Amber Golem

The Amber Temple is the dwelling place of unknowable outer powers, and as such its contents are equally as nonsensical. One such resident is the Amber Golem, a humanoid form fashioned entirely from amber, with no distinguishing features upon any of its surfaces.. Despite the fact that it imitates humanoid motion, it possesses no joints of any kind, instead its stone form simply bends and warps into shape. Preserved within its form is the perfectly intact corpse of an insect, one that never evolved - but could have.

The Amber Golem is capable of exerting minor control over the passage of time, and -  given that the two are two parts of one whole - it therefore has minor control over space. With this ability, it is stationed near the gates of the Amber Temple, where it may, bloodlessly and without effort, turn would-be intruders away, and clearly has a preference for doing so without bloodshed, for it has rarely been seen using its own body as a weapon.

Scholars, mages, alchemists, biologists, historians, gem cutters and geologists would all pay a handsome sum for even a crumb of this mighty juggernaut; How did the insect become entombed within its form? From what tree did this amber originate? Who built it? How can it be used to further humanoid society? How much will it go for on the black market? All questions that float around its enigmatic existence.

The Amber Golem resides near the gates of the Amber Temple, where it has existed for as long as paper has been in the hands of mortals. Given its sedentary nature, its chamber of residence is equally as anomalous as its own self. Those who have survived encounters with the guardian have spoken of the room rapidly expanding or contracting in size, of parts of the chamber crumbling in ruin while others appear brand new, and of every direction leading to the exit.

Lair Actions

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

• The Amber Golem's dwelling chamber expands in radius by 20m. This can only be used once per encounter.
• The chamber shoots forwards or backwards in time. If the room is sent forward in time, the room turns a dusty grey, with pieces of the walls and ceiling lying in chunks upon the ground - the entire ground is classed as difficult terrain in this state. If the room is sent backwards in time, the room becomes visibly brighter, completely clean, with small amounts of scaffolding littering the walls. Ethereal apparitions of construction workers mill about the room in a crowd, disorienting and confusing any creatures aside from the golem - they have disadvantage on all attacks and saving throws in this state. This effect lasts until the start of the next round.
• The Amber Golem partially merges two of its own timelines - until the next turn a blurry copy of the Amber Golem is present upon the battlefield. It has an AC of 15, 40HP, and only has access to the slam action with no reactions, but is otherwise identical to the original.

Regional Effects

The region containing a legendary Amber Golem’s lair is under the construct's influence, employed to drive would-be trespassers away by any means, which creates one or more of the following effects:

• Travelling creatures easily get disoriented, which almost always coincidentally leads to them walking away from the Amber Temple - travel time to the temple is doubled when within this region.
• Creatures occasionally witness apparitions from the past or future - although most would have no idea that these are any more than hallucinations.

If the Amber Golem dies, these effects fade over the course of 2d8 days.