This area includes the adventure for Crowspick Mine.
Crowspick Mine Encounter
The old Crowspick mine has since been taken over by a number of creatures seeking shelter from the storms.
The leader is a renegade Drow Cave Rogue 1/Druid 12 named Xennox; he is chaotic evil, can't really be trusted, and has potentially been driven mad by the corrupting influence of some crystals in the mine or possibly the mushrooms he eats but this also makes him immune to mind affecting effects. Xennox was captured by the Mountain Crows and put to work in the mine a century ago, but he grew in power the longer he was underground around the crystals deep in the mine. Xennox has grown in power to the point where he can now assume the shape of any ooze between the size of tiny and large, although he subsists mainly on mushrooms he prefers to hunt live prey as an Ochre Jelly, but likes to eat the thoughts of sentient creatures as a Brain Ooze (bestiary 3).
Other creatures in the mine are the rock trolls who like to eat the crystals which pop up through the cavern, approximately a dozen of those. A few black puddings roam the lowest depths where Xennox has trapped them to dispose of his refuse; one magically altered black pudding is out in front of the mine at the bottom of a shallow pit guarding the entrance, turned white to blend with the snow it takes a perception 30 to see it before stepping into it. A Basidorond also patrols the area nearest Xennox's current lair, which he has been carving out with the aid of two Gibbering Mouthers that Xennox found growing out of a crystal and adopted as pets. Only once Xennox is killed does the slumbering Neolithid within the mountain's crystals awake and come after the party; as apparently Xennox was appeasing the beast and keeping it asleep with a constant telepathic suggestion.
Front door of the mine is a large stone slab that has to be opened by turning a large wheel on either side of the door, moving it along a track. If a creature touches the wheel without uttering the command word Mushroom in Drow (this can be found on a piece of paper in the Troll's hoard back at the mountain crow village), the wheel react as per an Alarm Stone (UE321)
Showdown takes place in a large cavern that he has fashioned into his lair with multiple pit fall traps into gelatinous cubes. Large mushroom patches are farmed here for his personal consumption, as well as there being a large fountain/well that he continually fills with create water in the shape of a rearing eyeless snake spewing liquid from it's mouth. Huge overgrown mushrooms are large enough to stand on to fight as platforms, or the stalks can be destroyed with 40 points of damage. Small patches of mushrooms throughout will give off noxious spores that act as a poison (fort DC 23, 1d4 con), sometimes as an inhaled confusion effect (fort DC 21, confusion).
If Xennox reaches 40 hp or lower he casts Cure Critical Wounds on himself and rushes to his throne where he touches a rare purple mushroom called a Devil Truffle; the next round he uses Transport Via Plants to shunt himself to an old garden outside of a Drow Capital city and then begins plotting revenge on the PCs.
Creatures:
Gibbering Mouther x2
Rock Troll x8 (Dr 1/- from the adamantine in their skin)
Black Pudding
Basidorond
Stone Elementals, Medium and Large
Neothelid
Treasure:
If Xennox is killed Xennox has a Helm of Telepathy (Ultimate Equipment), which he used to communicate with the neolithid, as well as a Headband of Mental Superiority (Ultimate Equipment) he crafted from the crystals.
If he isn't killed he drops the Rod of Silent Spell as he flees.
A secret compartment in his throne reveals a couple utility items all stuffed inside a Handy Haversack, except for the staff, which is propped up behind it.
