Eidolon of the Shattered God

Eidolon of the Shattered God

Legends of the fall of the Shattered God (may Her name be forever lost) and the ancient theocratic empire that served Her still haunt the modern day, but few artifacts of that distant age remain.  Recently several adventurers have returned from an expedition into the Wastes where that empire once stood, bringing a tale of wonder and woe.  They claim to have found a temple to the Shattered God, largely ruined but not uninhabited.  

A carven eidolon of the god remains, mutilated by decapitation and timeworn but still active.  The god-spark within the devotional statue burns on, but the damage the eidolon has suffered coupled with the death of its creator has driven it quite, quite mad, becoming ever more capricious and cruel.  The eidolon, while slow, still possesses inhuman strength and the durability of magically-reinforced stone.  Moreover, it retains the ability to petrify creatures by touch, and to dominate the minds of lesser beings who hear its words.  Without a head of its own, the eidolon should be unable to speak, but it has adopted a gruesome solution to the problem.  When it wishes to speak, it seizes a petrified victim, cracks stony head from neck in a daunting show of might, and attaches the decapitated head to its own neck stump where it magically animates for the eidolon's use.   

Convinced of its own divinity, the creature holds court in the temple's partly-collapsed great hall, attended by a mixture of mentally enslaved living servants who've stumbled across its lair and the petrified remains of former servants who've bored or offended it.  Many of these statues are themselves headless, since the eidolon often decides to adopt a new visage on a whim.  Old "used" heads are either pulverized or saved for use as projectiles against potential foes who've resisted the creature's domination magics.

The three surviving delvers who escaped this bizarre temple community managed to fake their own enthrallment after seeing the fates of their fellows.  Some of them were petrified after being ordered to assume a pleasingly devoted facial expression and posture, their heads later removed for use in an impromptu game of bowls.  Others starved to death or died of thirst as the eidolon neglected to permit them to eat or drink, and when it did remember the needs of its mortal "followers" it instructed them to cannibalize the party's mightiest warrior on the basis that he appeared to have the most meat on him.

How much of this is to be believed is unclear, but the trio did bring back a handful of relics and coins from the era of the Shattered God's worship.  The College Immaculate is still debating funding their own expedition to the site with an eye toward archeological research and the capture or elimination of the rogue eidolon.  

Design Commentary:  As is often the case around here, this was inspired by Telecanter's Receding Blog, which featured its own horrific magical Big Bad.

https://recedingrules.blogspot.com/2020/11/golden-leash.html