Undead Earth Elemental (Undead, Elemental)--Montporte Dungeon Campaign Critter

UNDEAD EARTH ELEMENTAL
Armor Class: 2 [17]
Hit Dice: 10
Attacks: 2 Slams (2d6 each)
Saving Throw: 5
Special: Level Drain (1 level); Move Through Stone & Earth
Move: 5
Challenge Level/XP: 12/2,000

Undead earth elementals whose life energy has been replaced by negative energy, so that they are a combination of pure elemental earth plus negative energy (see On the Elements and On the Energies).

Undead earth elementals resemble their non-undead relatives, but are looser in form, being made up of gravel, sand, and silt.

COMBAT: Undead earth elementals are unintelligent and will attack any living creature within 30'. It will continue to attack until it is destroyed, its opponents are destroyed, or its opponents retreat 100' in distance from the undead earth elemental.

LEVEL DRAIN: When an undead earth elemental strikes its opponent, it drains one level from its victim. The victim does get a saving throw and a successful save indicates no level drain. The attempted level drain is limited to once per round, so even if an undead earth elemental successfully strikes an opponent twice, only one level drain attempt is made.

MOVE THROUGH STONE & EARTH: An undead earth elemental may pass through solid stone or earth at the rate of 1. The undead earth elemental may not attack when it is fully or partially passing through stone or earth.

Montporte Dungeon Mysteries: Vardray's Discontinuity and the Deep Dark

Introduction
Deep under the earth lies the Vardray Discontinuity. It was discovered in ancient times by the sage and wizard, Vardray. His writings have been lost to us, but Pliny the Alder, the great elven scholar and encyclopedist, has preserved excerpts of Vardray's work in his Gazetteer of Arcane Geography. Pliny lived in late antiquity and some of his works have not been passed down to us. Fortunately, we do have a number of reliable and complete copies of his Gazetteer of Arcane Geography.

Pliny on the Vardray Discontinuity
In his Gazetteer of Arcane Geography, Pliny records the following with regards to the Vardray Discontinuity.

The mighty elven wizard Vardray is the first to describe what is now known to sages and scholars as the Vardray Discontinuity. How Vardray discovered the discontinuity is shrouded in mystery, but many stories come to us of Vardray’s unique and creative laboratory spells and his renown courage as an explorer. 

Vardray, in his Observations from the Field: Volume 2, writes:

And it came to pass that I learned of an odd and major arcane feature in the eastern mountains. The dwarves, in the Elder Days, named these mountains, Dragonfang. I have found that there is a very narrow zone that separates an upper region of the earth’s volume from the deeper region below this narrow zone of separation. 

Above this separation zone [now known as the Vardray Discontinuity—Pliny], the rock and soil contain very little magic. This is the earth—the rock, stones and soil—that we see around us every day. I call this the Mundane Zone. However, below this zone of separation lies a region permeated by magic and wonder. I call this the Deep Zone. 

This Deep Zone is permeated by a magical energy such that certain kinds of plants are able to draw sustenance from it much like our trees, grasses, vines and crops draw life from the sun. In turn, these plants support a wide variety of other creatures. Indeed, I have learned of races living in the Deep Zone and raise crops of Deep Zone plants for food and trade. Stories of these societies can be found among the dwarves. 

The material of our universe is somehow altered in this Deep Zone so that has the most amazing and wondrous properties. I have discovered some of these properties during my investigations. Firstly, in the Deep Zone, the material of our universe is stretched thin, for lack of the better term. There are places where powerful creatures find it easy to pass from their home plane to our plane of Aarde and back again. This, of course, makes the Deep Zone both interesting and dangerous.

The Deep Zone also features areas where the laws of geometry do not match the geometry of our surface world. For example, there are many areas where careful mapping would tell a Deep Zone traveler that their destination is 2 days distant, when in fact, the destination is 5 days distant. Goblin traders from the Deep Zone have told me that special maps are required to navigate between locations in the Deep Zone. The goblins, keeping these maps to themselves, have become masters of Deep Zone trade. 

The goblins have also told me of cities and lands that lie outside of our dimension, yet have access or a portal via the Deep Zone. These cities and lands are part of our plane, the plane of Aarde, yet they are not. The goblins’ descriptions of these lands are beyond belief, but I would not be surprised if they contain much truth. 

