Cobblebone Swarm

Cobblebone Swarm

Creature 3

Perception +9; lifesense 40 feet

Skills Acrobatics +9, Athletics +8, Stealth +11

Str +1, Dex +4, Con +2, Int –4, Wis +2, Cha +0

Hatred for Secret Doors Cobblebone swarms have a hatred for secret doors, trick drawers, or anything else that conceals hidden spaces, as such things remind them of years or decades spent trapped within stone. They gain a +5 competence bonus to Athletics checks to Force Open secret doors.

Jutting Bones The cobblebone swarm’s space is difficult terrain.

Settlement Bound A typical cobblebone swarm must remain in the settlement where it originated and can travel no farther than 1 mile from it without falling apart into component pieces, reviving if its pieces are returned to this area. Occasionally, cobblebone swarms are bound to a specific building, road, or district, rather than a settlement.

AC 19; Fort +9, Ref +11, Will +8

HP 30, negative healing; Immunities death effects, disease, paralyzed, poison, precision, swarm mind, unconscious; Weaknesses area damage 3, positive 5, splash damage 3; Resistances piercing 5, slashing 5

Speed 20 feet, fly 5 feet

Phantasmal Pummeling Each foe in the cobblebone swarm’s space takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage and 1d6 negative damage (DC 17 basic Reflex save).

Occult Innate Spells DC 18; Cantrips (2nd) 

ghost sound

Graydirge’s necromancer-architects used a horrifying rending process to strip the flesh and souls off most bones involved in Graydirge’s construction, but modern builders lack the benefit of such gruesomely efficient magic. When haunted bones are embedded in buildings alongside mundane materials, nearby bricks and cobblestones can be infused with necromantic energy. If no one exorcises the spirits haunting the bones, they become trapped and confused, their identities and memories intermingling. After several years, they can form cobblebone swarms, malevolent haunted amalgamations of brick and bone. These vengeful creatures conjure ghostly noises to lure victims down narrow alleys or into dark stone basements, where they pummel them to death and cover their remains beneath piles of bones and brick.

Bricks and Bones

Cobblebones form most commonly in the ossuary-city of Graydirge. While solid stone provides for sturdier construction, Graydirge’s builders accentuate their projects using bones—both to send a message, and simply because they can. The accidental creation of tormented cobblebones often delights the builders, who see it as fitting punishment for betraying Geb.

Some have mistaken cobblebone swarms for

cobbleswarms
, but citizens of Graydirge know to look for nearby apparitions, or studded bones that move when you look away. These are sure signs of a cobblebone swarm, and an indication that one should take a different route to their destination.

Cobblebone swarms look like piles of simple bricks or cobblestones with crooked bones embedded in them, often in the shape of crude faces. As they roll along or float slowly through the air, they leave a ghostly afterimage in their wake.