The Emerald Order goes to great lengths to protect the knowledge they possess. Among the other secrets they have divined from the Emerald Tablet is the ability to create undying guardians through sacrifice. When creating a new repository for knowledge, senior members of the Emerald Order will take a willing volunteer and entomb them within the foundation of the building. In doing so, they create a sleepless, eternal guardian who desires nothing more than the protection of the structure to which it is bound. These beings are known as the immured.

IMMURED

When the Emerald Order builds a new structure for their use—a library, meeting hall, or other important building—they will often provide it with a guardian. A willing, humanoid creature is sacrificed during a secret ceremony and interred within the building. The sacrifice is often placed under the first-laid cornerstone but may also be entombed within a wall or even a support pillar. The spirit of the interred sacrifice then becomes an undying guardian against intruders.

Protective Aura. The building to which the immured is bound magically repairs damage. Any damage done to the building that does not completely destroy it is repaired within 24 hours.

Willing Sacrifice. The most important part of the creation of an immured is that the sacrifice is a willing participant in the ceremony. They have chosen to become the building’s eternal guardian. Sometimes this is done out of loyalty to the Emerald Order. Other times, the order makes a bargain, offering a boon to the participant in exchange for their sacrifice. For example, a person dying of disease may offer to become immured in exchange for the order providing financial support to their family when they’re gone or to accept one or more children into the order. This bargain helps to power the magic that creates and sustains the immured.

Should the pact be broken, the spirit of the immured becomes corrupted. Its alignment shifts to evil, and it will attack all who enter, even members of the Emerald Order. If this occurs, only formally renewing the pact will restore the immured to normal.

Immured

Small or medium undead, any lawful alignment.

Armor Class 13
Hit Points 75 (10d8 + 30)
Speed 0 ft., fly 50 ft. (hover)

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
5 (−2)	16 (+3)	17 (+3)	11 (+0)	14 (+2)	15 (+2)

Damage Resistances acid, fire, lightning, thunder; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities cold, necrotic, poison
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained, unconscious
Senses darkvision 60 ft.; passive Perception 17
Languages any languages it knew in life
Challenge 5 (1,800 XP)

Bound to Site. The immured is bound to the building in which its mortal remains are interred. The immured cannot exit the structure. If the building is completely destroyed, then the immured is also. If the immured’s physical remains are removed from the building, the building is destroyed. The immured’s close ties to the building give it advantage on all Wisdom (Perception) checks. As long as the immured is bound, the building shares the immured’s damage resistances and cannot be damaged by natural forces (earthquakes, lightning strikes, and so on).

Incorporeal Movement. The immured can move through other creatures or objects as if they were difficult terrain. It takes 5 (1d10) force damage if it ends its turn inside an object; the exceptions are any objects that are part of the building to which it is bound (walls, doors, and so on), which it can remain inside without harm.

Innate Spellcasting. The immured’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 15). The immured can cast guards and wards once per day with a casting time of 1 minute, requiring no material components.

ACTIONS

Life Drain. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 21 (4d8 + 3) necrotic damage. The target must succeed at a DC 14 Constitution saving throw, or its hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the damage taken. This reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest. The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0.

Create Zombie. The immured targets a humanoid within 10 feet that has been dead no longer than 1 minute and died from its life drain attack. The target’s corpse rises as a zombie in the space its corpse occupied or in the nearest unoccupied space. The zombie is under the immured’s control. The immured can have no more than ten zombies under its control at one time.

LAIR ACTIONS

When fighting in its lair (which is always), the immured can invoke the ambient magic to take lair actions. On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the immured can take one lair action to cause one of the following effects:

• The floors around the immured buckle, flagstones coming loose and floorboards warping. Any amount of floor chosen in a 30-foot radius around the immured becomes difficult terrain. This lasts until the end of the following round.
• Light sources in the building respond to the immured’s command, dimming or brightening as it wishes. The immured can control the brightness of any nonmagical light sources (or any magical sources normally found within its bound building), causing them to produce no light, dim light, or bright light until the end of the next round.
• The immured can telekinetically open (and unlock if necessary) any three doors, windows, or other similar portals within 30 feet of it or close (and lock, if possible) any three such objects.

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