Fantasy NPC: The Dead Men Mine Overseer

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The Dead Men Mine Overseer

A vague, flowing figure of mist and smoke, of uncertain race, though the thick beard hints at his human or dwarven origins.

CR 6; 2,400 XP

LN Medium Undead (incorporeal)

Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 60 ft.; Perception +15

Defense
AC 19, touch 19, flat-footed 13 (+3 deflection, +6 Dex)
hp 67 (9d8+27)
Fort +5, Ref +9, Will +9

Defensive Abilities incorporeal; Immune undead traits

Offense
Speed fly 30 ft. (perfect)

Melee 2 calcifying touches +12 touch (3d6)

Special Attacks calcifying touch, direct the dead

Statistics
Str —, Dex 22, Con —, Int 15, Wis 17, Cha 17

Base Atk +6; CMB +6; CMD 25
Feats Combat Reflexes, Lunge, Skill Focus (Knowledge [dungeoneering]), Skill Focus (Knowledge [engineering]), Skill Focus (Profession [miner])

Skills Diplomacy +12, Fly +14, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +17, Knowledge (engineering) +17, Knowledge (nature) +11, Perception +15, Profession (miner) +18

Language Common, Dwarven, Goblin, Terran

SQ mining expertise

Calcifying Touch (Su) Touch of The Dead Men Mine Overseer slowly turns flesh into stone. Corporeal creatures dropped to 0 or less hit points are turned into stone after 1d4 rounds.

Direct The Dead (Su) As a standard action, The Dead Mine Overseer can incite any number of mindless undead within 60 feet that are native to The Dead Men Mine to move in the specific direction for 1d4+1 rounds. He can also make the affected undead docile for the same time.

Mining Expertise (Ex) The Dead Men Mine Overseer was a miner in life, and remains a miner in death. He treats Knowledge (dungeoneering), Knowledge (engineering), and Profession (miner) as class skills.

It is often said that dwarves bring doom on themselves by digging too deep. The Dead Men Mine, however, was a joint project, with dwarves, gnomes, humans, half-orcs, goblins, and some other folks working together to exploit a rich veins of precious metals extending deeper and deeper.

Until they reached the heart of the mountain, a hollow chamber where the shard was. No one knew what it was, or even how did it look, except those who went down never returned alive. And then the death crept out of the depths and slowly killed those who stayed in the upper reaches.

The Overseer kept a tally of his companions, writing down their names, and the time they vanished in the depths, or perished afterwards, when the aura of death extended upwards. He was the one who took steps to quarantine the mine, which might have stopped the deathly shard from claiming more and more lives. In all his diligence one name he has not noted down, was his own, though, and now he doesn't remember it himself.

Many years passed since that time, and the reasons for the mine's abandonment were forgotten, but not the supposed wealth hidden in its depths. The Overseer tries to keep the living out of the mine, directing the shambling remnants of his old coworkers to scare off the intruders.

The Shard Of Death (effectively a minor artifact): Origins of this object are unknown, is that an actual magic item? A discarded part of something greater? A rift to the realms of death? A piece of a dead god? The Shard Of Death is a Large black crystal that is half buried in the stone wall of its chamber that radiates an aura dealing 2d6 points of negative energy damage each round to living creatures. Whenever a living creature with 1 or more HD dies within the aura, the aura radius extends by 10 feet. The aura penetrates regular earth, stone, but not crystal, metal, or semiprecious and precious gems. The aura resets to its basic radius of 60 feet after a year and a day since it last deals damage to a living creature.

Is there a maximum range to the lethal aura produced by this crystal? Could it keep extending and extending until it would swallow the world if left unchecked? The Dead Men Mine Overseer is unwilling to take that risk...