Mists of Akuma: Festering Crowns
5e
Mistwraith Witch: The mistwraith witches are what’s become of departed souls that died practicing particularly foul dark arts of nature, brought back to this world from a nightmarish afterlife of anguish where the fell entities that consumed the seasons absorbed part of their very essences. They are incomplete in both mind and body, with fractured psyches and practically insubstantial bodies seemingly formed from the mists themselves. They were reborn as mistwraith witches, fearsome creatures born of the Mists of Akuma and driven by madness—the corrupting fog holds no danger to them, and the supernatural haze bends to their will.
Rotcrown ritual.
Dread Totem: Dread totems are the grizzly creations of mistwraith witches and deranged necromancers. A live bear is subjected to the Mists of Akuma, and just before the transformation completes the beast’s throat is cut. A complex ritual is performed and the ursine’s cadaver is mutilated and lashed to a tree or post, its ribs spread out to expose its necrotized organs. The resulting horrifying display regularly pulses with the fear and rage of the bear’s last moments, filling a vast area with terror and confusion.
She [Midareta] is the primary source of the carvings and dread totems that litter the ritual grounds, and thousands of ‘burning’ horrific statues sit amongst the ashes and hang from the charred trees.
When the adventurers first arrive here Midareta is occupied within her cabin, creating a new dread totem and in the act of mutilating an unfortunate brown bear for its construction. The mistwraith witch is normally quite attentive to her surroundings but the pitiful growls of her ursine victim are occupying her attention.
Rotcrown Cackler: Rotcrown cacklers are the failed results of the rotcrown ritual, pitiful undead driven insane by overexposure to the Mists of Akuma and foul witchery.
Rotcrown ritual.
Tanuki Onryo: The raccoon folk that died working here were buried in a mass grave not far off—and now several of these unfortunate slaves have reformed as onryō that haunt the decrepit building, filled with rage and hatred for the humans that enslaved them.
Half a dozen tanuki who were enslaved here returned as wrathful onryō. They haunt this area and have a particular hatred for the soburi that oppressed them, and by extension all humans.
Nosuri, Kaoru, Undead Wyvern, Pet, Neglected Pet: Before the witches took this valley to host their coven, a wyvern made the region its hunting grounds. When the crones made good their claim they enveloped the primitive dragon in the Mists of Akuma and it succumbed to the corrupting fog, transforming into an adeddo-oni. Sessho took to the beast, claimed it as her own, trained it as a ‘pet’, and bestowed the creature with the name ‘Nosuri’.
Adeddo-Oni: The Mists of Akuma change people, transforming them into abominations with malevolent dead hearts that beat with a thirst for blood.
Giants, monstrosities, and any creature type other than beast or undead can become adeddo-oni.
Misted condition level 8.
Adeddo-Oni Hunchling: ?
Adeddo-Oni Ninja: ?
Adeddo-Oni Samurai: ?
Adeddo-Oni Mage: ?
Mistwraith Witch, Crone, Putrid Witch, Insidious Mistrwraith Witch, Evil Witch: ?
Sessho, Mistwraith Witch: Sessho and her sister Supinsuta were true witches well before their deaths and it is she who first conceived of the rotcrown ritual. They performed great evils together in a secret cave below their ancestral home in Shinko, away from the prying eyes of her husband and son. Together they concocted a sacrifice that would take the life force of a captive taken from the roadside and transfer it into greater arcane power for them both. Their offering was insufficient however and a swirling necrotic force took both sisters—along with Sessho’s husband and her son Kyado.
Midareta, Mistwraith Witch: Midareta was raised in a small isolated lodge by her father Hoki—druidic magic came naturally to her and she enjoyed the isolation. One day however she returned to find him dead, hung by locals from a far-off town. She later learned that her father was a deserter from the Kengen army and that he took the orphaned Midareta to raise as his own when he lost the nerve to fight while cutting down civilians. When the locals tried to ‘rescue’ her she burned them all alive, and then to her horror discovered that she’d immolated her real father as well ( just as the life left his eyes as he too dangled by the neck). In her anguish Midareta burned that small forest town to ash with herself inside it, cackling as the embers rained down.
Midareta died in a wildfire of her own creation, and her Garish Reminder trait has filled a 1/2-mile-radius around her small log cabin with illusions of a smoldering forest fire.
Koritsu, Mistwraith Witch, Least Coherent of the Mistrwraith Witches, Most Mentally Fragmented of the Rotcrown Coven: Koritsu was as obsessed with her ‘fiancée’ in life as she now is in death and though Dojasu never returned the young witch’s affections, he played the fool to avoid her arcane wrath. It was when they were to be married that he abandoned her at the altar, choosing to escape through a blizzard rather than wed his betrothed. Koritsu chased after him and they both died frozen in their wedding clothes.
Koritsu died frozen solid after chasing her fiancee into a blizzard and her Garish Reminders trait has filled a 1/2-mile-radius area around her island lake ruin with the illusion of a fierce winter storm.
