When the cultists gather to worship Tharizdun, this
room is filled with nearly a hundred of the dark god's
faithful (commoners. thugs, bandits, and cultists),
brought together by their belief in the imminent end of
the world. These warped worshipers pay homage to the
dark god in the hope of gaining reward in the new world
he creates from the ashes of this one. Unless you prefer
otherwise. no cultists are present here when the charac-
ters arrive.T6. WATERY DESCENT
- A wide flight of slippery stairs stands at the end of this
antechamber, leading down into a pool of s limy, murky
water. The shape above the stairs is a rotting shark's car-
cass, which hangs from the rafters on frayed, m ildewed
ropes. Humanoid heads in various states of decay have
been crudely lashed to the shark's flanks.
The stairs descend 20 feet into a completely submerged
chamber that's 20 feet square. Water fills the staircase
to within a fool of the top of the stairs. A 10-foot-wide
tunnel {not shown on the map) extends from the west
side of the chamber, leading eventually to the kraken's
hiding place at Landgrave's Folly (see the "Mysterious
Tunnel" section below).Several hours before the characters' arrival at the
temple, Sgothgah Aed here from Landgrave's Folly after
losing a battle against two hostile aboleths from the
Endless Nadir. It intends to rest here while it plots its
retaliation.
The aboleth lurks at the base of the stairs Uust out-
side the map), but it is aware of intruders as soon as
they enter area TS. If the four chuuls in area T4 haven't
sprung their attack yet, it waits for them to do so before
joining in.
While remaining hidden, Sgothgah uses its lair ac-
tion to cast phantasmal force to make it appear to the
characters that the dead shark has reanimated and is
swimming through the air to attack them. Until one of
the characters detects the illusion, pretend to use the
statistics of a giant shark for the creature, but its at-
tacks always hit and deal 3 {ld6) psychic damage. Even
though the illusory shark doesn't actually take damage,
the characters' attacks appear to injure it.
The aboleth doesn't reveal its presence unless a
tempting target approaches within its 10-foot reach of
the flooded stairwel l. rt can also use its Enslave attack
from under the water against a creature it can see.
rr all four chuuls are killed and the characters are
aware that their real enemy is in the water, Sgothgah
awaits the characters in the submerged chamber below
this area.Cl ~l'TlR8 Tiff Sf\IS