Wednesday 15 April 2020

Maalus, the thing from the deep




















Oh no the wards of IP cast by wizards of old made a certain monster not viable for your old style adventures? Well I hereby let you publish this thing. Just mention this blog if you do.

Maalus*Magical Giant Marine Invertoibrate LE
AC as plate HD 8-14d8  Mov 6 Swim 6 Walk Underwater 9
2d8 Punching Tentacles x4
Grappling Tentacles x8
Once held by two tentacles victims injected with 2d4 acid per round or an egg
-get a saving throw a day for three days to resist becoming a thrall
-once become a thrall prefer to breathe water only tolerating air for an hour
-thrall worships the parent maluus and will do anything even serve themselves as food
*Requires silver or +1 or batter magic weapon to harm
6 diameter circle of ink in water three times a day
Telepathy range 24 ESP range 6 sense life range 6
 Phantasmal force three times a day last as long as concentrates

The Maalus is a prehistoric horror of the deep, servants of the void and the outer darkness who once let evil undersea empires that invaded the land and wiped out civilisations. Tako octopus fairies managed to exterminate most of them from shallow seas and reefs on behalf of the dragons who rule the oceans. Some Maalus remained in the deep or crawled into underground rivers and lakes to build hidden lairs. They implant eggs into victims that make them slaves. Those that resist or surplus are injected with acid and bodily fluids drained.

Maalus prefer to allow their thralls to deal with the world but some, often those met by humans have fled their lairs and lost their minions to some enemy. These are the most desperate to kidnap victims and implant them with eggs. Once implanted a maalus embryo attaches itself to the brain and alters the creatures respiratory system and body to survive deep under the sea and serve the maalus. The Thrall worships the parent maalus and will do anything the Maalus wants. The thralls skin becomes green and slimy and they have obvious gill slits and clear eye membranes. The longer they are enthralled the more hideous they seem. Cure disease can restore a thrall to normal but the person saved needs a save vs death to survive the process or reversal often drown or are poisoned in the process. Thralls live hundreds of years as servants to Maalus and if cured at an extreme old age the human will not have aged since becoming a thrall. Once implanted the Maalus will try to imprison the person until they are overcome and if they resist for three days will be considered a poor host and eat the being instead. Some Maalus well-established breed own thralls. Various creatures and undersea races might be thralls already, some Maalus collect a variety of thrallkind as a hobby. The oldest Maalus have hundreds of thralls over thousands of years to build and toil.

While most Maalus met are the most desperate of their kind, most live in deep underwater cave palaces surrounded by mortal thralls. When the Maalus is killed (which is the only way they die mostly) its thralls fight to eat as much of the parent as it can and the best d4 combatants separate and fully grow into a young Maalus. Some even have willing host cults.

As they were very long-aged and worked with many evil powers of old some have additional abilities and stranger powers.

1in6 can cast charm person three times a day
1in6 have a mouth that can talk and they won't shut up
1in6 can emit a stinking cloud around them three times a day
1n6 can spray effects of a web spell once per day at touch range
1in6 have a champion warrior thrall used for missions and to lead raids
1in8 can cast spells as a wizard or evil priest d6+4 levels
1in8 can implant a different egg that makes hosts a zombie instead
1in8 have a mind link to thralls any range
1in8 secrete an addictive thick and ropy protein fluid they feed to thralls and captives
1in12 can send telepathic dreams to any living in a mile to help lure victims
1in12 can control weather once a day
1in12 can cast phantasmal killer twice a day
1in12 can regenerate 1HP per round as long as they are in water
1in12 can call a 8HD water elemental to serve for an hour, once per week
1in20 can once a hear call a gargantuan sea monster to rampage over several miles

d12 Maalus Adventures1 Several locals have had strange dreams and have jumped into the well never to be seen again

2 A water hole near a cave has become a place of fear since several locals vanished
3 For ages the flooded mine has been a place of evil and strange slime coated humanoids that kidnap victims to never be seen again 4 Locals mutter about a cult that promise life eternal living under the sea to the faithful
5 Priests found and healed a strange sick man found on the beach who tells of being a slave in a reef with others serving a nightmarish master for decades. The man found his families graves from over a hundred years ago. He also tells of treasure 
6 Long ago a coastal village was swallowed by the sea and some say the sunken village still has people living and walking in the ruins. Sometimes fisherfolk see them
7 A ship came into the harbour and only cabin boy was on board hiding in a barely, spoke of slimy green sea folk who climbed aboard and took the crew
8 Fishermen have been wandering off at night and disappearing and nobody knows why 
9 A local idiot keeps talking about their lover in the lake who sends them dreams. The idiot boasts soon will join lover and live forever. Several other people have disappeared in the area.
10 A cult has been kidnapping victims and hurling them and treasures into a flooded sinkhole
11 A shrine to the river god has been found empty and the shrine caretakers all missing. Locals are worries and fish and ducks have begun to shun the area
12 Friendly dolphins that used to help the fisherfolk have become sick and slimy looking and rarely surface. Now they have been attacking boats and knocking them over and dragging boat folk below

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