mount Grysl’s polypous spires once served as a secondary installation of the domain’s resident mind flayers, but the residents rebelled against the God-Brain’s self-serving obsessions. As one might amputate an infected limb, the God-Brain cut off Mount Grysl from its psychic network. The abandoned residents largely succumbed to infighting and each other’s amoral experiments. The spirits of these tormented mind flayers remain within Mount Grysl, as does the rebellion’s leader: a bloated deviant that calls itself the High Master and seeks to undermine the God-Brain.
A pale, reddish glow silhouettes the horizon in every direction, like a 360” sunset, shedding cold dusk on your new surroundings. The midnight blue sky is cloudless, but there are no stars. Lowering your eyes, there are no trees or bushes in sight; only a pale, blackish-yellow grass sprouts in thin patches on the crater-pocked ground. There are no sounds or signs of animal life anywhere. Twisted, angular rocks are the only things that seem to grow in this climate. They shoot out of the ground and bend in impossible directions as if they were soft clay slabs mangled by some lunatic god and then scattered across the realm. A low, constant, metallic drone is in the air. It’s not loud enough to be distracting, but it will begin to grate on your nerves if it doesn’t stop. The hum doesn’t seem to be coming from any particular direction. Jagged, bare mountains rise high in the distance and fall to the flatlands in a broken heap, as if the range were one gigantic, razor-edged rock pile. Smaller mountains rise to each side of you while the flatlands stretch far behind you. A river flows past, draining from the foothills. Its water is clear and icy-it seems safe enough to drink.
Bodies of water:
Rimsa River The magic of Rimsa keeps the river a light blue and flows slowly. SW Near Mnt Grysl Drinkable
The print is a gigantic humanoid footprint filled with bright blue water. Mid East, All the way to the coast, Drinkable
Lake Makab is a large body of water at the base of Mnt Makab, It connects to the upsidedown river. Do Not Drink
The slow river NE running out of Mnt Makab, It is a thick yellow liquid running slowly down, Do Not Drink
The river of blood Runs through the middle of Bluetspur, Do not drink
The in-between: Despite its look, This domain is teeming with life. All of the in-between places are covered in cave systems and vast patches of empty creep.(See random table at the end)
DM notes "This is Bluetspur. A Domain of dread in the Deep Ethereal."
ADVENTURE START:
Not all the Domains of Dread are drawn from worlds hospitable to life.
The scale and impossible geometry of this plane induces instinctual anxiety.
Gaseous tempests whirl upon the hooked peaks of gravity-defying mountains, oily spires twist in semi-organic contortions, caustic fumaroles yawn and snap shut hungrily, and above it, all hangs a dying red orb."
Little can survive this wasteland, which is why these land masters dwell underground.
If you have died here you are cursed to become a horrid monstrosity. You and 10 other people sit confused, in robes, looking terrified.
As you push off the ground to lift yourself up your hand sinks a bit, As you notice that the surface feels almost like flesh, pulsating.
You look up to see a putrid purple sky pockmarked with black clouds. The landscape is a dull purple.
As far as you can see, it is littered with what almost looks like a cruel mockery of trees. You look in the distance to see a mountain climbing into the sky but you realize it has no end.
This place confuses the mind and befuddles the senses. everything smells of burnt ozone and rotting meat.
As you walk forward you realize you've been here before. The scars on your body tingle with memories unknown. Can you reclaim your memories and your sanity? Or will This place turn you to its twisted ends once more?
DM NOTE "The Land: Formerly a Core domain", Bluetspur is now a barren Island domain floating in the Mists. This unearthly place appears to have been physically broken off from the Core. Along its mountain chain (formerly part of the Balinoks), massive spurs of rock jut from the peaks at impossible angles, defying gravity. Stone arches bridge the summits, Large chunks of landscape look ripped directly from random plains, stuck at odd angles marking the only plant life. corkscrewing spires rise from the rock as if they were violently driven up through the surface. Every d20 days a wave in the ground manifests from one direction then another.
Suppressed Memories
Aberrant Evidence d6 Evidence 1 A needle-like device buried under someone’s skin
2 An inexplicable crater or circle of scorched crops
3 A stable full of exploded livestock
4 An antimatter rifle (detailed in the Dungeon Master’s Guide)
5 A missing person or otherworldly being transformed into a brain in a jar (see chapter 5)
6 The damaged corpse of a vampiric mind flayer (see chapter 5)
If too much time has passed: The mound of flesh that is the landscape shutters and shifts. All the ground starts to move around you, too fast to keep up with, and (DC 15 dex save) you begin to tumble (or run) and you see a black void in the ground sweeping towards you. Always coming from the opposite way it came before.
You see the black void settle right under you. It feels like gel beneath you. The inky blackness shifts...Shutters and focuses on you. It is an eye. You feel its knowing gaze peer deep into your soul. DC 5 Int saving throw. On a fail, you start walking to a mountain in the distance. You walk to the base of the mountain and escorted to the elder brain's chamber.
When you are brought to the elder brain it offers to let you go if you willingly feed it blood for 1d4 days. If you chose to It heals you for any DMG taken. (DM NOTE If the party follows the fear of this place has not been properly demonstrated. After completing the deal the Ted tries to kill the party via 1d4 Vampiric mind flayers and 1d4 Intellect devourers. on a D20 roll of 15 or higher made by the DM or a party member. If the DC is met. One of the party members sees a fleshy tube they can dive into DC 5 Dex check...if not this might be a wipe)
Run Or in 1d4 rounds the eye opens and starts abducting NPC's after two disappear DC 10 Dex save or be swallowed into the eye.
You find yourselves at a winding cavern. An amalgamation of fleshy terrain and gnarled ruins stretches down below you. The caverns below are filled with half-twisted creatures and blasphemous experiments. DC 15 check Troll parts scatter the rooms. Mindflayers walk mindlessly back and forth from room to room. , The vampiric mind flayers in this place seem under some kind of spell. They harvest Troll Blood, Meat, and bile and dump them down a never-ending tube. The masters of the place have long since been killed or worse. If the vampiric mind flayers are disrupted in any way they attack and explode in 1d4 rounds (Only the ones directly disturbed)
DC 10 checks to find a cage full of starving Trolls. The party can free the Trolls that then 1.The Trolls Attack the party! infected with some rage vires. (they do not regenerate) 2.The Trolls Give the party 1d4 makeshift health potions (made from trolls blood...you hope) 3.The Trolls lead the party to a stash of stuff (+10 to the pile of loot check) Take 1/2 and leave. 4.The Trolls attack the vampiric mind flayers killing every single one. 5.The Trolls go to the basement and "Fight the Creep" The party can escape easily. 6.The Trolls scatter in every direction and do a little of everything.
Pile of loot 1-2 A truly cursed item, Loupgaru, it is a blue. 3-4 you find clothes. 5-6 you find fitting gear. 7-8 you find a green 9-10 you find a blue 11-12 you find a purple 13-14 you find 2 greens 15-16 you find 2 blues 17-18 you find one purple one blue 19 you find 2 green 2 blue and 2 purple 20 to find a magic weapon of your choice 25 to find an Artifact. (Everyone gets to make this check and can be different skills-based of RP)
The party should find evadince that a wizard lived here for a long time doing all kinds of alchemacl experaments. They find many diffrent rooms
1 full of cursed items as if a prodution line (roll on the minor curse table, they sloley harvest Quintessence over time via the curse.)
2 Many diffrent types of Suude including many never seen before.
3 Resurch of all kinds including a map of the relm, 1d4 memory stones, a book bound in flesh and written in primordel as well as 1d100 spell scrolls, many of witch are custome made spells.
You as well find a room with many doors in it and some sort of mecanizim, the doors are temp portles that can be used to travle all over the building as well as some other spots on the map. 1 The god brains chamber (everyone dies.) 2 the pyermid center. 3 Mnt Grysl, the masters chamber.
The party finds a "Creep" in the basement along with evadince that the troll meat is being harvestted for Quintessence and harvesting the locale crystles as they are 90% Residuum
if the party chooses to stay and make this their home in 1d4 days a Vampiric mind flayer shows up and tackles a party member. It then tries to communicate. A DC 20 int saving throw allows the party to communicate with it.
Athaekeetha: A vampiric mind flayer that somehow kept its mind. It is in content anger and pain. It begs for a cure and after 1d20 days begs to die. RP'ing Athaekeetha. She can not speak In any way. It can only communicate with other VMF.(as well as control them completely, up to 1d10 at a time) She suffers great pain and bouts of anger. Any time the party communicates with her roll a d100 (+/- the number of non-illithids and Illithids around) on a 1 she attacks the party, only stopping after feeding on a party member or a DC 30 Anamle handling check. on a 100 she has a moment of stillness and can tell the party (with her mind) about a cure being made in Rimsa. She can not enter Rimsa under any means save being escorted by Skornando. (Athaekeetha is infected with multiple curses as well as the Phonic plague infecting Ted. it has no effect on anyone other than reinfecting Ted)
A large tree sits in the distance. It looks like it's on an island sitting on a lone patch of dirt. When you get close the giant tree has been twisted into the grim visage of a face stuck in a silent scream. A druid is named Liliana. She is a Cervitaur and lives here and is doing vile experiments on Ilithids. Turning them into plants and other creatures. She has started to grow a small living portal but needs Humen to Tabaxi flash to finish it. (if the party helps they open a portal to Waterdeep and Gibbering madness begins.) The tree lab The lab: is a location where hundreds of pods housing every manner of creature imaginable.
You find many different types of vampires and lycanthropes as well as many colors of slaad. When you get about 20-30 min in the party finds a pod that has been destroyed and is covered in blood. This is where Liliana cam from.
The Creeper is a life form made from the purple fleshy landscape. It can not be killed. Only slowed. When it attacks, a faceless beak burst out of the Purple flesh attached to a long thick neck and 1d10 Tentacles with a +5 to grapple. If swallowed you are brought to the elder brain's chamber. When you are brought to the elder brain it offers to let you go if you willingly feed it blood for 1d4 days. If you chose to It heals you for any DMG taken.
Alt storyline: The pirates feed the party and Cpt Roberts offers to equip them with anything they need to join the crew. After 1d4 days of sailing the purple and black sea stops near the edge of the mist. 1d20 huge tentacle grapples the ship and it stops completely all at once.
DM NOTE: Cpt Roberts and the crew should be played as fun-loving pirates. You should use the crew to create tension going forward. You find a corpse or mind flayer with a ring or tattoo of one of the crew. You see the half-destroyed ship slowly drifting by in the distance on the still sea.
The ship is sunk if the party chooses to stay abroad. At this point flip a coin and Heads: the mists surround the party and they pass out. arriving in the town in Rimsa. Tales: Specialized tentacles grapple the party (DC 25 str check) Open and slurp the party to Ted's chamber.
Suppressed Memories d6 Memory 1 You’re paralyzed on a cold table. Clicking sounds surround you. Pallid tentacles slither toward your face, each ending in gleaming surgical instruments. What are they trying to do?
2 Some unfamiliar reflex moves your arm. Looking, you catch a glimpse of a bruise slithering beneath your skin. What do you do?
3 A many-legged, ferret-like creature floats into your cell. You feel multitudes of unseen eyes upon you. What do your captors expect you to do with this? What do you do?
4 Rainbow storms assail the heights of a mountain so tall it seems to curve over you. You’re floating over a red wasteland, just one in a line of hovering beings. What do you see ahead?
5 You knew a stranger. You were each other’s comfort against fear and pain. Then they were taken away. What were their final words to you?
6 The figure hovering before you are deemed acceptable. They’re lowered into a pool, where pale, slug-like beings set upon them. You float forward. Why are you deemed unacceptable?
Any nat 1 when searching or fleeing and mists form around you and pull you in.
Village of Rimsa
Rimsa is surrounded by the fog of the land. A safe haven in a sea of eldritch terror.
1. Skornando is the town trader (will trade anything for a mists key & will barter for you to work NOTE: he has any and all common gear and simple weapons)
2. The local inn will feed and cloth anyone for free (Abagale the druid. Need music or booze.)
3. A overworked alchemist (Landwell Tikrite) does what they can to help the folks that end up here. (needs undead flesh or dead things, Has Booze)
4. A young druid withered and aged for how young she is (Abagale Dwarf) Is working to gather supplies as needed for the alchemist (Landwell Tikrite).
5 All of the local trees are dying and have a Crystle that strat to grow off the dead trees. (DC 20 int and you can tell the Crystle have anti psionic powers. Landwell Tikrite can make this into protective gear that Ilithids are weak to. but can't focus on making the cure if they do.)
6. A feast in honor of the 1 year of the mists protecting them( Every year Skornando disappears and the mists come down and almost everyone dies. Every one left has a mind wipe)
Darklord Skornando: was tricked by his own hubris. He thought he could save everyone from a coming apocalypse and knew he only had the power to save himself. When he saved himself the land he loved was pulled into Ravenloft to be a safe haven for those lost in this sea of mad chaos. His curse is he knows he can't care for everyone and at some point, he will only be able to save himself.
Skornando is a Vistani, He is a level 5 druid level 5 ranger level 5 Warlock of the mist and believes he is doing his best and will get whatever the party needs to get them going.
If the party stays 4 days the mists dissipate and are beset on by mind flayers riding long blue lizards that breathe lightning. DC 25 int saves all around.
(If the party is friendly With Skornando He starts crying and tells the party everything. DC 25 int (Arc) check and you tell him how he can save up to 50 others with his power.) RP'ing Skornando: He is a very short Vistani, Extremely handsome, and charismatic. He has a mix of a Spanish and Italian accent. He is very kind, particularly to animals. Skornando can trade with the local mind flayers and can freely leave the Domain. (He can only travel to Barovia)
The Mindflayers capture and bring the party to 1-5 the party is placed in a tube chamber and roll on the memory and sanity table
6-10 S'lthell in a small but powerful uprising,
11-15 you awaken with Ogrin naked (all your gear is gone) a few years later having been resurrected.
16-20 The High Mastermind flayer of Mount Grysl, and a sizable group of mixed Illithids hunting the Rod.
Matron Mother Malice owned a strange and unique rod of reincarnation, gifted to her during the House Do'Urden's good graces in the eyes of Lolth. The scepter possessed the abilities of a regular rod of resurrection, but also could instantly destroy a creature, rebirthing them as a completely random new being of the same power level. The knowledge of the item was lost with Malice's death as she kept the rod's existence a secret. This rod, is the Rod of Rastinon.
Malice never regained Lolth's favor after Drizzt's actions. Ten years later, in 1338 DR, the two houses finally ended their covert war when House Hun'ett attacked and were defeated by House Do'Urden. Yvonnel Baenre forced Malice to "adopt" SiNafay Hun'ett as Shi'nayne Do'Urden, her eldest "daughter" recently returned home. Malice detested her and at the last moment sacrificed her instead of Rizzen to Lolth as an offering for Zin-carla, a "spirit-wraith" which was normally allowed only under Lolth's highest favor but was granted to Malice as a last-ditch effort to find and kill Drizzt. When Zin-carla (which was Zaknafein Do'Urden resurrected and controlled by Malice) found Drizzt, Malice lost control of it for a moment, which was enough time for Zaknafein to kill himself instead of allowing his body to kill Drizzt. This caused Malice to forever lose the favor of Lolth and to be killed by Briza, in one last desperate, and futile attempt to regain Lolth's favor for House Do'Urden. The house was defeated by House Baenre in 1339 DR. In her last words she swore vengeance like no other. To rain the Blood Briza down onto House Baenre. Lolth was offended by the words and Layed a Curse on Malice. Restoring her body and flinging her to the far realms, She landed in Bluesper. She was bit by Loup Garou and in a last-ditch effort to "cure herself" She used the Rod of Rastinon to destroy herself to come back "Better" In doing so she became an unknowing Simi-god. She is now cursed to come back as a new Demi-god every 1d10 months.
Nature of Being First, if you haven’t decided what this being is, roll for nature
Roll 1d8 Nature of Being 1 Saint 2 Avatar 3 Demigod 4 Reincarnated Emanation/Bodhisattva 5 Local Deity/Spirit 6 Titan/Being/Alien 7 Omnipotent/Omniscient 8 Personified Concept (no strictness or jealousy) Domain Then, you can either skip ahead to roll the Deity’s purview or you can roll here for a domain.
Roll 1d10 Deity’s Domain 1 Household 2 Household + roll again 3 Human Endeavors 4 Human Endeavers + roll again 5 Nature 6 Nature + roll again 7 Personal 8 Personal + roll again 9 Spirit 10 Spirit + roll again Deities in the personal domain are or were living beings who either were gods/demigods/avatars or they became them after death, coronation, etc. They might not have a particular purview or they might develop one after generations of worship.
Purview Roll d100 for a totally random purview in any domain or if you already have a domain chosen, roll 1d20 and consult columns 2 and 3. Note that some purviews are opposite sides of a coin. You can choose, flip a coin or make the same god responsible for both sides of the coin (one might pray to the goddess of slavery for freedom, for example).
Roll d100 Domain Roll 1d5 for Domain then 1d20 for Purview Purview 1 Household 1 Play 2 Household 2 Fertility/Harvest/Babies 3 Household 3 Health/Disease 4 Household 4 Hunt 5 Household 5 Hearth 6 Household 6 Doors/Household Safety 7 Household 7 Baking 8 Household 8 Wine/Beer 9 Household 9 Sewing/Weaving 10 Household 10 Wealth 11 Household 11 Household Item 12 Household 12 Food (particular) 13 Household 13 Important Commodity 14 Household 14 Male Virility 15 Household 15 Bridges/Gates/Crossing/Crossroads 16 Household 16 Fidelity/Adultery 17 Household 17 Animal Husbandry 18 Household 18 Gossip/Reputation 19 Household 19 Books/Scrolls 20 Household 20 Important Domestic Animal/Insect 21 Human Endeavors 1 Invention 22 Human Endeavors 2 War 23 Human Endeavors 3 Indulgence 24 Human Endeavors 4 Theft/Kidnapping 25 Human Endeavors 5 Travel/Hospitality to Strangers 26 Human Endeavors 6 Sailing 27 Human Endeavors 7 Building 28 Human Endeavors 8 Exploration/Adventure 29 Human Endeavors 9 Cannibalism 30 Human Endeavors 10 Honor/Justice/Vengeance 31 Human Endeavors 11 Trade/Commerce/Unexpected Windfalls 32 Human Endeavors 12 Slavery/Freedom 33 Human Endeavors 13 Learning/Ignorance 34 Human Endeavors 14 Hiding 35 Human Endeavors 15 Art/Poetry 36 Human Endeavors 16 Healing 37 Human Endeavors 17 Protector of Our People 38 Human Endeavors 18 Mining 39 Human Endeavors 19 Sport 40 Human Endeavors 20 Gambling 41 Nature 1 Animal 42 Nature 2 Mountains 43 Nature 3 Night 44 Nature 4 Oceans 45 Nature 5 Season (1d4: Spring/Summer/Autumn/Winter) 46 Nature 6 Plants/Woods 47 Nature 7 Predominant Local Climate/Weather Type 48 Nature 8 Fresh Waters 49 Nature 9 Natural Disasters 50 Nature 10 Thunder / Storms /Monsoon Season 51 Nature 11 Death/Destruction 52 Nature 12 Sun 53 Nature 13 Moon 54 Nature 14 Planet/Stars 55 Nature 15 Air 56 Nature 16 Fire 57 Nature 17 Earth 58 Nature 18 Water (all) 59 Nature 19 Natural Beauty 60 Nature 20 Decay (and rebirth) 61 Personal 1 King/Pharoah/Emperor 62 Personal 2 Queen/Empress 63 Personal 3 Consort 64 Personal 4 Parent of (roll again) 65 Personal 5 Child 66 Personal 6 Aescetic/Hermit 67 Personal 7 Bastard 68 Personal 8 Hero 69 Personal 9 Villain 70 Personal 10 Monster 71 Personal 11 Traitorous Advisor 72 Personal 12 Criminal 73 Personal 13 Folk Hero 74 Personal 14 Wise man/Wizard 75 Personal 15 Brother/Sister 76 Personal 16 Twins 77 Personal 17 General 78 Personal 18 Physician 79 Personal 19 Martyr 80 Personal 20 Roll Twice 81 Spirit 1 Wisdom 82 Spirit 2 Compassion 83 Spirit 3 Tricks 84 Spirit 4 Protection from Spirits 85 Spirit 5 Miracles 86 Spirit 6 Afterlife 87 Spirit 7 Pre-life 88 Spirit 8 Karma 89 Spirit 9 Undead 90 Spirit 10 Laughter 91 Spirit 11 Song 92 Spirit 12 Love/Sex 93 Spirit 13 Destiny/Fate 94 Spirit 14 Dreams 95 Spirit 15 Fear/Bravery 96 Spirit 16 Greed/Generosity 97 Spirit 17 Jealousy/Equanimity 98 Spirit 18 Hate/Love (non-romantic) 99 Spirit 19 Abstinence/Indulgence 100 Spirit 20 Bardo (Trial grounds between lifetimes) Form Roll 1d8 for appearance (if applicable). If you roll twice, combine the two (animal-headed human, panther made of swords, whatever).
