Monster Monday: Dust Mummy, Accursed Cloud of Decay

With one final roar, Abdul thrust the ancient spear into the attacking guardian's chest, bursting through the intricately detailed blue faience surface.  He gave it a twist, and the wings of the spear ripped at the crumbling clay.  The falcon-headed ushabti collapsed, now nothing more than a pile of ancient ceramics.  Hassan was over by the passageway, roasting the bodies of the two mummified cheetahs with vindictive glee, divine flame jetting from his outstretched silver holy symbol.  With the tomb's protectors defeated, Abdul and Hassan took out their blessed chisels and went to work on the walls, obliterating every instance of the priest-king's name and every image of his face, just as they had done in the previous rooms.

Hassan found the secret door.  He had always been better at that than Abdul.  "What do you think, brother - will this be the real burial chamber, or another false one?" Abdul asked as he chipped away at the plaster covering the door's seams.

Hassan continued to focus on the door, clutching his holy symbol with white knuckles.  There was a series of mechanical clicks from behind the door, and Hassan instantly relaxed.  "The traps are disarmed," he said in the calm, pleased tone of a butler presenting a particularly fine roasted peacock.

"The door was-?" Abdul dropped his crowbar and scurried back.  "Mound of Mu'at, man!  Why didn't you tell me?"

"I would have stopped you before you triggered them."  Hassan spread his hands wide.

"Alright, you open the door."

When the stone door fell to the dusty ground with a great crack, they stood face to face with a gilded sarcophagus.

"Entombed standing upright.  Typical Yuttub-worshiper."  Hassan spat at the mention of the hated god.

Abdul hefted his sledgehammer and swung it at the sneering golden face.  "This is for what you did to our people!  And this is for what you did to our homeland!  And this is for the thousand years of suffering that followed!"  With his last swing, the ruined face cracked, the sealant on the sarcophagus lid failed, and the whole stone edifice fell to join the door, narrowly missing Abdul's toes.

The desiccated corpse within was bound in strips of ancient bandage inscribed with arcane sigils, and what flesh was visible was covered in gold leaf.  The gaudy tyrant stood for only a split second before collapsing into a pile of sparkling dust and shards of bone.  Hassan let a rare shout of jubilation escape his lips, and the brothers exchanged triumphant smiles.  But the grave dust rose in a swirling cloud between them, scraps of spell-cloth whipping around as if caught in a dust devil.  Occasionally the dust would congeal into the vague shape of a hand or a leg.  A cruel face formed in the dust and uttered in a soul-rasping voice, "REMEMBER... MY... NAME."

Hassan recovered his composure before Abdul did.  Winged holy symbol raised before him, he invoked the name of the Goddess and three beams of brilliance ripped through the priest-king's temporary face.  With a scream, the mummy cloud spread out to fill the whole room with itself.  The dust blasted at their skin, causing it to crack and blister.  Abdul pulled his own holy symbol from the folds of his robes and held it aloft.  The flash of divine light sent visible waves through the dust cloud.  Hassan followed suit with an even more powerful burst, filling the room with crackling energy.

The cloud reformed into a vaguely humanoid shape for an instant, pressed its immaterial hands against Hassan's face, and disappeared into his mouth.  Hassan's eyes widened.  He fell to his knees, skin tightening against his bones.  With a belated cry, Abdul rushed to press his holy symbol to his brother's forehead, channeling a burst of healing magic through it, but it was not strong enough.  Hassan gasped, then with a sickening cracking sound he disintegrated.  The dead priest-king swirled up from between Hassan's dry bones, its face re-forming, one partial hand stretching out towards Abdul's throat.  "REMEMBER... MY... NAME!"

Abdul snatched up his brother's holy symbol, divine fire already blazing from between its silver wings, and thrust it into the discorporate face.  "NO ONE WILL!"

~ ~ ~

Today's Monster Monday is the dust mummy, a sentient undead cloud of dust formed from a disintegrated mummy, held together by rage at the living and a desire to be remembered after death.  Far more insidious than your typical mummy, these swirling collections of dust can easily spread their curse to all that they touch, and can even infest the lungs of their hapless victims, rotting them from within.

The following text in gold is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is ©2016 Jonah Bomgaars.

