Keryx of the High Meadow, a Satyr Blood Hunter — D&D 5e NPC portrait
#0044

Keryx of the High Meadow

"The Curdled Joy"

Male (He/Him) · Adult, 44 years

Ability Scores

STR
8
-1
DEX
18
+4
CON
14
+2
INT
16
+3
WIS
10
+0
CHA
14
+2

Combat

Armor Class
16
Breastplate (hidden) and Dexterity
Hit Points
68
Hit Dice: 8d10
Initiative
+4
Speed
35 ft.
Proficiency
+3
Passive Perception
13

Attacks

Blight-Stained Scimitar+71d6+4 slashing
Hand Crossbow+71d6+4 piercing

Personality

Personality

He laughs too loudly and toasts too often, always keeping the party’s attention on him so it isn't on the rafters. He taps a rhythmic beat on his horn-chalice when he's tracking a scent, a habit from his days as a piper.

Ideal

Atonement. 'I slept while the Meadow burned; I will never close my eyes again while a shadow looms.'

Bond

The Horn-Chalice of Remorse. It is forged from the horn of his mentor who perished in the Blight, and it is the only thing he trusts to hold his mutagens.

Flaw

The 'Nectar-Thirst.' He is terrified of being sober and still, for that is when the silence of his dead grove catches up to him.

Backstory

The High Meadow was once a symphony of eternal spring, and Keryx was its finest conductor. As a piper of the Summer Court, his music could coax the very blossoms to open ahead of schedule. But on the night the Blight-Walkers arrived, Keryx was lost in a stupor of distilled elderberry nectar and fey-dust. He woke to a silent grove of ash and weeping rot, his silver pipes melted into a useless slag. The silence of the dead trees became a screaming accusation that has never stopped ringing in his ears.

Desperate for a way to fight the decay he had ignored, Keryx sought the forbidden alchemy of the Order of the Mutant. He learned to distill the remaining magic in his own satyr blood into a corrosive fuel. He didn't just join the Order; he redesigned his own anatomy to be a weapon against the parasites of the Feywild. He now moves through the world as a traveling reveler, but his merriment is a trap for the dark things that hide in the corners of parties, feeding on the excess and joy of others.

Keryx exists in a state of chemical warfare with himself. He maintains his boisterous persona with the same precision a clockmaker uses on a gear, hiding the fact that his veins are filled with toxins that would kill a mortal. He carries no pipes now; he says his music was 'too quiet' for the work that needs doing. Instead, he drinks from a horn-chalice that never touches wine, only the mutagenic sludge that allows him to see the monsters in the dark.

Abilities & Actions

Mutagenic Toast (3/Long Rest)

As a bonus action, Keryx drinks from his Horn-Chalice. He gains the effects of the Sagacity mutagen: his Intelligence score increases by 3 (to 19, +4 mod), but he has disadvantage on Charisma saving throws. Additionally, his veins glow with a chartreuse light, granting him darkvision out to 60 feet that can see through magical darkness.

Rite of the Blighted Sap

As a bonus action, Keryx imbues his scimitar with the memory of his scorched grove. The blade drips with neon-green ichor. Attacks deal an extra 1d6 necrotic damage. If the target is a Plant or Monstrosity, the damage increases to 2d6.

Blood Curse of the Curdled Nectar

As a reaction when a creature Keryx can see makes an attack roll, he can curdle the air around them with fey toxins. The creature must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or have disadvantage on the attack and be Poisoned until the end of its next turn. If Keryx amplifies this curse by taking 1d6 necrotic damage, the creature also takes 2d6 poison damage on a failed save.

Fey-Stepped Reflexes

While under the effects of a mutagen, Keryx can use his reaction to gain a +3 bonus to his AC against one melee attack that would hit him, as he momentarily blurs with the erratic grace of a satyr's dance.

DM Notes

Keryx should be introduced mid-celebration. He will likely pull the PCs into a toast, using the moment to lean in and whisper about a threat only he can see. Sample dialogue: 'Drink up, friends! The wine is thin, but the shadows in the loft are quite, quite thick tonight.' Gesture: He frequently checks his pulse at his neck, looking for the glow of his mutagens. Reaction: If a PC mentions the Feywild or 'High Meadow,' he immediately stops laughing and his face becomes a cold, unmoving mask.