Z’xor, the
gray slaad who led the destruction of the monastery, stands in the back
of the room in humanoid form, hiding in the shadows of the bookcases
and overturned desks. If the slaadi heard the characters fighting the
carrion crawlers in episode two, Z'xor has cast invisibility
on himself and moved to the back of the room. Even if the characters
can see invisible objects, detecting the stealthy slaad requires a Spot
check opposed by Z'xor's Hide check.
Z'xor is aware of
the character's arrival if they have already fought the blue slaadi.
If a character sneaks into the room, Z'xor must make a Spot check opposed
by the character's Hide check to see the intruder. Once Z’xor sees
the characters, he casts power word, blind on as many characters
as he can target at the top of the stairs. He then casts deeper darkness
and plots his next move from the relative safety of darkness. Z'xor's
preferred tactic is to remain hidden or invisible and cast animate
objects on the furniture in the room.
He uses his spell-like
abilities to attack the party from a distance. If pressed into melee
by an obviously formidable group, Z'xor uses his +2 longsword
defensively and tries to escape; he attempts to flee out one of the
shattered windows by means of his fly ability. If escape is not
possible, he will attempt to summon some red or blue slaadi allies and
make his exit from the scene once the party is engaged with the newcomers.
If Z’xor escapes,
he could always pop up in a future adventure -- every party needs some
nasty antagonist to reappear from time to time, keeping them from becoming
bored or complacent.
Once the characters
have either defeated or driven off Z’xor, and taken the time to
search the place, they will find little of value (aside from Z’xor’s
belongings) in the ruins of the monastery. Of course, sages and lore
experts would find the collection of books, tomes, and scrolls to be
of great interest, but it would require quite a few wagons to haul them
away. And of course the local lord could always make an appearance and
discourage the looting of the monastery if need be.
A DC 20 Search check
reveals the one book useful to the party (and to the injured monk from
episode one). It is titled Creatures of Limbo, a rather thorough
treatise on the slaad race. A section under the blue slaadi chapter
makes note of a transforming disease via the bite attack. This text
provides a +2 circumstance bonus to Heal checks made to fight the disease's
effects and alerts those who read it to the possibility of contracting
the disease from the blue slaad.
Z'xor: gray
slaad; CR 10; Medium-size outsider; HD 10d8+30; hp 75; Init +1;
Spd 30 ft.; AC 22 (touch 11, flat-footed 21); Atk +14 melee (2d4+4,
2 claws), +12 melee (2d8+2, bite); or +16/ +11 melee (1d8+8/19–20/x2,
+2 longsword); SA Alternate Form, spell-like abilities, Summon slaad;
SQ outsider traits; AL N; SV Fort +12, Ref +10, Will +11; Str 19, Dex
13, Con 17, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 14.
Skills and Feats:
Climb +15, Hide +14, Jump +17, Knowledge (arcana) +13, Listen +15, Move
Silently +14, Search +15, Spot +15; Multiattack, Craft Wondrous Item,
Craft Arms & Armor.
Possessions:
+2 longsword, cloak of resistance +2, dusty rose ioun stone, chime
of opening (50 charges), potion of bull's strength, potion of endurance,
potion of cure serious wounds, gold necklace worth 450 gp.
Alternate Form
(Su): A gray slaad can shift between its natural and any humanoind
form at will as a standard action. A gray slaad remains in humanoid
form indefinitely. The ability is otherwise similar to polymorph self
cast by a 10th-level sorcerer.
Spell-like Abilities
(Sp): (At will -- animate objects, chaos hammer, deeper darkness,
detect magic, dispel law, fly, identiy, invisibility, lightning bolt,
magic circle against law, see invisibility, shatter, power word blind.
These abilites are as the spells cast by a 15th-level sorcerer.)
Summon Slaad
(Sp): Twice per day a gray slaad can attempt to summon 1-2 red slaadi
or 1 blue slaad with a 40% chance of success or 1 green slaad with a
20% chance of success.
Outsider Traits:
Darkvision 60 ft.; cannot be raised or resurrected (though a wish or
miracle spell can restore life).