Much to the delight of dwarves, great riches can be mined in the Deep Zone below the eastern mountains [Dragonfang]. Dwarven history is filled with the establishment of mines and cities in and above the Deep Zone in the eastern mountains [Dragonfang]. The stories of these settlements have the same sad plot, the discovery and extraction of obscene amounts of metals and gems of all sorts followed by horrible and complete disaster from below. As I noted above, the Deep Zone is a dangerous place. 

In terms of geography, the Deep Zone lies closest to the surface in areas of the eastern mountains [Dragonfang]. The narrow zone that separates the Deep Zone from the Mundane Zone plunges deeper into the earth as one moves west away from the mountains towards more civilized lands. In fact, I was unable to determine any evidence that the Deep Zone exists beneath our own settled lands to the west. On the other hand, my preliminary work in the laboratory and field indicates that the Deep Zone does exist beneath the wild land to the east of the eastern mountains [Dragonfang]. The Deep Zone lies deeper below the surface of the wild land than it does in the eastern mountains [Dragonfang] but it is clearly there below the surface. I believe that the existence of the Deep Zone beneath the wild land might be the reason the wild land is so wild.

I, Pliny, have in my own humble travels come across interesting settlements and history in the Dragonfang. For example, there is a settlement of humans who have dedicated themselves to understanding the fundamental fabric of the universe by studying the elements and energies. I believe that they have found this easier by living in close proximity to the Deep Zone. There are also dark and ancient tales of kobolds abiding in the Deep Zone and master the magic of the elements and energies for malevolent purposes. Fortunately for us today, kobolds have lost both the knowledge and interest in such dangerous magic. I have written more about this in other writings.

Related Posts
The World of Montporte
The Montporte Region: History and Geography
The Deep Dark: That Which Lies Beneath the Montporte Dungeon
Montporte Cosmological Notes: On the Planes
Montporte Cosmological Notes: On the Elements
Montporte Cosmological Notes: On the Energies
Goblins (Fey)--Montporte Dungeon Campaign Critter
Peoples, Tribes, and Gangs in the Montporte Dungeon
Little Larry the Kobold (an NPC's story)

Related Maps

The town of Montporte and surrounding area

The Montporte region

Fire Skeleton--Montporte Dungeon Campaign Critter

FIRE SKELETON
Armor Class: 7 [12]
Hit Dice: 2
Attacks: Strike x 2 (1d4)
Saving Throw: 16
Special: Burning Hands; Fire Resistance; Sleep/Charm Immunity
Move: 12
Challenge Level/XP: 2/30

Fire skeletons are undead human skeletons whose bone structure includes a high proportion of elemental fire. Their bones have a reddish tint to them and an aura of flame appears around them when they are in combat. They have the ability to shoot a sheet of flame from their hands. They are resistant to fire-based attacks and are slightly more difficult for clerics to turn, as they are turned as zombies.

COMBAT: Fire skeletons are similar to other undead skeleton in combat. They do get two attacks per round, one strike with each hand,

as they are not armed with weapons (weapons interfere with their burning hands ability).

BURNING HANDS: A fire skeleton is able to shoot a sheet of flame from its outstretched hands twice per day. This sheet of flame extends 15' feet and is 10' wide. Fire skeletons are immune to the effects of this attack from other fire skeletons.

FIRE RESISTANCE: Fire skeletons are immune to effects of nonmagical fires and gain a +2 to their saving throws versus fire based magical attacks.

SLEEP/CHARM IMMUNITY: Like other forms of undead creatures, fire skeletons are immune to sleep and charm spells.

Montporte Cosmological Notes: On the Elements

In the classic D&D universe, there is a plane of existence associated with each of the four classical elements. Air, Earth, Fire and Water each have a elemental plane associated with them. This is not the case with the world of the Montporte Dungeon Campaign. In the universe of Montporte, the four elements are merely the building blocks of the physical universe, in much the same way our own universe is made of atoms of unique elements. The four elements are a key component of the overall cosmology of Montporte.

The Four Elements
The physical universe of Montporte is made up four elements in various combinations. The presence of these elements also confer their properties to the objects and substance of the material world as well, as indicated by the written descriptions and by the diagram below:

• Air is primarily wet and secondarily hot. 
• Fire is primarily hot and secondarily dry. 
• Earth is primarily dry and secondarily cold. 
• Water is primarily cold and secondarily wet.

