The Sarinis stored records about their victims, rituals, experiments, and other secrets in this room.
Creature: Wormgnash, a vermlek demon, lives in this
room. Wearing a dead merchant’s body, he is almost indistinguishable from a living human (Perception DC 24 to see through the disguise, or DC 28 for PCs who don’t have a light source). When Wormgnash first encounters the PCs in person, he gives the following speech on his first combat turn.
“So, the heroes have arrived. Try not to make a mess when you die—I have great plans for your remains.”
Later, when Wormgnash reveals his true form (see the Morale section of his tactics), read the following aloud.
Despite his grievous injuries, the mustached man is still grinning. “You think that is enough to stop me? You have to—” He stops mid-sentence as his obese form shudders. With a ripping sound, his flesh peels off, revealing a fatheaded man-sized worm, which utters in a gurgling voice, “Try harder.”
WORMGNASH CR 3
XP 800
hp 30 (see page 56)
TACTICS
Before Combat Wormgnash summons a slimy dretch (see
his full stat block on page 56) and uses his jump spell-like ability on himself.
During Combat Wormgnash uses mass inflict light wounds
whenever there are three targets within 30 feet. Because negative energy heals him, Wormgnash includes himself in the spell’s effects if he is injured. Before entering melee, Wormgnash tries to lure the PCs into a choke point where only one PC can attack him. Both in human form and his true form, he uses Combat Expertise and Improved Feint while in melee.
Morale If he’s reduced to 15 hit points or fewer and he has
no daily uses of mass inflict light wounds left, Wormgnash uses his abandon flesh ability. He fights to the death.
Development: On the table, the PCs find drawings
and diagrams of some sort of portal, showing a vermlek stepping through what looks very much like the sacrificial pit in the adjacent room. Wormgnash’s notes—written in Abyssal—suggest that he believed he was very close to a breakthrough that would have ripped a tiny interdimensional hole here that would have allowed several of his vermlek brethren to join him on the Material Plane. The PCs also find a rough map of Saringallow with arrows and drawings of mites scribbled on it. It indicates that the fiendish fey were
soon to attack the town in order to obtain bodies for the vermleks to inhabit.
There are six cabinets in the room, each full of documents. The shelves are neatly labeled, and the PCs easily find the missing records in the cabinet in the northeast corner of the room.
As soon as the PCs have finished looting the room, the walls begin to shudder and the Collapse encounter begins.
Story Award: If the PCs determine the true Abyssal
threat to Saringallow, award them 600 XP.
COLLAPSE (CR 2)
Once the PCs have defeated Wormgnash and gathered the records they need for the mayor, the building’s age and the latent Abyssal energies from the demon’s bile cause the house to begin to collapse. Portions of the ceiling begin to crumble, and small tremors ripple throughout the basement.
The encounter consists of five obstacles the PCs must overcome, as detailed in the paragraphs below. To overcome an obstacle, each PC must first choose one of two strategies, each of which requires a successful saving throw, ability check, or skill check. Any PC who has chosen the same check type as another PC can voluntarily take a –2 penalty on her check to give a +2 bonus on the other PC’s check. Multiple PCs can help the same character. When everyone is ready, all of the players roll simultaneously.
Regardless of the check results, each PC proceeds to the next obstacle, but any PCs who failed the check take 1d3 points of damage each. In between navigating the obstacles, it is possible to quickly quaff a potion, cast a single spell, or use an ability that takes no more than a full-round action to function. A PC can drag an ally who falls unconscious through these obstacles, but that PC takes a –4 penalty on checks and saving throws while doing so. This penalty is only –2 if two PCs drag a single unconscious ally.
After the fifth obstacle, the PCs reach the garden outside the building and are no longer in danger.
1. Falling Cabinets: A powerful tremor shakes the
basement, causing cabinets to topple. To dodge them, a PC must succeed at a DC 10 Reflex save. To prop them up, a PC must succeed at a DC 12 Strength check.
