Elliptic Tendrils. The anomaly has five Elliptic Tendrils, which bend space and can be up to 60 feet from the anomaly. The Elliptic Tendrils each have 30 hit points and Armor Class of 15. The ability scores of the Tendrils are each 15. Dealing damage to a Tendril deals the same damage to the anomaly. A Tendril moving does not trigger an opportunity attack. If the anomaly would move more than 60 feet away from a Tendril, it disappears and reappears at a point within 30 feet of the anomaly.
Glimpse Beyond. The anomaly radiates colors beyond mortal comprehension. Creatures have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks made within or to perceive anything within 30 feet of the anomaly. At the end of a creature’s turn where the creature performed an action that used sight of the anomaly, it must make a DC 21 Intelligence saving throw. On a failed save, that creature is stunned until the beginning of its next turn.
Legendary Resistance (2/Day). When the anomaly fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.
Multiattack. The anomaly can move up to three Elliptic Tendrils it has up to 25 feet, and makes a Tendril attack for each Elliptic Tendril it has, from those tendrils’ locations. It then uses its Incomprehensible Scream.
Tendril. Melee Weapon Attack: +13 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d6+7) bludgeoning damage.
Incomprehensible Scream. The anomaly unleashes a wail that defies the logic parameters within which sound operates. Each creature within 120 feet of the anomaly makes a DC 21 Wisdom saving throw. A creature takes 28 (5d10) psychic damage. A creature that succeeds on this save is immune to the anomaly’s Incomprehensible Scream for 1 hour.
Reality Drinker (3/Day). The anomaly absorbs one spell that it can detect is being cast within 60 feet of it. If the spell is of a level higher than 5th, the anomaly makes a Charisma check (DC 10 + the level of the spell), successfully absorbing the spell on a success. After successfully absorbing a spell, the anomaly regains 20 hit points and one Elliptic Tendril that was destroyed.
The anomaly has 2 legendary actions, which it can take at the end of a creature’s turn. The anomaly can only use one legendary action at the end of a given creature’s turn. It has the following options available to it:
Strangle (Costs 1). A creature within 10 feet of one of the anomaly’s Elliptic Tendrils must make a DC 18 Strength saving throw or be grappled by the tendril and take 5 (1d10) bludgeoning damage. The creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success.
Warp Space (Costs 2). The anomaly teleports up to 30 feet into an unoccupied space
Description
Diary of Thomas Direblood, Day 23.
”Upon arrival at the town in the mountains, I was met with an unnerving sight. Each and every villager stared directly at me, an expressionless gaze that defied any custom I had ever heard of, before they all looked away simultaneously and continued their business. When I entered the tavern, I spoke to the innkeeper, who told me in a drowsy, dreamlike voice that rooms were two silver apiece. When I inquired later about the new cave that I had been sent to investigate by Dashish, a villager indicated a hill to the south with a hand that seemed to have unnaturally long fingers and thumbs.
I am liking this mission less and less by the hour.
Diary of Thomas Direblood, Day 24.
At first light, I set off towards the hillside cave that the villager had pointed me towards, where I indeed found it. Lighting a torch, I began my trek into the cave. As I did, it was as though the cave walls around me became as burnished metal, as its material seemed to have visual properties of bismuth. More investigation into that will have to be done. Continuing into the cave, after a minute I came to a widening in the tunnel, in the which a natural shelf was pressed into the wall. Upon that shelf, crudely carved stone idols stood, obviously made by unskilled hands but even so their construction perplexed me. I could not seem to get a firm grasp on what they looked like or depicted. I believe it to be a trick of the light. I proceeded another hour through the tunnel leading downwards, likely in a spiral considering its geometry, and found a wide expanse before me, completely flat on the floor and ceiling, but when I moved to the side, I discovered it was in fact a solid natural mirror, likely pure aluminum. It had the effect of a droste image, but did not seem to fade to a green tint as with ordinary mirrors. Investigation should be done into these.* The mirror hallway ended after a few dozen feet. After a long stretch of trekking through the tunnel further without other events, I decided to make camp and rest.