Granny Toritsuka, Mistwraith Witch: Toritsuka was her family’s matriarch and a beloved hedge witch within her small town, concocting potions and balms to cure ailments both real and imagined. She was blessed, raising 8 children who then in turn produced dozens of grandchildren. Toritsuka’s idyllic life was shattered when she made a horrible mistake however—while mixing a particularly difficult potion her cauldron bellowed noxious fumes that spread throughout her home and into the surrounding town, choking the life out of anyone who breathed it.
Toritsuka died after making a mistake brewing a particularly complex potion and choking her entire home town with lethal poisons.
Dread Totem, Terrifying Presence, Twisted Effigy of a Bear: ?
Rotcrown Cackler, Person, Pitiful Undead Driven Insane By Overexposure to the Mists of Akuma and Foul Witchery, Failed Sacrifice, Maddened Undead, Long Dead Cackler: ?
Scarecrow Rotcrown Cackler: ?
Taeru, Unique Rotcrown Cackler: Taeru is Toritsuka’s grandson and is the best success that she’s managed. Though he is a Rotcrown Cackler he’s retained most of his original memories and is largely coherent. Sadly he was only 10 when he originally died originally and thus has the mentality of a child now trapped within an adult’s adeddo-oni form.
Non-Hostile Rotcrown Cackler: ?
Partially Recovered Rotcrown Cackler: ?
Tanuki Onryo, Wrathful Onryo: ?
Adeddo-Oni, Abomination With a Malevolent Dead Heart That Beats With a Thirst for Blood, Horrific Monster Intent Only on Bloodlust and Violence: ?
Undead, Undead Creature: Rotcrown ritual.
Koinu, Tanuki Ghost, Ghostly Spirit, Apparition, Ghostly Visage of a Young Tanuki Child: ?
Ghost, Confused Wrathful Ghost: ?
Ghost, Coherent Stable Ghost: ?
Franco Songili, Ghost, War Veteran: ?
Will-o'-Wisp: The smolder pine is a strain of magical conifer whose needles flicker and glow bright red to attract pollinating insects. Foresters often used the glow of these trees as trail markers, and the sap is incredibly valuable as a natural coagulant for medicinal purposes. This was one of the prime resources harvested during the Kengen Occupation—rather than gently tapping the marvelous trees, they chopped them down and harvested them whole to extract their magical essence for weapons manufacture. Kengen logging has gradually depopulated the smolder pines around much of Soburin, but deep in the old woods of Shinko they can still be seen dotting the hills. Unfortunately the unrest has spawned innumerable will-o-wisps in the same areas, and they’ve adopted the habit of mimicking the lights of the smolder pine (putting their usefulness as trail markers into doubt).
Will-o'-Wisp, False Smolder Pine, Mischievous Wisp, Tree, Undead Sprite: ?
New Condition: Misted
Misted is measured in eight levels. An effect can give a creature one or more levels of misted, as specified in the effect’s description. Creatures always have a minimum number of levels of misted condition equal to their Haitoku modifier. Kami, oni, and tsukumogami are immune to the misted condition.
Table: Misted Effects
Level Effect
1 Mild auditory effect
2 Mild visual effect
3 Speed +10 feet during combat; Disadvantage on Dignity ability checks
4 Severe auditory effect
5 Severe visual effect
6 Visible physical mutation, providing +1 to two ability scores, –1 to one ability score; Disadvantage on Dignity saving throws and you gain the hated condition
7 Ignore the first 3 points of damage from each attack or spell
8 Death and transformation into adeddo-oni
Auditory and visual effects are not perpetual but they are frequent and obvious when they occur. Some example effects are:
Mild Auditory Effect. A disembodied voice repeats everything you say in a barely audible whisper.
Mild Visual Effect. Your hands and feet smolder with red energy during your katas, in battle or out.
Severe Auditory Effect. Whenever you draw your weapon a clap of thunder echoes
around you.
Severe Visual Effect. Whenever your ire is raised (even slightly), your image stretches and distorts to make you appear look much larger and more demonic than you are.
Rotcrown Ritual
Derived from the mistwraith coven’s ungodly insights into the nature of the Mists of Akuma and their arcane talents before their deaths, the rotcrown ritual is unreliable but still occasionally works as intended—pulling a soul back to the Material Plane. The cursed crown placed upon a victim’s head is made from strips of rotting animal skins and bear claws, marked with the name of the intended deceased loved one to be returned. The victim must then be subjected to extreme terrors, literally scaring the soul out of the body so the deceased can find its way in.
Rotcrown
Wondrous item, very rare
You can only remove this crown by speaking a phrase chosen by the mistwraith witch that created it, or after its creator has died. It is immune to the effects of dispel magic and similar spells. While wearing the rotcrown, if you are immune to fear instead you have advantage on saving throws against being frightened.