Before your eyes, the mummified corpse disintegrates into a swirling cloud of dust

Dust Mummy         CR 7

XP 3,200

NE Medium undead (incorporeal)

Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +9

Aura despair (30 ft., paralyzed for 1d4 rounds, Will DC 17 negates)

DEFENSE

AC 15, touch 15, flat-footed 13 (+3 deflection, +2 Dex)

hp 60 (8d8+24)

Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +10

Defensive Abilities limited incorporeality, channel resistance +2

Immune undead traits

OFFENSE

Speed fly 40 ft. (good)

Melee incorporeal touch +8 (1d6 negative energy plus mummy rot)

Special Attacks cloud form, infest

STATISTICS

Str --, Dex 14, Con --, Int 6, Wis 15, Cha 16

Base Atk +6; CMB +8; CMD 18

Feats Blind-Fight, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes

Skills Fly +11, Intimidate +10, Knowledge (religion) +1, Perception +9, Stealth +9

Languages Common

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Cloud Form (Su)

As a standard action, a dust mummy can dissipate its body across a larger area.  When it does so, it grows to take up 10 square feet of space (like a swarm), its reach is reduced to 0 feet, and its speed is halved.  All creatures whose space the dust mummy occupies at the end of its move are automatically hit by its incorporeal touch, but the save DC of its mummy rot is reduced by 2 to DC 15. 

   The dust mummy can remain in its cloud form for a number of rounds per day equal to its Charisma modifier plus 4.  These rounds need not be consecutive.  The dust mummy can return to its normal form as a move action. 

   While in cloud form, a dust mummy automatically takes 1d6 points of damage per spell level from any wind-based spells (such as gust of wind) targeted at it (no save). 

Despair (Su)

All creatures within a 30-foot radius that see a dust mummy must make a DC 17 Will save or be paralyzed by fear for 1d4 rounds.  Whether or not the save is successful, that creature cannot be affected again by the same dust mummy’s despair ability for 24 hours.  This is a paralysis and a mind-affecting fear affect.  The save DC is Charisma-based. 

Infest (Su)

As a full-round action that provokes an attack of opportunity, a dust mummy can enter an opponent’s square and attempt to force itself into its opponent’s lungs.  The target must make a DC 15 Fortitude save or become staggered as the mummy dust fills its lungs.  Beginning on the dust mummy’s next turn, the target takes 3d6 points of Constitution damage per round for as long as the dust mummy infests them.  Creatures killed in this way rot and turn to dust as if they died of mummy rot. 

   Any cure or remove curse spells targeted on the infested creature are opposed by the dust mummy’s Will save, with failure resulting in the dust mummy being expelled from the creature and unable to infest them again for 24 hours. 

   This ability only affects living creatures that can breathe.  Holding their breath or pressing a cloth over their mouth grants them a +2 circumstance bonus to their Fortitude save to resist the initial attack. 

   This is a death effect.  The save DC is Charisma-based and includes a -2 penalty.

Limited Incorporeality (Su)

A dust mummy’s body acts in most ways like that of an incorporeal undead, like a ghost, but because it is made up of physical dust it is not truly incorporeal.  It cannot pass through solid objects, though it can pass through small openings such as the cracks around a door or between the plates of armor.  It also cannot function in liquids such as water.  In all other respects it behaves exactly like an incorporeal creature. 

Mummy Rot (Su)

Mummy Rot: curse and disease – incorporeal touch or mummy cloud; save Fort DC 17; onset 1 minute; frequency 1/day; effect 1d6 Con and 1d6 Cha; cure -.

Mummy rot is both a curse and disease, and can only be cured if the curse is first removed, at which point the disease can be magically removed.  Even after the curse element of mummy rot is lifted, a creature suffering from it cannot recover naturally over time.  Anyone casting a conjuration (healing) spell on the afflicted creature must succeed on a DC 20 caster level check, or the spell is wasted and the healing has no effect.  Anyone who dies from mummy rot turns to dust and cannot be raised without a resurrection or greater magic.  The save DC is Charisma-based. 

ECOLOGY

Environment any

Organization solitary, sepulcher (2-6), or necropolis (7-12)

Treasure standard

When a mummified corpse crumbles to dust due to poor preservation or the ravages of time, it can return as a dust mummy.  Held together by sheer force of will and futile pride, these malevolent spirits seek to take their anger out on the world that threatens to forget them.   Most dust mummies look like swirling clouds of grave dust, perhaps including tattered wrappings and shards of bone, often with a pair of glowing eyes or a cruel face at their center.  The strongest are able to occasionally re-form parts of their body, only for them to crumble to dust again moments later. 

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-your anathematic d20 despot