Abysogh

Abysogh

(Creature)

Type

Humanoid
(giant)

CR

15

Environment

Any mountains

Alignment

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Source: Shadow of the Storm Tyrant, pg(s). 84–85

Ⅰ

Abysoghs were once storm giants who dug around the Pit of Gormuz in a foolish attempt to free Ranginori. Instead, they struck a flow of blood, whether from Rovagug or one of his spawn, and were forever changed.

Appearance

Abysoghs are larger and stronger than the storm giants they once were. Their subterranean habitats have caused them to lose their pigment over the centuries, leaving them entirely a pale white save the bulging veins full of black blood than can be seen through their skin. What appear to be eyes set into their skull are in fact globular mechanoreceptors, leaving them visually blind but capable of "seeing" movement and objects through low-frequency vibrations. An abysogh typically measures no less than 40 feet tall, with an approximate weight of 70 tons.

Habitat and ecology

Abysoghs spend most of their lives dormant, sleeping away decades and centuries at a time in hidden caverns and lightless chasms. During such periods, the only sign of an abysogh's presence are the occasional tremors as it stirs in its sleep. Eventually, an abysogh will stir to consciousness and begin a rampage lasting for weeks or months at a time. Towards the end of this period, an abysogh becomes tired and sluggish, seeking a new lair for its next period of dormancy.

When active, an abysogh begins its rampage by relentlessly hunting everything nearby its lair, saving anything that can be used for further destruction, and killing and eating everything that cannot. It then ranges farther abroad, razing structures and killing creatures as it encounters them. Abysoghs are more cunning and intelligent than animals but the beat of Rovagug's blood in their veins restricts them to instinctual cunning, trapping them in a perpetual, murderous rage so potent that no magic can cut through it to influence them to any other path. Electricity can momentarily stall their rage and remind them of what they once were, and it is only in these brief windows of fractured sanity that they can remember how to die.

Like Rovagug, abysoghs utterly despise all other life. Anything larger than a rat is intolerable to them, and even such vermin will be slain if they are careless enough to allow the abysogh to catch sight of them. They are marginally better inclined towards giants, who they will sometimes enslave to their cause of destruction, but their tempers ensure that such individuals will become their victims in a matter of time. Abysoghs will also sometimes capture creatures instead of killing them, carrying them in large sacks. These creatures are fated to be its snacks as often as not, but many instead serve towards one of its few joys in life: using living creatures as projectiles against each other.

Abysoghs cannot stand each other any more than they can any other sort of creature, even to mate. As a result, it is unknown whether they are fecund, or whether they would beget creatures different from their forebears. Combined with the fact that the particular circumstances that created them were a unique thing, there is only one generation of abysoghs and their numbers only ever decrease in the face of giantslayers and crusading paladins. However, while they do age, their slow metabolism during dormancy means that their theoretical lifespan is measured in millennia, ensuring that their numbers decline only slowly.

Their most fervent enemies are followers of Sarenrae, and abysoghs in turn hate the sun for its connection to the goddess, though it does not harm them. The only allies they can count in the world are worshipers of Rovagug, who will seek out rumors of abysoghs in the hopes of awaking them early, though the abysoghs do not return the favor with mercy.

Abilities

Abysoghs are fond of using their opponents as living weapons, hurling them at one another with great force and injuring both target and projectile.

Whether due to their sheer size or the inherited power of Rovagug, the footsteps of an abysogh set the ground to trembling, causing nearby creatures to fall to the ground and "blinding" any tremorsense.

An abysogh can emit a thunderous roar capable of deafening, staggering, and even killing creatures through sheer sonic force.