Evergleam

**Evergleam Hightower** was a drow and the ghostly antagonist of the Gracey Manor one-shot campaign.

## Appearance

In life, Evergleam was a young drow woman with dark purple skin, silvery-white hair, and pale silvery eyes. Her hair was kept relatively short, often left loose and untied. She typically wore a standard maid outfit befitting her occupation, albeit somewhat nicer than average to reflect her status with in the household. The only deviation from her uniform was a small silver pendant depicting the holy symbol of Evening Glory, her chosen goddess.

While usually able to maintain her normal appearance even after her death, her transition into undeath left Evergleam with a new, ghostly true form. When manifesting this form, Evergleam looked much the same except that she became mostly transparent, with much of her body turning a dark blue color. Shadows seemed to coalesce within her form, darkening the images seen through her. Contrasting this, her eyes turned a bright red and shone through any darkness. Much of this appearance was drastically different from the true form of ordinary ghosts, influenced by the dark curse she caused Evening Glory to place upon herself and the other inhabitants of the Manor.

## History

As the daughter of Chamberlain Hightower, the estate steward of Gracey Manor, Evergleam served the Gracey family for most of her life as a maid. Although somewhat lazy and apathetic in nature, over time she worked her way up the ladder all the way to head of staff, making her second in command in the household excepting the family itself.

Eventually, Edward Gracey came to claim ownership of the estate. Evergleam found herself smitten with him, falling madly in love with her own master. Unable to act upon her desires, in part because it was not her place as his servant and in part because she feared rejection, she instead pined from a distance for many years. She began to turn to Evening Glory, the goddess of undeath and eternal love, in hope that she would be given a chance to unite with the one she loved. However, Edward unfortunately met an untimely demise due to a horrible sickness, and Evergleam found herself heartbroken and lost, unable to even watch or hope anymore.

Determined to have Edward's hand at any cost, Evergleam prayed even more fervently to her goddess, and was eventually granted powers and a vision. She was shown a ritual that, when completed, would put the Manor and all of its inhabitants, including the now dead Edward, under a curse of undeath, trapping them there for all of eternity and providing Evergleam with all the time she needed to work up the courage to ask Edward for his hand. This curse could only be broken if Evergleam married Edward or if she willingly moved on from him. To establish the curse, Evergleam was required to sacrifice herself to her goddess, and so she hung herself in the rafters in the attic above the library, her favorite room in the house. Most assumed she had done so out of sadness at Edward's death. In grief of having lost both his master and friend and his daughter, her father Chamberlain hung himself as well, hoping to rejoin her in the afterlife.

With the curse established and most of the Manor left unaware of their situation, Evergleam returned to her old ways of gazing longingly from afar at her beloved, trying to work up the courage to tell Edward her feelings. Only she, her father, and a handful of other staff were aware of their undead nature, with the rest including Edward believing themselves to still be alive; only she was fully aware of the situation and what had caused it.

In 3012, Edward pledged himself to be married to Lydia Hollow, fully unaware that she was a ghost as well. Evergleam initially quietly grieved the loss of her ability to wed Edward until another aspect of the curse began to manifest: whenever Edward and Lydia attempted to marry, the ceremony would be interrupted by undead monsters such as zombies, skeletons, poltergeists, wraiths, and spectres. As this continued and news spread, clergymen and women began to refuse to marry the two, claiming they had somehow been cursed - unaware of the truth of their words.

Determined to find the source of their troubles, Chamberlain hired a small group of adventurers to investigate the mansion and its inhabitants, hoping they would be able to lift the curse and allow his master to finally unite with his fiance. The party eventually discovered Evergleam's connection to the events and confronted her in the library. After fighting with them for a brief moment, Evergleam rose into the ceiling, hoping to meet the party in the attic, explain the situation to them in more detail, and intimidate them with the presence of her and her father's corpses.

Instead, the party brought Chamberlain to the attic with them and attempted to talk Evergleam down, citing that if she truly loved Edward, she would be willing to allow him to marry who he wished, and that keeping him from his afterlife was an act of cruelty, not of love. After being briefly comforted by her father, Evergleam agreed with the party and decided she was ready to move on. She and her father disappeared, along with all the other inhabitants of the mansion; including Lydia, despite the fact that she was not originally a member of the household.

Presumably, Evergleam is now resting in the afterlife; although where exactly she went to spend her afterlife is unknown, given her nature as a drow, her devotion to her goddess, and her undead nature all contradicting each other and complicating things.

## Personality and Relationships

Although Evergleam appeared to work hard and did actually do her work well, overall she was very lazy. When she did not have anything to do, she preferred to do nothing at all, spending much of her time reading in the library. Despite her relatively high position in the estate, she did not seek work out, and instead delegated what she could to her subordinates and only acted when told to by her superiors.

To most, Evergleam acted very cold and distant, seemingly not caring about the world or what others had to say. She mostly spoke in a monotone voice and gave brief, if not one-word, responses. She did her work quietly and privately, preferring to stay out of other people's way and avoid interacting with others whenever possible.

Despite generally disliking social interaction, Evergleam would take every opportunity available to speak with her master, Edward Gracey. Her lack of social interaction and station within the household made her feel awkward about engaging in full conversation with him, but she would always greet him in passing and provide brief small talk if possible. While acting introverted in general, Evergleam transitioned to merely shy when around Edward.

The only other person who Evergleam frequently interacted with was her father, Chamberlain. Although cold to most, Evergleam and her father shared a fairly warm relationship, with it being clear to all that there was a mutual affection and appreciation. Evergleam saw Chamberlain as the only one she knew who truly cared about her, who was concerned for her, and who she could confide in. It was because of this relationship that he was able to help her calm down and move on from this world.

## Powers and Abilities

Much of Evergleam's power came from her nature as a ghost. Being undead gave her the ability to fly, become intangible, see invisible people and objects, and possess others. As a part of her deception to the rest of the household, she rarely used any of these powers in order to keep up the facade that everything was as it should be.

Evergleam was also granted powers by her goddess, Evening Glory. These included multiple divine spells and effects, including the ironic ability to turn undead. Her goddess' domain granted her increased power when using necromancy and dealing necrotic damage.

Although not well experienced in combat, these attributes alone made her difficult to take on in a fight. That said, Evergleam preferred to avoid direct confrontation, and would instead attempt to escape combat, move to a more advantageous location, and intimidate her foes into backing off; though, the one time she got into combat, it was instead she who was talked down.

## Traits and Statistics

### Stats

**Armor Class:** 12

**Hit Points:** 104 (16d8+32)

**Speed:** 0ft, fly 40ft

**STR:** 5 (-3)

**DEX:** 15 (+2)

**CON:** 14 (+2)

**INT:** 10 (0)

**WIS:** 16 (+3)

**CHA:** 19 (+4)

### Attributes

**Damage Immunities:** Cold, necrotic, poison

**Damage Resistances:** Acid, fire, lightning, thunder; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons

**Condition Immunities:** Charmed, exhaustion, frightened, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained

**Senses:** Darkvision 60ft, passive Perception 13

**Languages:** Common, Elvish, Undercommon, Celestial

**Challenge:** 10

### Feats

**Ethereal Sight:** Evergleam can see 60 feet into the Ethereal Plane when she is on the Material Plane, and vice versa.

**Incorporeal Movement:** Evergleam can move through other creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain. She takes 5 (1d10) force damage if she ends her turn inside an object.

**Spellcasting:** Evergleam is a 6th-level spellcaster. Her spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 15, +7 to hit with spell attacks). She has the following spells prepared:

* Cantrips (at will): *chill touch*, *dancing lights*, *resistance*, *sacred flame*, *spare the dying*, *thaumaturgy*
* 1st-level (4 slots): *bane*, *command*, *faerie fire* (DC 16), *false life*, *guiding bolt*, *ray of sickness*, *shield of faith*
* 2nd-level (3 slots): *blindness/deafness*, *darkness*, *hold person*, *ray of enfeeblement*, *silence*, *spiritual weapon*
* 3rd-level (3 slots): *animate dead*, *bestow curse*, *spirit guardians*, *vampiric touch*

**Reaper:** When Evergleam casts a necromancy cantrip that normally targets only one creature, the spell can instead target two creatures within range and within 5 feet of each other.

**Inescapable Destruction:** Necrotic damage dealt by Evergleam’s spells and Channel Divinity: Touch of Death ignores resistance to necrotic damage.

### Actions

**Withering Touch:** *Melee Weapon Attack*: +8 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. *Hit*: 18 (4d6+4) necrotic damage.

**Etherealness:** Evergleam enters the Ethereal Plane from the Material Plane, or vice versa. She is visible on the Material Plane while she is in the Border Ethereal, and vice versa, yet she can’t affect or be affected by anything on the other plane.

**Horrifying Visage:** Each non-undead creature within 60 feet of Evergleam that can see her must succeed on a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened for 1 minute. If the save fails by 5 or more, the target also ages 1d4\*10 years. A frightened target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the frightened condition on itself on a success. If a target’s saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the target is immune to Evergleam’s Horrifying Visage for the next 24 hours. The aging effect can be reversed with a *greater restoration* spell, but only within 24 hours of it occurring.

**Possession (Recharge 6):** One humanoid that Evergleam can see within 5 feet of her must succeed on a DC 14 Charisma saving throw or be possessed by her; she then disappears, and the target is incapacitated and loses control of its body. Evergleam now controls the body but doesn’t deprive the target of awareness. Evergleam can’t be targeted by any attack, spell, or other effect, except ones that turn undead, and she retains her alignment, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, and immunity to being charmed and frightened. She otherwise uses the possessed target’s statistics, but doesn’t gain access to the target’s knowledge, class features, and proficiencies.

The possession lasts until the body drops to 0 hit points, Evergleam ends it as a bonus action, or she is turned or forced out by an effect like the *dispel evil and good* spell. When the possession ends, Evergleam reappears in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the body. The target is immune to Evergleam’s Possession for 24 hours after succeeding on the saving throw or after the possession ends.

**Channel Divinity (2/day):** Evergleam presents her holy symbol and causes one of the following effects:

* **Turn Undead:** As an action, each undead that can see or hear Evergleam within 30 feet of her must make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw. If the creature fails its saving throw and has a CR of ½ or less, it is instantly destroyed. Otherwise, if it fails, it is turned for 1 minute or until it takes any damage.
* **Touch of Death:** Upon hitting a creature with a melee attack, Evergleam deals an extra 17 necrotic damage.

## Trivia

* The name Evergleam was chosen to reflect her existence as a ghost, as she is eternal and mysterious in nature. It was also meant to be somewhat ironic, as she is rather dark and somber.
* The name Hightower is a reference to the George and Harrison Hightower, characters associated with Disney's spooky Haunted Mansion and Hotel Hightower attractions, respectively.