Morzomotha

100. WAILING TUNNEL

Cold wind rushes through this tunnel from its end point, creating a grating, high-pitched wailing (treat each rest here as if it has been interrupted once). A massive collapse blocks the end of the passage and creates a wind tunnel of air passing through its thin cracks. At the edge of the debris, a crushed body holds a +1 shortbow called Nightjar that allows the wielder to turn invisible for up to 3 rounds per day (can break up).

103. DRAINED BASIN

This bowl-like cavern is covered in a carpet of fish skeletons, petrified seaweed, and spiraling seashells that pop underfoot. The humid air still smells of long- gone salt water. Giant crabs with strobing, neon eye stalks scavenge the seabed (3:6 chance encounters here are with 1d4 giant crabs). A shattered galleon lies at the basin's center; here, a psychic giant crab (INT 18) called Krikmak rules as a greedy tyrant. Morzomotha Hex Key

110. MORZO MOTH HIVE

Curtains of opaline silk cover the entire rear wall of the cavern, punctuated by black tunnels where dozens of morzo moths nest. Six dragon-sized queens (LV 15, 68 HP, 3 bite +9, 3d6 + grab) rule over all others here, though their cannibalistic nature keeps them isolated from each other. Excess noise or light has a 2:6 chance of disturbing a queen, who erupts from a tunnel in unbridled rage. An hour of meticulous silk harvesting along the wall produces 1 pound of morzo moth silk worth 200 gp.

207. THE SPIRAL

This maddening spiral confuses all who enter it. A navigator must succeed on a DC 12 INT check when exiting the hex or the party gets stuck for a day. At the end of the spiral's path, a black statue of a faceless, crouching figure clutches The Malediction Infernal (SD pg. 317). Touching either teleports the party to hex 1403.

301. MIASMA

A cloud of irritating, green vapor spins in a broad cyclone around a Well of Many Worlds (SD pg. 321) that lies open to a dimension of toxic air and howling, translucent spirits. The vapor corrodes uncovered metal (1:6 chance per exposure that a metal object is destroyed).

305. THE PILLAR

An hourglass-shaped pillar of rock as wide as a castle rises from floor to distant ceiling. 40 nuln lurk in the honeycomb of caves and tunnels inside it. Each seeks to slay the others in a desperate, unending game they call "The Trial." The nuln present severed heads to a being called Mordak that lives in the bowels of the pillar; it grants gifts to its most ruthless champions.

407. PEARLY WENDELS

2d6 docile pearly wendels (pg. 35) mow through a dense layer of pale cave moss on the ground. A disturbingly gleeful nuln named Wortim (possibly once a dwarf) guards them; he only gets upset if someone tries to take a wendel from the cave.

500. ESCAPE TUNNEL

The passage angles upwards for miles, eventually opening to an area on the surface. A screaming cloud of 3d12 stingbats rips through the tunnel at the same time each night.

606. MOUTH OF YAO

Glazed, red stalagmites grow from tiny spikes into tree-like colossi overhead. At the center of this forest lies a narrow pit of uttermost black. A dead humanoid body dropped into this pit has a 3:6 chance of crawling back out possessed by Yao the Endless (C archmage) for a week. Yao is irritable, and most tasks are beneath his mighty infinitude, but he is a grudging ally to his summoners. If Yao doesn't emerge, a hostile rime walker does instead.

708. THE EYES

Thousands and thousands of eyes are carved into the walls of this passage. While here, a being can choose to see through the eyes of another creature they name (regardless of location) in a brief vision. The viewer takes 1d4 CHA damage each time.

1004. RIVER

A broad wash of translucent, green water surges through the cave. A floating island of rafts made of river weed, fish bone, and packed mud bobs on the tide, lashed together by precarious rope bridges. 50 deep ones who call themselves the Thurm live among the rafts; they allow passage in exchange for living captives or large quantities of food. Once a year, the Thurm descend the Abyss (1005) on treacherous rope ladders to leave live sacrifices at the threshold of the ziggurat.

1005. THE ABYSS

A thundering waterfall blasts out over the edge of a broad sinkhole filled with hazy mist. 500 feet below, the shallow water laps sluggishly around a three-tiered, basalt ziggurat crusted with trilobite fossils. Reclusive brain eaters dwell within and worship the Nautiloid Mother, an antediluvian goddess from time before time. They offer living humanoids to the goddess for "evolution." A rare few survive this grotesque ritual and transform into brain eaters.