Roll 1d8 Form 1 Human 2 Humanoid /Demihuman / Unusual Human 3 Animal 4 Object from Nature 5 Natural Process (wind, fire, etc.) 6 Man-made Object 7 Monster 8 Roll Twice Symbol Roll 1d8 for a symbol. If you roll twice, there is more than one (cross and fish, tree and wheel, fire and winged man, etc.). Or combine those as well.
Roll 1d8 Symbol 1 Weapon 2 Tool/Household Object 3 Animal 4 Manmade Symbol/Letter 5 Natural Object 6 Monster 7 Body Part 8 Roll Twice Colors Every team needs a color or two. Roll 1d10.
Roll 1d10 Color(s) 1 Red 2 Orange 3 Yellow 4 Green 5 Blue 6 Indigo 7 Violet 8 Black 9 White 10 Roll Twice: Mix or Pattern Offerings This is what you have to bring to appease/propitiate the deity. Obviously, roll again if the result doesn’t fit your campaign.
Roll 1d10 Offerings 1 Animal Sacrifice 2 Plants 3 Humans 4 Money 5 Work 6 Art 7 Goods/Commodities 8 Food/Water/Drink 9 Fasting/Deprivation 10 Help Others Other Aspects Roll 1d10 to determine other aspects of that deity on a scale of 1 to 10.
Strictness 1 = Forgiving 10 = Unforgiving Jealousy 1 = No Proselytizing 10 = Convert the World Opacity 1 = No Revelations 10 = Many Scriptures Posse 1 = Random Lone believers 10 = Ecclesiatical Hierarchy
Suppressed Memories
Check DC 20 1.You walk to the mouth of a cave, You are covered in blood and a black Icher with a small weapon in one hand. You reach the cave mouth. What do you see?
2. You command a group of two dozen troops of Illithids. You are all dressed for battle. What are you fighting?
3. You awake in a small lake of pale red liquid. Something is in the water with you. What is it?
4. You sit atop a colossal pyramid looking out at a vast purple landscape. You look into a purple sky shrouded by black mist, It parts for a brief sec. What do you see?
5. You are flying on a metallic-looking disk with a single handle sticking out of it. The mist is thick at this altitude and you look down below. What do you see?
6. You awake in the body of a Mindflayer! you know you should not be you but YOU ARE! what do you do?
All remaining Characters are pulled into a single memory Everyone rolls a D20 (lowest wins) then a D6 will determine what memory is true
after 24 hours the players awake in red liquid-filled cylinders and must find a way to break free (DC 15 check)
Bluetspur Adventures
d8 Adventure 1 Character awake within the shattered remains of a fluid-filled tube deep in Citadel Subtooine. They have no idea how they arrived there.
2 A cavern the characters were exploring seamlessly abuts with Bluetspur, trapping them in caves overrun with vampiric mind flayers (see chapter 5 VGR).
3 A strange message leads characters to a silvery vessel full of alien mysteries wrecked on Bluetspur’s surface. The only surviving creature in the wreck is a cunning displacer beast.
4 The characters find a strange but adorable creature trapped within an abandoned alien installation. The being is a lovable companion until it reveals itself to be a star spawn emissary (see chapter 5 VGR).
5 An acquaintance of the characters complains of reoccurring nightmares. The complaints stop when the dreamer is taken over by an intellect devourer.
6 An inventor requests the characters’ insight into a pill-sized device she extracted from her own body. As the characters examine it, the device projects a map into their minds and emits a telepathic call for help. The map leads to a mind flayer who wants to put the God-Brain out of its misery.
7 A farmer hires the characters to protect his family, whom he believes—without evidence—are being abducted and returned every night.
8 The High Mastermind flayer of Mount Grysl seeks to claim all the God-Brain knows. To do this, it creates a copy of the Apparatus (see “Mordent” later in this chapter VGR). All it needs is a relic called the Rod of Rastinon, which it wants the characters to retrieve for it.
9. Seeking information for the master and other Ilithids. They find a Druid harvesting it from Ilithid flesh (unknowingly) and inviting the living portal. Then they start harvesting it from vampiric mind flayers. If you know the druid yuou can take them there or hunt VMF alive
Adventures Out of Time The most effective way to reveal the characters’ missing memories is to revisit them as an adventure. Players might run lower-level versions of their characters or use the survivors from chapter 4 to represent their past selves. Or characters might play forgotten versions of themselves—perhaps very different from who they are now—or individuals in the memories of another character. Run this adventure as an experience detached from your campaign’s timeline, a flashback that relates the terrors of being a victim of the mind flayers’ plots. Death likely doesn’t mean much in these adventures, as characters somehow survived to remember their traumas—perhaps through miraculous mind flayer surgeries. However, developments in the past can provide all manner of revelations, potentially unveiling terrifying truths hidden within characters’ own minds and bodies. Many of the domains in Ravenloft float independently in the Misty Border, forming isolated Islands of Terror. Each is permanently surrounded by the Mists and has no physical link to any other domain. These Islands are continually forming and disappearing. The Nature of Islands
The Islands of Terror are some of the most unstable domains in the Demiplane. In time, most Island domains stabilize. Sometimes, however, the domain lord is eventually deemed unworthy of being a lord. In these cases, the Island ceases to exist, either returning to the Mists or to the plane from which it was snatched. Alternatively, if the lord proves himself sufficiently foul, the Island might stabilize and join the Core or one of the Clusters. More infrequently, a Core or Cluster domain may even be reduced to an isolated Island in the Mists.
The Grand Conjunction seems to have had its greatest impact on the Islands of Terror. At its conclusion, many of the older Islands were drawn together to form Clusters. Solitary Islands still float in the Mists, but some of the familiar ones have changed.
The sun never shines in this land, so it has no distinct day or night. However, the entire horizon glows with the ruddy hue of dusk, casting a reddish tint over the land and constituting "day". When "night" falls, the sky becomes completely black, and lightning begins to strike with electrifying frequency.
Those who remain under the open skies during these storms cannot hope to survive. However, those who take shelter underground must deal with the mind flayers.
Though various streams drain from the mountains, vegetation is almost nonexistent due to the absence of sunlight. A few species of sticky fungi grow in the crevices at lower elevations, but the land is otherwise barren and stony save for random growth brought in that quickly dies.
Cultural Level: An alien form of the dark-age domain.
The Folk: Only one group of people live above the ground in this domain in a settlement called Rimsa (A mini domain of dread). The only other inhabitants of Bluetspur are the illithids (also know as mind flayers), their servants, and a growing number of vampiric illithids.
The Law: This domain is ruled by a powerful being known only as Ted the god-brain. This creature uses mental domination to control his subjects.
Personalities of Note:
Athaekeetha: A vampiric mind flayer that somehow kept its mind. It is in content anger and pain. It begs for a cure and after 1d20 days begs to die. RP'ing Athaekeetha. She can not speak in any way. It can only communicate with other VMF.(as well as control them completely, up to 1d10 at a time) She suffers great pain and bouts of anger. Any time the party communicates with her roll a d100 (+/- the number of nonilithids around, depending on stress) on a 1 she attacks the party, only stopping after feeding on a party member or a DC 30 Anamle handling check. on a 100 she has a moment of stillness and can tell the party (with her mind) about a cure being made in Rimsa. She can not enter Rimsa under any means save being escorted by Skornando. (Athaekeetha is infected with multiple curses as well as the Phonic plague infecting Ted. it has no effect on anyone other than reinfecting Ted)
The High Master Illithid, a 20th-level metapsionicist, constantly seeks the means to usurp the power and position of the god-brain. He and Lyssa von Zarovich (a relative of Strahd) were the creators of the vampire illithids that threaten the current inhabitants of Bluetspur.
Level 1: Much as preditors settle near water to find prey, so do the monster of Bluetspur seeks to hunt at this level. Level 2: The City of Gliff is located here. Thousands of humanoids and mind flayers live in relative harmony here. With the Ilithids not wanting to lose good servents they don't push them too hard, And humanoids don't last a day on the surface, So they stay, Taken care of by the Ilithids. Many curious creatures live here. Bizlift Doorplslab, The first Ilithid to fully transform and keep its mind intact. During the process, Bizlift used Gnomish magic to bargain with the tadpole. The result is an Ilithid Wizard not connected to an elder. Ted and the other Ilithids fear Bizlift's power and let him do whatever he wants. On any nat 20 on this floor and Bizlift deems the party lucky enough to meet him. He invites the party to have dinner with him. Strange-looking fruits and mushrooms. If the party displays any aptitude for magic or intelligence (unprompted) Biz teleports the party to Rimza. If not he thanks them for a good conversation. Offers a hero's feast (the spell) and sends the party on its way. Level 3 The High Master Illithid has continued the "No Tadpole left behind" experimentations. Giant mind flays comingle with Tiny (pixy) mind flayer
All Mind flayer giants are Ulithid and are much more powerful than average Ulithids.
Anything smaller than med can not become a Ulithid but have a much greater chance to keep part of their mind apon changing.
The High Mastermind flayer of Mount Grysl seeks to claim all the God-Brain knows.
To do this, it creates a copy of the Apparatus (see “Mordent” later in this chapter VGR).
All it needs is a relic called the Rod of Rastinon, which it wants the characters to retrieve for it.
She will work with or even save the party at any point if she thinks the party can help.
She is watching the party as if the scrying spell (DC 35) and can not see Ogrin Morningstar in any way.
She is trying to find a better way to harvest Quintessence. If she is told about the druids resurch in the forrest of glass she will do everything she can to reteve it.
(If given the rod it and all traces of it disappear and DO NOT help to stop Ted.
If you are somehow friendly with The High Mastermind flayer she offers to bring the party back in time to take over the prime. She explains Elder brains never die. You can cut a god brain to bits and eat it and still it lives. I still hear the whispers of my first master. guiding me. She turns the party into Ilithids. This is an Easter Egg to start Gibbering Madness as Illithids)
Skornando: The Dark Lord of Rimsa who only wishes to save everyone in Bluetspur
finding the cure for vampirism Landwell Tikrite, a nonbinary halfling alchemist who dwells in the town of Rimsa holds the secret to ending the elder brain's ailment.
A mind flayer known as S'lthell has traveled to the surface seeking a cure for vampirism. They are hiding in Rimsa disguised as a half-drow named Lith'Die'el. A decade before, its colony's elder brain was afflicted with vampirism. Illithid tadpoles placed in the spawning pool where the elder brain dwells have similarly been afflicted and become vampiric mind flayers. Over the years, these creatures have overrun the colony. Because the elder brain attacks any mind flayers who oppose its growing army, S'lthell fears the colony will collapse with no new mind flayers being born.
Encounters: The vampire illithids are rabidly insane monsters, but one of them has retained enough of its intelligence to become even more dangerous. Its name is Athaekeetha, and it is featured in the Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium Appendices I & II.(2e)
The number of vampire illithids in Bluetspur is constantly increasing. Thus, characters who remain above ground in this domain have a 25% chance twice per day of encountering 1d4 of these vile creatures.
Vampire lllithid with 1HP remaining (Bloodlust)
Mind blast creates a cone 60' long, 5' wide at the base, and 20' wide at the end. This can be done once per round. The victim must save vs. wand at DC 5 int saving throw or be stunned for 1d6 rounds, and he must make a madness check of DC 10 or suffer long-term effects.
Personality: insane.
Due to the electrical storms, any character who remains above ground during the "night" must make a successful saving throw vs. DC 5 int or wis saving throw. Each round or be struck by a bolt of lightning. Failure to save indicates that the character suffers 4d6 points of damage (save again for half damage). Characters may take refuge under the rock outcroppings, but they will have no room to fight if attacked.
The living mind flayers appear at the surface only occasionally. However, the use of magic here creates an arcane resonance that can attract their attention. Each time a character casts a spell, he has a percentage chance equal to twice the level of the spell to draw the attention of the mind flayers. If the detection roll is successful, 2d6 mind flayers teleport into the area 1d4 rounds later. They always attempt to subdue visitors and add them to their servent pool.
Each night spent in Bluetspur also brings horrid nightmares. The dreamer imagines dark, foul creatures slinking out from the rock and devouring all that is good. A horror check is required when the character awakens.
Further Reading: The adventure Thoughts of Darkness (2e) provides more information on Bluetspur and details the events surrounding the creation of vampire illithids.
Vampiric mind flayers: Vicious siblings to mind flayers
Vampiric mind flayers are physically and mentally unstable beings. Ghoulish creatures, they let nothing stand between them and their existential imperatives. Although they possess the telepathic abilities of mind flayers, their brains aren’t equipped to employ them. Instead, they bombard nearby creatures with a mental static of visceral visions.
Source: Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft
Vampiric mind flayers are animalistic predators that appear in Bluetspur, a Domain of Dread of cosmic horror and monstrous experimentation. They are the result of an elder brain that infects mind flayer tadpoles with vampirism. Reaching maturity, these mind flayers hunt down humanoids beyond the Mists and drain them of their cerebral fluid. Bloated and lumbering, vampiric mind flayers will return to their elder brain to be liquefied into a balm.
Vampiric mind flayers disturb their more intelligent and sophisticated siblings, mind flayers. They lack personality or desire beyond serving their elder brain. For mind flayers, these creatures are the stuff of nightmare — they are mind flayers that lack agency and have no sense of self-preservation except to return to the God-Brain to be destroyed.
Bluetspur: The Domain of Alien Memories Bluetspur is an incomprehensible wasteland of floating mountains and violent storms. Few creatures roam the inhabitable surface world of this Domain of Dread, though many have taken refuge deep underground. There, mind flayers toil away in futuristic laboratories for a cure to an alien disease that slowly kills the God-Brain, the domain's Darklord. All the while, the God-Brain dreams up more terrible experiments and creations in its demented state, including the ravenous vampiric mind flayer.
If the inclusion of Bluetspur doesn't suit your campaign, you can include vampiric mind flayers in other ways. An ancient vampire might have sought more powerful minions and experimented on mind flayer tadpoles. Or a human scientist could have sought to weaponize these creatures, but instead was devoured when its creation reached maturity.
Vampiric mind flayers have a challenge rating of 5, making them suitable for a party of four 5th-level adventurers. If you want to raise the stakes, these creatures can be found with intellect devourers. One vampiric mind flayer accompanied by an intellect devourer represents a hard encounter, according to our encounter builder.
With high Wisdom, vampiric mind flayers will be tactical when attacking enemies. Their high Dexterity allows them to sneak up on targets until they are in the range of their bonus actionability, Disrupt Psyche. This ability targets Intelligence saving throws and can take down threats before they get a chance to act in combat:
Disrupt Psyche (Recharge 5–6). The mind flayer magically emits psionic energy in a 30-foot-radius sphere centered on itself. Each creature in that area must succeed on a DC 15 Intelligence saving throw or be incapacitated for 1 minute. The incapacitated creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
Vampiric mind flayers have low Intelligence, so they might not properly assess threats. They might choose to keep a watchful eye on the barbarian with a bloody great ax rather than the wizard with phantasmal force, for example. That said, you will have to decide whether the vampiric mind flayer's Wisdom score means that it will target an incapacitated creature and escape after draining it of cerebral fluid, or if it will attack those who are still standing.
For its Action, the vampiric mind flayer will need to use its Multiattack before it can take a sip out of player characters. Its Tentacles automatically grapple on a hit. The required DC 15 Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) to break free is a high bar for spellcasters and neatly sets up the vampiric mind flayer's Drink Sapience Action:
Drink Sapience. The mind flayer targets one creature it is grappling with. The target must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or take 14 (4d6) psychic damage and gain 1 level of exhaustion. The mind flayer regains a number of hit points equal to the psychic damage dealt. A creature reduced to 0 hit points by the psychic damage dies.
Imposing exhaustion is a nice touch for the creature's Drink Sapience ability. One point of it imposes a disadvantage on ability checks, including those required to break a grapple. Meanwhile, regaining hit points off the psychic damage dealt could mean the vampiric mind flayer gets an extra turn or two before fleeing or dying. Unfortunately, Drink Sapience doesn't do anything if the target successfully saves.
The vampiric mind flayer might flee Vampiric mind flayers are psychically linked to the elder brain that created them. If the God-Brain exists in your adventure and the vampiric mind flayers want to flee, then the Mists will roll onto the battlefield, opening a gateway to Bluetspur. This can trigger an adventure if the player characters pursue the vampiric mind flayer, which uses its high bonus to Dexterity (Stealth) checks to lose them before returning to the God-Brain.
Playing with vampiric mind flayers at your table vampiric mind flayers offer a variety of adventure hooks that lead player characters to Bluetspur. Player characters might be unwittingly abducted and returned with only scattered memories of experiments conducted on them in Bluetspur. These serve as a talisman to the domain. But if you want an adventure set in the Material Plane that involves vampiric mind flayers, you can tweak the following to suit your party's level:
A mind flayer seeks the party's aid you see an older man dressed in robes lumbering forward, his eyes blankly staring into yours. He beckons you forward with a crooked finger. "A private ... audience ... if you will," he says, his voice strained.
A mind flayer known as S'lthell has traveled to the surface seeking a cure for vampirism. They are hiding in Rimsa disguised as a half-drow named Lith'Die'el. A decade before, its colony's elder brain was afflicted with vampirism. Illithid tadpoles placed in the spawning pool where the elder brain dwells have similarly been afflicted and become vampiric mind flayers. Over the years, these creatures have overrun the colony. Because the elder brain attacks any mind flayers who oppose its growing army, S'lthell fears the colony will collapse with no new mind flayers being born.
Making a deal with the illithid Player characters who enter the caves surrounding Rimsa will be telepathically contacted by S'lthell, who has set up a base of operations nearby. It explains the blight of vampirism on its colony and offers a deal to the adventuring party: Help it cure the elder brain of its vampirism and it will see that humanoids trapped in the colony are released (also a ton of magic items if Friendly).
To accomplish this task, the party will need to research and concoct a balm that can cure the elder brain's vampirism. Further, the party will need to apply the balm themselves. S'lthell has been banished from the spawning pool after arguing against the elder brain's continued creation of vampiric mind flayers. However, S'lthell can ensure the party is tasked with looking after the elder brain, and that they are safely taken to and from the colony.
Refusing to help: Should the party refuse to help, a vampiric mind flayer will attack them at random in the following days. Following this attack, S'lthell will approach the party once more, explaining that the elder brain now seeks to extend its domain to the surface world and that this attack was simply to measure the "typical outsider response.
Despite the risks involved in invading the surface, no other mind flayers have risen to S'lthell's cause. Should the party still refuse to make a deal with S'lthell, the party will be attacked by a mob of vampiric mind flayers and intellect devourers. In the chaos that ensues, two mind flayers will attempt to Kidnap 2 party members and retreat.
Finding the cure for vampirism Landwell Tikrite, a nonbinary halfling alchemist who dwells in the town of Rimsa holds the secret to ending the elder brain's ailment. During their off-hours, Landwell studies the undead, believing that science can uncover the secrets to their unending lives — and use those secrets for good. In what way, Landwell isn't entirely sure. In exchange for creating the balm required to heal the elder brain, Landwell asks the party to bring back a sample from the creature for experimentation.
