Kawa Akago

Small plant, unaligned

Armor Class 14 (natural armor)
Hit Points 126 (23d6+46)
Speed 20 ft., swim 30 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
16 (+3)	17 (+3)	14 (+2)	3 (-4)	13 (+1)	7 (-2)

Saving Throws Dex +5, Str +5
Damage Resistances fire
Condition Immunities charmed, frightened
Skills Perception +3, Stealth +5
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages Aquan
Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)

ACTIONS

• Multiattack. The kawa akago makes two bite attacks.
• Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) piercing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or take 7 (2d6) poison damage and be poisoned for 1 minute. A successful save halves the damage and negates the poisoned condition. A poisoned creature can repeat this saving throw at the end of each of its turns to end this condition. If the target is already poisoned, the kawa akago can choose to break off one of its fangs into the creature. The poisoned creature must succeed a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw or become stunned so long as the fang remains within them or as long as they remain poisoned, whichever comes first. As an action, the fang can be removed with a successful DC 14 Wisdom (Medicine) ability check.
• Mournful Cry. A kawa akago preys upon humanoids’ desire to protect their young. It can make a sound like a baby in distress, which causes all humanoids within 60 feet to approach the kawa akago if it fails a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw. An affected creature will not willingly subject itself to danger (by going through water over its head or leaping off a cliff ), but it will go in waist or chest deep in water to reach the kawa akago. Creatures immune to being charmed are immune to this ability.
• Wail of the Water’s Dead (Recharge 5-6). A kawa akago can unleash a keening wail that leaves a damaging and disruptive echo in the ears of those that hear it. All creatures and objects in a 20-foot radius take 7 (2d6) thunder damage and are deafened. A successful DC 14 Constitution saving throw halves the sonic damage and negates the deafened condition. A deafened creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns to end this condition.

ABOUT

Kawa akagos are plants that were spiritually fertilized by fragments of the restless spirits of drowned children, becoming carnivorous creatures that inhabit marshes and riversides. They resemble lily pads with a mouthlike opening guarded by fibrous strands like those of a flytrap plant. A kawa akago’s gourdlike skin ranges from maroon to crimson when it is well fed, but more often, creatures encounter a kawa akago when it is hungry. In this case, it instead takes on the same hue as other lilypads in the area, usually an innocuous green.

Feign Distress. Carnivorous and cunning, kawa akagos hunt riverbanks and waterways for both animals and travelers on which to feed. Kawa akagos’ thorn-tipped fangs excrete a pain-inducing sap that mimics the feeling of intense, burning heat. Though they prefer to fight in water, kawa akagos usually ambush from land, using their dangerous sap to drive would-be prey toward the nearby rivers or streams that will soothe the painful effects of their fangs.

Once the victim immerses itself, the plant creatures swarm their target if attacking in numbers, or a single plant strikes from the depths to wear down the victim. Although a kawa akago has no respiratory system, it’s body is rife with pockets it can fill with air and expel as necessary.

This network of hollow chambers allows the creature to speak on the rare occasions it wishes to communicate, and is the source of the creature’s terrible wail, which is capable of breaking bones and shattering glass. The sound is often described as similar to the simultaneous mournful cries of a dozen children in serious distress.