Ochre Jelly

Oozes are a weird brand of monster. They are amorphous blobs of jelly (?) that slither in search of food. And that's it. They only want to eat and grow as big as possible. Doesn't sound the most fascinating, but just in Bestiary 1 there are four distinct types of them.

Today on the menu we have the Ochre Jelly. Outside of its color, what sets it apart? The fact that it only dissolves the flesh, leaving everything else intact. It also splits in two upon receiving slashing or piercing damage (that's a one-way ticket to your party finding themselves outnumbered very quickly).

There are many applications of both of these abilities, it's just the question of finding them. A necromancer making sure his skeletons are kept nice and clean? An artist working in bone using a pet slime to make sure he only has the best materials? Group of bandits using the ooze to kill people, taking advantage of the fact that it doesn't dissolve precious materials? I think we can easily see that particular critter finding its uses in great many scenarios, even outside of combat.

- Max

Hook 1 (Max) - Hunger in the Dark

Every culture has its customs regarding the burial of the dead. People of the Pale Orchard believe that flesh holds your soul down in the mud, thus in order to move on, your skeleton needs to be picked clean of its putrid meat.

Once a person dies, their corpse is taken by the Bone Clerks who throw their body into the Yellow Pit. It remains therein for some time before then being returned, clean and white, ready to be properly buried and on to the afterlife.

The thing is, with everybody fed to it, the Yellow Pit grows bigger.

Hook 2 (Nemanja) - Heal or High Water

Gustav Olaf is a skittish cleric who has information that can bring down the corrupt regime in the Arthenian Grand Principality. Gustav is also extremely paranoid and is currently hidden in a faraway cave waiting for his contact. He has an incredibly devious plan to keep the information from falling into the wrong hands. Indeed, Gustav has written all of the information on his skin and keeps two other things with him in his hiding place: a box that contains single ochre jelly within and another box that holds at least two dozen healing scrolls.

Should anyone else but the designated contact appear, Gustav plans to release the ooze, at which point he will spend the rest of the combat healing any oozes that split apart. In practice, this means that instead of several splits during a fight with a single ochre ooze, this will prolong the combat until the battlefield is positively swarming with oozes, making combat—and survival—all but impossible.

Hook 3 (TJ) - Streetsweeper

Cleaning the streets of a bustling metropolis is a tall order. The city council in Aerilon has hired numerous companies that all end up falling short of keeping the city truly clean. Their newest hire has some- 

Unconventional methods. 

Ochre jellies, with their ooze-like acidity and ability to squeeze into cracks and crevices, have the city looking better than it ever has. Concerned citizens have voiced opposition to having oozes on the major thoroughfare, but the cleaning crews have repeatedly assured that they're harmless and under control. If that control ends up being more tenuous than they claim, it could spell disaster.

Lemure

Lemures are weird creatures. Made up of the literal essence of Hell, their sole purpose is to be molded and reshaped into greater devils. They are pathetic, sniveling, and inherently subservient. As such, they are also the perfect representation of the souls of the mortals that sell their souls for diabolic powers.

The Lemure's stat block confirms their status as the quintessential underlings - their charisma and intelligence scores are pretty low, and their only ability gives other devils a way to command them.

If you don't give much heed to the official cosmology, the Lemure still fits the role of magician's servant, alchemical creation, and others pretty well—though it might still harbour diabolic ambitions...

- Nemanja 

Hook 1 (Nemanja) - Diabolical Design

Lemure-sculpting is treated as one of the most prestigious crafts a student at the University of Diabolic Arts can be taught. Existing at a crossroads between high art and high magic, 'tis not a skill one can easily take up.

The university lies over a very large deposit of raw evillium, the substance from which all the fiends of the world are made up. The most gifted apprentices are given access to this resource and taught how to shape it into subservient, yet powerful, creatures known as Lemures. Giving them aesthetically pleasing—even if twisted—forms is treated as a sign of control.

The Diablerie Inquisition is called in to investigate several murders and a chase after wild and esoteric clues reveals a shocking truth: One of the teachers, the conjurers' elite, has been replaced with a Lemure molded in his perfect likeness. As it turns out, one of the ambitious, powerful young students is commanding him. The problem is, there's still no clue as to which student is the perpetrator and which teacher is the victim...

Hook 2 (Reece) - Digging Too Deep

"It is terribly unfortunate, what happened in Tegriden. Terribly unfortunate," Lord Degarring gestured at the map in front of him, shaking his head. "But the truth of the matter is that there is no help to spare. The town is inconsequential to the war effort, I'm afraid."