Creating the balm requires material components such as local cave mushrooms, the blood of a vampiric mind flayer, in addition to the fang of a vampire or vampire spawn. At night, one of these creatures can be found lurking in a nearby ruin. During the day, the creature takes refuge in one of the shallow caves Roll 1d6 on a 6 the party finds the vampire drained of fluid and dead. When Landwell has the necessary components, they produce the balm after three workdays.
Venturing into the mountain When the party returns to S'lthell, it reveals its plan for getting them into the colony: S'lthell will need to take control of them in order to dupe any mind flayers who might read their thoughts when they first arrive.* Once inside, S'lthell will relinquish its control over the party and assign them various tasks around the colony until the elder brain accepts them as caretakers. Such tasks can include the following:
Tasks in the mind flayer colony
1 Protecting a herd of rothé from an umber hulk spotted in the area.
2 Cleaning fighting pits where nightly duels are held.
3 Putting on a performance that entertains other mind flayers and showcases the party's strengths.
4 Collecting decorative flowers, which are protected by swarms of rot grubs.
* If loss of agency makes any of your players uncomfortable, the adventuring party might instead be tasked with learning and reciting phrases to successfully dupe any suspicious mind flayers.
When the party is permitted into the elder brain's chambers, they find the creature partially submerged in a spawning pool filled with innumerable infected mind flayer tadpoles. The elder brain is protected by two mind flayers vampires that keep watch over the caretakers. Changed by its vampirism, the elder brain is lethargic and frequently hungers for cranial fluids.
Every couple hours, the elder brain demands to be fed, at which point a mind flayer brings in servants to be drained by the vampiric mind flayers on guard. Afterward, the vampiric mind flayers enter the spawning pool and are liquefied. During this time, the party can safely apply the balm and take a sample of the elder brain as it is unguarded and distracting.
Alternatively, the party can make a group Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) or Charisma (Deception) check to safely apply the balm and take a sample. If they fail, S'lthell will enter the chamber and distract the elder brain and vampiric mind flayers long enough for the party to accomplish these tasks. S'lthell dies in doing so.
Curing the elder brain When the balm is applied to the elder brain, a psychic pulse resonates through the colony, disrupting the mind flayers' psychic abilities and causing vampiric mind flayers in the area to enter into a frenzy. The elder brain is incapacitated for 1 hour as it heals from its vampirism. In 1d10 rounds the first of the vampiric mind flayers start to self-destruct, This lasts 1d20 weeks.
As the colony erupts into chaos, S'lthell takes one of three courses of action, depending on its attitude toward the party:
1.Friendly: S'Ithell uses the opportunity to help the party and other servants escape. Doing so draws the attention of other mind flayers, who are too distracted to attack but will later have S'lthell exiled from the colony.
2.Indifferent: S'Ithell is true to its word and is later exiled from its colony for providing aid. However, S'lthell doesn't trust the party and has them followed by intellect devourers to ensure that they do not reveal the location of its colony when they return to the Town. If they do, the intellect devourers attack. Otherwise, they stop tracking the party after a few days.
3.Hostile: S'Ithell refuses to help the party but does not interfere in their escape, or if they help servants escape. When the party and freed servants return to the surface, word quickly spreads of their deeds, and the town launches a project to find and save any survivors. In the months that follow, the party hears rumors of recently rescued humanoids in town going missing. In truth, S'lthell's colony has returned to normalcy and begun replacing the servants who escaped.
The Ilithid compound
This compound is made of three parts. The top is made up of caves filled with monsters, Hunting and eating one another. The middle is the closest thing Bluetspur has to a bustling metropolis and the lower chambers are filled with vampiric mind flayers shuffling in and out of dark corners (portals), the entirety of this level is covered in purple and black creep. Level 1 level 2 Subtooen Level 3: vampiric mind flayers shuffle back and forth. A line of them, fat and slow shuffle to Ted's chamber. Every inch of this floor is covered in creep.
This is a set of sub-quests that can be set in Mkb or Grysl If the party attempts to elude the mind flayer forces by running into the cave labyrinth, keep the mind flayers hot on their trail for a few rounds. If the party is not hurt too badly at this point, allow the mind flayers to catch up with them and fight another battle or two, until the PCs have a sense of “nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.” At that point, place Symbiont around the next bend. When they see him, read the following boxed text. Around the next bend, you come face to face with a horrifying sight. An ape-like creature, with a hideously malformed human head growing from its stomach, throws out one hand in a gesture of greeting while putting a finger to his lips with the other hand. Symbiont leads the party through a series of narrow devices, some of which shrink to as narrow as three feet across. Everyone must crawl, and larger-than-man-sized creatures have a 25% chance to become stuck at some point along the way, unable to continue without magical means. At last, you arrive in a dimly torch-lit cavern. The air here is truly foul; it takes a supreme act of will to hold your gag reflexes in check. There are perhaps a half dozen disfigured creatures in this cramped space: all of them are part human and part animal or monster. There is a giant slug with a human’s head, partially dissolved from its own acidic spittle. His antennae are human arms and hands from the elbows down, and they twitch and grasp at the air in front of him. a wolflike creature with vaguely human ears, a short, bleeding nose, and dog-clawed fingers. These and other disgusting creatures crowd around, sniffing and pawing at you, and speaking to one another in an odd language. You can understand a word here and there, but it is largely gibberish. Instruct the party to make another round of horror checks, this time with a + 1 bonus because the shock value is wearing off. The casting of comprehend languages or similar power allows a character to understand but not speak the broken ones’ language. After resolving the checks, continue with the following boxed text. The two-headed, apelike creature who led you here addresses you: “Symbiont,” he says, thumping his chest and then patting his second head gently; it continues to roll its eyes from side to side, but it gives you a toothless, lop-sided grin. “Friend of Annitella,” Symbiont adds. Then, pointing at you, he asks, “Friend of Annitella?” displaying chipped and yellowed fangs. With a gesture at the group of creates around him, he says, “We are Shattered Brethren. We help Annitella-you and us,” he says. “We will stop the fiends, but first we wait for the searchers to give up, and first we drink!” beside him and pulls out a leather skin. Uncorking it, he passes the skin to each of the slobbering creatures around him. He drinks and then tips the skin upon the lips of his second head, which slurps loudly, letting some of the pasty liquid dribbles from his lips. Then, Symbiont passes the skin to you. “Drink,” he says gruffly. You hesitate and he repeats, “Drink!” You nod your assent and he smiles, Symbiont reaches into a crack in the rocks If the PCs refuse to drink from the skin, the Brethren will be offended. They thrust the skin at one of the PCs and repeats “Drink!”, taking it up as a chant. If the PC repeats his refusal, Symbiont insists that the drink is good and delicious. In the end, if the PCs steadfastly refuse to drink, the Brethren will grumble to one another in their incomprehensible language. Nevertheless, the PCs should get the definite impression that they have displeased their hosts. Symbiont simply says,“We go now.” Proceed to Encounter 1 1. If any PC agrees to drink from the skin, read the following boxed text. If the PC agrees, continue: The stench in this room is nothing compared to the reek in this bottle. You tip the bottle, bringing the thick liquid to the rim. It’s a yellowish-brown sludge. Do you still want to drink?
Tell the PC to make a saving throw vs. poison. If he fails, he will be nauseated and incapacitated for ld4 hours. If he succeeds, tell him to roll 3d8 and add 5 to the total. Then tell him that he has gained that many hit points against assessed damage. Furthermore, the background hum that has haunted him since his arrival in Bluetspur seems to fade into the background and all his muscles relax. Tell the player that he never even realized how tense his character was until after he took a drink from the skin. Inform any wizard character who drinks the potion that his head has cleared to the point where he is certain that he can memorize his full repertoire of spells now. remove the chance of priest spell failure and drop all penalties to thief skills. Symbiont explains some of the “medical wonders” of the Shattered Brethren, based on information provided in Appendices A and C. He is obviously proud of his twisted status, and especially likes having two heads because he gets two shares of everything that way. If asked about his plan to rescue Annitella, Drassak, and or any party members, Symbiont will merely say, “We wait a while, for searchers to give up.” If the party rests now, those who successfully saved against poison after drinking the potion will rest without suffering any nightmares, and they will awaken as if they had rested normally in a safe place, thanks to the disgusting potion. Its effects last until the next rest only. As long as the Shattered Brethren are with the party, the PCs have access to the potion. The shattered Brethren will not give the party the bottle to keep. When the party has rested, or if it chooses not to rest, read the following boxed text. A large beetle-like creature, with six dual-elbowed, human arms and hands, crawls into the cave and twitches its long antennae excitedly in front of Symbiont’s second head; his eyes twitch in unison. ’ Symbiont says, “My brother has seen Annitella in the laboratories where we are born to present life. Annella has spoken to his mind. Her words, ‘My heroes, Drassak is a victim of both the vampire and the incubation chamber. For the sake of his soul, you must come before night falls again or all is lost.’ We go!” Remind the party of the background drone. Encounter II: Sport Farm hen the party has rested, or after they have refused to drink from the potion skin, read the following boxed text. If they refused, remove the reference to the nan-beetle. Symbiont wordlessly leads the way out of the cave of the Shattered Brethren. The man-beetle ranges ahead of him, disappearing around corners and then reappearing through another crack to the side, clinging to the ceiling and twitching his antennae. As Symbiont weaves his way through the narrow labyrinth of cracks, his second head sniffs at the air repeatedly, like a dog on the ascent. The path begins to climb steeply and the background drone lessens as you ascend. Occasionally your secret route intersects with the main passageway. Symbiont sniffs deeply at the air before motioning you onward and running down the corridor to another crack in the wall, leading you back into secret ways.
Slaw Puns the Servent pens are three large caverns approximately 100 feet wide, 200 feet T long, and 80 feet high. The caverns are connected with wide, mined-out corridors fully 20 feet wide and 10 feet high. There are large crystals, each about the one-foot square, set in the walls at 10-foot intervals. The crystals glow a dim red from a constant, low level of molecular agitation which the Lord Elder-brain maintains to light and heat the complex
Almost every cage contains a single occupant. About half of them contain female animals in various stages of pregnancy-new servants in the making. Another five contain various broken ones. These are creatures who have developed psionic immunities and would become members of the Shattered Brethren if they could escape. The DM should feel free to create any number of hideous-looking broken ones, based upon the information presented in the VRGTRL, Symbiont insists on freeing all broken ones from their cages. He instructs them to run to the fungus farm, where the Shattered Brethren can take them to asylum. At the far end of the cavern, next to the crystalline shaft, are cages holding any PCs who may have been captured or killed earlier in the adventure, but not lost to insanity. They will be manacled to the far end of their cells, and they will be unconscious when found. Stripped of all their equipment, they have 0 hit points. The empty crystalline shaft is a psionic elevator, powered by the Lord Elder-brain. It doesn’t require specific cooperation from the Lord to operate the elevator. The Lord enables the shaft almost automatically, like a side-effect 6f breathing. (In fact, the Lord is perfectly & aware of the party’s presence and is quite willing to help it along.) * When a creature steps into the shaft and looks up, a dim swirl of psionically projected force forms underneath the creature and lifts it gently upward. When the creature reaches the desired level and its upward gaze levels out, the psionic force hovers, allowing the creature to step out of the shaft. To board the elevator from upper levels, the creature must stand at the rim of the shaft and hold its hand out. A handhold immediately forms in the air, which the creature can grip and then use to step into the shaft, onto a waiting force field. The elevator goes in the direction that the creature looks; looking up and then down makes the elevator bob back and forth. The elevator hums when it is being used, making a sound very much like the background drone that pervades the entire realm. The more creatures that use it at the same time, the louder it hums. Encounter 13: The Laboratories he levels directly above the servent pens contain the mind flayer laboratories. There are four connected caverns that, make up the facilities, numbered 1-4. Labs 3 and 4 contain various experiments and equipment, but nothing of direct interest to the adventure. A detail-oriented DM may wish to place his own horrifying experiments in these rooms. A corridor connecting to lab 4 spirals upward and leads to the mind flayer living quarters. The labs have been mined out to create plenty of floor space. Each lab measures approximately 50 feet by 50 feet by 30 feet. The entire ceiling of each lab remains untouched by mining instruments, and the laboratories are veined with crystal that glows dimly, providing light and heat. Lab - This is where human servents are made into broken ones. As you approach the opening one level above the servent pens, sounds of pain and anguish drift down the shaft to your ears. As you reach the rim of the opening, a terrible sight greets you: There are perhaps a half dozen humans here, strapped to tables, manacled to the walls, and locked in tiny cages. A few of them still look relatively normal, but most of them are partly or completely changed into animalistic broken ones. One of them in a nearby cage seems to be a giant slug with a human head and antennae that resemble arms and hands from the elbow down-they reach out to you through the bars. Another person, a woman strapped down on a table, strains to lift her head and sit up, but her entire skeleton seems to have melted inside her. Her slitted-iris eyes bulge and her mouth hang open in a silent scream-her tongue snaps in and out at least two feet, and it’s forked. A whitish substance dribbling from her mouth drains through ridges in the surface of the table and oozes into a catch basin below her. Over by the wall, a mind flayer with his back to you caresses the face of a manacled, mindless servent with its tentacles and then produces a large syringe. The monster drives the six-inch needle into the throat of the servent, drawing out a pinkish-clear fluid. The servent's eyes go wide with pain, but he makes no sound. A shrill scream pierces the air, coming from beyond a door at the far end of the room. it is S'lthell looking for the party to help them escape.
Lord of Bluetspur
The God-Brain (Ted) The scope of what mind flayers call history exists on a cosmic scale. Through ages of empire and conflict, the illithid elder brains indulged experiments without comparison or reference for lesser beings, explorations beyond the boundaries of time, reality, immortality, and the multiverse. Many failed—at least one catastrophically so.
To summarize an eon of atrocities, one elder brain’s reality-bending research had an unexpected result, revealing to it a malignant truth for which existence was unprepared. Guided by this burgeoning revelation, the elder brain turned and preyed upon its peers, consuming their discoveries and their physical forms to fuel an impossible apotheosis. Ultimately, though, the weight of the elder brain’s deeds caused its own physicality to rebel, giving rise to an alien disease that began devouring its fleshy form. Horrified by an affliction that infected only them, the other elder brains united and psionically expelled the diseased brain from existence.
Or so they thought.
From a place without time or reality, the Dark Powers plucked the dying elder brain and planted it upon a tormented world. Ever since, the God-Brain of Bluetspur has dreamed and desperately indulged ever more demented schemes as it seeks to save its own life and give action to a thought alien even to it.
The God-Brain’s Powers and Dominion
The God-Brain is more akin to a physical location or massive object than a creature. Its droves of servants are more direct threats than the inscrutable Darklord itself.
Overmind. The God-Brain commands untold numbers of mind flayers, intellect devourers, and other creatures. Within Bluetspur, it is constantly telepathically linked with all its servants and knows anything that they know. The God-Brain delegates broad goals to its most effective servants, encouraging them to indulge in all manner of radical experiments.
Mist Vibrations. Through the awesome psychic resonances of Mount Makab, the God-Brain can guide any of its servants or other psychically aligned minds through the Mists to Bluetspur. In effect, it provides a vision or dream of the domain that itself functions as a Mist talisman.
Life Support. The illithids of Bluetspur toil to save their elder brain through all manner of outlandish scientific and medical means. Among the most bizarre of these schemes is the God-Brain’s own: the creation of degenerate servants that hunt for balms for its affliction. These vampiric mind flayers (see chapter 5) slip from Bluetspur to prey upon Humanoids. They then return to the God-Brain, bloated with cerebrospinal fluid to momentarily dull its suffering.
Closing the Borders. When the God-Brain closes Bluetspur’s borders, the surface of the domain is wracked by extreme electrical storms, and alien vapors rise at the domain’s distant edges and within its hidden tunnels. Rather than barring creatures’ escape, these Mists repress memories. Any non-Aberration who leaves Bluetspur is transported to a familiar place where they soon wake up, even if they weren’t previously asleep. Their time in Bluetspur is repressed, altered as if by the modify memory spell. See “Recovering Memories” below for more details.
The God-Brain’s Torment The God-Brain of Bluetspur is an entirely unreliable cosmic entity, an immortal inflicted with mortality. Although its death is likely still millennia away, this inevitability leads it to hastily indulge all manner of amoral extremes.
Roleplaying the God-Brain The God-Brain’s influence drives the mind flayers beyond their domain to purse all manner of subtle observations, bizarre experiments, repeat abductions, and visceral mutilations.
Ted Has created many, many ways to prolong his life. One way is in the creation of Vampiric Mind flayers that seek out intelligent life to drain off fluids, When engorged the Vampiric Mind flayers return to Ted and dissolve themselves in the God brains brin pool. Not to be mistaken with Mind Flayer Vampirers witch are made in the same way but survive the process. One of the most twisted and depraved endeavors to prolong his life was the creation of the "No tadpole left behind" program. Where a nutrient-rich solution was made to feed the Tadpoles to keep every single one and find a way to implant them. This led to the creation of Giant mind flayers and Tiny Mind flayers.
Ted can connect mentally with any vampiric mind flayers and communicate via a telepathic link. In this way, he can control up to 10 vampiric mind flayers at a time and can activate an Explosive self-destruct on any vampiric Mind flayers that are returning and bloated.
vampiric mind flayers that are returning to Ted to be consumed have a +3 added to their strength and -20 from their movement from being bloated. They explode when killed doing 1d10 Nacrotic DMG in a 5 ft range and being hit may trigger random flashes of horrid memories.
Illithid God-Brain (Ted), Lawful Evil Armor Class 10 Movement 60ft Between all servants. He can't move. Level/ Hit Dice 20 Hit Points 99 No. of Attacks 6 (with servents) Damage/ Attack See below Special Attacks: Psionics Special Defences: Immune to Psionics Magic Resistance: All Little is known about this strange life form, except that it rules the Island of Bluetspur. Its lair is believed to lie deep beneath Mount Makab, where it floats in a deep pool of brine. Supposedly, it resembles a gigantic brain, although some sages insist that it is a mass of smaller brains merged together.
Current Sketch: Those few who have escaped Bluetspur claim that the god-brain constantly intruded on their subconscious minds, drawing forth their darkest thoughts and fears. It may be that the lord lives vicariously through other sentient beings, very few of which exist on this Island.
The lord of Bluetspur is keenly aware of the High Master Illithid's plots to usurp it and seems to enjoy its rebellious servant. The god-brain knows that it possesses the power to crush the High Master at any time, so it does not worry about these plans.
Closing the Borders: The closure of this domain has never been witnessed - or at least reported. However, physical exits from the underground colony of the mind flayers are rumored to seal with rock.
Combat: The god-brain has unlimited Spell slots using Psionics to cast and Spell saves DC 15 All psionic saving throws against any of Ted's powers are made with a -10 penalty. Ted's psionic power contact is always made automatically, and no telepathic defenses, powers, or devices can prevent it.
(On a DC 30 Med chack the party can "change" Ted for the better. Ted is flipped and turns Bluetspur into a place akin to the feywild and hurls Bluespur far back in time with the party to found the Realm of really nice places and pure emotion.)
Ted is the nightmare king. Or moreover, a manifestation or Avitare of Ted is the Nightmare king. When in stasis by Ted, You are put in the nightmare forest.
The adventure is made to go with Gibbering Madness 5e. This game can be a dream your starting players have or The players somehow make it out of the Domains of dread. You can feel free to adjust the level and CR accordingly. The Reawakening is to be played as a "Hopeless Horror" with players level 1-5. A Survival horror 5-10 and from 10 and beyond you are meant to play up the memory mechanic with stress bringing up new powers and abilities and slowly bringing the party to full power. Siding with Ted or the New Order of mind flayers that lead to a new land.
