Vindictive Vrocks
Welcome again to Masters and Minions, where I strive to give you interesting NPCs and encounters that can be placed easily into your game. As you all should have heard by now, this week is Demon Week, and when I went to my lab I found it in ruins, my undead minion torn apart and most of my live specimens running rampant. Thankfully, my shield guardian arrived when it did, or I wouldn’t have had anything for this week’s encounter. My guardian had subdued and locked up the gang of vrocks that ransacked my lab. I wish my guardian had captured something more exciting like that glabrezu that attacked Alex’s office, but I’ll work with what I’ve got.
So after some coercion, the vrocks have decided to serve as my villains for this week’s encounter, and after I reactivated my personal gate I sent them on their way into your campaign.
A gang of vrocks led by Coriz Blackbeack, a vrock swordsman, seeks revenge on the mortal world for the humiliation he suffered by being summoned and enslaved by a mere mortal. Since gaining his freedom, Coriz has been gathering his fellow vrocks into a large group in order to devastate his former master’s home within a grand city in the north. Coriz has gathered around ten to twenty vrocks, but only travels with around four or five vrocks at a time.
Coriz’s Tactics
Coriz usually begins combat by instructing his vrock minions to begin their dance of ruin, while he rushes his attackers and uses his stunning screech ability.
Coriz Blackbeak
This grizzled old vrock’s beak is as black as the soulless void within the demon. He wears pitch-black robes that seem to be devouring the light around him.
Dance of Ruin (Su)
A vrock can dance and chant as a full-round action—at the end of 3 rounds, a crackling wave of energy explodes from the vrock, dealing 5d6 points of electricity damage to all creatures within 100 feet. A DC 17 Reflex save halves this damage. For each additional vrock that joins in the dance, the damage increases by 5d6 and the DC to avoid the effect increases by +1, to a maximum of 20d6 when four or more vrocks are dancing (the DC continues to increase with additional vrocks, but the damage does not). The dance immediately ends and must be started anew if any of the participating vrocks is slain, stunned, or otherwise prevented from dancing. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Spores (Ex)
A vrock can release a cloud of spores from its body once every 3 rounds as a free action. Adjacent creatures take 1d8 points of damage from the spores, plus 1d4 points of damage per round for 10 rounds as the spores grow into thick green vines. Although ugly, the vines are harmless and wither away in 1d4 days if not shaved off before then. The spores can be destroyed by casting bless on the affected creatures or by sprinkling them with holy water. This attack can also be halted by effects that remove or provide immunity to disease.
Stunning Screech (Su)
Once per hour, a vrock can emit a shrill screech. All creatures except demons within a 30-foot-radius spread must succeed on a DC 20 Fortitude save or be stunned for 1 round. The save DC is Constitution-based.