Masque of the Drowned Revel

Large Construct

Size/Type: Large Construct
Hit Dice: 12d10+40 (106 hp)
Initiative: -1
Speed: 20 ft., swim 20 ft. (see lurching frame)
Armor Class: 23 (-1 size, -1 Dex, +15 natural), touch 8, flat-footed 23
Base Attack/Grapple: +9/+20
Attack: Slam +15 melee (1d10+7 plus drowning seep)
Full Attack: 2 slams +15 melee (1d10+7 plus drowning seep)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Confetti Suffocation, Siren’s Procession, Drowning Embrace
Special Qualities: Construct traits, damage reduction 10/adamantine, darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, waterlogged mass, lurching frame, carnival resonance
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +3, Will +4
Abilities: Str 24, Dex 8, Con —, Int —, Wis 12, Cha 16
Skills: —
Feats: —
Environment: Warm marshes, flooded districts, festival grounds
Organization: Solitary, pair, or procession (3–6)
Challenge Rating: 9
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 13–18 HD (Large), 19–24 HD (Huge)
Level Adjustment: —

Special Attacks

Confetti Suffocation (Su):
As a standard action every 1d4 rounds, the masque violently expels a storm of damp, clinging festival debris in a 20-ft. radius burst. Creatures in the area must succeed on a DC 18 Reflex save or become entangled and begin choking as soaked paper, fabric fragments, and particulate matter adhere to their face and airway.

Affected creatures must make a DC 18 Fortitude save each round or take 1d6 nonlethal damage and be unable to speak or cast spells with verbal components. Three consecutive failures render the victim unconscious as though drowning.

The save DC is Charisma-based.

Siren’s Procession (Su):
The masque emits distant, distorted festival sounds - horns, drums, laughter dragged through water. All creatures within 60 ft. must succeed on a DC 18 Will save or be compelled to move toward the masque at half speed, as if joining a procession.

This is a mind-affecting compulsion effect. Creatures that successfully save are immune to that masque’s procession for 24 hours.

Drowning Embrace (Ex):
If the masque hits a creature with both slam attacks in the same round, it may attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking attacks of opportunity. On a successful grapple, water floods from its mass into the victim’s mouth and lungs.

The victim must succeed on a DC 19 Fortitude save each round or begin drowning (as per DMG rules), even if not submerged.

Special Qualities

Waterlogged Mass (Ex):
The masque’s body is saturated with stagnant water and compacted debris. It takes half damage from fire effects but takes +50% damage from electricity. Any square it occupies or moves through becomes difficult terrain until the start of its next turn.

Lurching Frame (Ex):
The Masque of the Drowned Revel does not walk. Its internal frame shifts first, dragging the outer mass behind it in delayed, uneven motion.

Whenever the masque moves, its movement is resolved in two stages:

• During its turn, it may move up to half its speed as the frame repositions.
• At the end of its turn, it completes the movement as the outer mass collapses and drags into place.

This delayed motion has the following effects:

• The masque does not provoke attacks of opportunity for movement during its turn, but does provoke normally at the end of its turn when the mass settles.
• Creatures adjacent to the masque at the end of its movement must succeed on a DC 18 Reflex save or be knocked prone by the shifting, collapsing mass.
• Squares it enters are immediately filled with dragging debris and water, becoming difficult terrain.

Visually, this appears as a structure failing forward in controlled increments rather than walking.

Carnival Resonance (Su):
Within 60 feet of active music, intoxicated crowds, or ongoing celebration, the masque gains fast healing 3. In silent or abandoned environments, it instead takes a -2 penalty on attack rolls and AC.

Description

At a distance, the Masque of the Drowned Revel resembles a collapsed parade figure struggling to remain upright - a towering mass of soaked fabrics, tangled beads, and broken structure rising from black water. Its silhouette is uneven and subtly wrong, with one side sagging lower than the other and its upper mass twisted slightly off-axis.

Closer inspection reveals the truth: it is not wearing anything. It is made of it.

A waterlogged internal frame of warped wooden supports and rusted metal rods forms its crude structure, visible in places where the outer mass has split or thinned. Around this frame, layers of festival debris - velvet, lace, silks, feathers, and cords of beads - have compacted into a single fused mass, swollen and bound by long immersion in stagnant water.

Nothing hangs naturally. Nothing fits. There are no seams, no garments - only accumulation.

Mounted near the top of the structure is a single porcelain masquerade mask. Smooth, pale, and pristine, it bears a refined, smiling expression with faint gold tear streaks. It is affixed to the frame at a slightly incorrect angle, with no sign of a head or face behind it.

Water constantly seeps from the construct, dripping in slow, steady streams. The surrounding water ripples even when it is still.

Movement

The masque does not walk - it rearranges itself closer.

Its internal frame shifts first with a series of subtle, uneven adjustments: beams slide, rods flex, joints settle with damp, splintering sounds. Only after this repositioning does the outer mass respond, dragging, collapsing, and pulling forward through the water.

Each movement appears unstable, as though the structure might fail entirely, yet it never does.

The outer layers lag behind the frame, catching and releasing with visible resistance. Bead strands tighten and slacken as tension shifts through the structure. Sections of the mass momentarily deform before settling back into place.

Water displacement precedes motion. Ripples spread outward before the full body catches up, as if the environment reacts faster than the construct itself.

The mask does not guide this movement. It does not turn or track. Instead, the entire upper structure slowly reorients, and the mask simply ends up facing its target - sometimes a moment too late.

To observers, it does not appear to take steps. It is simply… closer than it was.

Lore

Masques of the Drowned Revel are believed to form in the aftermath of excess - where celebration lingers too long in places that cannot sustain it. In flooded districts and drowned festival routes, discarded decorations, shattered masks, and abandoned finery collect in stagnant water.

Over time, these remnants bind together.

Some claim the process is purely environmental - weight, water, and time compressing materials into structure. Others insist that something else settles into the mass: an echo of music, a memory of movement, or the lingering will of those lost to the revel.

Unlike most constructs, the masque does not serve a creator. It follows a pattern - a procession without beginning or end.

It does not hunt in the traditional sense. It approaches. It invites. It absorbs.

Those who vanish near sightings are rarely found intact. When remains are recovered, they are often entangled with unfamiliar materials - beads, fabric, fragments of mask - as though the celebration has claimed them as part of itself.

In rare instances, multiple masques gather, forming silent processions through flooded streets. No instruments are visible, yet distant music is always heard.

And those who hear it clearly often find themselves walking toward it… without remembering why.