This adventure can end at any time. You escape to another Domain of dread, You all die or are captured and put in a tube for experimentation. Or even the party keeps everything and is deemed worthy of becoming mind flayer and take down the Elder God brain with their new amazing stats. It's up to the DM and the tone of the game. Want a win? Let them escape with Skornando to Another Domain. More Bleek victory? Turn the party into monsters that then win the day just to become the dark lords and slowly kill each other and start the system over. Somehow holding on to some scrap of their old selves. Or even when the mind flayer tadpole was inserted you made a kinda pact for power and keep your old mind but give up everything and become a warlock. I leave it up to you.
Random encounters
1.A small field with 1d50 Bodys. Fresh and clothed. When you get close the bodies start writhing and the chests snap open. Wraths pop out.
2.A dieing Mindflyer Vampire is found. You can A. Feed it and Wis check to get it under control. B.Kill it. C. leave it.
3.A Group 1d6 of Mindflayers on the Backs of Long multilegged lizards (Bahir) Heading your way. DC 15 Stealth Or they try to capture you.
4.A large swarm of creatures (SWARM OF ZOMBIE LIMBS VGR)
5.A WERERAVEN is being escorted by 2 mind flayers
6.it is getting dark...1d4 VAMPIRIC MIND FLAYER shows up to attack.
7.A UNSPEAKABLE HORROR Sits in waiting.
8.A INQUISITOR OF THE MIND FIRE is looking for a way out
9.GREATER STAR SPAWN EMISSARY Looks like a tiny bird, Mammle or other, and tries to befriend the party in any way passable. It only shows itself if 1. The party Gets out of the Domain. 2. The party reaches the Elder God brain.
10. 1d4 NOSFERATU Huddle under a small overhang. DC 15 Wis and A blood sacrifice and you can tame one that then turns on the others.
11.LOUP GAROU...
12.JIANGSHI...
13. 1d10 CARRION STALKER
14. You find a long-abandoned lab with 1d4 BRAIN IN A JAR and after 1d4 days A group of Vampiric mind flayers shows up.
15.As you walk 1d20 BONELESS arises around the party.
16.STRAHD VON ZAROVICH Is trying to make his way home and will help the party in any way to help. (he 100% screws them over)
17.PIDLWICK III Sits lifeless and only comes to life when picked up. (He is a lesser star spawn)
18.1d4 PHANTOM WARRIORs Fighting an unsees fight.
19.1d4 MONGRELFOLK (part Ilithid) Are looking for a way out.
20.The landscape comes to life around you. As 1d4 purple creaturs made from the surrounding terrain (TREE BLIGHT) Attack the party.
21.1d4 LEUCROTTA Twisted and bleeding
22.1d4 YUAN-TI NIGHTMARE SPEAKER is under the control of three mind flayers. If you attack them They may lose concentration and the YUAN-TI NIGHTMARE SPEAKER will attack them.
23.You find a small cave that leads to 1d4 ELDER BRAIN They want you to kill the God Brain.
24. 1d4 MINDWITNESS Are sitting still in a bare patch of terrain.
25.A confused ULITHARID is nude and wondering the landscape muttering to itself.
26.A small cave with 1d10 ALHOON Trying to survive a Mental attack from the God brain.
27.A MEENLOCK sits playing with a small pile of burnt dolls
28. KORRED sits on a small mushroom.
29.A BHEUR HAG lays dead on the ground (had 1d8 random had stuff)
30.A lone Bahir sits scratching at its head. It has a harness on it.
31.1 GNOLL WITHERLING and 1d4 Gnolls sit in a huddled mas starving to death
32.A closeby rock comes to life and a FROGHEMOTH attacks.
33. A FLAIL SNAIL sits atop a hill eating some mushrooms
34.A DRAEGLOTH sits on an overhang (DC 15 to see) Waiting to attack.
35. A old woman holding a baby sits singing...it is a DEVOURER.
36. 1d4 MAW DEMONs Attack the party.
37.A DEEP SCION looking to leave the Domain.
38.1d4 DARKLING and 2 DARKLING ELDERs are trying to leave the Domain
39.1d4 Spiders in the distance turn out to be CHOLDRITHs and ambush the party 2 CHITINE come up from behind
40.You find a cave with 1d4 CAVE FISHERs in it.
41.1d4 BOGGLE trying to leave the Domain.
42.a random BODAK
43.You are walking along and you see 1d4 BANDERHOBB in holes all around you.
44.A red Wizard of Thy sits atop a hill having lunch(easter Egg: This is Morningstar. If he is destroyed with the Rod he grows to a colossal size and grabs the sun from the sky. He sucks the power from it and reshapes the realm in his image. Everyone you have met so far is shunted into Barovia.
45.A Star Spawn Seer.
46.A Star Spawn Larva Mage
47.A Choker
48.A Balhannoth
49.The Lost are all around you. Looking for a way out.
50 A Centeint Vampiric Mist
Memory table: d6 Evidence 1 A needle-like device buried under someone’s skin 2 An inexplicable crater or circle of scorched crops 3 A stable full of exploded livestock 4 An antimatter rifle (detailed in the Dungeon Master’s Guide) 5 A missing person or otherworldly being transformed into a brain in a jar (see chapter 5) 6 The damaged corpse of a vampiric mind flayer (see chapter 5)
d6 Memory 1 You’re paralyzed on a cold table. Clicking sounds surround you. Pallid tentacles slither toward your face, each ending in gleaming surgical instruments. What are they trying to do? 2 Some unfamiliar reflex moves your arm. Looking, you catch a glimpse of a bruise slithering beneath your skin. What do you do? 3 A many-legged, ferret-like creature floats into your cell. You feel multitudes of unseen eyes upon you. What do your captors expect you to do with this? What do you do? 4 Rainbow storms assail the heights of a mountain so tall it seems to curve over you. You’re floating over a red wasteland, just one in a line of hovering beings. What do you see ahead? 5 You knew a stranger. You were each other’s comfort against fear and pain. Then they were taken away. What were their final words to you? 6 The figure hovering before you is deemed acceptable. They’re lowered into a pool, where pale, slug-like beings set upon them. You float forward. Why are you deemed unacceptable?
Illithid - Illithid Variants - Related Creatures Related Creatures
Brain Golem: An eight-foot-tall humanoid-shaped construct made entirely of brain tissue, these creations exist only to serve an elder brain and its illithid community.
Brainstealer Dragon: A mix of illithid and dragon, these powerful wyrms occasionally rule over illithid communities that lack an elder brain.
Illithidae: Illithidae are to mind flayers as less intelligent animals are to humans. Known types include the cessirid, embrac, kigrid, and saltor. Dragon magazine once published a template for use in creating an illithidae creature, for use with the 1st Edition of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game. They were updated in 3.5 in the Lords of Madness supplement.
Illithocyte: Illithid tadpoles that survived the fall of a mind flayer empire, they evolved into a new life form and now crawl about in groups seeking psychic radiation on which to feed.
Kezreth: A living troop transport and battle platform created from the severed head of a shamed illithid. They serve in this capacity in the hope of redeeming themselves and being allowed to return to the elder brain.
Mind Worm: Created by illithids to serve as assassins and bounty hunters, these powerful psionic creatures resemble smaller purple worms. They can attack from far distances with their probe worms.
Mindwitness: Inserting an illithid tadpole into a beholder results in these abominations, which are used as guards and sentries.
Mozgriken: An illithid tadpole inserted into a svirfneblin gnome while subjected to a dangerous psionic ritual creates a mozgriken. These three-tentacled ceremorphs are despised by all, but their aptitude for stealth and psionic powers of stealth and shape control make them useful spies for the illithids.
Neothelid: If an illithid tadpole survives but fails to undergo ceremorphosis, it will eventually grow into an incredibly powerful worm-like creature with illithid tentacles at the forefront of its body and immense mental powers.
Nerve Swimmers: Derived from immature illithid tadpoles, these entities are living instruments of torture and interrogation.
Nyraala Golem: A flailing, slimy, tentacled construct capable of launching surprise attacks. They often serve as guards, and are prized because their creation does not involve petitioning the elder brain to surrender part of its mass.
Octopin: A six-tentacled, purple-skinned monstrosity with a single eye created by mind flayers.
Oortlings: These docile humanoids with enlarged brains were bred by illithids as food.
Tzakandi: Illithid tadpoles inserted into lizardfolk create tzakandi, which the mind flayers use as servent labourers and personal guards.
Uchuulon: A chuul implanted with an illithid tadpole becomes an uchuulon. Also known as slime chuuls, illithids use them as hunters and guardians.
Urophion: Inserting an illithid tadpole into a roper results in these miserable creatures, which are used as guards and sentries.
Ustilagor: Mind flayers farm these larval intellect devourers for food and sentries.
Vampire Squid: Servitor creatures created by illithids to extend their reach below the surface of Underdark waters. They have a maw of sharp teeth which can be turned inside out and function as defensive spikes.
Voidmind Creatures: A voidmind creature is an ordinary creature (such as a normal human or human-like creature or animal) whose mind has been nearly devoured by a mind flayer, but enough has been left intact for basic motor function. Further psionic rituals give these near dead creatures a semblance of life. The resulting creatures act as minions and spies for the Illithids.
As an idea to kick start your campaign: your group are on their way to a dungeon to find out what happened to a group of allied soldiers. Your group then come to an entrance that is guarded by two half orcs (or whatever you’d like).
I'm currently working on a Planescape campaign where I'm letting the players create portions of the prime material world that they come from. The prime world is losing it's "energy" in the metaphysical sense meaning the winds are stopping, the fires aren't as hot and even life and death are entering stagnation. I'm letting them create portions of the world to give them more investment in saving it if it is full of cool ideas that they like - so one of them is from a group of tieflings that are essentially whalers for their devil who birthed their bloodline, and another is from a group of aquatic dwarves who swim to the ocean depths instead of dig into mountains. I built out the variant races for them to balance things. Still waiting on some other players.
The idea from this point is going to be sending them to Sigil, the City of Doors (as opposed to some other Sigil) where they will need to find ways to get essences of the 6 main elemental/inner planes - the 4 elemental and then positive and negative energy. This will in turn need them to do prep work to find out how to not die immediately and so getting the information and resources will lead to the crux of the campaign which is finding who to work for and take jobs for. I'm a big Planescape fan so I've been doing a bunch of reading to prep for this, but I have 3 loose powers I figure they might align to for work :
Kylie the tout where they'll essentially work as protection/contractors for other people looking to get around the planes. As they level up they can take more dangerous but better paying jobs and they can earn the money they need to take their own trips to some of the planes (because if they're good at their jobs she wants them to stick around, and they'll probably return home once they can save their world).
the Titan Zadara who is an investor who'd send them to look into investments and fix things, in return for her funding their own venture to save their world.
Shemeskha the Marauder who uses them to dig up information for her and will actively risk their lives because she comes first.
I plan to run it as a bit of a West Marches game since it will be irregular but also it'll be a larger group of friends with irregular schedules so I'm going to do some play by post with ones who can't make it so they still earn money and have adventures. I'm also figuring they'll go with Kylie as their employer but I have three options. The campaign is going to be focused on exploration, research (I plan to let them invest time and money into spells and equipment development) and strange locations.
Once they get the 6 essences they'll dig into the real cause for the loss of energy and along with allies and enemies (the Doomguard doesn't want you to save your world, berks!) they'll confront the big bad. Campaign ends, everyone is happy.
In session zero, I offered my players the following as examples, and they wanted a hybrid of 4 and 5.
You are a special forces team, working at the forefront of an ongoing war, undergoing missions
You have been hired to protect a bunch of archaeologists on some kind of excavation. What could go wrong? Nothing bad ever gets unearthed from old tombs.
You are all related to, or otherwise serve, a child who is about to inherit a throne. It will definitely go well. Maybe one of you is in line to the throne.
You are all part of the same community (e.g. a village cut off from help), which stands on the brink of destruction, and must turn the tide
The political power in the region is bad for it. You all decide, for independent reasons, to work together to overthrow it
A new area has opened to explorers. You are able to go and explore differing parts, with a base to return to. Perhaps it is the ruins of an ancient civilisation.
For some terrible reason, you have to serve an evil necromancer and now it’s time to help him take over the world. Gather up some bones, go complete an evil rite, destroy that church (the opposition will all be bad too. Everyone is bad)
It's a very loose idea which I intend to flesh out fully one day.
Basically it revolves around a powerful enemy and a contraption made by a friendly artificer, as well as needing the players to be heavily invested in the game world as-is to really work out well. It is, however, a one-way trip, so bear that in mind!
The enemy is just getting started, and is starting to put plans into place which will take many years to come to fruition. The PC's meet an artificer who offers to help them to defeat the enemy, and shows them a machine which they have created, powered by the black diamond that they have just recovered, which will "save" them as they are and, should they die, restore them to this state. They claim that they cannot lose, because no matter what the enemy does to them, they will re-emerge here, exactly as they are now.
The machine warms up, and the artificer is happy with it, and then there's a white flash of light as the machine works its magic.
The adventurers immediately note that the room is different - older, the walls peeling, the shelves messy where they were tidy. The artificer come running in, appearing much older, and tells them off for all dying at once. "That's it, the machine's fried! this is your last chance, there's no going back after this! I told you to avoid all dying together! What happened, did rocks fall? Oh, of course, you don't know, because you don't remember anything after the procedure, do you?"
They then find out that they have been fighting the enemy for years, and each time they respawn it is exactly as they were when they went into the machine - memories and all.
Now the yhave to fight a much more prepared enemy, who not only has almost finished their plans, but knows them well - he'll talk to them as a friend, almost, trying to prompt their memories of each other.
It's a bit of a trippy scenario but one I hope to try out some time!
Ask the players to make up a party of all one class. it can be ANY class, but everyone must be in the same class to start with.
Clerics? Imagine a conclave of various religions where they send acolytes instead of learned masters. We did this once and the RP we did bickering about which deity was better was funny as hell!
Monks? New students are sent on an errand and when they return, a shadowy figure had slain their master and dishonored the school! Now they must find this assassin and save the school's reputation. If everyone takes a different subclass this can be a baller team!
Paladins? What...you never read King Arthur?
Fighters? Imagine a group of fighters that have taken up a challenge by a local wealthy crackpot. This kook says that adventuring parties need all the stuff from 'back in the day' like a Rogue, a Cleric/Healer, a Wizard, and all of that. Any party that can perform a series of tasks WITHOUT relying on non-Fighters gets loot galore.
Artificers? Imagine every engineering class or science fair but instead of competing, they're helping each other.
This can work for races too. Right now we're all running Warforged of various classes and it's a blast!
Ulitharid breaks off from colony to go start a new one. Sees the process of becoming an Elder Brain as being unambitious and instead seeks to find a host that it can fuse with during the process of becoming an Elder Brain, to instead become an Elder God. Kinda see the idea host being a Storm Giant that the Ulitharid and those Illithid that it brings along with it extract its brain while replacing it with the fledgling Elder Brain, the Elder Brain taking root in the body and creating a new form of Ceremorphosis called Apotheomorphosis.
Party could either start in the Underdark as denizens that are aware of these events and seek to prevent it from happening. Or you'd have to find a way to make it apparent to the party on the surface that the threat is imminent if they do nothing about it. I don't know exactly how it'd go but it is still a new idea.
One or more for every movie in my Netflix library and every book in my Kindle library. One from most headlines in the news. Several a day from conversations and interactions (well, not much latelty due to lockdown).
Search the web for random plot generators.
For example, from the most recent movie I watched.
The party are attacked by a team of assassins who look exactly like the party, only younger. The party have to work out why this team wants them dead, and who sent them. Is their employer responsible, and if so, why?
Basically what the title says
Got a bunch of them. Finding players on my schedule is a bit rough but they'll all happen in time.
Could you share any of them?
One I just wrapped up today, a small kingdom was being terrorized by a large pack of gnolls led by a half orc warlock whose patron was yeenoghu and who was gathering the components to perform the ritual of releasing to set yeenoghu lose upon the world and turn it into a slaughter house. Took about 9 months. Party was level 10 by the end.
-The king is dead, and the kingdom falls into a massive power struggle over who takes the throne, with the PCs caught in the middle as the royal guard or something.
-The party is transported to a plane of existence and must find their way back out. It's simple concept, and you have a lot of planes to choose from.
-Miners have recently struck gold at a small mining outpost, and people everywhere are coming to participate in the gold rush. However, something is killing the miners, and the PCs need to figure out what’s going on before it’s too late.
These are off the top of my head, so feel free not to use them if they’re not what you had in mind.
Idea 1:
The players are in a world where in order to decide what the next Era is like the gods choose champions and those champions lead kingdoms/mercenaries and try to kill all opposing champions. The opposing champions would depend on whether the gods were arguing over good vs. evil or law vs. chaos. If the gods are arguing about good vs. evil then the party must be all good and neutral, or all evil and neutral and must defeat the other side (whether that be the good or evil champions). The players get to choose whether they're average people in this world just trying to survive the God War, or if they are champion hopefuls trying to impress the gods. If they become a champion of a god they get an epic boon.
Idea 2:
The world is compromised of 4 or 5 kingdoms at constant war and a penal colony separated from the rest of the continent by a mountain range. The PCs are accused of crimes and sent to the penal colony (whether they actually committed the crimes is up to the player). The penal colony is a harsh desert with various predatory wildlife and even worse people. The penal colony has a few towns but those towns are run by whoever is the strongest in the area and their gang, making them places of barely constrained chaos and hotspots for crime. The penal colony is secretly the ruins of the continent's former greatest kingdom and the last of its royal bloodline is trying to bring it back. The players can try to take over the penal colony and have each of them run a city but if they do that they'll eventually have to deal with the rise of the former kingdom, or they can run into and try and help bring back the kingdom (this could be for gold, glory, revenge, or really any reason). Alternatively, they could just try and survive the penal colony and have a more survival-horror game.
call me Anna or Kerns, (she/her), usually a DM, lgbtq+ friendly
Do you have any idea of what kind of campaign you want to do, like mystery, horror, hack and slash, planar, et cetera?
Here are some random ideas:
Something planar-themed, where someone is trying to open a planar gate and let a bunch of monsters through to take over the material plane.
The characters work for a larger power like a government or church whose enemies are trying to overthrow them and the PCs are trying to stop the enemies.
There is a mysterious murderer who has been slowly picking people off, and the PCs need to figure out their motives and defeat them.
They get trapped in the Underdark and need to get out safely, but discover some sort of villainous scheme and need to stop it before it fully unfolds.
The PCs are wandering monster slayers, and they begin to notice a bunch of patterns in the monsters they fight and realize that these monsters are pawns of a greater power.
They stumble upon a planar gate and end up getting pulled through it, ending up a long way from home and need to find their way back to the material.
There is an evil spy somewhere in their system of government, and the PCs need to find out who it is and their motives, slowly narrowing down a list of subjects. If you want an extra surprise, you can make it the person who sent them on their quest or an ally trying to direct the blame away from them and frame someone else while they quietly scheme.
These are super loose ideas so you can tweak and personalize them, but if you want more elaboration I can do that.
Two people or groups with directly opposite goals: in the case of my own game, Law and Chaos.
One side, a pair of elves, are trying to make the Material Plane into a chaotic paradise similar to the Feywild. Their motivation is to bring back the “good old days”: the primordial chaos enjoyed by the first elves, before they were locked into static mortality by Corellon.
The other side, a group calling itself the Order of Law, wants to make the Material Plane into a place of Absolute Law, similar to Mechanus. They believe that this will bring a golden age of stability and justice.
Each side believes that it is working for the good of all the world, and will try to recruit the PCs as they become more powerful. Every deliberate action the PCs take counts toward either Law or Chaos, although they don’t know that at first. The characters must eventually decide whether to favor one side, or stop both, preserving the balance of Law and Chaos in the Material Plane.
I live with several severe autoimmune conditions. If I don’t get back to you right away, it’s probably because I’m not feeling well.
I understand how to make a game I am just coming up blank when it comes to the plot
Primal Blade Do you have any backstories for your PC. I started our adventure as a simple way for my group to play when our main campaign could not. It was just supposed to be a simple hack and slash. One I had not DM anything in 20yrs, 2 none of us had played more than maybe one session of 5e. I had come up with a League for bounty hunters and the party was just supposed to show up and pick from the bounties and go and kill.
