Atlach-Nacha CR 18; XP — (see Combat) NE Great Old One of construction, futility, and spiders Primary Source Clark Ashton Smith, “The Seven Geases” C U LT Domains Artifice, Evil, Madness, Void Subdomains Construct, Isolation, Nightmare, Toil Favored Weapon net Symbol spider perched in the center of a web Temple caverns, chasms, bridges Worshipers doomsayers, mad architects, spider cultists Servitors giant spiders and oversized arachnids I N F L U E N C E S TA G E DC 25 Area 20-ft radius; Nucleus 20 square feet (fills entire area) AC 33; Saves +20; hp 300 Effects webs Escalation Destroying the influence has an increasing chance of instead escalating the influence to stage 2; see “Webs” below under Influence effects I N F L U E N C E S TA G E D C 27 CR 21; XP 409,600 Area 400-ft radius Proxy avatar Effects webs D E F E AT Combat A stage influence, Atlach-Nacha can be destroyed by damage, but doing so doesn’t prevent his cultists or other existing conditions or events from causing new influences to manifest elsewhere As a result, defeating the stage manifestation of this influence does not remove the continuing threat, and no XP reward is earned for this accomplishment (although defeating foes that might dwell in the region earns XP as normal) Once Atlach-Nacha’s influence grows to stage and the spider god sends an avatar to investigate the damage to its webs, defeating the avatar causes all of Atlach-Nacha’s influences in that world to vanish and prevents new influences from forming for many years (or until cultists successfully perform the dangerous and complex rituals What You See A monstrous spider-thing with a distorted tick-like body, it possesses a head made up of dozens of shifting, agonized faces 212 needed to reestablish contact with Atlach-Nacha) This success earns XP as normal for the Great Old One’s stage influence INFLUENCE EFFEC TS Webs Atlach-nacha’s initial influence is immobile and makes no attacks; he manifests only as a thick tangle of immense spider webs in one or more twenty-foot radius rough spheres Often, Atlach-nacha maintains multiple separate influences in an area, particularly in regions where his cult is active These separate influences never overlap but can be adjacent The webs that fill the area of influence create difficult terrain, and every time a creature enters the area or begins its turn in the area, it must make a successful Reflex save to avoid becoming entangled The webs in an area of influence remain until they are destroyed by reducing that influence to hit points, but each time an area of Atlach-Nacha’s influence is destroyed in this way, there’s a cumulative chance that the area of influence is immediately re-established at stage The chance of this occurring is equal to 1% per area of influence destroyed by intelligent non-cultists of Atlach-Nacha (Those who venerate the Great Old One cannot escalate an influence by destroying webs, nor can creatures that possess an Intelligence of or less.) This chance is cumulative for an entire world: if ten groups of adventurers destroy ten webs over the course of ten years, for example, the next group to destroy webs has an 11% chance to escalate the influence to stage The starting percentage chance of this occurring when a group of PCs encounters the influence for the first time is subject to the GM’s preference, or could simply be set by rolling 1d100–1, with a result of indicating that either this is the first time the influence has occurred in the world, or that the previous influence resulted in a shift to stage before Atlach-Nacha was defeated AVATAR OF ATLACH-NACHA CR 21 XP 409,600 NE Huge aberration Init +15; Senses see in darkness, tremorsense 120 ft., true seeing; Perception +34 DEFENSE AC 38, touch 20, flat-footed 26 (+11 Dex, +1 dodge, +18 natural, –2 size) hp 402 (23d8+299) Fort +20, Ref +18, Will +21 Defensive Abilities freedom of movement; DR 15/epic and lawful; Immune ability damage, ability drain, aging,