2. Grasping Hands: The dying and panicking mites
trapped in the demon’s bile web blindly grab at anything they can. To tumble past them, a PC must succeed at a DC 10 Acrobatics check. To wriggle away from them, a PC must succeed at a DC 12 Escape Artist check.
3. Rolling Barrels: Rolling barrels make movement in
the flooded cellar difficult. To dive under them, a PC must succeed at a DC 12 Constitution check. To slip to the side, a PC must succeed at a DC 12 Swim check.
4. Crumbling Stairs: The precarious stairs leading out
a PC must succeed at a DC 13 Climb check. To tread carefully, a PC must succeed at a DC 14 Perception check.
5. Panic in the Kitchen: A stream of frenzied rats blocks
the way out. To herd them away, a PC must succeed at a DC 10 Knowledge (nature) or Handle Animal check. To tough out the situation and wade through the rats, a PC must succeed at a DC 11 Fortitude saving throw.
Story Award: When the PCs escape from the crumbling
estate, award them 200 XP.
CONCLUDING THE ADVENTURE
Back in Saringallow, Mayor Trinelli congratulates the PCs for their bravery and resourcefulness and pays them 100 gp for the records, as agreed. When the mayor issues a report about the PCs’ findings, people start lining up in front the town hall, curious to know what happened to their kin so long ago. To underscore the meaningfulness of the PCs’ actions, the mayor encourages the PCs to meet with the grateful people whose families are mentioned in the records. Many tearful townspeople also seek out the PCs to meet and thank them, and though it will take a long time for the damage to fully heal, a grim chapter in Saringallow’s history is nearer to coming to a close.
Although the PCs’ have thwarted Wormgnash’s plan, many dangers still lurk near the Sarini Estate. If the PCs did not destroy the demon’s bile, the mayor decides to send guards to do the job now that the main menace at the estate is contained. The mayor may request that the PCs brief the guards about how to destroy the demon’s bile, at the GM’s discretion.
TYING THE ADVENTURES TOGETHER
If the same PCs are also playing one or both of the other adventures in this module, they find documents on Wormgnash’s human-looking remains indicating that it was once the body of Marcuccio Bravoni, a merchant who owned the abandoned warehouse that features prominently in “A Foul Breed.” Bravoni stumbled upon Wormgnash while the demon was squatting in the warehouse; Wormgnash promptly killed the unfortunate man and inhabited his body. The merchant’s notes also mention that he saw a strange goblin scouting the town at night. This provides a story hook for “What Lurks in the Woods.”
SCALING THIS ADVENTURE
To accommodate a group of 2nd-level PCs, GMs running this adventure should make the following changes to each of the encounters listed below.
Encounter J: Add a second giant
centipede. Neither centipede attacks Olaus. This makes the encounter CR 2.
Encounter K1: Add 2 fiendish mites.
This makes the encounter CR 3.
Encounter K2: Add a third fiendish giant centipede.
This makes the encounter CR 2.
Encounter K4: Add a poison frog (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 135) to the encounter in the garden. This frog
is also immune to the garden’s poisonous herbs. This makes the encounter CR 2.
Encounter K6: Add 1 fiendish giant centipede. This
makes the encounter CR 3.
Encounter K13: Give Anilda the advanced creature
simple template (Bestiary 294). All skill check DCs related to her increase by 2. This makes the encounter CR 2.
Encounter K18: Give the giant leech the advanced
creature simple template (Bestiary 294). This makes the encounter CR 3.
Encounter K19: Add two fiendish mites. This makes
the encounter CR 3.
Encounter 20: Wormgnash manages to summon three
slimy dretches (see page 56) instead of merely one. This makes the encounter CR 4.
C
orrupteDD
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Ltar51
CHAPTER 1: A FOUL BREED CHAPTER 2: WHAT LURKS IN THE WOODS CHAPTER 3: THE FESTERING BLOTAPPENDIX 2: INTRODUCTION NPCS BESTIARY APPENDIX 1: