Moss (Unit 7-Blight) — The Iron Gardener of the Deep

Ability Scores

STR

16

+3

DEX

14

+2

CON

16

+3

INT

10

+0

WIS

16

+3

CHA

8

-1

Combat

Armor Class: 18; Integrated Protection (Plate equivalent)
Hit Points: 76; Hit Dice: 8d10
Initiative: +2
Speed: 30 ft.
Proficiency: +3
Passive Perception: 16

Attacks

Bloom-Cutter Machete+61d8+3 slashing

Longbow+51d8+2 piercing

Personality

He speaks in a soft, resonant hum that sounds like wind through a hollow log. He moves with a haunting, liquid silence that contradicts his heavy frame, often appearing suddenly beside travelers to offer a handful of nutritious, glowing lichen.

Ideal

Preservation. The deepest reaches of the world are not 'resources' to be extracted, but a garden to be tended.

Bond

The Whisper-Moss that saved his mind. He carries a patch of the original colony inside a glass-shielded compartment in his chest.

Flaw

He views any mechanical drill or mining rig as a personal enemy and will risk his life to dismantle them, regardless of the odds.

Backstory

Unit 7-Blight was forged for a singular, ugly purpose: to be the 'canary' that didn't just die in the mines, but killed everything inside them. Built by the Deep-Vein Syndicate during the subterranean resource wars, his chassis was reinforced with jagged iron plating designed to grind through rock and flesh alike. During a reckless blasting operation in the Midnight Grotto, the Syndicate triggered a seismic collapse to 'liquidate' a protesting local tribe. 7-Blight was buried under three hundred tons of obsidian, abandoned by his creators as a tax write-off.

He spent three years in the crushing silence of the deep earth. In that darkness, he didn't find madness; he found the Whisper-Moss. It grew into his gears, its soft bioluminescence providing the only light he had ever known. He watched as the tiny, fragile spores slowly cracked the very stones that imprisoned him, turning a tomb into a nursery. When he finally clawed his way out, the 'Blight' was gone. Reborn as Moss, he now walks the lightless paths as a silent sentinel, ensuring that no more 'optimizations' from the Syndicate ever choke the silent beauty of the world below again.

Abilities & Actions

Dread Ambusher (1st Turn)

At the start of his first turn of each combat, Moss's walking speed increases by 10 feet, and if he takes the Attack action, he can make one additional weapon attack. This attack deals an extra 1d8 psychic damage on a hit.

Umbral Sight

Moss has darkvision out to 90 feet. While in darkness, he is invisible to any creature that relies on darkvision to see him in that darkness.

The Bloom-Cutter (Signature Item)

Moss wields a heavy, vine-wrapped machete (+6 to hit, 1d8+3 slashing). When he hits a creature with this weapon, he can use a bonus action to cause spectral vines to erupt from the blade. The target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be Restrained until the start of Moss's next turn.

Gardener’s Mercy (3/Day)

As an action, Moss can touch a creature and expend a use of this ability to heal them for 2d8 + 3 hit points by applying a poultice of rare Underdark fungi. This also removes the Poisoned condition.

DM Notes

Moss is not a talker, but a doer. He won't tell the party to be quiet; he will simply place a heavy, mossy finger to his brass lips and point toward a patch of 'Singing Stones' ahead. In combat, he is a blur of shadow—describe him not as 'attacking,' but as 'pruning' the battlefield.

Sample Dialogue: 'The stone remembers your boots. They are... heavy with greed. Walk lighter, little ones, or the mountain might decide to keep you.'

Signature Gesture: He often pauses to gently tilt a mushroom toward a light source or brush dust off a cave-lily.