Illithid Towers

Each of the simple towers in this area is home to one Illithid, who has a personal slave to administer to its whims.

Map 30.14 shows typical layouts for these single-story towers (14a and 14b). These Illithid are wholly allied with the Aboleth and will fight to defend the city. The DM should use these fearsome creatures to defend key city locations weakened in a first attack by PCs; Illithid are especially likely to be moved to the sluice and watch posts (areas 4 and 3a to 3f) to employ mind blasts against oncoming enemies. Illithid have personal treasure (jewelry, ornaments, silks, etc.) worth 3,000 to 6,000 gp apiece in their homes. They do not have magical treasures.

One tower here (area 14c) is distinctively different from the rest. It is a two-story building, and the exterior has a marbled veneer with roseate veining. Even the door frame has gilded decorations. This tower has 80% transmutation resistance. Within this tower, the area marked (i) is a store-room, (ii) is a slave chamber. (iii) is home to the Illithid Schandreptibus, and (iv) is the living chamber of the Illithid Caranthazal. These two Illithid are priests of Maanzecorian and regularly consult with the Savant Aboleth of the Great Towers. If the city is under attack, they will retreat into the Great Tower complex and defend it. If attacked in their own home, they use mind blast attacks and then attempt to flee for the Great Towers, using protective spells if possible and whatever other spells may delay pursuit (such as @Hold Person even if they Hold half the PCs, they'll still try to run for the Great Towers. If confronted again later within the Great Tower complex, these Illithid fight to the death.

The Illithid also have sumptuous furnishings - silks, velvets, bejewelled goblets, and the like - littering their homes (total value 8,000 gp: weight 80 lbs). In Caranthazal's quarters, there is a canvas bag with two cane handles mounted on the wall; this contains treasures taken from spellcasters arriving in Shaboath and met first by these Illithid. The bag contains two scrolls of priest spells (scroll #1: Continual Light, Prayer, Sticks to Snakes; scroll #2: Heal, Spell Immunity, Stone Shape) scribed at 14th level, and a silver-banded ebony tube (worth 150 gp) containing a scroll with the wizard spells Globe of Invulnerability, Tenser's Transformation, and Shapechange, scribed at 18th level. This latter scroll is very brittle and friable, and each time a spell is cast from it there is a 25% chance the scroll tears, destroying the remaining spells. Two crystal vials contain potions (Potion of Extra-Healing and Potion of Superheroism), and finally a pair of black silk Gauntlets of Dexterity lie disregarded in the bottom of the bag.