Skullbriar, the Walking Grave

The most terrifying thing any creature ever faces in their life is the moment it ends. Creatures intelligent enough to grapple with their own morality often search for a way to avoid it, putting everything else on the line for a shot at living forever. Mages and magic users especially hate the concept of an ending, and many risk life and limb to prevent it; and if their efforts fail, many face a fate even worse than death.   Life, Death, and Magic Sometimes called elementalists, sometimes druids, and sometimes lifecrafters, spellcasters who wield and shape nature are often seen as the closest to life. They create it new from the ground, even in places it isn't normally possible. In many ways, they are the mages closest to life. Some spellcasters, usually called necromancers but also known by other names, don't create new life, but bring it back where it has been lost. They rarely let death stop them, but only the most powerful among them can bring it back on the way it was; others must settle for a mockery, a mimicry of what was, and for that they are hated by hundreds. In many ways, they are just as close to death as a lifecrafter is to life.   Life and Death The plane of Innistrad is a dark place, with dark fates for those that die a death other than a peaceful sleep. The feat of this fate pushes some to seek unlikely allies and take dangerous measures to prevent it. Morninground, a druid from the deep forests of Kessig, and Listrid, a necromancer from Stensia, saw in each other an answer to their fears. Binding themselves to each other with blood pact negotiated by a fiend, they began to work together, seeking a way to combine their magic and extend their lives indefinitely.   Fates Far Worse After years of investigation, research, and sacrifice, Morninground and Listrid found the answers they were searching for, in a tome with pages written on bark and a cover bound with human leather. They gathered what they needed, and on the night of the new moon, found their way to a graveyard on the edges of the Somberwald. The preparation took days, the ritual took hours, but the final transformation only took minutes. Listrid and Morninground, along with the cracked headstones, damp earth, and worm-infested corpses of the graveyard, found themselves smushed together, twisted and reshaped by their opposing magics. In the end, opposites would attract, and their magic fused in a way neither could have expected.   Born from Graves and Dirt Skullbriar, the monster created from Listrid and Morningrounds efforts and remains, is at once both and neither of the mages. Together, they live on, in a way worse than either could have guessed. But their minds are lost, buried deep in Skillbriar along with the corpses of the graves they disturbed, if they still exist at all. Skillbriar now wanders the whole of Stensia, occasionally finding its way to the outside moors of Gavony or the lumber forests of Kessig, driven away by cathars and angels when possible, and a terrifying fate for those it finds when it can't be. The people of Innistrad call it the Walking Grave, and even through it is destroyed time and again, it always comes back, a mistake of the past that seems like it will forever haunt Innistad's people.   Skullbriar, The Walking Grave's Lair Skullbriar has no concept of home, or even the sentience to seek one out. Instead it is driven by instinct to graveyards and cemeteries, always seeking to pull any dead bodies and consecrated earth it can find into its own body. When found in a resting place for the dead, an encounter will Skullbriar can be deadly even for angels. Skullbriar automatically knows the direction and location of every graveyard and cemetery with at least 20 dead bodies in a 5-mile radius around itself, and treats any such location as a lair. When encountered in its lair, Skullbriar, the Walking Grave has a Challenge Rating of 21 (33,000 XP.)   Lair Actions On imitative count 20 (losing imitative ties), Skullbriar, the Walking Grave takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects; Skullbriar can't use the same effect two rounds in a row.  

• Stones and rocks loose themselves from Skullbriar, flying through the air as it shakes itself, targeting up to three creatures within 60 feet of Skullbriar. A targeted creature must make a DC 16 Dexterity saving throw, taking 2d6 bludgeoning damage and been knocked prone on a failed save, and taking half s much damage without being knocked prone on a successful one. Creatures with full cover automatically succeed on this saving throw.
• Worms, beetles, and other vermin and insects crawl up from the earth in a 10-foot radius, centered on a point of Skullbriar's choice within 120 feet. All creatures in the radius must succeed on a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened for 1 minute, or until Skullbriar chooses this option again. A frightened creature can repeat this saving throw at the start of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
• An empty coffin bursts from the ground and attempts to close around one creature Skullbriar can see within 30 feet. The target must succeed a DC 16 Strength saving throw or be restrained. The coffin sinks beneath the earth and the target begins to suffocate. A restrained creature can repeat the saving throw or make a Strength (Athletics) check at the start of each of it's turns, freeing itself from the coffin on a success and crawling to the surface in the space it previously occupied.