Well, long story short this is the group's campaign. I had made the group do backstories though and wouldn't you know it the warlock has made a pact with Mephistopheles. looking him up and finding Mephistopheles what to rule all the realms, plans, and anything in between made the end goal easy for me. Stop the cult of Mephistopheles. Right now they are responsible for the small groups across the realms being enslaved. I used the paladin's temple to push the story. They had seen the aftermath of many raids on small villages and caravans. The rumors slavers were at work but on a scale that has not been heard of. The temple came up with the plan to try and infiltrate the cult not with the party but a pair of paladins that were to be sold to the slavers. some info made it back. The party was charged with capturing one of the cultists. They have now I can feed paths from the temple and the even the league oh and I have a halfling rogue that loves using his underbelly contacts. I did not plan for that one let me tell you and twice it has bitten me. I had to come up with paths just because I gave them info that was just supposed to be FYI. They decided they wanted to run the leads down.
So the party has helped me keep it going and now I have 3 ways for them to find encounters. The bounties at the league, the temple and their prisoner, and the underbelly. I know where I want the campaign to end and have some of the encounters laid out. I use some of the parties to plan others. Oh and now one has been bitten by a werewolf so there could be a side quest. The warlock has pretty much quit playing but others have joined. Mephistopheles cult still needs to stop and so the campaign is just starting for the group. They are LVL 5 and 6.
I guess, to sum up, may rambling. Can the backstories be used to build the campaign.
You awake screaming. A young priest looks at you wild-eyed and sallow of face. He tells you that he found a rod of true resurrection (Rod of Rastinon) and he started bringing back whoever he could. Any scrap of humanity, he tried to cast the rod on. He explains that he is a plainer traveler(His name is Ogrin and he has lost his mind).
RP'ing Ogrin. Ogrin is a plainer traveler, Someone who has a plain shift spell cast on him randomly roughly once a year. (cursed bloodline) He was driven to madness shortly after landing in Bluetspur from horrors unknown. After 1d10 rounds he should stop and lock eyes in the distance (at nothing) and run away from the party. If they chase him he and the party stumble onto a glowing orb of yellowish light peeling open reality around it.DC 16 to see it beforehand. The orb opens and as if pulled from another plain a group of 1d20 cultists surrounds a pool of unknown purple liquid. They are chanting loud as the ground begins to shake. If the party does not interfere they summon a horrid mass of writhing purple flesh (stats of a Neolithid) that kills all but one cultist and lumbers off toward Mnt MaKab.
MAP LOCATIONS:
The shore: The shoreline of this domain in half still sea and half cliff face falling into forever.
Mount MaKab:
Calling Makab a mountain is a wild misnomer; it is a malignant deformation on a planetary scale, aspire with no apparent summit. It is the home of the elder god brain (Ted) it is covered in the purple creep twisting and pulsating back and forth. Smokestacks made of stone and creep jut out of the mountain at odd angles puking black smoke into the sky. The mountain stretches into the sky and past the clouds. Its contorted slopes stretch into the toxic heavens, and its form occupies the periphery of viewers’ attention no matter which direction they look.
Mount Makab is not a natural feature, but rather part of a colossal, illithid-designed device. Its purposes remain largely mysterious to outsiders, but one thing is certain: it amplifies psionic energy, allowing Bluetspur’s mind flayers to project their thoughts into other Domains of Dread.
The creep grows thicker here. Purple tendrils leak out of the landscape. Reaching up for any moving things. Most of the mountain is unexplored due to the god brain stopping them. Flesh-like tubes crisscross the mountain to relocate anything the god brain might want to. (little stone is left, Most of the landscape here is made from the creep.
Citadel Subtooine
Below Mount Makab stretches the hive-like lair of the illithids. This mind flayer metropolis comprises innumerable interconnected compounds—laboratory vaults, custom prison-habitats, intellect devourer preserves, incubation domes, brain-filled synapse libraries, testing hippodromes, surgical theaters, and facilities that beggar rational description. Non-illithids find travel within the citadel maddening, like trying to find a specific point within a writhing knot of worms. Locations are inaccessible to creatures reliant upon basic terrestrial mobility or without the ability to access psionically controlled mechanisms. Entering Citadel Subtooine is simple, though, as fissures across Bluetspur, particularly upon Mount Makab, lead within.
Rimsa: Some places can only be found if you have been there before. Rimsa is a such location. One of the only safe havens in this land. Crystle-covered trees and a dark sky. Surrounded by thick fog Rimsa only reach out to those in need. Any nat 1 when searching or fleeing, and mists form around you and pull you in.
Deadlands: The deadlands are a sick patch of purple creep. All the creep in this section of the map is inactive. Black crystal trees grow in twisted shapes. The region reeks of death and rot. Every 1d12 rounds you must make a CON save starting at DC 1 and getting worse every time you lose. When losing a save you take and = amount DMG to the save.
The deadlands have a huge pyramid hovering over them. it is huge and dominates the landscape. it is shrouded in mist. (it is a mini domain of dread and needs a dark lord.) A Sibriex is the current "dark lord" But have little idea of how it works and is willing to give the title away.
At the center of the building sits a huge amalgamation of living meat and crystals. It breaths in long slow breaths. (This is a Mytholar made out of gibbering mouther meat, crystals, and some other unidentifiable objects)
If camping in the Deadlands 1d4 rot grubs come in the night and try to burrow into the party.. every CON save.
Forrest of glass: A huge cluster of black crystal trees. Some sickly green light emits from the center.
The river: the River is blood red and thick. It has things bobbing back and forth in it. If you follow the sources of the river back most drain out of mount.
Mount Grysl is the main location for those trying to hide from the Elder Godbrain (Ted) It is the location of the Master Ilithid and many others trying to survive.
Mount Grysl’s polypous spires once served as a secondary installation of the domain’s resident mind flayers, but the residents rebelled against the God-Brain’s self-serving obsessions. As one might amputate an infected limb, the God-Brain cut off Mount Grysl from its psychic network. The abandoned residents largely succumbed to infighting and each other’s amoral experiments. The spirits of these tormented mind flayers remain within Mount Grysl, as does the rebellion’s leader: a bloated deviant that calls itself the High Master and seeks to undermine the God-Brain.
A pale, reddish glow silhouettes the horizon in every direction, like a 360” sunset, shedding cold dusk on your new surroundings. The midnight blue sky is cloudless, but there are no stars. Lowering your eyes, there are no trees or bushes in sight; only a pale, blackish-yellow grass sprouts in thin patches on the crater-pocked ground. There are no sounds or signs of animal life anywhere. Twisted, angular rocks are the only things that seem to grow in this climate. They shoot out of the ground and bend in impossible directions as if they were soft clay slabs mangled by some lunatic god and then scattered across the realm. A low, constant, metallic drone is in the air. It’s not loud enough to be distracting, but it will begin to grate on your nerves if it doesn’t stop. The hum doesn’t seem to be coming from any particular direction. Jagged, bare mountains rise high in the distance and fall to the flatlands in a broken heap, as if the range were one gigantic, razor-edged rock pile. Smaller mountains rise to each side of you while the flatlands stretch far behind you. A river flows past, draining from the foothills. Its water is clear and icy-it seems safe enough to drink.
Bodies of water:
Rimsa River
The magic of Rimsa keeps the river a light blue and flows slowly. SW Near Mnt Grysl Drinkable
The print is a gigantic humanoid footprint filled with bright blue water. Mid East, All the way to the coast, Drinkable
Lake Makab is a large body of water at the base of Mnt Makab, It connects to the upsidedown river. Do Not Drink
The slow river NE running out of Mnt Makab, It is a thick yellow liquid running slowly down, Do Not Drink
The river of blood Runs through the middle of Bluetspur, Do not drink
The in-between: Despite its look, This domain is teeming with life. All of the in-between places are covered in cave systems and vast patches of empty creep.(See random table at the end)
DM notes "This is Bluetspur. A Domain of dread in the Deep Ethereal."
ADVENTURE START:
Not all the Domains of Dread are drawn from worlds hospitable to life.
The scale and impossible geometry of this plane induces instinctual anxiety.
Gaseous tempests whirl upon the hooked peaks of gravity-defying mountains, oily spires twist in semi-organic contortions, caustic fumaroles yawn and snap shut hungrily, and above it, all hangs a dying red orb."
Little can survive this wasteland, which is why these land masters dwell underground.
If you have died here you are cursed to become a horrid monstrosity. You and 10 other people sit confused, in robes, looking terrified.
As you push off the ground to lift yourself up your hand sinks a bit, As you notice that the surface feels almost like flesh, pulsating.
You look up to see a putrid purple sky pockmarked with black clouds. The landscape is a dull purple.
As far as you can see, it is littered with what almost looks like a cruel mockery of trees. You look in the distance to see a mountain climbing into the sky but you realize it has no end.
This place confuses the mind and befuddles the senses. everything smells of burnt ozone and rotting meat.
As you walk forward you realize you've been here before. The scars on your body tingle with memories unknown. Can you reclaim your memories and your sanity? Or will This place turn you to its twisted ends once more?
DM NOTE "The Land: Formerly a Core domain", Bluetspur is now a barren Island domain floating in the Mists. This unearthly place appears to have been physically broken off from the Core. Along its mountain chain (formerly part of the Balinoks), massive spurs of rock jut from the peaks at impossible angles, defying gravity. Stone arches bridge the summits, Large chunks of landscape look ripped directly from random plains, stuck at odd angles marking the only plant life. corkscrewing spires rise from the rock as if they were violently driven up through the surface.
Every d20 days a wave in the ground manifests from one direction then another.
Suppressed Memories
Aberrant Evidence
d6 Evidence
1 A needle-like device buried under someone’s skin
2 An inexplicable crater or circle of scorched crops
3 A stable full of exploded livestock
4 An antimatter rifle (detailed in the Dungeon Master’s Guide)
5 A missing person or otherworldly being transformed into a brain in a jar (see chapter 5)
6 The damaged corpse of a vampiric mind flayer (see chapter 5)
If too much time has passed: The mound of flesh that is the landscape shutters and shifts. All the ground starts to move around you, too fast to keep up with, and (DC 15 dex save) you begin to tumble (or run) and you see a black void in the ground sweeping towards you.
Always coming from the opposite way it came before.
You see the black void settle right under you. It feels like gel beneath you. The inky blackness shifts...Shutters and focuses on you. It is an eye. You feel its knowing gaze peer deep into your soul. DC 5 Int saving throw. On a fail, you start walking to a mountain in the distance. You walk to the base of the mountain and escorted to the elder brain's chamber.
When you are brought to the elder brain it offers to let you go if you willingly feed it blood for 1d4 days. If you chose to It heals you for any DMG taken. (DM NOTE If the party follows the fear of this place has not been properly demonstrated. After completing the deal the Ted tries to kill the party via 1d4 Vampiric mind flayers and 1d4 Intellect devourers. on a D20 roll of 15 or higher made by the DM or a party member. If the DC is met. One of the party members sees a fleshy tube they can dive into DC 5 Dex check...if not this might be a wipe)
Run Or in 1d4 rounds the eye opens and starts abducting NPC's after two disappear DC 10 Dex save or be swallowed into the eye.
You find yourselves at a winding cavern. An amalgamation of fleshy terrain and gnarled ruins stretches down below you.
The caverns below are filled with half-twisted creatures and blasphemous experiments. DC 15 check Troll parts scatter the rooms. Mindflayers walk mindlessly back and forth from room to room. , The vampiric mind flayers in this place seem under some kind of spell. They harvest Troll Blood, Meat, and bile and dump them down a never-ending tube. The masters of the place have long since been killed or worse. If the vampiric mind flayers are disrupted in any way they attack and explode in 1d4 rounds (Only the ones directly disturbed)
DC 10 checks to find a cage full of starving Trolls. The party can free the Trolls that then
1.The Trolls Attack the party! infected with some rage vires. (they do not regenerate)
2.The Trolls Give the party 1d4 makeshift health potions (made from trolls blood...you hope)
3.The Trolls lead the party to a stash of stuff (+10 to the pile of loot check) Take 1/2 and leave.
4.The Trolls attack the vampiric mind flayers killing every single one.
5.The Trolls go to the basement and "Fight the Creep" The party can escape easily.
6.The Trolls scatter in every direction and do a little of everything.
Pile of loot
1-2 A truly cursed item, Loupgaru, it is a blue.
3-4 you find clothes.
5-6 you find fitting gear.
7-8 you find a green
9-10 you find a blue
11-12 you find a purple
13-14 you find 2 greens
15-16 you find 2 blues
17-18 you find one purple one blue
19 you find 2 green 2 blue and 2 purple
20 to find a magic weapon of your choice
25 to find an Artifact. (Everyone gets to make this check and can be different skills-based of RP)
The party should find evadince that a wizard lived here for a long time doing all kinds of alchemacl experaments.
They find many diffrent rooms
1 full of cursed items as if a prodution line (roll on the minor curse table, they sloley harvest Quintessence over time via the curse.)
2 Many diffrent types of Suude including many never seen before.
3 Resurch of all kinds including a map of the relm, 1d4 memory stones, a book bound in flesh and written in primordel as well as 1d100 spell scrolls, many of witch are custome made spells.
You as well find a room with many doors in it and some sort of mecanizim, the doors are temp portles that can be used to travle all over the building as well as some other spots on the map. 1 The god brains chamber (everyone dies.) 2 the pyermid center. 3 Mnt Grysl, the masters chamber.
The party finds a "Creep" in the basement along with evadince that the troll meat is being harvestted for Quintessence and harvesting the locale crystles as they are 90% Residuum
if the party chooses to stay and make this their home in 1d4 days a Vampiric mind flayer shows up and tackles a party member. It then tries to communicate. A DC 20 int saving throw allows the party to communicate with it.
Athaekeetha: A vampiric mind flayer that somehow kept its mind. It is in content anger and pain. It begs for a cure and after 1d20 days begs to die.
RP'ing Athaekeetha. She can not speak In any way. It can only communicate with other VMF.(as well as control them completely, up to 1d10 at a time) She suffers great pain and bouts of anger. Any time the party communicates with her roll a d100 (+/- the number of non-illithids and Illithids around) on a 1 she attacks the party, only stopping after feeding on a party member or a DC 30 Anamle handling check. on a 100 she has a moment of stillness and can tell the party (with her mind) about a cure being made in Rimsa. She can not enter Rimsa under any means save being escorted by Skornando. (Athaekeetha is infected with multiple curses as well as the Phonic plague infecting Ted. it has no effect on anyone other than reinfecting Ted)
A large tree sits in the distance. It looks like it's on an island sitting on a lone patch of dirt.
When you get close the giant tree has been twisted into the grim visage of a face stuck in a silent scream. A druid is named Liliana. She is a Cervitaur and lives here and is doing vile experiments on Ilithids. Turning them into plants and other creatures. She has started to grow a small living portal but needs Humen to Tabaxi flash to finish it.
(if the party helps they open a portal to Waterdeep and Gibbering madness begins.)
The tree lab The lab: is a location where hundreds of pods housing every manner of creature imaginable.
You find many different types of vampires and lycanthropes as well as many colors of slaad. When you get about 20-30 min in the party finds a pod that has been destroyed and is covered in blood. This is where Liliana cam from.
The Creeper is a life form made from the purple fleshy landscape. It can not be killed. Only slowed. When it attacks, a faceless beak burst out of the Purple flesh attached to a long thick neck and 1d10 Tentacles with a +5 to grapple. If swallowed you are brought to the elder brain's chamber.
When you are brought to the elder brain it offers to let you go if you willingly feed it blood for 1d4 days. If you chose to It heals you for any DMG taken.
Alt storyline: The pirates feed the party and Cpt Roberts offers to equip them with anything they need to join the crew. After 1d4 days of sailing the purple and black sea stops near the edge of the mist. 1d20 huge tentacle grapples the ship and it stops completely all at once.
DM NOTE: Cpt Roberts and the crew should be played as fun-loving pirates. You should use the crew to create tension going forward. You find a corpse or mind flayer with a ring or tattoo of one of the crew. You see the half-destroyed ship slowly drifting by in the distance on the still sea.
The ship is sunk if the party chooses to stay abroad. At this point flip a coin and Heads: the mists surround the party and they pass out. arriving in the town in Rimsa. Tales: Specialized tentacles grapple the party (DC 25 str check) Open and slurp the party to Ted's chamber.
Suppressed Memories
d6 Memory
1 You’re paralyzed on a cold table. Clicking sounds surround you. Pallid tentacles slither toward your face, each ending in gleaming surgical instruments. What are they trying to do?
2 Some unfamiliar reflex moves your arm. Looking, you catch a glimpse of a bruise slithering beneath your skin. What do you do?
3 A many-legged, ferret-like creature floats into your cell. You feel multitudes of unseen eyes upon you. What do your captors expect you to do with this? What do you do?
4 Rainbow storms assail the heights of a mountain so tall it seems to curve over you. You’re floating over a red wasteland, just one in a line of hovering beings. What do you see ahead?
5 You knew a stranger. You were each other’s comfort against fear and pain. Then they were taken away. What were their final words to you?
6 The figure hovering before you are deemed acceptable. They’re lowered into a pool, where pale, slug-like beings set upon them. You float forward. Why are you deemed unacceptable?
Any nat 1 when searching or fleeing and mists form around you and pull you in.
Village of Rimsa
Rimsa is surrounded by the fog of the land. A safe haven in a sea of eldritch terror.
1. Skornando is the town trader (will trade anything for a mists key & will barter for you to work NOTE: he has any and all common gear and simple weapons)
2. The local inn will feed and cloth anyone for free (Abagale the druid. Need music or booze.)
3. A overworked alchemist (Landwell Tikrite) does what they can to help the folks that end up here. (needs undead flesh or dead things, Has Booze)
4. A young druid withered and aged for how young she is (Abagale Dwarf) Is working to gather supplies as needed for the alchemist (Landwell Tikrite).
5 All of the local trees are dying and have a Crystle that strat to grow off the dead trees. (DC 20 int and you can tell the Crystle have anti psionic powers. Landwell Tikrite can make this into protective gear that Ilithids are weak to. but can't focus on making the cure if they do.)
6. A feast in honor of the 1 year of the mists protecting them( Every year Skornando disappears and the mists come down and almost everyone dies. Every one left has a mind wipe)
Darklord Skornando: was tricked by his own hubris. He thought he could save everyone from a coming apocalypse and knew he only had the power to save himself.
When he saved himself the land he loved was pulled into Ravenloft to be a safe haven for those lost in this sea of mad chaos. His curse is he knows he can't care for everyone and at some point, he will only be able to save himself.
Skornando is a Vistani, He is a level 5 druid level 5 ranger level 5 Warlock of the mist and believes he is doing his best and will get whatever the party needs to get them going.
If the party stays 4 days the mists dissipate and are beset on by mind flayers riding long blue lizards that breathe lightning.
DC 25 int saves all around.
(If the party is friendly With Skornando He starts crying and tells the party everything. DC 25 int (Arc) check and you tell him how he can save up to 50 others with his power.)
RP'ing Skornando: He is a very short Vistani, Extremely handsome, and charismatic. He has a mix of a Spanish and Italian accent. He is very kind, particularly to animals. Skornando can trade with the local mind flayers and can freely leave the Domain. (He can only travel to Barovia)
The Mindflayers capture and bring the party to
1-5 the party is placed in a tube chamber and roll on the memory and sanity table
6-10 S'lthell in a small but powerful uprising,
11-15 you awaken with Ogrin naked (all your gear is gone) a few years later having been resurrected.
16-20 The High Mastermind flayer of Mount Grysl, and a sizable group of mixed Illithids hunting the Rod.
Matron Mother Malice owned a strange and unique rod of reincarnation, gifted to her during the House Do'Urden's good graces in the eyes of Lolth. The scepter possessed the abilities of a regular rod of resurrection, but also could instantly destroy a creature, rebirthing them as a completely random new being of the same power level. The knowledge of the item was lost with Malice's death as she kept the rod's existence a secret. This rod, is the Rod of Rastinon.
