Thrall’n Angels
A D&D 5e adventure suitable for mid-level characters
City of Angels
Masked Queen
Get Good
Tan Jacket
Soft Serve
Twisty Little Passages
Windborne Prophesy
Twisting on the wind: strips of parchment floating minutes, hours, days apart, leading adventurers to destiny, should they but follow. On one side only: a downy grey mold, thus, a twisting curl of parchment. The other side inscribed with a a fragment of a passage, prophesy from scripture holy to the Upper Planes.
These fragments read:
- Lo, the angels would not heed the call were then released from the service of Good and made there home beneath the Heavens. But there was no contentment, for they looked ever upward and yearned.
- And Rot came upon them, masked as a queen. For Zuggtmoy’s Gift had now the means to enfeeble minds and the will to serve its master.
- If even angels rot, so too must mortal realms. But redemption may yet be earned, for the outsiders still can unmask the queen and return wits to the fallen.
- ...but no Fires can harm him whilst he wears his jacket of tan.
City of Thralls
The city, gleaming, reaches for the sky.
- Excommunion, named in bitterness.
- Fields are overtaken by fungi, mold, decay. Once-fresh air now rank with rot.
- Its deva denizens wear mantles of dark growth, have succumbed to the unrelenting feeblemind effect of the Zuggtmoy-gifted fungus. No communicating with these wretches. No understanding. But vast depths of sorrow haunt their eyes.
Within the city, another class rules:
- Fungi-coated giant wasps infest the city, but are as zombies, their queen is thoroughly controlled by Zuggtmoy’s Gift and, thus, so too are they.
- Not hostile unless provoked, they will unflaggingly protect Zuggtmoy’s Gift and the queen it wears.
- [For the wasp-queen, modify the giant wasp as follows: large size, double hp, double damage]
Zuggtmoy’s Gift
The fungus is malevolent and servant to Zuggtmoy’s will. Zuggtmoy, being a fiend, wills that the fallen angels never be given the chance to find redemption. The further spread of rot to come is but a happy byproduct.
Zuggtmoy’s Gift is very dangerous:
- It spreads across any organic surface. Each contact necessitates a Constitution saving throw to avoid infestation.
- Soon after failure, the Feeblemind and Dominate Monster attempts begin as it spreads inside the host. These innate abilities are used once per minute.
- Fortunately, all save DCs are only 12.
- Direct exposure to fire will instantly kill the exposed portion of fungus, and casting Greater Restoration, Heal, or Wish on the host will do likewise.
Beneath the City
The once-wasp-queen makes her home within a tight maze of moldy tunnels beneath the city. There, she is well-protected by her once-wasp-warriors. Another ally hides with her, unexpected, but a truly effective guard.
A venom troll, mutated through long exposure to yellow mold spores, has formed a symbiotic bond with a hybrid mold of brown and yellow (another gift from Zuggtmoy, from an era far gone).
- From Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes, or approximate by doubling a regular troll’s hp, giving immunity to poison damage and the poisoned condition, and the Poison Spray cantrip (2d12 damage).]
- The hybrid tan mold has all of the properties of brown and yellow molds, although only sunlight or cold damage will instantly destroy it, since it is immune to fire. The troll is likewise protected from fire by the mold, which, in turn, consume’s the troll’s body heat. Any damage sustained is regenerated soon enough.
- Every move the troll makes disturbs the mold, so that, while awake, the troll is perpetually surrounded by a cloud of poisonous spores.
Hope, at the End
All is not hopeless, however. Zuggtmoy’s Gift has robbed the devas of their ability to think and communicate, but their wisdom and senses remain as ever they were and they cannot be dominated. Thus, they are perfectly aware that something is very wrong, although they lack the ability to understand.
One of the last devas to succumb sent the fateful scriptures on the wind, even as reason failed.
A hint of hope: Zuggtmoy’s Gift is is a hive mind who’s center resides within the wasp-queen. If destroyed, the rest of the fungus will become inert and easily exterminated. The wasps will not survive without the aid of greater magicks, for they are essentially living husks, but the angels will regain their minds and may well be inspired by the characters’ heroic deeds to seek goodness and redemption.
Rewards, should the characters deserve them, can range from wealth to powerful alliances. And even, should they choose, friendship.