- Staff of Earthshaping (Soften Earth and Stone 1 Charge, Stone Shape 1 Charge, Move Earth 2 Charges; 60,000gp) A staff studded with dull crystals all along it's adamantine shaft leading up to one large dull green crystal that shines brightly when casting from it;
- Handy Haversack
- Boundary Chalk (70 feet)
- Bottled Yeti Fur x10
- Scrolls of Create Treasure Map x10 (Reveals up to 4 sources of known treasure);
- Scrolls of Cure Light Wounds x10 (1d8+5)
- Scrolls of Scrying x2 (DC
- Gloves of Flame Handling (Casts Produce Flame 1d6+5 3/day for 5 min, also provides immunity to fire and heat for your hands and arms only, so you can dig around in lava and be fine; 8,000 gp);
- Bag of Magic Mushrooms (Hallucinagenic drug, about 1,000gp worth, roughly 100 doses);
Xennox
Drow Rogue 1, Cave Druid 12
Stats: Str 11 Dex 16 Con 16 Int 11 (13) Wis 22 (24) Cha 15 (17)
HP = 12d8+36+1d6+3 = 141hp
BAB =+9/+4
Saves: Fort +8 Ref+6 Will+8
Skills: Perception 7 (+17), Use Magic Device 13 (+19), Handle Animal 12 (+18) Survival 12 (+22)
Feats: Skill Focus (UMD), Scribe Scroll, Natural Spell, Craft Wand, Craft Rod, Craft Staff
Special Abilities
Wild shape (5/day) Tiny - Large Oozes (As Beast Shape 2) , Diminutive to Huge Animals (As Beast Shape 3) or Medium to Large Elementals (As Elemental Body 3)
Cavesense (Ex), Nature Bond (Darkness Domain), Wild Empathy, Tunnelrunner (Ex), Lightfoot, Resist Subterranean Corruption (Ex)
Sneak Attack 1d6
Spells
0 Level DC 17= 4 Mending, Purify Food and Drink, Create Water, Detect Poison
1 Level DC 18= 6+1 Charm Animal, Speak with Animals, Flare Burst (APG), Hydraulic Push (APG), Expeditious Excavation x2, obscuring mist
2 Level DC 19= 6+1 Chill Metal, Barkskin, Soften Earth and Stone, Summon Swarm, Flaming Sphere x2, blindness
3 Level DC 20= 5+1 Cure Moderate Wounds x2, Dominate Animal, Hydraulic Torrent x2 (APG), deeper darkness
4 Level DC 21= 4+1 Life Bubble, Ice Storm x2, Thorn Body (APG, 1d6+12 piercing to melee attackers), shadow conjuration
5 Level DC 22= 4+1 Cure Critical Wounds, Stoneskin, Fire Snake (APG, 60ft shapeable line), Blessing of the Salamander (APG, fast healing 2, fire resistance 10, +2 to CMD) summon monster V (summons 1d3 shadows)
6 Level DC 23= 3+1 Liveshroom (As Liveoak but animates one of his giant mushrooms into a fungi Treant), Greater Dispel Magic, Transport Via Plants (Mushroom, unlimited range), shadow walk
Spells he often uses but doesn't have prepared; Plant Growth, Move Earth, Wall of Stone, Stone Shape, Scrying, Create Treasure Map (Creates map from dead creature)
Equipment: Helm of Telepathy, Headband of Mental Superiority, Silent Metamagic Rod, Feather Token Whip
Favored Alternate Forms
Xennox Brain Ooze, Xennox Ochre Jelly, Xennox Stone Elemental
Cave Druid
Cavesense (Ex):Has Knowledge (dungeoneering) as a class skill and gains a +2 bonus on Knowledge (dungeoneering) and Survival skill checks.
Nature Bond: Darkness Domain
Wild Empathy (Ex): Can influence oozes, rather than magical beasts, with a –4 penalty on his wild empathy check.
Tunnelrunner (Ex): Can move through areas of rubble or narrow passages that require squeezing at his normal movement rate and without penalty.
Lightfoot (Ex): Cannot be detected with tremorsense.
Resist Subterranean Corruption (Ex): Has a +2 bonus on saves against exceptional, supernatural, and spell-like abilities of oozes and aberrations.
Wild Shape (Su): A cave druid gains this ability at 6th level, except that his effective druid level for this ability is equal to his druid level – 2. He cannot use wild shape to adopt a plant form. Can assume the form of any ooze between tiny and large size. When in ooze form, he has no discernible anatomy and is immune to poison, sneak attacks, and critical hits.
Darkness Domain
Granted Power: Blind-Fight as a bonus feat.
Touch of Darkness (Sp): As a melee touch attack, you can cause a creature's vision to be fraught with shadows and darkness. The creature touched treats all other creatures as if they had concealment, suffering a 20% miss chance on all attack rolls. This effect lasts for a number of rounds equal to 1/2 your cleric level (minimum 1). You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier.
Eyes of Darkness (Su): At 8th level, your vision is not impaired by lighting conditions, even in absolute darkness and magic darkness. You can use this ability for a number of rounds per day equal to 1/2 your cleric level. These rounds do not need to be consecutive.
Domain Spells: 1st—obscuring mist, 2nd—blindness/deafness (only to cause blindness), 3rd—deeper darkness, 4th—shadow conjuration, 5th—summon monster V (summons 1d3 shadows), 6th—shadow walk, 7th—power word blind, 8th—greater shadow evocation, 9th—shades.