802. MAD SLAVERS

A party of 15 duergar slavers from Maugrinhold (1601) camp here, using makeshift mining equipment to excavate into the cave floor. They say they have been summoned to free a god entombed in the stone, and they work obsessively at their task. They became aware of this summons after capturing the 8 nuln prisoners who now toil in chains beside them. Perhaps it is all contagious madness, or perhaps a massive form really is taking shape within the rock...

810. ORACLE LAIR

A mad nest of endless, smooth tunnels twists through the solid stone. Some are sheer climbs or drops navigable only by flight or the most daring climbers. The walls feature circles of blue light that look out upon other subterranean locations; some act as two-way portals. The Ten- Eyed Oracle drifts through this warren, gibbering prophecies or disgorging its latest "trinkets" into slimy piles (anything from junk to artifacts). The Oracle is the only being that can hear the direct thoughts of The Lost gods.

1010. OFFERING STATUES

Six leering, bat-faced statues (gargoyles) perch at the point where the tunnel splits into two major arteries. Clay bowls of dried blood, bound skeletal remains, and four rubies (200 gp each) lie at their feet. An offering of living flesh or 200 gp sates the gargoyles, allowing safe passage.

1105. GRIZZENGHAST

A lightless city rises above the Abyss (1005), clinging to its precipice like a roosting harpy. Its stone towers snake drunkenly upward, twisted and precarious, lashed together by cords of morzo moth silk. Here, 3,000 gray-skinned fiends called the dremir make their home. The streets are wet and serpentine, and a grim quiet prevails, for the eyeless dremir are sensitive to noise and flame. They silently crowd visitors, grinning painfully, but always keeping at arm's length as required by their laws. They are a people wealthy in sorcerous knowledge, crafting, and culture. A visitor is safe for three days total in a month; the moment this expires, the ravenous dremir fall upon them.

1202. RALK'S CHIMNEY

A faint, gray glow at the top of this vast cavern hints at an exit to the sunlit surface. This miles-long, narrowing chimney is named after the legendary thief Ralk, the only person to ever survive its treacherous climb. Scaling the chimney takes four days and requires pinning oneself to the wall to sleep, often alongside the rope-bound corpses of other failed climbers. Giant spiders and morzo moths nest all along its perilous walls.

1208. NIGHTBOUND SEA

Churning waves break against the black pebble beach of this underground sea. The reek of algae and decay boils off its surface. Monolithic basalt pillars thrust from the foul water like towers, each carved with spiraling glyphs. Deep below the surface, one of The Lost gods rests on the seafloor, bound in ever-burning chains forged by Madeera and Memnon together in their only act of unity. Wretched aboleths and aquatic brain eaters attend to this titanic god as it lies in silent repose, neither dead nor alive.

1403. MEDUSA DEN

Odd clusters of stalagmites are actually petrified humanoids and beasts that have been artfully posed by Kalithia, a medusa. She specializes in depicting the moment of terror before a violent death. Kalithia is practical and lucid; she might part with her Staff of the Cobra (SD pg. 317) in exchange for rare creatures or bodies to petrify.

1404. THE CLAWS

In a forgotten corner of the tunnel, the statue of a black, crouching figure cradles a book to its chest. This is the legendary Tome Mordanticus (SD pg. 318); touching it or the statue teleports the group to hex 708.

1506. LIBRARY OF LENG

A spired castle of glistening, green-black stone rises high over a moat-like ravine. Deep carvings of titanic, winged horrors cover its walls. Here, the ghoulish Librarians of Leng greedily collect rare tomes and forbidden lore. The librarians study and document the fears of all living beings, and they value this knowledge highest of all.

1509. ANCIENT ALTAR

A shallow, circular amphitheater plunges into the stone floor of this cave. At its center, a round altar of rune-carved malachite has been cracked in two. Anyone who approaches it hears a whispered voice in Primordial: "Return our names. Return our power." Placing the books from hex 207 and 1404 on the altar releases a subsonic pulse felt by all beings. The two Lost deities regain their True Names and a shred of their former strength; their return has begun, and the world starts to remember them.

1601. MAUGRINHOLD

A squat fortress of crude stone blocks. 30 duergar slavers lair here, but their leader has been mentally dominated by an imperious magical sword named Ivernicaste, Eternal Winter. The duergar are now the sword's fearful playthings. Ivernicaste is a chaotic +2 greatsword that deals 2d10 damage and seeks a worthy wielder. It has +7 CHA and tries daily to dominate a wielder it deems weak. Once a month, it can turn into an ice- rimed archdevil for 10 rounds.