Beast God Carcohl

Lore

Failed - mate, you said charcoal wrong.

Basic - Never heard of it.

Regular - I think I heard it, but Old Gam spouted off random names constantly?

Good - I think it was covered in the Bestiary Gigantica, but good luck finding the book. 

Superior - It was some sort of massive dragon hybrid creature, the Bestiary Gigantica definitely covered it, but the book has been missing for more than a century. The creature was massively dangerous but hadn't been seen or active in several thousand years. Most assume it is long dead and gone.

Epic - The Carcohl is discussed in three books. The Bestiary Gigantica has a passable amount of information on it, a massive dragon snail that ate dungeons. The Yunaleskan Codices have a few poorly preserved sketches of the beast and it is classified as a terrestrial or earth titan, and its powers are based on earth magic, acids, and poisons. Good luck finding a copy of the Codices that doesn't have an Explode Reader's Skull spell in it. Finally, the Emigre Manuscript has a first-hand account of the Carcohl in it, but that book is in the possession of a Dread Lord, in the Black Library of Doomguard. Or it was, a thousand years ago.

Legendary - The best account of Carcohl is carved into the walls at the base of the Great Fissure within the Gyre. Yes, to read this firsthand you must enter the Gyre, find your way through the traps and the monsters, and Understone, the city of the Wights that guards the passage to the Fortress at the Heart of the World. Then, you have to manage the half mile near vertical drop of the Fissure to find the Garden of Mnemaglyphs. It is a maze and a library, but everything is carved into massive black and orange stone walls, the glyphs glowing fiery orange and gold. There you will find the story of the Carcohl. The glyphs will tell you what happened to it.

It will also tell you where it slumbers.

Appearance:

The Carcohl is an upright snail the size of a house, and its fleshy body appears like the front half of a dragon. To be more precise, the front half of a Lindworm. The hide is supperating and green, leaking a trail of bubbling yellow-green slime. The creature has a non-visible means of motion, as the fleshy parts of the monster are on top, the shell presenting functionally upside down. The beast can bellow, but is incapable of speech and attempts to communicate with it are doomed to fail. If it has appeared, it is unleashed in a full rage.

Sanity Loss - the Carcohl is an ancient evil and everything about it is wrong. Non-heroic individuals have no chance to stand their ground in its presence. 0 level NPCs are most likely to be paralyzed with fear. A few might scream and run, some are going to pass out. Lots of bladders and bowels are going to be emptied when it is seen. Heroic characters and NPCs can have a chance to resist this effect.

Combat:

Ranged:

Acid Breath attack as per a huge adult black dragon

Sludgewave, short range acidic attack that sprays from the Carcohl's shell in all directions

Buffs:

Internal Thunder - the Carcohl can take a turn to beat on its shell with its fists to increase is attack potential (raise base attack damage)

Internal Focus - the Carcohl can take a turn to focus its attention on a single foe, the next attack is an automatic critical hit for damage if it connects

Acid Armor - Its shell can leak acid, increasing its armor rating and damage resistance, weapons must make saving throws or be damaged or destroyed. Bare handed melee strikes inflict automatic acid damage on attacker

Melee:

Carcohl Claw Swipe - claw attack as per large black dragon

Poison Tail - stabbing damage with poison modifier, very close-range attack

Carcohl Slam - bodyslammed with the Carcohl's shell, can be dodged but does ridiculous damage, also good for smashing through castle walls

Allies:

Fumigous Elementals - appearing as large rock turtles, the fumigous elementals are slow but produce choking clouds of thick black smoke, and radiate massive amounts of heat.

Vespinoids - insect spirits given materialized form, vespinoids are human sized wasps , mantids, and similar insects. They are fast, deal horrific slashing damage, but have relatively weak armor. Most can fly and are scouts and skirmishers for the Carcohl.

Fumigous Canids - a different type of elemental but similar to the Fumigous Elemental, the canids are likewise rocky and semi-molten in nature, but the choking fumes that roll off of them are not as blinding and area effecting. They have a terrible heat/magic bite attack.

Aiguillrah - these are functionally rats the size of large dogs and instead of having fur, they have a thick, thorny, heat resistant hide. They appear in large numbers, have an aggressive attitude and are generally very bitey. There are also Dire Aiguillrah, which can be the size of a pony and the King/Queen Aiguillrah which are large semi-biped creatures capable of casting poison and acid spells, controlling lesser aiguillrah, and are 100% disease carriers.

Diabarais - Superficially resembling swamp wyrms (crocodiles), the Diabarais are protected by a rock-like hide and have a vibrant red, white, and gold coloration. They also have a molten bite, and a few can inflate themselves to spew out a stream of napalm-like flaming stomach acid. They are loud, constantly trumpeting, hissing, and roaring at each other, and their prey.

Myrtylhor - These lightning fast abominations are blue and green skinned creatures that resemble common lizard versions of a crocodile. They have soft blue skin, red and gold stripes, and slashing teeth and fangs. Quite the opposite of the morphologically similar diabraias fire crocodiles, the Myrtylhor favor water, and almost all can projectile vomit acid at foes.

Origins and Purpose

The dungeon core in the heart of the Gygaxian Gyre existed during the height of the Old Empire, when dungeons were captured and exploited as power sources for a high thaumaturgical civilization. It also saw that civilization end, and the myths and legends those ancients had, and lost. The best way to prevent itself from becoming either a victim of dungeon capture and repurposing or just outright dungeon devastation was to have proper protocols and contingencies. One of its contingencies is the Four Divine Guardians. The Carcohl is one of the Four Divine Guardians and it would be unleashed in the last defense of the dungeon. An invading host would have had to reach the inner walls of Great Terrasquestone before it would be awoken and released. It would take time to ascend through the Great Fissure, and then it would eventually pass through stone and earth to break through the surface, rising from the ornamental pond in the center of the Inner Gardens. 

The Gyre did not create the Carcohl, it found the remnants of one. As dungeons are able to break things down and recreate them, it did. The new carcohl has little to do with the original creature, as the ancient carcohls predated biped sentient beings in the DungeonVerse, and they were mostly peaceful omnivores that would feed on dungeons like snails consume algae. The new beast slumbers deep beneath the Fissure, before the gates of the Fortress at the Heart of the World. Should a serious foe reach this far, one with the intent of harming the core, the Carcohl is the first Divine Guardian the core would release in its defense.

The divine guardians are to protect Terrasquestone, Understone, the Gyre, and the Core from being destroyed, not to prevent heroes from succeeding in the dungeon.