Monster - Gresth

Flaccid flesh, discolored skin, sharp teeth and frenzied orange eyes... Such is the body of the Gresth. These undead creatures haunts the most surprising of places, be it an old attic or a forgotten shipwreck at the bottom of the sea. Surprisingly fast for how decayed their body is, they are relentless killers, able to heal in the heat of battle as their enemy’s flesh crumbles to dust between their desiccated hands.

Forever reborn. A powerful curse befell the gresth for its deeds in life. Death is a luxury that will be forever refused to its gnarly remains. Every time the body of the gresth is destroyed, it will be reformed in a matter of minutes. The way such rebirth is done varies. More often than not it has some ironic ties to how the gresth first died or to the reason it was cursed in this way. For example, a cruel prince who got burnt by its subjects in an uproar might burn to a crisp when defeated, only to reform from its cinders ; a sadistic painter who could only see shades of colors and textures in other beings might come back from an empty canvas locked in their attic… The only way to permanently destroy a gresth is either to lift its curse or to destroy its anchor to our material plane.

Abhorrent deeds. Not anyone can be cursed in such a vile way. Most violent creatures end up as mere specters. To become a gresth, one must have angered a particularly malevolent spirit or a benevolent god infuriated by constant murders and sickening plots. Many a gresth might deserve its punishment to some extent. What is now a cold blood frenzy was at some point a way of life ! Be weary of a gresth’s past when attempting to lift its curse !

A gresth’s lair. Gresths are rarely free to roam the lands as most specters are. They are tied to a particular place, be it the site of their grizzly death or a memento of ages passed. Once chained to a place, a gresth cannot leave the boundaries of its eternal prison. For instance, a cruel captain cursed to become a gresth when his ship sank in the abyss might not be able to leave the wreck hundreds of feet below the surface. Although some gresths are apathetic, or even neutrals, many are combat frenzied by the point an adventurer stumbles upon them. Due to their inability to leave their lair, equipment, gold and treasures pile up quickly in their tomb. This entices more intruders to come, further troubling this soul’s rest. Broken furniture, bare bones and vast quantities of blood indicate the entry of the lair.

Lifting a gresth’s curse. Such a powerful curse is often bestowed by a witches’ coven, a dreaded warlock, a renowned necromancer or a sly devil. Breaking it is no easy task and requires access either to strong counter spells or to the exact formulation of the curse. The way the caster words their curse determines the punishment the gresth will endure for all eternity. If the conditions for the punishment are removed, then the curse may be broken. For example, if a painter was cursed by an ugly devil to “never be able to move away from their paintings”, the destruction of every single one of their paintings may lift the curse. This requires access to old, perhaps forgotten information, and imaginative thinking. Nevertheless, this remains the best way to defeat this dangerous foe.

Strategies. The gresth will try to ambush its victims by playing dead or hiding. When it finally jumps them, it will use its “Breath of the Beyond” to weaken its enemy. It will then proceed with its “Grave’s grasp” to finish off opponents and regenerate at the same time. If a gresth is destroyed in combat, it will wait for its opponents to resume their routine before ambushing them again. So on until every creature is out of its “lair” or the gresth is banished.

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