Melfesh Monster
Covered with mossy growths and creeping vines, this towering creature glides effortlessly across the ground. A hood of damp moss and crusty bark conceals the monster's face.
Melfesh Monster (CR 6)
Medium Plant (Extraplanar)Alignment: Neutral Evil
Initiative: +6
Senses: All-Around Vision, Low-Light Vision, See Invisibility; Perception +16
Speed: 30 feet, Fly 60 feet (perfect)
Space: 5 feet
Defense
Armor Class: 21, touch 12, flat-footed 19 (+2 Dex, +9 natural)Hit Points: 67 (9d8+27) Regeneration 5 (acid)
Saving Throws: Fort +9, Ref +7, Will +5
Immunity: plant traits, poison
Energy Resistance: electricity 10, fire 10
Offense
Melee: 2 slam +10 (1d6+4)Reach: 5 feet
Special Attacks: envelop, poison cloud
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 8th; Concentration +11):
- Constant- See Invisibility
- At Will- Scare (DC 15), Scorching Ray
- 3/day- Blur, Nondetection
Statistics
| Str | Dex | Con | Int | Wis | Cha |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 (+4) | 15 (+2) | 16 (+3) | 13 (+1) | 14 (+2) | 17 (+3) |
CMB +10
CMD 22
Feats: Alertness, Fly-by Attack, Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Precise Shot
Skills: Fly +14, Knowledge (planes) +3, Perception +16, Sense Motive +10, Stealth +14
Languages: Infernal, Sylvan; telepathy 100 ft.
Special Abilities
Envelop (Ex)
The Malfesh Monster can wrap a Medium or smaller creature in its vines as a standard action. The Melfesh Monster attempts a grapple that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and deals 1d4 points of Wisdom damage if the target fails a DC 17 Fortitude save. Attacks that hit the Melfesh Monster while it has a target enveloped deal half their damage to the monster and half to the trapped victim.Poison Cloud (Ex)
The Melfesh Monster can exude a cloud of poisonous gas in a 20-foot radius up to 3 times per day. Creatures in the area must succeed at a DC 17 Fortitude save or be nauseated for 1d4 rounds and sickened for 1d4 hours afterward. This is a poison effect, and the save DC is Constitution-based.Ecology
Environment: AnyOrganization: solitary
Treasure: none
The sleepy town of Melfesh has endured threats ranging from a gang of displaced troglodytes causing havoc to the strained political ramifications of having a drawbridge controlling trade through southeastern Varisia, but none trouble the place like the Melfesh Monster. Miners working the foothills of the Fenwall Mountains and farmers in the countryside surrounding Melfesh speak in hushed tones of a strange and malevolent monster that haunts the area. Those who claim to have encountered the thing return from their encounters pale and ill, speaking of a bizarre plantlike creature with burning red eyes, and twisted limbs that shoot jets of flame. A stench like acrid, burning dung follows the monster. Some who encounter the creature stumble out of the woods addlepated, raving of a hovering creature and its fire and poisonous mist. Adults away from the safety of town aren't the only ones terrorized by the creature, as parents use embellished stories of the Melfesh Monster to frighten children into behaving properly.
Ecology
Very little information is recorded about the Melfesh Monster, since so few have seen the creature. A handful of researchers enamored with studying monsters have written about the creature on their travels through Varisia, though no two accounts agree on its true nature. Some think it to be from another world or dimension, while others believe it is a plant creature of magical sentience, akin to a corrupted treant or some dark, fey-stricken creature. Even the camp claiming otherworldly origin is split on the details. Some say the Malfesh Monster hails from the horrid wastes of Abaddon, and others insist the First World birthed this frightening creature. Both its form and behavior could easily suit either of these theories. The Melfesh Monster never consumes its kills; it simply leaves charred corpses, twisted by fear, in its wake. Victims of the Melfesh Monster are found curled into a fetal position and burned so thoroughly they are barely recognizable to even their closest friends and relatives. Some speculate the creature feeds on strong feelings of agony, despair, and terror. Most who encounter the Melfesh Monster are solitary travelers, miners, hunters, or farmers. This suggests the creature prefers to prey upon single targets, but a few stories tell of it attacking a wagon full of farmers returning from a day at the market or a trio of teenage boys playing around in the woods at night. Either way, as of late, most citizens of Melfesh and the surrounding countryside don't go out alone after dark for long.
Habitat & Society
Officially, the Melfesh Monster exists only in the minds of drunkards and those prone to fanciful daydreams. The sparse evidence of the creature has yet to compel the local militia (or any of the nearby Hellknights) to mobilize any significant hunting party to eradicate the creature, and authorities who are shown places scorched by the monster's fiery jets write them off as merely small-scale wildfires caused by lightning or out-of-control campfires left by local hunters or miners. When would-be monster hunters show up in Melfesh, the locals have no shortage of stories to tell about the monster-usually heard from a distant cousin or a friend of a friend who claimed to have seen it. Several unscrupulous merchants in the area made a small industry of selling bits of slag supposedly resulting from the monster's fire, or maps to various caves and lairs the monster might inhabit. With little credible information to go on, and the creature's ability to fly making it impossible to track, most of the hunters give up the chase after having their purses lightened at nearby inns and taverns.
To date, no lair thought to belong to the creature has been found, nor have any tracks of the Melfesh Monster been accurately identified (just the scorch marks from its jets of flame). In Melfesh, sketches of the creature hang on the walls in taverns and inns, some drawn by those who encountered the creature and lived, and others sketched by those interested in the monster and the stories about it. All of these depictions are roughly the same, though some contain certain embellishments or exaggerations, such as extra appendages, varying color schemes, or inflated body size. Some inn owners sell these drawings to monster hunters for prices that fluctuate wildly, seemingly set only by how severely the inn owners think they can gouge any particular buyer. Just last fall, a group hailing from Korvosa bought a skillfully drawn illustration of the Melfesh Monster from a tavern for 10 gold pieces, though it was little help to the group in finding the monster.
Though the monster has became a major nuisance only in the last 30 years, stories with details matching recent accounts of the Melfesh Monster circulated among the Varisian wanderers as long as 600 years ago. These tales, told around campfires as a warning to the traveling people, hint that a creature like the monster-or even the monster itself-has been a threat in the region for a long time. No one knows what made the creature lie dormant for so long, and frankly, the frightened populace is merely waiting until this particular bit of local folklore fades into the past.
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