Elder Evils

THE MOONLET
Atropus is the moonlet, the location where the player characters
confront the elder evil and drive it from their world.
The moonlet is spheroid, 700 miles in diameter.
When the moonlet approaches close to the home world
of your campaign setting (assuming Earth as the default), it
takes up an orbit just outside the moon’s orbit, about 250,000
miles from the surface of the world. (If your campaign setting
features multiple moons, it begins its orbit outside the orbit
of the most distant satellite.)
Once in position, the moonlet begins to circle the
planet, entering a deteriorating
orbit and
picking up speed as it
loses altitude. The rate
of fall is up to you, but
it should correspond
with the progress of
your campaign, the intensity
of the sign, and
the pace that best fits
your needs. (Remember,
this is a floating
head in space, not an
astrophysics project;
don’t worry too much
about the time it takes
for the moonlet to
descend.)
KEY FEATURES
The moonlet is not a
pleasant place. It is barren
and rocky, overrun
with sharp spires of
old stone, deep trenches,
and mountainous
ridges piled on top of
each other. Bubbling
up from the craters
pocking the surface is
a noxious tar. Debris
picked up from countless
worlds clutters the
surface.
The moonlet remains on the dark side of the world, keeping
the planet between it and the sun. As a result, the surface of
the moonlet is dark, granting total concealment (50% miss
chance) to all creatures on its surface.
The moonlet is a low-gravity environment. This has a
number of effects, as follows.
• Increase speed for all movement types by 5 feet.
• A creature’s carrying capacity doubles, and it gains a +10
circumstance bonus on Strength checks made to lift or
move heavy objects.
• Creatures gain a +10 circumstance bonus on Strengthbased
skill checks.
• Creatures take a –2 circumstance penalty on attack rolls.
• Falling damage is reduced to 1d4 points of damage per 10
feet fallen.
The moonlet’s surface functions as rugged mountain terrain
(DMG 89), except that cliffs are 4d6×10 feet tall and chasms
are 4d4×10 feet deep and measure 40 feet long.
The moonlet counts as being a minor negative-dominant
environment. Each round a living creature remains within
60 feet of the moonlet’s surface, it takes 1d6 points of damage
(when not in combat, it is easier to convert it to 35 points
of damage per minute). A creature reduced to 0 hit points
crumbles to ash. A death ward spell prevents this damage.
Spells and spell-like abilities that use negative energy,
including inflict spells, are maximized. Class abilities
that use negative energy,
such as rebuking or commanding
undead, gain a
+10 bonus on the roll to
determine Hit Dice affected.
Spells and spell-like
abilities that use positive
energy, including cure
spells, are impeded (DMG
150), and characters take a
–10 penalty on Fortitude
saves made to remove negative
levels.
DEFENSES
The moonlet has few defenses.
The dangers of the
void are enough to keep
enemies at bay. Unless
the moonlet is approached
when it has already entered
the atmosphere—at
which point it is almost
too late—characters must
contend with the hazardous
environment. After
3 rounds of exposure to
the void, a living creature
must make a successful
DC 20 Constitution check
or suffer excruciating pain,
becoming stunned and remaining
so until it returns
Doom befalls your world
to the atmosphere. Creatures
that fail the check by 5 or more fall unconscious.
Creatures that require air are also subject to suffocation.
Attempting to hold one’s breath requires a DC 15 Constitution
check every round. The DC increases by 1 each round. Even
on a successful check, the creature takes 1 point of Constitution
damage from the pressure. On a failed check, or when
the creature stops holding its breath, it falls unconscious on
the following round, and its hit points fall to 0. On the next
round, the creature drops to –1 hit points and the round after,
its hit points fall to –10 and the creature dies.
If the characters set foot on or fly above the moonlet,
the undead infesting its surface spill forth. Each hour the
characters remain within 60 feet of the surface, there’s a
20% chance for a random encounter, as shown on the table
below. If an encounter features a creature from a book you
don’t have, pick a result from a book you do have.
Illus. by Daarken
CHAPTER 2
ATROPUS
23