Priests of Osybus

These cultists channel the might of the Dark Powers and steal souls to gain the ability to transcend death. With their foul immortality, they work to unshackle the first Darklord, @Strahd von Zarovich, from the Domains of Dread. This inspires them to learn all they can about the nature of @The Mists and its deepest mysteries. The priests spread their teachings, forming shadowy cults that draw adventurers into their schemes.

Necromancers of deep evil, the @Priest of Osybus' steal the souls of others to fuel the priests' malevolent magic. Using this soul power, each priest can defy death and become an @Undead creature, potentially cheating the grave over and over.

This unholy order of priests was founded centuries ago by Osybus, a mysterious figure of unfathomable ambition and evil. Osybus sought to use others' souls as springboards to his own immortality. He forged pacts with any entity that would give him more power and delved into any eldritch secret that would prolong his life. He became a devotee of the Dark Powers and tapped into their immortal malice to fuel his apotheosis.

As his power grew, he attracted disciples who also wished to defy life and death. He shared his dread secrets with them and demanded their worship. In time, his goal was achieved: he became a @Lich of almost godly power. Acknowledging the role that his disciples played in his ascension, Osybus gifted them with a trace of his power. Taking the form of a shadowy tattoo, this boon allows the priests to steal souls as their master did and to cheat death and become undead horrors.

The threat posed by Osybus and his disciples raised alarms far and wide. In response, the Ulmist Inquisition and the then-mortal Count @Strahd von Zarovich faced the @Lich in battle. Their bravery would have been for naught if Osybus's disciples hadn't betrayed him. Fearing that their master would eventually consume their souls, the disciples aided Osybus's foes and destroyed his physical form. As he perished, he uttered a curse upon them—that their immortality would fail them when they least expected it and that he himself would become one of the Dark Powers. As a result of that curse, a priest of Osybus can't be certain that they will be reborn when they perish.

In an effort to rid themselves of this curse, they devoted themselves to the same Dark Powers with whom their master had communed. They were given a mission: provide a person of nobility and might to serve as an earthly vessel for these powers to enter the world and conquer it. If they succeeded, their immortality would be assured. A suitable vessel they did then find: @Strahd von Zarovich. Working in shadows and through intermediaries, the priests whispered hatred to the count, and when his noble heart was corrupted, they were the ones who laid the path before him that led to the @Amber Temple and his fall into vampirism.

But they were then betrayed. Osybus had not lied; he had himself become one of the Dark Powers, and he and the other Dark Powers had conjured up a misty prison to contain the newly immortal @Strahd von Zarovich, thereby preventing the count from serving as the conquering force that the priests sought to loose upon the world; thus they were denied their reward of immortality.

To this day, the priests of Osybus seek to unleash @Strahd von Zarovich from @The Mists, often using adventurers as their pawns. They also ironically bear their hated founder's name, for they know it is his original deathly gift that gives them their horrific powers.

Boons of Undeath

When a @Priest of Osybus drops to 0 hit points, the @Priest of Osybus might revive with a benefit from the Boons of Undeath table. The DM can give a @Priest of Osybus one or more of these boons of their choice before the @Priest of Osybus faces adventurers. If they do so, the @Priest of Osybus is @Undead, rather than @Humanoid, and a @Priest of Osybus can receive each boon only once.

Boons of Undeath
d6 - Boon

1 - Dread. Eerie whispers can now be heard around the @Priest of Osybus. Any non-@Undead creature that starts its turn within 30 feet of the @Priest of Osybus must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened of the @Priest of Osybus until the start of the creature's next turn.

2 - Ectoplasmic. An otherworldly slime drips off the @Priest of Osybus and fades away moments later, leaving a greenish stain. When any creature starts its turn within 10 feet of the @Priest of Osybus, the @Priest of Osybus can reduce that creature's speed by 10 feet until the start of the creature's next turn, until which the creature is covered by ectoplasm. In addition, as an action, the @Priest of Osybus can use the slime to make itself look and feel like any creature that is Medium or Small, while retaining its game statistics. This transformation lasts for 8 hours or until the @Priest of Osybus drops to 0 hit points.

3 - Vampiric. When the @Priest of Osybus deals necrotic damage to any creature, the @Priest of Osybus gains a number of temporary hit points equal to half that necrotic damage. The @Priest of Osybus' speed also increases by 10 feet.

4 - Blazing. The @Priest of Osybus sloughs off its flesh, and its skeleton crumbles away, leaving only its skull. Its stat block is replaced by that of a @Flameskull, but it retains its Tattoo of Osybus trait, and all fire damage it deals becomes necrotic damage. The Tattoo of Osybus now appears carved into the @Flameskull's forehead.

5 - Spectral. The @Priest of Osybus now appears wraithlike, and its challenge rating increases by 1. It gains resistance to all damage but force, radiant, and psychic, and it is vulnerable to radiant damage. It can also move through creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain, but it takes 5 (1d10) force damage if it ends its turn inside a creature or an object.

6 - Deathly. The @Priest of Osybus' visage becomes bone white, and its challenge rating increases by 1. It can cast @Animate Dead and @Create Undead once per day each, using Intelligence as the spellcasting ability, and it gains the following action: Circle of Death (Spell. Each creature in a 60-foot-radius sphere centered on a point the @Priest of Osybus can see within 150 feet of it must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, taking 28 (8d6) necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.