The Crombil

A great scaly wurm, hundreds of feet long.

It sleeps somewhere beneath the Great Wood, waking every few decades to chew and burn a swath of destruction.

What is it, exactly?

That's for you to decide. Maybe…

• it's a primordial titan, a remnant of the first age;
• the Green Lords made it, as a weapon, or just because they could;
• it's the first and oldest draventao, a mighty Forge Lord who succumbed to the fire within;
• it's a manifestation of the Things Below, all gluttony and fire and nightmare; or
• it's just a big, dumb beast.

Hooks

• The PCs wish to destroy some fell, indestructible artifact, and learn that feeding it to the Crombil might work.
• The Crombil will soon wake, and an important site—like a ruin of the Green Lords or a Red Grove—lies in its path. The PCs must act soon to explore or preserve the site before it's destroyed.
• It's been almost fifty years since the Crombil woke, and its last rampage ended maybe a day or two from Stonetop. Elders remember the smoke and the sounds of destruction, but few ever knew the cause. But now the Crombil stirs, and this time it might head towards Stonetop.
• The Crombil's periodic rampages have been drawing it towards Vor Svetelik. This next time, it will plow into the ruined city and release any number of terrors from stasis and imprisonment, perhaps even the Fomoraij themselves.

Perhaps this was their plan all along.

• Cultists of the Things Below seek to turn the Crombil into a vessel for their master, breaking the cycle of sleep and rampage and ushering in an age of lasting destruction.

Signs & portents

• Tremors and earthquakes, of increasing frequency and intensity
• Dreams of shifting earth, hunger, fire, and doom
• A small hill, covered in trees and brush but strangely warm and venting smoke
• Beasts and spirits giving wider and wider berth to the Crombil's lair
• Strangers arrive in town and talk of "the Awakening"
• Dreamers wake from troubling dreams, "the Crombil" on their lips
• Some suggest offering sacrifice to appease the Crombil, others feel compelled to go and worship as it wakes
• Vast flocks of birds fleeing to the west
• A terrible grinding and cracking of earth and trees; a pillar of smoke; a deep and bellowing cry