Chemresdiss, the Blighted Regent

Chemresdiss is one of ten primordial dragons hatched from the first clutch of eggs laid by the dragon goddess Tiamat. She represents the aspects of black and green chromatic dragons meaning she is both cunning and sadistic. Chemresdiss has a body consisting of black scales with an emerald, opalescent sheen to them and her wings are a mottled, gangrenous color with green veins visible throughout. Her most notable feature, however, is her head. Instead of the frills associated with green dragons or the massive, forward facing horns of a black dragon, Chemresdiss has four bone white horns that begin around her eyes and run back, curling slightly along the way, and giving the appearance of a massive, four-fingered skeletal hand resting atop her head. Instead of the spikes or frills that other dragons have, Chemresdiss has what at first glance appears to be hair like tendrils coming out from her bone-like horns, but on closer inspection seems to be a crown of leeches. The parasites seem to even be inside her body, as her scales seem to move as though something is crawling beneath them.

In her thousands of years of life, Chemresdiss has come to believe that all creatures to come into existence after she was born are inferior to the point of being seen as nothing more than worms. She believes that not only should most living things be killed, but that they should then be left to fester and rot, for only then can they serve what she sees as their only purpose: to further spread disease to the living before being consumed by the earth. Chemresdiss enjoys corruption in all its various forms. She is just as likely to unleash a putrefying disease on a city as she is to corrupt its leaders to watch the city drive itself to ruin. She is also an unrivaled sadist who enjoys hearing the screams of the dying for hours on end, never killing those she tortures herself, but rather letting them succumb to their wounds, no matter how long it takes. In order to facilitate this prolonged torture, Chemresdiss has been known to force feed her victims spoiled meat and give them fouled water to drink. The pain in their stomachs only adds to the rest of their suffering and the delirium of their fevers keep them screaming from the horrifying hallucinations. Chemresdiss' favorite method of torture is repeatedly dip her victims in the acid she produces, burning away layer after layer of flesh. She likes to joke that it's like making a candle in reverse because, unlike dipping a wick into molten wax, every time she dips her victim in the acid, they get just a little bit smaller each time.

Lair Actions

On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the dragon takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects; the dragon can’t use the same effect two rounds in a row:

• Pools of water that the dragon can see within 120 feet of it surge outward in a grasping tide. Any creature on the ground within 20 feet of such a pool must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be pulled up to 20 feet into the water and knocked prone.
• A cloud of swarming insects fills a 20-foot-radius sphere centered on a point the dragon chooses within 120 feet of it. The cloud spreads around corners and remains until the dragon dismisses it as an action, uses this lair action again, or dies. The cloud is lightly obscured. Any creature in the cloud when it appears must make on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, taking 10 (3d6) piercing damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. A creature that ends its turn in the cloud takes 10 (3d6) piercing damage.
• Magical darkness spreads from a point the dragon chooses within 60 feet of it, filling a 15-foot-radius sphere until the dragon dismisses it as an action, uses this lair action again, or dies. The darkness spreads around corners. A creature with darkvision can’t see through this darkness, and nonmagical light can’t illuminate it. If any of the effect’s area overlaps with an area of light created by a spell of 2nd level or lower, the spell that created the light is dispelled.
• Grasping roots and vines erupt in a 20-foot radius centered on a point on the ground that the dragon can see within 120 feet of it. That area becomes difficult terrain, and each creature there must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be restrained by the roots and vines. A creature can be freed if it or another creature takes an action to make a DC 15 Strength check and succeeds. The roots and vines wilt away when the dragon uses this lair action again or when the dragon dies.
• A wall of tangled brush bristling with thorns springs into existence on a solid surface within 120 feet of the dragon. The wall is up to 60 feet long, 10 feet high, and 5 feet thick, and it blocks line of sight. When the wall appears, each creature in its area must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw. A creature that fails the save takes 18 (4d8) piercing damage and is pushed 5 feet out of the wall’s space, appearing on whichever side of the wall it wants. A creature can move through the wall, albeit slowly and painfully. For every 1 foot a creature travels through the wall, it must spend 4 feet of movement. Furthermore, a creature in the wall’s space must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw once each round it’s in contact with the wall, taking 18 (4d8) piercing damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. Each 10-foot section of wall has AC 5, 15 hit points, vulnerability to fire damage, resistance to bludgeoning and piercing damage, and immunity to psychic damage. The wall sinks back into the ground when the dragon uses this lair action again or when the dragon dies.
• Magical fog billows around one creature the dragon can see within 120 feet of it. The creature must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be  charmed by the dragon until initiative count 20 on the next round.

Regional Effects

The region containing a legendary black dragon’s lair is warped by the dragon’s magic, which creates one or more of the following effects:

• The land within 6 miles of the lair takes twice as long as normal to traverse, since the plants grow thick and twisted, and the swamps are thick with reeking mud.
• Water sources within 1 mile of the lair are supernaturally fouled. Enemies of the dragon that drink such water regurgitate it within minutes.
  Fog lightly obscures the land within 6 miles of the lair.
• Thickets form labyrinthine passages within 1 mile of the dragon’s lair. The thickets act as 10-foot-high, 10-foot-thick walls that block line of sight. Creatures can move through the thickets, with every 1 foot a creature moves costing it 4 feet of movement. A creature in the thickets must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw once each round it’s in contact with the thickets or take 3 (1d6) piercing damage from thorns.
  Each 10-foot-cube of thickets has AC 5, 30 hit points, resistance to bludgeoning and piercing damage, vulnerability to fire damage, and immunity to psychic and thunder damage.
• Within 1 mile of its lair, the dragon leaves no physical evidence of its passage unless it wishes to. Tracking it there is impossible except by magical means. In addition, it ignores movement impediments and damage from plants in this area that are neither magical nor creatures, including the thickets described above. The plants remove themselves from the dragon’s path.
• Rodents and birds within 1 mile of the dragon’s lair serve as the dragon’s eyes and ears. Deer and other large game are strangely absent, hinting at the presence of an unnaturally hungry predator.

If the dragon dies, the rodents and birds lose their supernatural link to it. The thickets and vegetation remain as they have grown, but within 1d10 days, they become mundane plants and normal difficult terrain, losing their thorns and other effects.