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Shub-Naddar, Cetephipid

Appearance

Cetephipids are the insidious generals of the Shub-Naddar. Through a telepathic link to the Overlord of the colony, the Cetephipids convey the orders and will of the Overlord to the Caustic Terrors and the Ooze. Cetephipids are rarely found outside of the Ooze, preferring to hide submerged in the slimy floor of the colony where they are their strongest. They are moderately skilled at shape shifting. Some are capable of imitating voices but none display the same mastery of the skill as the Caustic Terrors. They usually do not bother with assuming a meaningful form and prefer to remain a gelatinous blob unless necessary. Cetephipids, like Terrors, can harden their flesh to the consistency of steel and are able to control the heat emanations, texture, and coloring of their body with ease.

Combat

Cetephipids rarely engage in combat and prefer to let Caustic Terrors and the Ooze do their bidding. When forced into combat, Cetephipids attempt to draw combat towards the Overlord of the colony and rally Caustic Terrors. Unlike Caustic Terrors, Cetephipids can control the Ooze and use it to execute complex tactics. A Cetephipid will willingly sacrifice Ooze to prevent their own demise.
    Acidic flesh (Ex): Weapons that strike and penetrate the natural armor of a Cetephipid 2d6 points of acid damage. Creatures grappling with a Cetephipid take acid damage each round without save. A Cetephipid can buffer its acidic touch at a whim if they wish to not deal acidic damage.
    Paralysis (Ex): The touch of an Cetephipid can induce chemical shock in opponents with susceptible nervous systems. Constructs and elementals are immune to this effect. Touched creatures must succeed a Fortitude save (DC 23) or become paralyzed for 1d4+1 rounds. A creature that is grappling with a Cetephipid must make this save once each round they are grappled.
    Shub-Naddar Traits: Immune to poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, and polymorphing. Cannot be flanked and immune to critical hits. The entire surface of a Shub-Naddar is a sensory organ, thus granting them blindsight 80 ft. radius. Unless manifesting eyes, ears or other sensory organs, all Shub-Naddar are blind and deaf. Shub-Naddar do not breathe or sleep.
    Ooze Environment Traits: A Cetephipid surrounded by an Ooze colony becomes more dangerous. It gains regeneration 3 (takes normal damage from fire, cold, and electrical attacks, though resistances apply) and the ability to take shelter in the ooze, allowing it to make spring attacks (as though it possessed the spring attack feat) by emerging from the ooze, attacking once, and returning its form into the ooze before the end of its turn. A Cetephipid that is fully merged with Ooze is indistinguishable from its surroundings, cannot be specifically targeted by weapon attacks (or spells which require a specific target), and takes one-half damage from area of effect attacks. Shub-Naddar that are merged with Ooze gain an awareness of all that the ooze touches and of any creature within 60 feet of ooze with an acuity that negates effects such as invisibility. Shub-Naddar in contact with the Ooze also gain a +4 circumstance bonus to Will saves due to their mind being in constant contact with the rest of the colony.
    A Cetephipid is unable to sustain itself without being in constant contact with the Ooze. A Cetephipid that departs from the Ooze loses its fast healing ability and loses 1 hp per round until it resumes contact or is dead.

Habitat/Society

Cetephipids are essentially the arms of the colony Overlord. They manipulate the Ooze, allowing the colony to move about, they keep the Ooze healthy and aid in its spread, and they culture the Ooze in preparation for the creation of Caustic Terrors or other Cetephipids, which allows the colony to further expand.
    When Cetephipids are not plotting to expand their colony and devour other underground races they vie with each other for supremacy, establishing a pecking order where older and more powerful Cetephipids seek to subvert others to their will, in hopes of leaving the colony and transforming into an Overlord. Cetephipids are utterly loyal to their overlord and only a healthy colony will give rise to a Cetephipid that is powerful enough to become an Overlord. When this happens, the powerful Cetephipid and several of its lessers depart from the colony with a Caustic Terror guardian and a swarm of ooze to set up a lair where they will transform their bodies into a single overlord entity.
    Cetephipids are extremely curious about the manners and workings of other non-Shub-Naddar. They often examine their paralyzed prey, slowly taking them apart and studying "how they work." They are also interested in how other social creatures respond to stimuli. To gather information pursuant to this interest, they send Caustic Terrors to infiltrate other civilizations and carefully stir up strife and trouble. The Caustic Terror then returns to the colony where the Cetephipid can absorb its memories through the hive-like mind of the ooze.

Ecology

Cetephipids are invertebrates, resembling an amoeba of smoothly flowing, fleshy plasma. Typically, a Cetephipid will lurk within the ooze, transforming its appearance and that of the ooze about it to match the surrounding environment.
    Shub-Naddar are cruel creatures which view all other organic matter as merely food to further the great engine of hunger which the race thrives upon. They are devious and delight in the torture, fear, and destruction of other living creatures. It is not uncommon for a highly evolved Cetephipid to lure creatures into a trap by imitating the voice of a lost adventurer and assuming a convincing humanoid form, surrounded by camouflaged Ooze or other Shub-Naddar. They are highly intelligent creatures and well adapted to survival in the dangerous depths of the Underhalls.
    All Shub-Naddar live upon can live and thrive upon any organic matter. For the most part, Shub-Naddar live at the top of the food chain, in the bottom most depths of the Underhalls, and conduct attacks upon the other races of the Underhalls for food and for sport. Shub-Naddar are among the deepest dwelling sentient life-forms of the underworld.

History

For a long time, Shub-Naddar were only a legend, a creature which was only rarely encountered by Drakher hunting parties or spoken of by wizened beholders to those who dare to seek and pay for such knowledge. Since the Breaking of the Sultan and the arrival of the Silothreni, who were forced to travel even deeper into the earth to defend against the Drakher and other underground races, the Shub-Naddar have become more aware of the teaming life which lives in the upper reaches of the Underhalls and has begun to venture upward. The Silothreni frequently war against the Shub-Naddar for their survival and territory. As of yet there have been no reports of Shub-Naddar appearing above the gates of the Underhalls, in the labyrinth of caverns and tunnels that separate the Underhalls from the surface world.