Note: The above description and diagram come from Classical Elements (Wikipedia). I am borrowing heavily from Aristotle (you can see my Source Bibliography for some of my other sources).

The Elements and Magic
The relationship between the elements and magic is a complex one. It is complicated by the involvement of the three energies (Positive, Negative and Chi), as the intervention of the divine. Sages, mages and scholars have found bits of evidence that points to ancient mages having great insight into and control over the four elements. Sometimes called "elementalists," the knowledge they must have possessed has been lost to the current world of Montporte. Some scholars have dismissed these elementalists has inventions of dreamy and wishful mages.

The Elements and the Types of Magic
Here are the main types of magic and how they interact or manipulate the four elements:

Alchemy: Alchemy is the form of magic most closely associated with the four elements. Alchemists use their knowledge of the elements and their resultant substances to concoct magic potions, dusts, oils, and even devices. The the practice of alchemy is considered part of the arcane arts, but alchemy relies on the use of formulae and recipes rather than Ars Memoriae to create its magical results.

Arcane: Magic-users and sorcerers have different approaches to arcane magic but both use mental powers to manipulate the three energies and the four elements.

Divine: Divine magic, typically used by clerics and paladins, uses transcendent divine power communicated through the caster via faith to manipulate the four elements and the three energies in whatever manner is necessary to produce the desire result.

Druidic: Druidic magic relies on Chi, the life energy, to manipulate the four elements and the other two energies (Positive and Negative). Druids use both their own Chi, as well as the Chi is found coursing through all living things, to power their spells.

Monastic: Monks use their own Chi to in order to create their superhuman skills. This is mainly done through the manipulation of the four elements present within their own bodies.

Elementals

Elementals are magical creatures that exist on the plane of Aarde (the plane in which Montporte is located), being a combination of one element in its pure form and Chi, the life energy. Elementals can be created via spells as well as through alchemical mechanics. They also can come into being when pools of pure element is in the presence of Chi or magical activity.

There are rumors among mages of the existence of other elementals created by elemental combination with Positive energy or, more ominously, Negative energy.

Beyond the Elements
Scholars have debated whether or not the four elements can be subdivided further into smaller constituent components, similar to our own universe's subatomic particles. What materials lie beyond the four elements is unknown as current magic is unable to split apart or breakdown the material world beyond the basic elements of Air, Earth, Fire, and Water.

Cosmological Notes for the Montporte Dungeon Campaign

The players are finding it necessary to understand a bit more about the nature of the universe in our Montporte Campaign, which means that I have had to come up with something. I am trying to keep it simple, mainly because I am simple. I used Google Translate to help me out with the names of the planes.

The Five Planes
The player characters recently learned about the five planes, sometimes called realms. They are:

• Aarde: The plane where humans and their ilk dwell.
• Ioucura: The plane of madness.
• Syvyys: The plane of demons.
• Umírající: The plane of the fey.
• Zaj: The plane of dragons.

There are thought to be other worlds and locations beyond the five realms, but little is known of such places and even less is said.

The Four Elements
Air, Earth, Fire and Water serve as the fundamental building blocks of the five planes. They are the equivalent of our subatomic particles.

The Three Energies
Even as the universe is built with the four elements, it is infused and empowered by the three energies: Positive, Negative, and the life force, Chi.

The Two Provinces
There are two provinces: The Mundane and the Divine. The universe proper is of the Mundane. The Divine is completely outside of the universe but the beings of the Divine can participate and affect the Mundane through their followers.

Typically, the beings of the Divine are called "gods." Gods and their followers live in a symbiotic relationship, with the followers enabling the gods to intervene in the mundane universe while empowering their followers with divine magic and other abilities.

Magic
Arcane magic allows the caster to manipulate the four elements and three energies in order to cast spells. The techniques differ, depending on the caster, but arcane magic uses the power of thought and language to tap into the greater powers present in the elements and energies of the universe.

Druidic magic is similar to arcane magic except that the caster uses empathy and sympathy with the natural world instead of manipulation to cast spells.

Divine magic differs in that the caster is the conduit for divine power from outside the physical universe. Faith, ritual and holy symbols serve as the means by which one taps into this source of power.