Mummy

Image credit WOTC

### Special Notes

Vulnerabilities fireImmune to necrotic, poison; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks

## Mummies

Raised by dark funerary Rituals, a mummy shambles from the shrouded stillness of a time-lost Temple or tomb. Having been awoken from its rest, it punishes transgressors with the power of its unholy curse.

***Preserved Wrath.*** The long burial Rituals that accompany a mummy’s entombment help protect its body from rot. In the embalming process, the newly dead creature’s organs are removed and placed in Special jars, and its corpse is treated with preserving oils, herbs, and wrappings. After the body has been prepared, the corpse is typically wrapped in linen bandages.

***The Will of Dark Gods.*** An Undead mummy is created when the Priest of a death god or other dark deity ritually imbues a prepared corpse with necromantic magic. The mummy’s linen wrappings are inscribed with necromantic markings before the burial ritual concludes with an invocation to Darkness. As a mummy endures in undeath, it animates in response to Conditions specified by the ritual. Most commonly, a transgression against its tomb, treasures, lands, or former loved ones will cause a mummy to rise.

***The Punished.*** Once deceased, an individual has no say in whether or not its body is made into a mummy. Some mummies were powerful individuals who displeased a high Priest or pharaoh, or who committed crimes of treason, adultery, or murder. As punishment, they were Cursed with eternal undeath, embalmed, mummified, and sealed away. Other times, mummies acting as tomb guardians are created from Slaves put to death specifically to serve a greater purpose.

***Creature of Ritual.*** A mummy obeys the Conditions and parameters laid down by the Rituals that created it, driven only to punish transgressors. The overwhelming terror that foreshadows a mummy’s Attack can leave the intended victim Paralyzedwith fright. In the days following a mummy’s touch, a victim’s body rots from the outside in, until nothing but dust remains.

***Ending a Mummy’s Curse.*** Rare magic can undo or dispel the ritual that gave rise to a mummy, allowing it to truly die. More commonly, a mummy can be sent back to its endless rest by undoing the transgression that caused it to rise. A sacred idol might be replaced in its niche, a stolen Treasure could be returned to its tomb, or a Temple might be purified of despoiling bloodshed.

More ephemeral or permanent offenses, such as revealing a Secret the mummy wished kept or killing an individual the mummy loved, can’t be so easily remedied. In such cases, a mummy might slaughter all the creatures responsible and still not sate its wrath.

***Undead Archives.*** Though they seldom bother to do so, mummies can speak. As a result, some serve as Undead repositories of lost lore, and can be consulted by the descendants of those who created them. Powerful individuals sometimes intentionally Sequester mummies away for occasional consultation.

***Undead Nature.*** A mummy doesn’t require air, food, drink, or sleep.

## Mummy Lord

In the tombs of the ancients, tyrannical monarchs and the high Priests of dark gods lie in dreamless rest, waiting for the time when they might reclaim their thrones and reforge their ancient empires. The regalia of their terrible rule still adorns their linen-wrapped bodies, their moldering robes stitched with evil symbols and bronze armor etched with devices of dynasties that fell a thousand years before.

Under the direction of the most powerful Priests, the ritual that creates a mummy can be increased in potency. The mummy lord that rises from such a ritual retains the memories and personality of its former life, and is gifted with supernatural resilience. Dead emperors wield the same infamous rune-marked blades that they did in legend. Sorcerer lords work the forbidden magic that once controlled a terrified populace, and the dark gods reward dead priest-kings’ prayers by imparting divine Spells.

***Heart of the Mummy Lord.*** As part of the ritual that creates a mummy lord, the creature’s heart and viscera are removed from the corpse and placed in canopic jars. These jars are usually carved from limestone or made of pottery, etched or painted with religious hieroglyphs.

As long as its shriveled heart remains intact, a mummy lord can’t be permanently destroyed. When it drops to 0 Hit Points, the mummy lord turns to dust and re-forms at full Strength 24 hours later, rising out of dust in close proximity to the canopic jar containing its heart. A mummy lord can be destroyed or prevented from re-forming by burning its heart to ashes. For this reason, a mummy lord usually keeps its heart and viscera in a hidden tomb or vault.

The mummy lord’s heart has AC 5, 25 Hit Points, and immunity to all damage except fire.

## A Mummy Lord’s Lair

A mummy lord watches over an ancient Temple or tomb that is protected by lesser Undead and rigged with traps. Hidden in this Temple is the sarcophagus where a mummy lord keeps its greatest treasures.