Foreman Hendrik
HENDRICK, BLIGHT-OVERRUN FOREMAN CREATURE 2
[UNCOMMON] [MEDIUM] [FIEND] [HUMAN] [HUMANOID] [PLANT]
Foreman Hendrick was once the practical, hard-driving overseer of Reiver's Right. Now thick black roots have threaded through his muscles and broken through his skin, fed by a fragment of infernal blight embedded deep within his body. Oily sap leaks from splits along his arms and neck, while angular ember-red markings pulse beneath his flesh. Enough of Hendrick remains to wield his foreman's axe and recognize the camp around him, but the thing growing through him now directs his violence.
Perception +8; darkvision
Languages Common, Infernal; understands these languages, but his speech is incoherent: wet muttering, broken syllables, and strained sounds that never form a reliable answer
Skills Athletics +10, Intimidation +8, Labor Lore +8, Survival +8
Str +4, Dex +1, Con +4, Int +0, Wis +2, Cha +1
AC 18
Fort +10, Ref +6, Will +8
HP 42
Resistances fire 3
Weaknesses vitality 3
Speed 25 feet
Melee ◆ foreman's axe +11 (sweep), Damage 1d8+4 slashing plus infernal lignification
Melee ◆ blighted fist +11, Damage 1d6+4 bludgeoning plus 1 fire
Melee ◆ root lash +11 (reach 10 feet), Damage 1d6+4 bludgeoning
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Infernal Lignification [curse] [primal]
When Hendrick damages a creature with his foreman's axe, the target must attempt a DC 18 Fortitude save as black veins spread briefly from the wound and the surrounding flesh begins to stiffen.
Critical Success The creature is unaffected.
Success The creature takes a –5-foot status penalty to its Speeds until the start of its next turn.
Failure The creature takes a –5-foot status penalty to its Speeds and is clumsy 1 until the end of its next turn.
Critical Failure As failure, but the Speed penalty is –10 feet and lasts for 1 minute. The creature can attempt a new DC 18 Fortitude save at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success.
Hendrick's version of the blight is transmitted through the black sap coating his weapon and hands. Skin around the injury briefly hardens into woody fibers before the corruption recedes.
Seedshard Eruption ◆◆ [fire] [primal]
Frequency once per 1d4 rounds
Hendrick doubles over as the growth inside him pulses. Black roots tear through the floor, soil, or nearby wooden surfaces in a 10-foot emanation. Creatures other than Hendrick in the area attempt a DC 18 Reflex save.
Critical Success No damage.
Success Half damage.
Failure 1d6 piercing plus 1d6 fire damage.
Critical Failure Double damage and the creature falls prone.
The affected squares become difficult terrain until the start of Hendrick's next turn as smoking black roots coil across the ground.
Foreman's Fury ◆◆
Hendrick Strides up to his Speed and makes a foreman's axe Strike at any point during that movement. If the Strike hits, he can immediately attempt to Shove the target as a free action.
Hendrick uses the same Athletics modifier for this Shove and does not need a free hand. This movement does not prevent reactions normally triggered by movement.
Black Sap Reprisal ↻ [fire]
Trigger A creature within 5 feet deals slashing or piercing damage to Hendrick.
Effect The wound opens unnaturally wide and sprays hot black sap. The triggering creature must attempt a DC 17 Reflex save.
Critical Success Unaffected.
Success 1 fire damage.
Failure 1d4 fire damage.
Critical Failure 1d4 fire damage and the creature is dazzled until the end of its next turn as smoking sap strikes its face.
Moment of Recognition [mental]
Hendrick has not been completely erased. The first time a creature addresses him by name, shows him an object strongly connected to Reiver's Right, or speaks directly about the missing workers, Hendrick hesitates.
Hendrick must attempt a DC 18 Will save.
Critical Success The blight overwhelms the memory. Hendrick is unaffected.
Success Hendrick is off-guard until the start of his next turn.
Failure Hendrick is stunned 1 as he briefly regains awareness. His axe hand falters and his eyes briefly focus, but his attempted words collapse into incoherent muttering before the corruption reasserts control.
Critical Failure Hendrick is stunned 2 and briefly recognizes the characters as people rather than threats. His expression shows fear and a desperate effort to speak, but only tangled syllables and a choking rasp emerge. He cannot communicate a warning, name, location, or coherent account.
Hendrick attempts this save only once per encounter.
TACTICS
Hendrick initially fights like the experienced camp foreman he once was. He uses Foreman's Fury to drive characters away from doorways, desks, or other positions he appears instinctively determined to protect, then presses isolated targets with his axe.
Once two or more enemies surround him, he uses Seedshard Eruption to break their formation. He favors his axe against mobile targets so that Infernal Lignification can slow them.
Hendrick does not flee. When reduced below half his Hit Points, the roots within his body become visibly more active, pushing through his clothing and wrapping around his limbs as the buried fragment struggles to preserve its host.
GM NOTES
Role: Solo bruiser / story encounter.
Best use: Hendrick works well as a significant Creature 2 encounter for a 1st-level party, especially if the surrounding room provides cover and obstacles but no additional full-strength enemies.
Recognition: Hendrick should remain visibly identifiable beneath the transformation. His clothing, foreman's insignia, keys, or other personal effects can establish who he is even if the party has never met him.
Story clue: After Hendrick is defeated, examination reveals that the corruption is unusually concentrated around a single hardened growth embedded within his body. It resembles a fragment of the same infernal plant matter found elsewhere in Reiver's Right, but its presence here raises an immediate question: how did a piece of the blight get inside the foreman?
Do not answer that question in this encounter. The origin of the fragment should remain part of the investigation.