The rotcrown has 10 bear claws that form a grizzly circle around your head. Whenever you fail a saving throw against being frightened a claw closes inward, rests its point on your scalp, and the ritual progresses as per Table: Ritual Phases. Each phase of the ritual is cumulative, and you suffer the effects of the current phase in addition to the previous phases. Effects of each phase immediately end when the crown is removed.
The Returning Departed
The rotcrown ritual extracts a victim’s soul and replaces it with that of a departed loved one in a process that drives the living subject mad with fear as the invading spirit gradually bonds with their body. The party are all unfortunate victims of the ritual—but the GM needs to determine which souls are being bonded to the adventurers. There are 4 mistwraith witches and an invading spirit from each needs assigned to a PC (for a group of only 3 remove Sessho’s loved one from consideration, and if more are required choose additional members from Toritsuka’s family.)
Table: Ritual Phases
Ritual
Claws
Phase Effects
1–2 Attachment. The deceased soul feels the pull of the crown and forms a tentative attachment to you. You start displaying an odd mannerism or habits associated with the deceased (see The Returning Departed on pages 16–17 for specific mannerisms).
3–4 Mirrored Memories. The memories of the deceased start leaking into your own. You begin having flashes of memories of events and persons that are entirely new to you (see pages 16–17 for specific memories).
5–6 Disquieting Visions. As the deceased begins breaching the Material Plane, you see unnerving depictions of the invading spirit, often for just a moment or out of the corner of your eyes. You have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks as you find it progressively harder to determine what is real.
7–9 A Death Remembered. The deceased’s final memories solidify within your mind, a horrifying vision that forces you to experience the invading spirit’s death (see The Returning Departed). You gain a phobia associated with this painful memory and whenever you take damage of the type associated with the memory you must make a Wisdom saving throw (DC 8 + the damage taken) or be stunned until the end of your next turn as you are frozen in fear.
10 Ripened Harvest. You become manic and paranoid, a mess of tense nerves perfect for the final transference. The crown glows with a sickly green light and magically alerts the mistwraith witch creator that you are ready. The crone endeavors to capture you, submerge you into the Mists of Akuma until you have gained 8 levels of the misted condition, and then separate your body and mind. Instead of the normal death and transformation when you reach this level of corruption, and instead of gaining an 8th misted level, roll on Table: Rotcrown Ritual.
The GM can randomly determine which soul is bonded to which PC, or they can be assigned:
● A druid or ranger, particularly if they’re female, should be bonded to Supinsuta, (Sessho’s sister).
● A bard or rogue, particularly if they’re male or particularly charismatic, should be bonded to Dojasu (Koritsu’s fiancée).
● A cleric or paladin, particularly if they’re male or well-meaning, should be bonded to Hoki (Midareta’s father).
● Other adventurers are bonded to one of Toritsuka’s numerous deceased family members.
Table: Rotcrown Ritual
1d100 Victim’s Fate
1–39 Death and complete transformation into a rotcrown cackler.
40–49 The victim’s soul departs but the deceased does not return, leaving the body alive in a comatose state as the invading spirit emerges from the primordial fog as a confused and wrathful ghost that attacks the nearest living creatures.
50–59 The deceased’s soul returns but the victim’s soul does not leave. The victim lives but now houses both souls, making the effects of the previous 4 phases of the ritual become permanent. Only a wish spell or an effect capable of extracting a soul can undo these effects.
60–69 The victim’s soul does not leave, and the deceased’s soul does not return. However, the body undergoes transformative necromantic effects, gaining the following traits:
Type. The creature’s type changes to undead (oni).
Speed. The creature’s speed increases by 5 feet, and its high and long jump distances are doubled.
Resistances. The creature gains resistance to cold, necrotic, and poison damage.
Vulnerabilities. The creature gains vulnerability to radiant damage and while in direct sunlight it has disadvantage on all ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws.
Senses. The creature gains darkvision 60 feet and can see through areas obscured by mist or fog as if they were unobscured. If the creature already has darkvision, its range increases by 30 feet.
Haitoku. The creature gains immunity to the misted condition and increases its Haitoku score by 2d6.
70–79 The victim’s soul departs but the deceased does not return, leaving the body alive in a comatose state as the invading spirit emerges from the corrupting haze as a coherent and stable ghost under the control of the victim. When the victim uses the ghost’s Possession on their own body, they regain consciousness within their own body.
80–89 The ritual partially succeeds—the victim’s soul goes to the afterlife and the deceased’s soul inhabits the body. The body however suffers greatly from the process and necrotizes, gaining the addedo-oni template and only vague recollections of who they once were.
90–95 The ritual is fully successful: the deceased’s soul now occupies the victim’s body and the victim’s soul goes to their intended afterlife.
96–100 The ritual is extremely successful, even beyond the ritual’s expectations. The victim’s body is consumed by the Mists of Akuma and the primordial fog forms over the deceased’s soul. The deceased is reborn as a mistwraith witch and the victim’s soul is lost within the foul haze.