Malice never regained Lolth's favor after Drizzt's actions. Ten years later, in 1338 DR, the two houses finally ended their covert war when House Hun'ett attacked and were defeated by House Do'Urden. Yvonnel Baenre forced Malice to "adopt" SiNafay Hun'ett as Shi'nayne Do'Urden, her eldest "daughter" recently returned home. Malice detested her and at the last moment sacrificed her instead of Rizzen to Lolth as an offering for Zin-carla, a "spirit-wraith" which was normally allowed only under Lolth's highest favor but was granted to Malice as a last-ditch effort to find and kill Drizzt. When Zin-carla (which was Zaknafein Do'Urden resurrected and controlled by Malice) found Drizzt, Malice lost control of it for a moment, which was enough time for Zaknafein to kill himself instead of allowing his body to kill Drizzt. This caused Malice to forever lose the favor of Lolth and to be killed by Briza, in one last desperate, and futile attempt to regain Lolth's favor for House Do'Urden. The house was defeated by House Baenre in 1339 DR. In her last words she swore vengeance like no other. To rain the Blood Briza down onto House Baenre. Lolth was offended by the words and Layed a Curse on Malice. Restoring her body and flinging her to the far realms, She landed in Bluesper. She was bit by Loup Garou and in a last-ditch effort to "cure herself" She used the Rod of Rastinon to destroy herself to come back "Better" In doing so she became an unknowing Simi-god. She is now cursed to come back as a new Demi-god every 1d10 months.
Nature of Being
First, if you haven’t decided what this being is, roll for nature
Roll 1d8 Nature of Being
1 Saint
2 Avatar
3 Demigod
4 Reincarnated Emanation/Bodhisattva
5 Local Deity/Spirit
6 Titan/Being/Alien
7 Omnipotent/Omniscient
8 Personified Concept (no strictness or jealousy)
Domain
Then, you can either skip ahead to roll the Deity’s purview or you can roll here for a domain.
Roll 1d10 Deity’s Domain
1 Household
2 Household + roll again
3 Human Endeavors
4 Human Endeavers + roll again
5 Nature
6 Nature + roll again
7 Personal
8 Personal + roll again
9 Spirit
10 Spirit + roll again
Deities in the personal domain are or were living beings who either were gods/demigods/avatars or they became them after death, coronation, etc. They might not have a particular purview or they might develop one after generations of worship.
Purview
Roll d100 for a totally random purview in any domain or if you already have a domain chosen, roll 1d20 and consult columns 2 and 3. Note that some purviews are opposite sides of a coin. You can choose, flip a coin or make the same god responsible for both sides of the coin (one might pray to the goddess of slavery for freedom, for example).
Roll d100 Domain Roll 1d5 for Domain then 1d20 for Purview Purview
1 Household 1 Play
2 Household 2 Fertility/Harvest/Babies
3 Household 3 Health/Disease
4 Household 4 Hunt
5 Household 5 Hearth
6 Household 6 Doors/Household Safety
7 Household 7 Baking
8 Household 8 Wine/Beer
9 Household 9 Sewing/Weaving
10 Household 10 Wealth
11 Household 11 Household Item
12 Household 12 Food (particular)
13 Household 13 Important Commodity
14 Household 14 Male Virility
15 Household 15 Bridges/Gates/Crossing/Crossroads
16 Household 16 Fidelity/Adultery
17 Household 17 Animal Husbandry
18 Household 18 Gossip/Reputation
19 Household 19 Books/Scrolls
20 Household 20 Important Domestic Animal/Insect
21 Human Endeavors 1 Invention
22 Human Endeavors 2 War
23 Human Endeavors 3 Indulgence
24 Human Endeavors 4 Theft/Kidnapping
25 Human Endeavors 5 Travel/Hospitality to Strangers
26 Human Endeavors 6 Sailing
27 Human Endeavors 7 Building
28 Human Endeavors 8 Exploration/Adventure
29 Human Endeavors 9 Cannibalism
30 Human Endeavors 10 Honor/Justice/Vengeance
31 Human Endeavors 11 Trade/Commerce/Unexpected Windfalls
32 Human Endeavors 12 Slavery/Freedom
33 Human Endeavors 13 Learning/Ignorance
34 Human Endeavors 14 Hiding
35 Human Endeavors 15 Art/Poetry
36 Human Endeavors 16 Healing
37 Human Endeavors 17 Protector of Our People
38 Human Endeavors 18 Mining
39 Human Endeavors 19 Sport
40 Human Endeavors 20 Gambling
41 Nature 1 Animal
42 Nature 2 Mountains
43 Nature 3 Night
44 Nature 4 Oceans
45 Nature 5 Season (1d4: Spring/Summer/Autumn/Winter)
46 Nature 6 Plants/Woods
47 Nature 7 Predominant Local Climate/Weather Type
48 Nature 8 Fresh Waters
49 Nature 9 Natural Disasters
50 Nature 10 Thunder / Storms /Monsoon Season
51 Nature 11 Death/Destruction
52 Nature 12 Sun
53 Nature 13 Moon
54 Nature 14 Planet/Stars
55 Nature 15 Air
56 Nature 16 Fire
57 Nature 17 Earth
58 Nature 18 Water (all)
59 Nature 19 Natural Beauty
60 Nature 20 Decay (and rebirth)
61 Personal 1 King/Pharoah/Emperor
62 Personal 2 Queen/Empress
63 Personal 3 Consort
64 Personal 4 Parent of (roll again)
65 Personal 5 Child
66 Personal 6 Aescetic/Hermit
67 Personal 7 Bastard
68 Personal 8 Hero
69 Personal 9 Villain
70 Personal 10 Monster
71 Personal 11 Traitorous Advisor
72 Personal 12 Criminal
73 Personal 13 Folk Hero
74 Personal 14 Wise man/Wizard
75 Personal 15 Brother/Sister
76 Personal 16 Twins
77 Personal 17 General
78 Personal 18 Physician
79 Personal 19 Martyr
80 Personal 20 Roll Twice
81 Spirit 1 Wisdom
82 Spirit 2 Compassion
83 Spirit 3 Tricks
84 Spirit 4 Protection from Spirits
85 Spirit 5 Miracles
86 Spirit 6 Afterlife
87 Spirit 7 Pre-life
88 Spirit 8 Karma
89 Spirit 9 Undead
90 Spirit 10 Laughter
91 Spirit 11 Song
92 Spirit 12 Love/Sex
93 Spirit 13 Destiny/Fate
94 Spirit 14 Dreams
95 Spirit 15 Fear/Bravery
96 Spirit 16 Greed/Generosity
97 Spirit 17 Jealousy/Equanimity
98 Spirit 18 Hate/Love (non-romantic)
99 Spirit 19 Abstinence/Indulgence
100 Spirit 20 Bardo (Trial grounds between lifetimes)
Form
Roll 1d8 for appearance (if applicable). If you roll twice, combine the two (animal-headed human, panther made of swords, whatever).
Roll 1d8 Form
1 Human
2 Humanoid /Demihuman / Unusual Human
3 Animal
4 Object from Nature
5 Natural Process (wind, fire, etc.)
6 Man-made Object
7 Monster
8 Roll Twice
Symbol
Roll 1d8 for a symbol. If you roll twice, there is more than one (cross and fish, tree and wheel, fire and winged man, etc.). Or combine those as well.
Roll 1d8 Symbol
1 Weapon
2 Tool/Household Object
3 Animal
4 Manmade Symbol/Letter
5 Natural Object
6 Monster
7 Body Part
8 Roll Twice
Colors
Every team needs a color or two. Roll 1d10.
Roll 1d10 Color(s)
1 Red
2 Orange
3 Yellow
4 Green
5 Blue
6 Indigo
7 Violet
8 Black
9 White
10 Roll Twice: Mix or Pattern
Offerings
This is what you have to bring to appease/propitiate the deity. Obviously, roll again if the result doesn’t fit your campaign.
Roll 1d10 Offerings
1 Animal Sacrifice
2 Plants
3 Humans
4 Money
5 Work
6 Art
7 Goods/Commodities
8 Food/Water/Drink
9 Fasting/Deprivation
10 Help Others
Other Aspects
Roll 1d10 to determine other aspects of that deity on a scale of 1 to 10.
Strictness 1 = Forgiving 10 = Unforgiving
Jealousy 1 = No Proselytizing 10 = Convert the World
Opacity 1 = No Revelations 10 = Many Scriptures
Posse 1 = Random Lone believers 10 = Ecclesiatical Hierarchy
Suppressed Memories
Check DC 20
1.You walk to the mouth of a cave, You are covered in blood and a black Icher with a small weapon in one hand.
You reach the cave mouth. What do you see?
2. You command a group of two dozen troops of Illithids. You are all dressed for battle. What are you fighting?
3. You awake in a small lake of pale red liquid. Something is in the water with you. What is it?
4. You sit atop a colossal pyramid looking out at a vast purple landscape. You look into a purple sky shrouded by black mist, It parts for a brief sec. What do you see?
5. You are flying on a metallic-looking disk with a single handle sticking out of it. The mist is thick at this altitude and you look down below. What do you see?
6. You awake in the body of a Mindflayer! you know you should not be you but YOU ARE! what do you do?
All remaining Characters are pulled into a single memory Everyone rolls a D20 (lowest wins) then a D6 will determine what memory is true
after 24 hours the players awake in red liquid-filled cylinders and must find a way to break free (DC 15 check)
Bluetspur Adventures
d8 Adventure
1 Character awake within the shattered remains of a fluid-filled tube deep in Citadel Subtooine. They have no idea how they arrived there.
2 A cavern the characters were exploring seamlessly abuts with Bluetspur, trapping them in caves overrun with vampiric mind flayers (see chapter 5 VGR).
3 A strange message leads characters to a silvery vessel full of alien mysteries wrecked on Bluetspur’s surface. The only surviving creature in the wreck is a cunning displacer beast.
4 The characters find a strange but adorable creature trapped within an abandoned alien installation. The being is a lovable companion until it reveals itself to be a star spawn emissary (see chapter 5 VGR).
5 An acquaintance of the characters complains of reoccurring nightmares. The complaints stop when the dreamer is taken over by an intellect devourer.
6 An inventor requests the characters’ insight into a pill-sized device she extracted from her own body. As the characters examine it, the device projects a map into their minds and emits a telepathic call for help. The map leads to a mind flayer who wants to put the God-Brain out of its misery.
7 A farmer hires the characters to protect his family, whom he believes—without evidence—are being abducted and returned every night.
8 The High Mastermind flayer of Mount Grysl seeks to claim all the God-Brain knows. To do this, it creates a copy of the Apparatus (see “Mordent” later in this chapter VGR). All it needs is a relic called the Rod of Rastinon, which it wants the characters to retrieve for it.
9. Seeking information for the master and other Ilithids.
They find a Druid harvesting it from Ilithid flesh (unknowingly) and inviting the living portal. Then they start harvesting it from vampiric mind flayers. If you know the druid yuou can take them there or hunt VMF alive
Adventures Out of Time
The most effective way to reveal the characters’ missing memories is to revisit them as an adventure. Players might run lower-level versions of their characters or use the survivors from chapter 4 to represent their past selves. Or characters might play forgotten versions of themselves—perhaps very different from who they are now—or individuals in the memories of another character. Run this adventure as an experience detached from your campaign’s timeline, a flashback that relates the terrors of being a victim of the mind flayers’ plots. Death likely doesn’t mean much in these adventures, as characters somehow survived to remember their traumas—perhaps through miraculous mind flayer surgeries. However, developments in the past can provide all manner of revelations, potentially unveiling terrifying truths hidden within characters’ own minds and bodies.
Many of the domains in Ravenloft float independently in the Misty Border, forming isolated Islands of Terror. Each is permanently surrounded by the Mists and has no physical link to any other domain. These Islands are continually forming and disappearing.
The Nature of Islands
The Islands of Terror are some of the most unstable domains in the Demiplane. In time, most Island domains stabilize. Sometimes, however, the domain lord is eventually deemed unworthy of being a lord. In these cases, the Island ceases to exist, either returning to the Mists or to the plane from which it was snatched. Alternatively, if the lord proves himself sufficiently foul, the Island might stabilize and join the Core or one of the Clusters. More infrequently, a Core or Cluster domain may even be reduced to an isolated Island in the Mists.
The Grand Conjunction seems to have had its greatest impact on the Islands of Terror. At its conclusion, many of the older Islands were drawn together to form Clusters. Solitary Islands still float in the Mists, but some of the familiar ones have changed.
The sun never shines in this land, so it has no distinct day or night. However, the entire horizon glows with the ruddy hue of dusk, casting a reddish tint over the land and constituting "day". When "night" falls, the sky becomes completely black, and lightning begins to strike with electrifying frequency.
Those who remain under the open skies during these storms cannot hope to survive. However, those who take shelter underground must deal with the mind flayers.
Though various streams drain from the mountains, vegetation is almost nonexistent due to the absence of sunlight. A few species of sticky fungi grow in the crevices at lower elevations, but the land is otherwise barren and stony save for random growth brought in that quickly dies.
Cultural Level: An alien form of the dark-age domain.
The Folk: Only one group of people live above the ground in this domain in a settlement called Rimsa (A mini domain of dread). The only other inhabitants of Bluetspur are the illithids (also know as mind flayers), their servants, and a growing number of vampiric illithids.
The Law: This domain is ruled by a powerful being known only as Ted the god-brain. This creature uses mental domination to control his subjects.
Personalities of Note:
Athaekeetha: A vampiric mind flayer that somehow kept its mind. It is in content anger and pain. It begs for a cure and after 1d20 days begs to die.
RP'ing Athaekeetha. She can not speak in any way. It can only communicate with other VMF.(as well as control them completely, up to 1d10 at a time) She suffers great pain and bouts of anger. Any time the party communicates with her roll a d100 (+/- the number of nonilithids around, depending on stress) on a 1 she attacks the party, only stopping after feeding on a party member or a DC 30 Anamle handling check. on a 100 she has a moment of stillness and can tell the party (with her mind) about a cure being made in Rimsa. She can not enter Rimsa under any means save being escorted by Skornando. (Athaekeetha is infected with multiple curses as well as the Phonic plague infecting Ted. it has no effect on anyone other than reinfecting Ted)
The High Master Illithid, a 20th-level metapsionicist, constantly seeks the means to usurp the power and position of the god-brain. He and Lyssa von Zarovich (a relative of Strahd) were the creators of the vampire illithids that threaten the current inhabitants of Bluetspur.
Level 1: Much as preditors settle near water to find prey, so do the monster of Bluetspur seeks to hunt at this level.
Level 2: The City of Gliff is located here. Thousands of humanoids and mind flayers live in relative harmony here. With the Ilithids not wanting to lose good servents they don't push them too hard, And humanoids don't last a day on the surface, So they stay, Taken care of by the Ilithids. Many curious creatures live here.
Bizlift Doorplslab, The first Ilithid to fully transform and keep its mind intact. During the process, Bizlift used Gnomish magic to bargain with the tadpole. The result is an Ilithid Wizard not connected to an elder. Ted and the other Ilithids fear Bizlift's power and let him do whatever he wants. On any nat 20 on this floor and Bizlift deems the party lucky enough to meet him.
He invites the party to have dinner with him. Strange-looking fruits and mushrooms. If the party displays any aptitude for magic or intelligence (unprompted) Biz teleports the party to Rimza. If not he thanks them for a good conversation. Offers a hero's feast (the spell) and sends the party on its way.
Level 3
The High Master Illithid has continued the "No Tadpole left behind" experimentations. Giant mind flays comingle with Tiny (pixy) mind flayer
All Mind flayer giants are Ulithid and are much more powerful than average Ulithids.
Anything smaller than med can not become a Ulithid but have a much greater chance to keep part of their mind apon changing.
(( Purley ideas for npc's http://www.johnmsteele.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/AD&D/Settings/SpellJammer/Others/WldWldWst/Illithids/MindFlayers.htm ))
The High Mastermind flayer of Mount Grysl seeks to claim all the God-Brain knows.
To do this, it creates a copy of the Apparatus (see “Mordent” later in this chapter VGR).
All it needs is a relic called the Rod of Rastinon, which it wants the characters to retrieve for it.
She will work with or even save the party at any point if she thinks the party can help.
She is watching the party as if the scrying spell (DC 35) and can not see Ogrin Morningstar in any way.
She is trying to find a better way to harvest Quintessence. If she is told about the druids resurch in the forrest of glass she will do everything she can to reteve it.
(If given the rod it and all traces of it disappear and DO NOT help to stop Ted.
If you are somehow friendly with The High Mastermind flayer she offers to bring the party back in time to take over the prime. She explains Elder brains never die. You can cut a god brain to bits and eat it and still it lives. I still hear the whispers of my first master. guiding me. She turns the party into Ilithids. This is an Easter Egg to start Gibbering Madness as Illithids)
Skornando: The Dark Lord of Rimsa who only wishes to save everyone in Bluetspur
finding the cure for vampirism
Landwell Tikrite, a nonbinary halfling alchemist who dwells in the town of Rimsa holds the secret to ending the elder brain's ailment.
A mind flayer known as S'lthell has traveled to the surface seeking a cure for vampirism. They are hiding in Rimsa disguised as a half-drow named Lith'Die'el. A decade before, its colony's elder brain was afflicted with vampirism. Illithid tadpoles placed in the spawning pool where the elder brain dwells have similarly been afflicted and become vampiric mind flayers. Over the years, these creatures have overrun the colony. Because the elder brain attacks any mind flayers who oppose its growing army, S'lthell fears the colony will collapse with no new mind flayers being born.
Encounters: The vampire illithids are rabidly insane monsters, but one of them has retained enough of its intelligence to become even more dangerous. Its name is Athaekeetha, and it is featured in the Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium Appendices I & II.(2e)
The number of vampire illithids in Bluetspur is constantly increasing. Thus, characters who remain above ground in this domain have a 25% chance twice per day of encountering 1d4 of these vile creatures.
Vampire lllithid with 1HP remaining (Bloodlust)
Mind blast creates a cone 60' long, 5' wide at the base, and 20' wide at the end. This can be done once per round. The victim must save vs. wand at DC 5 int saving throw or be stunned for 1d6 rounds, and he must make a madness check of DC 10 or suffer long-term effects.
Personality: insane.
Due to the electrical storms, any character who remains above ground during the "night" must make a successful saving throw vs. DC 5 int or wis saving throw. Each round or be struck by a bolt of lightning. Failure to save indicates that the character suffers 4d6 points of damage (save again for half damage). Characters may take refuge under the rock outcroppings, but they will have no room to fight if attacked.
The living mind flayers appear at the surface only occasionally. However, the use of magic here creates an arcane resonance that can attract their attention. Each time a character casts a spell, he has a percentage chance equal to twice the level of the spell to draw the attention of the mind flayers. If the detection roll is successful, 2d6 mind flayers teleport into the area 1d4 rounds later. They always attempt to subdue visitors and add them to their servent pool.
Each night spent in Bluetspur also brings horrid nightmares. The dreamer imagines dark, foul creatures slinking out from the rock and devouring all that is good. A horror check is required when the character awakens.
Further Reading: The adventure Thoughts of Darkness (2e) provides more information on Bluetspur and details the events surrounding the creation of vampire illithids.
Vampiric mind flayers: Vicious siblings to mind flayers
Vampiric mind flayers are physically and mentally unstable beings. Ghoulish creatures, they let nothing stand between them and their existential imperatives. Although they possess the telepathic abilities of mind flayers, their brains aren’t equipped to employ them. Instead, they bombard nearby creatures with a mental static of visceral visions.
Source: Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft
Vampiric mind flayers are animalistic predators that appear in Bluetspur, a Domain of Dread of cosmic horror and monstrous experimentation. They are the result of an elder brain that infects mind flayer tadpoles with vampirism. Reaching maturity, these mind flayers hunt down humanoids beyond the Mists and drain them of their cerebral fluid. Bloated and lumbering, vampiric mind flayers will return to their elder brain to be liquefied into a balm.
Vampiric mind flayers disturb their more intelligent and sophisticated siblings, mind flayers. They lack personality or desire beyond serving their elder brain. For mind flayers, these creatures are the stuff of nightmare — they are mind flayers that lack agency and have no sense of self-preservation except to return to the God-Brain to be destroyed.
