The Plague Master of Grimmenhoek Conqueror
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The Plague Master of Grimmenhoek

Behind the bird mask hides no healer but the plague itself

The Plague Master
The Adversary
The Plague Master
Plague priest (human) · CR 7

Beneath his beaked mask he smiles as the plague itself writhes to life around him.

Show stat block
The Plague Master
Medium humanoid (human), Neutral Evil
Armor Class 15 (padded plague cloak)
Hit Points 115 (17d8+34)
Speed 30 ft.
STR10+0
DEX14+2
CON14+2
INT16+3
WIS18+4
CHA14+2
Saving Throws Wis +7, Con +5
Skills Medicine +7, Religion +6
Resistances & immunities poison
Senses passive Perception 17
Challenge 7 (2,900 XP)
Traits

Disease Immunity. The Plaguemaster is immune to disease and has advantage on saving throws against poison damage.

Living Plague. A creature hit by the Plaguemaster must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or become infected with the Rotting Plague (1d4 necrotic damage at the start of each turn until cured).

Swarm Spirit. If the Plaguemaster takes damage while within 5 ft. of an infected creature, he can redirect half of that damage to that creature.

Actions

Multiattack. The Plaguemaster makes two attacks with his Plague Staff.

Plague Staff. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d6+2) bludgeoning damage plus 7 (2d6) poison damage.

Plague Cloud (Recharge 5-6). Disease spores fill a 20-foot radius. Each creature in the area must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, taking 21 (6d6) poison damage and becoming weakened until the end of its next turn on a failed save, or half as much damage with no weakening on a successful one.

5e-compatible stat block · this monster also appears in the adventure PDF

The Story

The plague stalks the city of Grimmenhoek, and the masked doctors with their beaked masks seem the only hope. They hand out medicine, burn the dead, and whisper words of comfort. The desperate people trust them blindly.

But the sick they visit die the fastest, and the vials of 'medicine' are brimming with contagion. The Pestmeester and his beaked cult worship a god of decay and sow the plague as an offering, every corpse a prayer. The more they 'help,' the further the sickness spreads.

You have to unravel the truth without succumbing yourselves: compare symptoms, steal a vial and have it examined, get a dying witness to talk, follow the doctors through the fog-choked alleys to their hidden cellar. Along the way you are exposed yourselves, and the fever starts to tick.

The twist: the Pestmeester is no charlatan but a true believer who feeds his god in the flesh with every death, and beneath his beaked mask he smiles as the plague writhes to life around him into a breathing thing of sores and beaked doctors. You must spread the real antidote and defeat the Pestmeester before he unleashes the final, lethal outbreak, weak with fever, in a city on its deathbed.

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This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC, licensed under CC-BY 4.0. All story, characters and artwork are 100% original. DM Shots is an independent publisher, not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast. More about our license & 5e compatibility.