And the Dukes of Chaos raised up the least among their servants and they were the most plentiful of their servants and the formless among many and riven of all nature.
This scroll describes, in brief, the Elder Brood – a myriad horde of “creatures born of chaos” who are the “least among the servitors of the Galchutt”. Names like akop, bulugon, nyogoth, obaan, and the like are listed.
But the scroll then settles into a particular subset of lore describing one creature from amongst the Elder Brood: The Spineseekers known as Tilaxic.
Tilaxic possess the body of a snake covered with the chitin of a scorpion. Hundreds of spiky legs jut out form their lithe forms, and their bellies are marked with three suckered and befanged mouths. Wriggling, tentacled arms and insectoid wings rise from the creature’s sides and back.
Tilaxic will swarm over the backs of their victims, suctioning their mouths lamprey-like over the spinal column and sending tendrils piercing into the flesh. A tilaxic which successfully parasites itself to a host will take control of its motor functions from the neck down, while slowly sucking the vitality and life from them.
SUMMONING RITUAL
The book also describes the particular details of the summoning ritual necessary to call forth a tilaxic from “the teeming mass of the Elder Brood”.
A summon fiend spell can be used to temporarily call forth a tilaxic, but the rituals described also allow one to use 1,000 gp of material components and cast the spell using a 6th-level spell slot to bring forth the tilaxic full-bodied.
THE TILAXIC’S CAGE
However, caution is also given that tilaxics are inherently untrustworthy creatures. Those who attempt to turn them against their foes are just as likely to find the tilaxic turn against them.
“And thus cages were crafted for the treacherous brood-spawn, and their purposes turned to those who would harvest for the Lords of Chaos…”
Tilaxic’s Cage: A small glass box in which arcane symbols of gold have been suspended. One side is hinged, allowing a tilaxic to be sealed within. The cage places the tilaxic in a state of suspended animation (similar to a hold monster spell cast by a 9th-level wizard). When the cage is activated it can either be opened immediately, within 1d4 rounds, or within 1d4 minutes (depending on which rune are touched on the cage). When the cage opens, the tilaxic is released.
Market Price: 1,500 gp
Weight: 4 lbs.
DESIGN NOTES
I created the name Tilaxic to fit in with the rest of the Elder Brood, but this creature is a Spineseeker, once again from The Book of Fiends.
You can see an example of the intended use of the Books of the Elder Brood in Running the Campaign: Inserting Bangs, where a tilaxic was sent by the chaos cultists as an assassin in my Ptolus campaign. The Elder Brood is a tool used by the cultists, and if the PCs could discover these volumes of lore before the cultists used them, then they might be able to glean important advantages. (Or perhaps even learn how to turn the Elder Brood against the cultists.)