Bluetspur: The Domain of Alien Memories
Bluetspur is an incomprehensible wasteland of floating mountains and violent storms. Few creatures roam the inhabitable surface world of this Domain of Dread, though many have taken refuge deep underground. There, mind flayers toil away in futuristic laboratories for a cure to an alien disease that slowly kills the God-Brain, the domain's Darklord. All the while, the God-Brain dreams up more terrible experiments and creations in its demented state, including the ravenous vampiric mind flayer.
If the inclusion of Bluetspur doesn't suit your campaign, you can include vampiric mind flayers in other ways. An ancient vampire might have sought more powerful minions and experimented on mind flayer tadpoles. Or a human scientist could have sought to weaponize these creatures, but instead was devoured when its creation reached maturity.
Vampiric mind flayers have a challenge rating of 5, making them suitable for a party of four 5th-level adventurers. If you want to raise the stakes, these creatures can be found with intellect devourers. One vampiric mind flayer accompanied by an intellect devourer represents a hard encounter, according to our encounter builder.
With high Wisdom, vampiric mind flayers will be tactical when attacking enemies. Their high Dexterity allows them to sneak up on targets until they are in the range of their bonus actionability, Disrupt Psyche. This ability targets Intelligence saving throws and can take down threats before they get a chance to act in combat:
Disrupt Psyche (Recharge 5–6). The mind flayer magically emits psionic energy in a 30-foot-radius sphere centered on itself. Each creature in that area must succeed on a DC 15 Intelligence saving throw or be incapacitated for 1 minute. The incapacitated creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
Vampiric mind flayers have low Intelligence, so they might not properly assess threats. They might choose to keep a watchful eye on the barbarian with a bloody great ax rather than the wizard with phantasmal force, for example. That said, you will have to decide whether the vampiric mind flayer's Wisdom score means that it will target an incapacitated creature and escape after draining it of cerebral fluid, or if it will attack those who are still standing.
For its Action, the vampiric mind flayer will need to use its Multiattack before it can take a sip out of player characters. Its Tentacles automatically grapple on a hit. The required DC 15 Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) to break free is a high bar for spellcasters and neatly sets up the vampiric mind flayer's Drink Sapience Action:
Drink Sapience. The mind flayer targets one creature it is grappling with. The target must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or take 14 (4d6) psychic damage and gain 1 level of exhaustion. The mind flayer regains a number of hit points equal to the psychic damage dealt. A creature reduced to 0 hit points by the psychic damage dies.
Imposing exhaustion is a nice touch for the creature's Drink Sapience ability. One point of it imposes a disadvantage on ability checks, including those required to break a grapple. Meanwhile, regaining hit points off the psychic damage dealt could mean the vampiric mind flayer gets an extra turn or two before fleeing or dying. Unfortunately, Drink Sapience doesn't do anything if the target successfully saves.
The vampiric mind flayer might flee
Vampiric mind flayers are psychically linked to the elder brain that created them. If the God-Brain exists in your adventure and the vampiric mind flayers want to flee, then the Mists will roll onto the battlefield, opening a gateway to Bluetspur. This can trigger an adventure if the player characters pursue the vampiric mind flayer, which uses its high bonus to Dexterity (Stealth) checks to lose them before returning to the God-Brain.
Playing with vampiric mind flayers at your table
vampiric mind flayers offer a variety of adventure hooks that lead player characters to Bluetspur. Player characters might be unwittingly abducted and returned with only scattered memories of experiments conducted on them in Bluetspur. These serve as a talisman to the domain. But if you want an adventure set in the Material Plane that involves vampiric mind flayers, you can tweak the following to suit your party's level:
A mind flayer seeks the party's aid
you see an older man dressed in robes lumbering forward, his eyes blankly staring into yours. He beckons you forward with a crooked finger. "A private ... audience ... if you will," he says, his voice strained.
A mind flayer known as S'lthell has traveled to the surface seeking a cure for vampirism. They are hiding in Rimsa disguised as a half-drow named Lith'Die'el. A decade before, its colony's elder brain was afflicted with vampirism. Illithid tadpoles placed in the spawning pool where the elder brain dwells have similarly been afflicted and become vampiric mind flayers. Over the years, these creatures have overrun the colony. Because the elder brain attacks any mind flayers who oppose its growing army, S'lthell fears the colony will collapse with no new mind flayers being born.
Making a deal with the illithid
Player characters who enter the caves surrounding Rimsa will be telepathically contacted by S'lthell, who has set up a base of operations nearby. It explains the blight of vampirism on its colony and offers a deal to the adventuring party: Help it cure the elder brain of its vampirism and it will see that humanoids trapped in the colony are released (also a ton of magic items if Friendly).
To accomplish this task, the party will need to research and concoct a balm that can cure the elder brain's vampirism. Further, the party will need to apply the balm themselves. S'lthell has been banished from the spawning pool after arguing against the elder brain's continued creation of vampiric mind flayers. However, S'lthell can ensure the party is tasked with looking after the elder brain, and that they are safely taken to and from the colony.
Refusing to help: Should the party refuse to help, a vampiric mind flayer will attack them at random in the following days. Following this attack, S'lthell will approach the party once more, explaining that the elder brain now seeks to extend its domain to the surface world and that this attack was simply to measure the "typical outsider response.
Despite the risks involved in invading the surface, no other mind flayers have risen to S'lthell's cause. Should the party still refuse to make a deal with S'lthell, the party will be attacked by a mob of vampiric mind flayers and intellect devourers. In the chaos that ensues, two mind flayers will attempt to Kidnap 2 party members and retreat.
Finding the cure for vampirism
Landwell Tikrite, a nonbinary halfling alchemist who dwells in the town of Rimsa holds the secret to ending the elder brain's ailment. During their off-hours, Landwell studies the undead, believing that science can uncover the secrets to their unending lives — and use those secrets for good. In what way, Landwell isn't entirely sure. In exchange for creating the balm required to heal the elder brain, Landwell asks the party to bring back a sample from the creature for experimentation.
Creating the balm requires material components such as local cave mushrooms, the blood of a vampiric mind flayer, in addition to the fang of a vampire or vampire spawn. At night, one of these creatures can be found lurking in a nearby ruin. During the day, the creature takes refuge in one of the shallow caves Roll 1d6 on a 6 the party finds the vampire drained of fluid and dead. When Landwell has the necessary components, they produce the balm after three workdays.
Venturing into the mountain
When the party returns to S'lthell, it reveals its plan for getting them into the colony: S'lthell will need to take control of them in order to dupe any mind flayers who might read their thoughts when they first arrive.* Once inside, S'lthell will relinquish its control over the party and assign them various tasks around the colony until the elder brain accepts them as caretakers. Such tasks can include the following:
Tasks in the mind flayer colony
1 Protecting a herd of rothé from an umber hulk spotted in the area.
2 Cleaning fighting pits where nightly duels are held.
3 Putting on a performance that entertains other mind flayers and showcases the party's strengths.
4 Collecting decorative flowers, which are protected by swarms of rot grubs.
* If loss of agency makes any of your players uncomfortable, the adventuring party might instead be tasked with learning and reciting phrases to successfully dupe any suspicious mind flayers.
When the party is permitted into the elder brain's chambers, they find the creature partially submerged in a spawning pool filled with innumerable infected mind flayer tadpoles. The elder brain is protected by two mind flayers vampires that keep watch over the caretakers. Changed by its vampirism, the elder brain is lethargic and frequently hungers for cranial fluids.
Every couple hours, the elder brain demands to be fed, at which point a mind flayer brings in servants to be drained by the vampiric mind flayers on guard. Afterward, the vampiric mind flayers enter the spawning pool and are liquefied. During this time, the party can safely apply the balm and take a sample of the elder brain as it is unguarded and distracting.
Alternatively, the party can make a group Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) or Charisma (Deception) check to safely apply the balm and take a sample. If they fail, S'lthell will enter the chamber and distract the elder brain and vampiric mind flayers long enough for the party to accomplish these tasks. S'lthell dies in doing so.
Curing the elder brain
When the balm is applied to the elder brain, a psychic pulse resonates through the colony, disrupting the mind flayers' psychic abilities and causing vampiric mind flayers in the area to enter into a frenzy. The elder brain is incapacitated for 1 hour as it heals from its vampirism. In 1d10 rounds the first of the vampiric mind flayers start to self-destruct, This lasts 1d20 weeks.
As the colony erupts into chaos, S'lthell takes one of three courses of action, depending on its attitude toward the party:
1.Friendly: S'Ithell uses the opportunity to help the party and other servants escape. Doing so draws the attention of other mind flayers, who are too distracted to attack but will later have S'lthell exiled from the colony.
2.Indifferent: S'Ithell is true to its word and is later exiled from its colony for providing aid. However, S'lthell doesn't trust the party and has them followed by intellect devourers to ensure that they do not reveal the location of its colony when they return to the Town. If they do, the intellect devourers attack. Otherwise, they stop tracking the party after a few days.
3.Hostile: S'Ithell refuses to help the party but does not interfere in their escape, or if they help servants escape.
When the party and freed servants return to the surface, word quickly spreads of their deeds, and the town launches a project to find and save any survivors. In the months that follow, the party hears rumors of recently rescued humanoids in town going missing. In truth, S'lthell's colony has returned to normalcy and begun replacing the servants who escaped.
The Ilithid compound
This compound is made of three parts. The top is made up of caves filled with monsters, Hunting and eating one another. The middle is the closest thing Bluetspur has to a bustling metropolis and the lower chambers are filled with vampiric mind flayers shuffling in and out of dark corners (portals), the entirety of this level is covered in purple and black creep.
Level 1
level 2 Subtooen
Level 3: vampiric mind flayers shuffle back and forth. A line of them, fat and slow shuffle to Ted's chamber. Every inch of this floor is covered in creep.
This is a set of sub-quests that can be set in Mkb or Grysl
If the party attempts to elude the mind flayer forces by running into the cave labyrinth, keep the mind flayers hot on their trail for a few rounds. If the party is not hurt too badly at this point, allow the mind flayers to catch up with them and fight another battle or two, until the PCs have a sense of “nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.” At that point, place Symbiont around the next bend. When they see him, read the following boxed text. Around the next bend, you come face to face with a horrifying sight. An ape-like creature, with a hideously malformed human head growing from its stomach, throws out one hand in a gesture of greeting while putting a finger to his lips with the other hand. Symbiont leads the party through a series of narrow devices, some of which shrink to as narrow as three feet across. Everyone must crawl, and larger-than-man-sized creatures have a 25% chance to become stuck at some point along the way, unable to continue without magical means. At last, you arrive in a dimly torch-lit cavern. The air here is truly foul; it takes a supreme act of will to hold your gag reflexes in check. There are perhaps a half dozen disfigured creatures in this cramped space: all of them are part human and part animal or monster. There is a giant slug with a human’s head, partially dissolved from its own acidic spittle. His antennae are human arms and hands from the elbows down, and they twitch and grasp at the air in front of him. a wolflike creature with vaguely human ears, a short, bleeding nose, and dog-clawed fingers. These and other disgusting creatures crowd around, sniffing and pawing at you, and speaking to one another in an odd language. You can understand a word here and there, but it is largely gibberish. Instruct the party to make another round of horror checks, this time with a + 1 bonus because the shock value is wearing off. The casting of comprehend languages or similar power allows a character to understand but not speak the broken ones’ language. After resolving the checks, continue with the following boxed text. The two-headed, apelike creature who led you here addresses you: “Symbiont,” he says, thumping his chest and then patting his second head gently; it continues to roll its eyes from side to side, but it gives you a toothless, lop-sided grin. “Friend of Annitella,” Symbiont adds. Then, pointing at you, he asks, “Friend of Annitella?” displaying chipped and yellowed fangs. With a gesture at the group of creates around him, he says, “We are Shattered Brethren. We help Annitella-you and us,” he says. “We will stop the fiends, but first we wait for the searchers to give up, and first we drink!” beside him and pulls out a leather skin. Uncorking it, he passes the skin to each of the slobbering creatures around him. He drinks and then tips the skin upon the lips of his second head, which slurps loudly, letting some of the pasty liquid dribbles from his lips. Then, Symbiont passes the skin to you. “Drink,” he says gruffly. You hesitate and he repeats, “Drink!” You nod your assent and he smiles, Symbiont reaches into a crack in the rocks If the PCs refuse to drink from the skin, the Brethren will be offended. They thrust the skin at one of the PCs and repeats “Drink!”, taking it up as a chant. If the PC repeats his refusal, Symbiont insists that the drink is good and delicious. In the end, if the PCs steadfastly refuse to drink, the Brethren will grumble to one another in their incomprehensible language. Nevertheless, the PCs should get the definite impression that they have displeased their hosts. Symbiont simply says,“We go now.” Proceed to Encounter 1 1. If any PC agrees to drink from the skin, read the following boxed text. If the PC agrees, continue: The stench in this room is nothing compared to the reek in this bottle. You tip the bottle, bringing the thick liquid to the rim. It’s a yellowish-brown sludge. Do you still want to drink?
Tell the PC to make a saving throw vs. poison. If he fails, he will be nauseated and incapacitated for ld4 hours. If he succeeds, tell him to roll 3d8 and add 5 to the total. Then tell him that he has gained that many hit points against assessed damage. Furthermore, the background hum that has haunted him since his arrival in Bluetspur seems to fade into the background and all his muscles relax. Tell the player that he never even realized how tense his character was until after he took a drink from the skin. Inform any wizard character who drinks the potion that his head has cleared to the point where he is certain that he can memorize his full repertoire of spells now. remove the chance of priest spell failure and drop all penalties to thief skills. Symbiont explains some of the “medical wonders” of the Shattered Brethren, based on information provided in Appendices A and C. He is obviously proud of his twisted status, and especially likes having two heads because he gets two shares of everything that way. If asked about his plan to rescue Annitella, Drassak, and or any party members, Symbiont will merely say, “We wait a while, for searchers to give up.” If the party rests now, those who successfully saved against poison after drinking the potion will rest without suffering any nightmares, and they will awaken as if they had rested normally in a safe place, thanks to the disgusting potion. Its effects last until the next rest only. As long as the Shattered Brethren are with the party, the PCs have access to the potion. The shattered Brethren will not give the party the bottle to keep. When the party has rested, or if it chooses not to rest, read the following boxed text. A large beetle-like creature, with six dual-elbowed, human arms and hands, crawls into the cave and twitches its long antennae excitedly in front of Symbiont’s second head; his eyes twitch in unison. ’ Symbiont says, “My brother has seen Annitella in the laboratories where we are born to present life. Annella has spoken to his mind. Her words, ‘My heroes, Drassak is a victim of both the vampire and the incubation chamber. For the sake of his soul, you must come before night falls again or all is lost.’ We go!” Remind the party of the background drone. Encounter II: Sport Farm hen the party has rested, or after they have refused to drink from the potion skin, read the following boxed text. If they refused, remove the reference to the nan-beetle. Symbiont wordlessly leads the way out of the cave of the Shattered Brethren. The man-beetle ranges ahead of him, disappearing around corners and then reappearing through another crack to the side, clinging to the ceiling and twitching his antennae. As Symbiont weaves his way through the narrow labyrinth of cracks, his second head sniffs at the air repeatedly, like a dog on the ascent. The path begins to climb steeply and the background drone lessens as you ascend. Occasionally your secret route intersects with the main passageway. Symbiont sniffs deeply at the air before motioning you onward and running down the corridor to another crack in the wall, leading you back into secret ways.
Slaw Puns the Servent pens are three large caverns approximately 100 feet wide, 200 feet T long, and 80 feet high. The caverns are connected with wide, mined-out corridors fully 20 feet wide and 10 feet high. There are large crystals, each about the one-foot square, set in the walls at 10-foot intervals. The crystals glow a dim red from a constant, low level of molecular agitation which the Lord Elder-brain maintains to light and heat the complex
Almost every cage contains a single occupant. About half of them contain female animals in various stages of pregnancy-new servants in the making. Another five contain various broken ones. These are creatures who have developed psionic immunities and would become members of the Shattered Brethren if they could escape. The DM should feel free to create any number of hideous-looking broken ones, based upon the information presented in the VRGTRL, Symbiont insists on freeing all broken ones from their cages. He instructs them to run to the fungus farm, where the Shattered Brethren can take them to asylum. At the far end of the cavern, next to the crystalline shaft, are cages holding any PCs who may have been captured or killed earlier in the adventure, but not lost to insanity. They will be manacled to the far end of their cells, and they will be unconscious when found. Stripped of all their equipment, they have 0 hit points. The empty crystalline shaft is a psionic elevator, powered by the Lord Elder-brain. It doesn’t require specific cooperation from the Lord to operate the elevator. The Lord enables the shaft almost automatically, like a side-effect 6f breathing. (In fact, the Lord is perfectly & aware of the party’s presence and is quite willing to help it along.) * When a creature steps into the shaft and looks up, a dim swirl of psionically projected force forms underneath the creature and lifts it gently upward. When the creature reaches the desired level and its upward gaze levels out, the psionic force hovers, allowing the creature to step out of the shaft. To board the elevator from upper levels, the creature must stand at the rim of the shaft and hold its hand out. A handhold immediately forms in the air, which the creature can grip and then use to step into the shaft, onto a waiting force field. The elevator goes in the direction that the creature looks; looking up and then down makes the elevator bob back and forth. The elevator hums when it is being used, making a sound very much like the background drone that pervades the entire realm. The more creatures that use it at the same time, the louder it hums. Encounter 13: The Laboratories he levels directly above the servent pens contain the mind flayer laboratories. There are four connected caverns that, make up the facilities, numbered 1-4. Labs 3 and 4 contain various experiments and equipment, but nothing of direct interest to the adventure. A detail-oriented DM may wish to place his own horrifying experiments in these rooms. A corridor connecting to lab 4 spirals upward and leads to the mind flayer living quarters. The labs have been mined out to create plenty of floor space. Each lab measures approximately 50 feet by 50 feet by 30 feet. The entire ceiling of each lab remains untouched by mining instruments, and the laboratories are veined with crystal that glows dimly, providing light and heat. Lab - This is where human servents are made into broken ones. As you approach the opening one level above the servent pens, sounds of pain and anguish drift down the shaft to your ears. As you reach the rim of the opening, a terrible sight greets you: There are perhaps a half dozen humans here, strapped to tables, manacled to the walls, and locked in tiny cages. A few of them still look relatively normal, but most of them are partly or completely changed into animalistic broken ones. One of them in a nearby cage seems to be a giant slug with a human head and antennae that resemble arms and hands from the elbow down-they reach out to you through the bars. Another person, a woman strapped down on a table, strains to lift her head and sit up, but her entire skeleton seems to have melted inside her. Her slitted-iris eyes bulge and her mouth hang open in a silent scream-her tongue snaps in and out at least two feet, and it’s forked. A whitish substance dribbling from her mouth drains through ridges in the surface of the table and oozes into a catch basin below her. Over by the wall, a mind flayer with his back to you caresses the face of a manacled, mindless servent with its tentacles and then produces a large syringe. The monster drives the six-inch needle into the throat of the servent, drawing out a pinkish-clear fluid. The servent's eyes go wide with pain, but he makes no sound. A shrill scream pierces the air, coming from beyond a door at the far end of the room. it is S'lthell looking for the party to help them escape.
Lord of Bluetspur
The God-Brain (Ted)
The scope of what mind flayers call history exists on a cosmic scale. Through ages of empire and conflict, the illithid elder brains indulged experiments without comparison or reference for lesser beings, explorations beyond the boundaries of time, reality, immortality, and the multiverse. Many failed—at least one catastrophically so.
To summarize an eon of atrocities, one elder brain’s reality-bending research had an unexpected result, revealing to it a malignant truth for which existence was unprepared. Guided by this burgeoning revelation, the elder brain turned and preyed upon its peers, consuming their discoveries and their physical forms to fuel an impossible apotheosis. Ultimately, though, the weight of the elder brain’s deeds caused its own physicality to rebel, giving rise to an alien disease that began devouring its fleshy form. Horrified by an affliction that infected only them, the other elder brains united and psionically expelled the diseased brain from existence.
