Abyssal Shard

priest. When the characters disrupt

Axihuatl’s plans, he takes a personal interest in them and unleashes his various minions against the party. Until Axihuatl is actually revealed as an ixitxachitl, he operates in the background, primarily through other creatures in his thrall. After the PCs disrupt his fi rst ceremony,

Axihuatl sees them as a threat and directs Marcus Hape to deal with them. Once his ritual goes wrong and the Leviathan threatens the world, Axihuatl reluctantly approaches the PCs, asking for aid. He instructs the PCs on how to use the Abyssal Shard to send the Leviathan back to sleep and might even be willing to accompany the party. If he does accompany the PCs,

Axihuatl will not actively help them, but he defends himself if attacked. For the most part, he hangs back and does as little as possible—either because he is planning to destroy the party once he has completed his task, or due to his well-developed sense of self-preservation. DESCRIPTION

Axihuatl is a vampiric ixitxachitl who has been alive for 290 years. In this time he has grown to considerable size and now resembles a mottled, horrifi c manta ray with large, intelligent eyes, a thick tail, and well-developed fi ns capable of dexterously manipulating objects. In his researches and travels, Axihuatl has located and aided in the creation of magic items tailored specifi cally to his physiology. He wears two bands on his tail that provide protection and magical enhancements equivalent to rings or bracers of the same type (see below), as well as two

ioun stones, which he Axihuatl found while searching for one of his most important possessions—the artifact called the Abyssal Shard. The Shard is a fragment of black rock that orbits Axihuatl’s head in a fashion similar to an ioun stone. This object is critical to his plans to awaken the Leviathan and will also play an important role in putting it back to sleep once the task of destroying the surface world is complete. Recently, Axihuatl has been spending considerable time in the surface world, using his wand of polymorph to transform himself into his human alter ego: Enshaddon, high priest of the Leviathan. In this form, he leads the Cult of the Leviathan and has been using human worshipers to perform rituals to summon aberrations and awaken the Leviathan.

Axihuatl CR 19

hp 206 (24 HD); fast healing 5, regeneration 1 hp/hour Male advanced vampiric ixitxachitl cleric 16 CE Large aberration (aquatic) Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Listen +4, Spot +12 Languages Abyssal, Aquan, Common, Draconic AC 25, touch 15, fl at-footed 24; Dodge Miss Chance 50% for 15 rounds/day Immune fi rst 50 spell levels absorbed (up to 8th level) Fort +16, Ref +8, Will +22; +5 against spells cast by lawful casters Speed swim 30 ft. (6 squares) Melee bite +24 (2d8+7 plus energy drain) Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. Base Atk +18; Grp +24 Atk Options energy drain, ignore object’s hardness 1/day

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A fragment of elemental chaos, the Abyssal Shard is a key element in Axihuatl’s ritual to awaken the Leviathan. As chaos calls to chaos, the presence of this chunk of living disorder draws the great beast from its slumber just far enough for Axihuatl to influence its actions. Once the Leviathan’s task is complete, Axihuatl intends to have Marcus Hape or another minion cast the shard into the Leviathan’s heart, where it will be absorbed, sending the creature back to its slumbers. The Abyssal Shard can be used like an ioun stone. Placed in the air, it orbits around the user’s head, providing a +5 bonus on saving throws against spells cast by lawful opponents and +5 to the save DC of spells cast against lawful opponents.

Illus. by F. Tsai