*In the mirror hallway, I could have sworn one of the distant reflections was facing the wrong direction. I pointedly ignored it and moved with haste towards the end.
Diary of Thomas Direblood, Day 25.
I continued my journey with vigor, attempting to power through this stretch of empty tunnel, but the more I tried to reach an end, the more it seemed to stretch on and on and on and on and
Diary of Thomas Direblood, Day 28.
At long last, I have found something other than that dreadful empty cave. There is a large chamber with a stained glass window making up the entire back wall and lit from behind with a light I have not identified. The window, made up of many different shades of blue, purple, and green, does not appear to have any kind of pattern. No meaning or design can be discerned. I am exhausted. I plan to make camp in this chamber for two days to recover my strength, and then proceed to try to see what is behind this window.
Diary of Thomas Direblood, Day 29.
My dreams were strange. I was in that awful stretch of empty cave once more, but rather than its trek being a chore, I saw it as a wonder and an adventure. A lovely time. It caused me to wonder if what I wrote in my diary was merely a falsehood, an imagined misery. Was it true? Was my experience wonderful, or miserable? What is true?
Diary of Thomas Direblood, Day 30?
I have proceeded with my plan to surgically open the stained glass (it seems to be load-bearing) and progress beyond it. Utilizing my chisel, I have done so. Behind the window, I saw a large orb, not dissimilar to those created by dancing lights, which lit the window from behind. The orb glowed an ominous green. However, there was still a tunnel that exited the chamber. Glad to continue, I went on. It was soon after that I met with my first instance of resistance. A creature, humanoid and naked, wandering up the tunnel. Its face was gone, replaced by a vacuous hole, and it had no hair. Its arms were twisted and bent in strange ways, and its legs separated at the bottom into two insectile ones. Though it had no mouth, it screamed at me and attempted to lunge at me with tentacles that I understood would do me no good. Quickly drawing my buckler, I partied its strikes and tossed a dagger at its face-void, where it stuck. Suddenly the being collapsed, leaking a dark liquid from the void that had replaced its face. It then appeared to melt, its flesh and warped bones becoming a gooey ooze that fused with the floor. However, one thing stuck out. A steel letter opener jutted from the corpse, covered in coagulating blood. I yanked it from the melting flesh to inspect it, and with a gasp, I realized it was the very knife that Garodel, the agent who had visited this town before me, had carried with him! I could not help but wonder why the shambling being had it in its possession. After a few hours’ journey, I took a rest to recollect myself after the shock of the creature’s attack.
Diary of Thomas Direblood, Day 31?
It’s close. I know it.
Day 32.
I have found it. At last I have discovered the key to the salvation of all. The villagers above fear to journey down to it, but fear is the incorrect response. Dashish and the others are fools. They all are. Once I enter this next chamber, I will become more than they have ever been. We both will.
Diary of Thomas Direblood, Day 33?
I have barely escaped with my life. In that chamber, I saw something beyond all comprehension, what is, and should not be. A stain on the cloth of reality. It
looks much like acannot be described with mere words. Nevertheless, I could see it was chained to the middle of its circular chamber, staked in place by a shackle of pure gold. Gold seems to be the only thing it cannot break, harm, consume, or alter. I believe it was trying to get me to unstake it from the ground before I began resisting whatever was controlling me. When I broke free of its influence (which I believe I was able to do due to my proximity to it), I tried to run. Even so, it was able to attack me with winding tentacles that appeared out of the air and lashed around me, tearing off my left foot before I could escape the chamber. The tendrils bashed and broke against the end he of the chamber, but it did not seem they could reach past the walls. I now write to try to warn whoever finds my body: If you can read this, heed me: go no further. Turn back, while you are yet able. Goodbye.
—A journal found on a rotted corpse within a cave with one foot missing. In the deepest part of the cave, an empty chamber was found via arcane eye.
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