Or so they thought.
From a place without time or reality, the Dark Powers plucked the dying elder brain and planted it upon a tormented world. Ever since, the God-Brain of Bluetspur has dreamed and desperately indulged ever more demented schemes as it seeks to save its own life and give action to a thought alien even to it.
The God-Brain’s Powers and Dominion
The God-Brain is more akin to a physical location or massive object than a creature. Its droves of servants are more direct threats than the inscrutable Darklord itself.
Overmind. The God-Brain commands untold numbers of mind flayers, intellect devourers, and other creatures. Within Bluetspur, it is constantly telepathically linked with all its servants and knows anything that they know. The God-Brain delegates broad goals to its most effective servants, encouraging them to indulge in all manner of radical experiments.
Mist Vibrations. Through the awesome psychic resonances of Mount Makab, the God-Brain can guide any of its servants or other psychically aligned minds through the Mists to Bluetspur. In effect, it provides a vision or dream of the domain that itself functions as a Mist talisman.
Life Support. The illithids of Bluetspur toil to save their elder brain through all manner of outlandish scientific and medical means. Among the most bizarre of these schemes is the God-Brain’s own: the creation of degenerate servants that hunt for balms for its affliction. These vampiric mind flayers (see chapter 5) slip from Bluetspur to prey upon Humanoids. They then return to the God-Brain, bloated with cerebrospinal fluid to momentarily dull its suffering.
Closing the Borders. When the God-Brain closes Bluetspur’s borders, the surface of the domain is wracked by extreme electrical storms, and alien vapors rise at the domain’s distant edges and within its hidden tunnels. Rather than barring creatures’ escape, these Mists repress memories. Any non-Aberration who leaves Bluetspur is transported to a familiar place where they soon wake up, even if they weren’t previously asleep. Their time in Bluetspur is repressed, altered as if by the modify memory spell. See “Recovering Memories” below for more details.
The God-Brain’s Torment
The God-Brain of Bluetspur is an entirely unreliable cosmic entity, an immortal inflicted with mortality. Although its death is likely still millennia away, this inevitability leads it to hastily indulge all manner of amoral extremes.
Roleplaying the God-Brain
The God-Brain’s influence drives the mind flayers beyond their domain to purse all manner of subtle observations, bizarre experiments, repeat abductions, and visceral mutilations.
Ted Has created many, many ways to prolong his life. One way is in the creation of Vampiric Mind flayers that seek out intelligent life to drain off fluids, When engorged the Vampiric Mind flayers return to Ted and dissolve themselves in the God brains brin pool. Not to be mistaken with Mind Flayer Vampirers witch are made in the same way but survive the process.
One of the most twisted and depraved endeavors to prolong his life was the creation of the "No tadpole left behind" program. Where a nutrient-rich solution was made to feed the Tadpoles to keep every single one and find a way to implant them. This led to the creation of Giant mind flayers and Tiny Mind flayers.
Ted can connect mentally with any vampiric mind flayers and communicate via a telepathic link. In this way, he can control up to 10 vampiric mind flayers at a time and can activate an Explosive self-destruct on any vampiric Mind flayers that are returning and bloated.
vampiric mind flayers that are returning to Ted to be consumed have a +3 added to their strength and -20 from their movement from being bloated. They explode when killed doing 1d10 Nacrotic DMG in a 5 ft range and being hit may trigger random flashes of horrid memories.
Illithid God-Brain (Ted), Lawful Evil
Armor Class 10
Movement 60ft Between all servants. He can't move.
Level/ Hit Dice 20
Hit Points 99
No. of Attacks 6 (with servents)
Damage/ Attack See below
Special Attacks: Psionics
Special Defences: Immune to Psionics
Magic Resistance: All
Little is known about this strange life form, except that it rules the Island of Bluetspur. Its lair is believed to lie deep beneath Mount Makab, where it floats in a deep pool of brine. Supposedly, it resembles a gigantic brain, although some sages insist that it is a mass of smaller brains merged together.
Current Sketch: Those few who have escaped Bluetspur claim that the god-brain constantly intruded on their subconscious minds, drawing forth their darkest thoughts and fears. It may be that the lord lives vicariously through other sentient beings, very few of which exist on this Island.
The lord of Bluetspur is keenly aware of the High Master Illithid's plots to usurp it and seems to enjoy its rebellious servant. The god-brain knows that it possesses the power to crush the High Master at any time, so it does not worry about these plans.
Closing the Borders: The closure of this domain has never been witnessed - or at least reported. However, physical exits from the underground colony of the mind flayers are rumored to seal with rock.
Combat: The god-brain has unlimited Spell slots using Psionics to cast and Spell saves DC 15 All psionic saving throws against any of Ted's powers are made with a -10 penalty. Ted's psionic power contact is always made automatically, and no telepathic defenses, powers, or devices can prevent it.
(On a DC 30 Med chack the party can "change" Ted for the better. Ted is flipped and turns Bluetspur into a place akin to the feywild and hurls Bluespur far back in time with the party to found the Realm of really nice places and pure emotion.)
Ted is the nightmare king. Or moreover, a manifestation or Avitare of Ted is the Nightmare king. When in stasis by Ted, You are put in the nightmare forest.
The adventure is made to go with Gibbering Madness 5e. This game can be a dream your starting players have or The players somehow make it out of the Domains of dread. You can feel free to adjust the level and CR accordingly. The Reawakening is to be played as a "Hopeless Horror" with players level 1-5. A Survival horror 5-10 and from 10 and beyond you are meant to play up the memory mechanic with stress bringing up new powers and abilities and slowly bringing the party to full power. Siding with Ted or the New Order of mind flayers that lead to a new land.
This adventure can end at any time. You escape to another Domain of dread, You all die or are captured and put in a tube for experimentation. Or even the party keeps everything and is deemed worthy of becoming mind flayer and take down the Elder God brain with their new amazing stats. It's up to the DM and the tone of the game. Want a win? Let them escape with Skornando to Another Domain. More Bleek victory? Turn the party into monsters that then win the day just to become the dark lords and slowly kill each other and start the system over. Somehow holding on to some scrap of their old selves. Or even when the mind flayer tadpole was inserted you made a kinda pact for power and keep your old mind but give up everything and become a warlock. I leave it up to you.
Random encounters
1.A small field with 1d50 Bodys. Fresh and clothed. When you get close the bodies start writhing and the chests snap open. Wraths pop out.
2.A dieing Mindflyer Vampire is found. You can A. Feed it and Wis check to get it under control. B.Kill it. C. leave it.
3.A Group 1d6 of Mindflayers on the Backs of Long multilegged lizards (Bahir) Heading your way. DC 15 Stealth Or they try to capture you.
4.A large swarm of creatures (SWARM OF ZOMBIE LIMBS VGR)
5.A WERERAVEN is being escorted by 2 mind flayers
6.it is getting dark...1d4 VAMPIRIC MIND FLAYER shows up to attack.
7.A UNSPEAKABLE HORROR Sits in waiting.
8.A INQUISITOR OF THE MIND FIRE is looking for a way out
9.GREATER STAR SPAWN EMISSARY Looks like a tiny bird, Mammle or other, and tries to befriend the party in any way passable. It only shows itself if 1. The party Gets out of the Domain. 2. The party reaches the Elder God brain.
10. 1d4 NOSFERATU Huddle under a small overhang. DC 15 Wis and A blood sacrifice and you can tame one that then turns on the others.
11.LOUP GAROU...
12.JIANGSHI...
13. 1d10 CARRION STALKER
14. You find a long-abandoned lab with 1d4 BRAIN IN A JAR and after 1d4 days A group of Vampiric mind flayers shows up.
15.As you walk 1d20 BONELESS arises around the party.
16.STRAHD VON ZAROVICH Is trying to make his way home and will help the party in any way to help. (he 100% screws them over)
17.PIDLWICK III Sits lifeless and only comes to life when picked up. (He is a lesser star spawn)
18.1d4 PHANTOM WARRIORs Fighting an unsees fight.
19.1d4 MONGRELFOLK (part Ilithid) Are looking for a way out.
20.The landscape comes to life around you. As 1d4 purple creaturs made from the surrounding terrain (TREE BLIGHT) Attack the party.
21.1d4 LEUCROTTA Twisted and bleeding
22.1d4 YUAN-TI NIGHTMARE SPEAKER is under the control of three mind flayers. If you attack them They may lose concentration and the YUAN-TI NIGHTMARE SPEAKER will attack them.
23.You find a small cave that leads to 1d4 ELDER BRAIN They want you to kill the God Brain.
24. 1d4 MINDWITNESS Are sitting still in a bare patch of terrain.
25.A confused ULITHARID is nude and wondering the landscape muttering to itself.
26.A small cave with 1d10 ALHOON Trying to survive a Mental attack from the God brain.
27.A MEENLOCK sits playing with a small pile of burnt dolls
28. KORRED sits on a small mushroom.
29.A BHEUR HAG lays dead on the ground (had 1d8 random had stuff)
30.A lone Bahir sits scratching at its head. It has a harness on it.
31.1 GNOLL WITHERLING and 1d4 Gnolls sit in a huddled mas starving to death
32.A closeby rock comes to life and a FROGHEMOTH attacks.
33. A FLAIL SNAIL sits atop a hill eating some mushrooms
34.A DRAEGLOTH sits on an overhang (DC 15 to see) Waiting to attack.
35. A old woman holding a baby sits singing...it is a DEVOURER.
36. 1d4 MAW DEMONs Attack the party.
37.A DEEP SCION looking to leave the Domain.
38.1d4 DARKLING and 2 DARKLING ELDERs are trying to leave the Domain
39.1d4 Spiders in the distance turn out to be CHOLDRITHs and ambush the party 2 CHITINE come up from behind
40.You find a cave with 1d4 CAVE FISHERs in it.
41.1d4 BOGGLE trying to leave the Domain.
42.a random BODAK
43.You are walking along and you see 1d4 BANDERHOBB in holes all around you.
44.A red Wizard of Thy sits atop a hill having lunch(easter Egg: This is Morningstar. If he is destroyed with the Rod he grows to a colossal size and grabs the sun from the sky. He sucks the power from it and reshapes the realm in his image. Everyone you have met so far is shunted into Barovia.
45.A Star Spawn Seer.
46.A Star Spawn Larva Mage
47.A Choker
48.A Balhannoth
49.The Lost are all around you. Looking for a way out.
50 A Centeint Vampiric Mist
Memory table:
d6 Evidence
1 A needle-like device buried under someone’s skin
2 An inexplicable crater or circle of scorched crops
3 A stable full of exploded livestock
4 An antimatter rifle (detailed in the Dungeon Master’s Guide)
5 A missing person or otherworldly being transformed into a brain in a jar (see chapter 5)
6 The damaged corpse of a vampiric mind flayer (see chapter 5)
d6 Memory
1 You’re paralyzed on a cold table. Clicking sounds surround you. Pallid tentacles slither toward your face, each ending in gleaming surgical instruments. What are they trying to do?
2 Some unfamiliar reflex moves your arm. Looking, you catch a glimpse of a bruise slithering beneath your skin. What do you do?
3 A many-legged, ferret-like creature floats into your cell. You feel multitudes of unseen eyes upon you. What do your captors expect you to do with this? What do you do?
4 Rainbow storms assail the heights of a mountain so tall it seems to curve over you. You’re floating over a red wasteland, just one in a line of hovering beings. What do you see ahead?
5 You knew a stranger. You were each other’s comfort against fear and pain. Then they were taken away. What were their final words to you?
6 The figure hovering before you is deemed acceptable. They’re lowered into a pool, where pale, slug-like beings set upon them. You float forward. Why are you deemed unacceptable?
Illithid - Illithid Variants - Related Creatures
Related Creatures
Brain Golem: An eight-foot-tall humanoid-shaped construct made entirely of brain tissue, these creations exist only to serve an elder brain and its illithid community.
Brainstealer Dragon: A mix of illithid and dragon, these powerful wyrms occasionally rule over illithid communities that lack an elder brain.
Illithidae: Illithidae are to mind flayers as less intelligent animals are to humans. Known types include the cessirid, embrac, kigrid, and saltor. Dragon magazine once published a template for use in creating an illithidae creature, for use with the 1st Edition of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game. They were updated in 3.5 in the Lords of Madness supplement.
Illithocyte: Illithid tadpoles that survived the fall of a mind flayer empire, they evolved into a new life form and now crawl about in groups seeking psychic radiation on which to feed.
Kezreth: A living troop transport and battle platform created from the severed head of a shamed illithid. They serve in this capacity in the hope of redeeming themselves and being allowed to return to the elder brain.
Mind Worm: Created by illithids to serve as assassins and bounty hunters, these powerful psionic creatures resemble smaller purple worms. They can attack from far distances with their probe worms.
Mindwitness: Inserting an illithid tadpole into a beholder results in these abominations, which are used as guards and sentries.
Mozgriken: An illithid tadpole inserted into a svirfneblin gnome while subjected to a dangerous psionic ritual creates a mozgriken. These three-tentacled ceremorphs are despised by all, but their aptitude for stealth and psionic powers of stealth and shape control make them useful spies for the illithids.
Neothelid: If an illithid tadpole survives but fails to undergo ceremorphosis, it will eventually grow into an incredibly powerful worm-like creature with illithid tentacles at the forefront of its body and immense mental powers.
Nerve Swimmers: Derived from immature illithid tadpoles, these entities are living instruments of torture and interrogation.
Nyraala Golem: A flailing, slimy, tentacled construct capable of launching surprise attacks. They often serve as guards, and are prized because their creation does not involve petitioning the elder brain to surrender part of its mass.
Octopin: A six-tentacled, purple-skinned monstrosity with a single eye created by mind flayers.
Oortlings: These docile humanoids with enlarged brains were bred by illithids as food.
Tzakandi: Illithid tadpoles inserted into lizardfolk create tzakandi, which the mind flayers use as servent labourers and personal guards.
Uchuulon: A chuul implanted with an illithid tadpole becomes an uchuulon. Also known as slime chuuls, illithids use them as hunters and guardians.
Urophion: Inserting an illithid tadpole into a roper results in these miserable creatures, which are used as guards and sentries.
Ustilagor: Mind flayers farm these larval intellect devourers for food and sentries.
Vampire Squid: Servitor creatures created by illithids to extend their reach below the surface of Underdark waters. They have a maw of sharp teeth which can be turned inside out and function as defensive spikes.
Voidmind Creatures: A voidmind creature is an ordinary creature (such as a normal human or human-like creature or animal) whose mind has been nearly devoured by a mind flayer, but enough has been left intact for basic motor function. Further psionic rituals give these near dead creatures a semblance of life. The resulting creatures act as minions and spies for the Illithids.
I have a bunch of talespire maps to go with it as well lol
As an idea to kick start your campaign: your group are on their way to a dungeon to find out what happened to a group of allied soldiers. Your group then come to an entrance that is guarded by two half orcs (or whatever you’d like).
I'm currently working on a Planescape campaign where I'm letting the players create portions of the prime material world that they come from. The prime world is losing it's "energy" in the metaphysical sense meaning the winds are stopping, the fires aren't as hot and even life and death are entering stagnation. I'm letting them create portions of the world to give them more investment in saving it if it is full of cool ideas that they like - so one of them is from a group of tieflings that are essentially whalers for their devil who birthed their bloodline, and another is from a group of aquatic dwarves who swim to the ocean depths instead of dig into mountains. I built out the variant races for them to balance things. Still waiting on some other players.
The idea from this point is going to be sending them to Sigil, the City of Doors (as opposed to some other Sigil) where they will need to find ways to get essences of the 6 main elemental/inner planes - the 4 elemental and then positive and negative energy. This will in turn need them to do prep work to find out how to not die immediately and so getting the information and resources will lead to the crux of the campaign which is finding who to work for and take jobs for. I'm a big Planescape fan so I've been doing a bunch of reading to prep for this, but I have 3 loose powers I figure they might align to for work :
I plan to run it as a bit of a West Marches game since it will be irregular but also it'll be a larger group of friends with irregular schedules so I'm going to do some play by post with ones who can't make it so they still earn money and have adventures. I'm also figuring they'll go with Kylie as their employer but I have three options. The campaign is going to be focused on exploration, research (I plan to let them invest time and money into spells and equipment development) and strange locations.
Once they get the 6 essences they'll dig into the real cause for the loss of energy and along with allies and enemies (the Doomguard doesn't want you to save your world, berks!) they'll confront the big bad. Campaign ends, everyone is happy.
In session zero, I offered my players the following as examples, and they wanted a hybrid of 4 and 5.
It's a very loose idea which I intend to flesh out fully one day.
Basically it revolves around a powerful enemy and a contraption made by a friendly artificer, as well as needing the players to be heavily invested in the game world as-is to really work out well. It is, however, a one-way trip, so bear that in mind!
The enemy is just getting started, and is starting to put plans into place which will take many years to come to fruition. The PC's meet an artificer who offers to help them to defeat the enemy, and shows them a machine which they have created, powered by the black diamond that they have just recovered, which will "save" them as they are and, should they die, restore them to this state. They claim that they cannot lose, because no matter what the enemy does to them, they will re-emerge here, exactly as they are now.
The machine warms up, and the artificer is happy with it, and then there's a white flash of light as the machine works its magic.
The adventurers immediately note that the room is different - older, the walls peeling, the shelves messy where they were tidy. The artificer come running in, appearing much older, and tells them off for all dying at once. "That's it, the machine's fried! this is your last chance, there's no going back after this! I told you to avoid all dying together! What happened, did rocks fall? Oh, of course, you don't know, because you don't remember anything after the procedure, do you?"
They then find out that they have been fighting the enemy for years, and each time they respawn it is exactly as they were when they went into the machine - memories and all.
Now the yhave to fight a much more prepared enemy, who not only has almost finished their plans, but knows them well - he'll talk to them as a friend, almost, trying to prompt their memories of each other.
It's a bit of a trippy scenario but one I hope to try out some time!
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
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Ask the players to make up a party of all one class. it can be ANY class, but everyone must be in the same class to start with.
Clerics? Imagine a conclave of various religions where they send acolytes instead of learned masters. We did this once and the RP we did bickering about which deity was better was funny as hell!
Monks? New students are sent on an errand and when they return, a shadowy figure had slain their master and dishonored the school! Now they must find this assassin and save the school's reputation. If everyone takes a different subclass this can be a baller team!
Paladins? What...you never read King Arthur?
Fighters? Imagine a group of fighters that have taken up a challenge by a local wealthy crackpot. This kook says that adventuring parties need all the stuff from 'back in the day' like a Rogue, a Cleric/Healer, a Wizard, and all of that. Any party that can perform a series of tasks WITHOUT relying on non-Fighters gets loot galore.
Artificers? Imagine every engineering class or science fair but instead of competing, they're helping each other.
This can work for races too. Right now we're all running Warforged of various classes and it's a blast!
Ulitharid breaks off from colony to go start a new one. Sees the process of becoming an Elder Brain as being unambitious and instead seeks to find a host that it can fuse with during the process of becoming an Elder Brain, to instead become an Elder God. Kinda see the idea host being a Storm Giant that the Ulitharid and those Illithid that it brings along with it extract its brain while replacing it with the fledgling Elder Brain, the Elder Brain taking root in the body and creating a new form of Ceremorphosis called Apotheomorphosis.
Party could either start in the Underdark as denizens that are aware of these events and seek to prevent it from happening. Or you'd have to find a way to make it apparent to the party on the surface that the threat is imminent if they do nothing about it. I don't know exactly how it'd go but it is still a new idea.
Yes, hundreds of them. :-)
One or more for every movie in my Netflix library and every book in my Kindle library. One from most headlines in the news. Several a day from conversations and interactions (well, not much latelty due to lockdown).
Search the web for random plot generators.
For example, from the most recent movie I watched.
The party are attacked by a team of assassins who look exactly like the party, only younger. The party have to work out why this team wants them dead, and who sent them. Is their employer responsible, and if so, why?
You could have the whole campaign take place in Sigil and the players are trying to stop planar wars from destroying the world.