Naerlulthut

Medium aberration, neutral evil

Armor Class 17 (natural)
Hit Points 50 (10d8 HD)
Speed 30ft

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
17 (+3)	15 (+2)	10 (0)	16 (+3)	17 (+3)	7 (-2)

Damage Immunities necrotic, poison
Condition Immunities charmed, incapacitated, poisoned
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from non-magical weapons.
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages Understands Common; does not speak
Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Regeneration. When a naerlulthut is reduced to 0 hit points, it dissolves back into the dust from whence it came, and will re-form within 1d4 days. The only way to permanently destroy a naerlulthut is if the damage that reduces it to zero hit points be radiant damage.

ACTIONS

• Slam. Melee weapon attack +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8+3) bludgeoning.
• Devouring Assimilation (Recharge 6). On a successful slam attack, the victim’s flesh becomes dry and cracked, turning black where struck. The victim takes an additional 4 (1d8) points of necrotic damage. In addition, the victim suffers 2 (1d4) points of constitution damage each round; a successful Constitution save (DC 15 ) negates this loss. The victim is allowed a new save every round, ending the effect on itself on a success. Those who save against devouring assimilation are immune to further constitution loss from the effect. If a victim’s constitution is reduced to zero, the victim dies and their body dissolves into grave dust. Constitution lost to this effect returns once the victim completes a long rest.

ABOUT

The naerlulthut are incorporeal creatures that dwell in the fields of ash left behind by the naerlulthut. At times they appear as whirling balls of ash, rolling or twisting through the devastation without purpose. When roused they begin to transform, assuming something of the shape they possessed in life, but it is little more than a hollow echo of it. Gaunt, skeletal creatures, their bodies are elongated beyond imagining, their visages twisted with rage and madness, their clothes in tatters holding what weapons, if any, they held in life. But these are ghostly images of what was once real, for the naerlulthut, their mistress, devours all.

The naerlulthut are the spawn of the naerlulthut, that dread creature of the darkness whose sole intent is to destroy the world about it. These, its children, are undead spirits whose bodies did the beast devour and whose souls were bound to it. These tormented spirits wander the ashen fields of the naerlulthut’s destruction, bound to the creature that made them. They have only faint memories of their former lives and these are usually haunting nightmares that do nothing but cause them the anguish of anticipation. Fear and hate consume these creatures.

Lingering Essence. The naerlulthut’s natural form is one of dust, the spirit of the devoured creature lingering in the refuse left behind by the naerluth. If in life it used a weapon such as a sword, it will do so in death, but the weapon is actually a part of it and not considered separate. When the creature becomes corporeal, it takes the shape of what it was in life, for example, an orc will appear as a gaunt or skeletal orc, a manticore as a gaunt and skeletal manticore, and so on.

Relentless Attackers. Naerlulthut appear as swirling clouds of dust drifting across the ashy fields. When living creatures (aside from insects or plants) pass near the creature they begin to change shape, turning into a vaguely corporeal form. They appear to be made of dust but with the shape of whatever they were in life. Once they have changed shape, they focus on the nearest living creature and attack it ferociously, even going so far as to pursue it if it should flee. It attacks until killed or turned. They do not leave the fields of dust and as soon as the creature they are pursuing leaves, the naerlulthut dissolves, vanishing into the dust once again. If the naerlulthut is killed, it dissolves back into the dust from whence it came; it is not destroyed, however, for after several days it regains its shape and terrorizes the wasteland once more. Destroying the creature with radiant damage is the only way to permanently destroy them.