"But, my lord, the people of the area are being overrun!" Lykander, the chaptermaster for the Sailor's Guild on the small isle that held Tegriden, was quite distraught. Degarring was the fifth landed lord he'd approached. Some prospectors, hoping to strike up another iron mine given the high demand from the war, had unearthed something just outside of Tegriden. Though he hadn't been there for the inciting incident, he'd heard haunted tales from some of the miners who had managed to escape.

A dark temple. Caged and twisted creatures long-forgotten but somehow still alive. A portal to some other place. To some hellish nightmare long buried. Fleshy creatures that mindlessly lashed out,

"The isle is isolated. I suggest you do your best to evacuate your people and abandon it. The Royal Navy will contain the creatures when the war is won."

People were dying now. The town was being consumed. Lykander would have to go... Elsewhere for help.

Hook 3 (TJ) - First Siege with a New Liege

"My liege, time is of the essence." The tyrant devil turned to his subordinate and gave it a flat look. "Ah, I've forgotten. This is your first siege, isn't it?"

The tyrant devil turned back to the city walls. "We do not have the resources to have an extended siege, is that your concern? You worry we overstay our welcome outside of Hell?"

"Yes, my liege, that's part of it."

"Then you have yet to see why we gather these tormented formless ones. This will not take nearly the time you think."

The tyrant outstretched his hand and all of the lemures gathered at the base of the walls began to shiver and converge, a central mass of roiling flesh beginning to take shape into some greater terror.

"I would not leave us exposed for so long. You should have more... faith in me than that. You'll learn. Or you'll die, just like the rest."

Iron Golem

A titan of pure iron and magic, the Iron Golem packs a wicked punch (and halitosis to boot). I love golems and constructs of all kinds. If you haven't gathered that yet, you will.

I'm conflicted when it comes to the use of golems, though. On the one hand, I love surprising players with these mindless guardians (also I just love them a lot in general okay).

On the other hand, they're immune to an awful lot. Their vulnerabilities always seem to be something seldom available. In the case of the iron golem, being able to deactivate its breath weapon for 1 minute (basically the entire fight) is huge! However, that vulnerability is tied to neutralize poison, which I've never had anyone prepare or learn. It's also vulnerable to rust, which, outside of waving a rust monster antenna at it or having a primal caster for rusting grasp, isn't easy to accomplish RAW.

These are by no means reasons to not use the iron golem. It's the perfect monster to complement a mad wizard, a secret laboratory, or a ruin lost since the Iron Age. A merchant selling scrolls of neutralize poison outside of an iron golem's locale would be interesting if the party was too low of a level to properly fight it. Disable its breath weapon and run! It's not very fast, I'm sure your party can probably make it!

I mean, come on, it's a golem! You should use it in any instance that you can. Lucky for you, you've come to Beastfinder, and providing instances to use monsters is exactly what we do.

-TJ

Hook 1 (Max) - Iron Maiden

The small mining town of Coalsmine has been seeing a lot of commerce and travelers in the last couple of years. The reason? A discovery their workers made underground that has been since maintained by the local wizard, an ancient construct of considerable power.

"Come test your mettle against Iron Maiden!" all sorts of mercenaries and vagabonds are urged. The townsfolk, being clever as they are, charge a hefty sum for everyone who passes through that wants to try their hand in single combat against the golem. This has worked out surprisingly well for the people of Coalsmine, as they've seen a great upturn in their profits. Not many combatants manage to win and if they do, repairing the contraption proves an easy matter.

Rules of the challenge are simple—one combatant at a time, no single-use items, the one who manages to walk off the arena wins. The possibility of death is high and the town does not cover any recovery costs.

The arena is quite big for one-on-one combat, approximately one hundred by one hundred feet, laden with sand and barren. Once the challenger enters it, comes forth the Iron Maiden. One could mistakenly take her for a normal golem, though that would be a great miscalculation, as with each failure she had been modified and upgraded to become the ultimate killing machine beyond her original capabilities.

Hook 2 (TJ) - Haywire Handlers

The smog of the smokebelchers is getting to be a real problem. Each of the Utheni guilds has suggested various solutions to said problem. The air-purifying automatons wandering the streets of Dren are a pet project of the Golemancers Guild; this doubles as their bid to solve the smog problem and as their submission to the Contest of the Steel Kings. If this iron golem schematic is approved for entry and subsequently wins the contest, the election of the Golemancers Guild to the Forgeseat will mark the first time in 74 cycles that a fledgling guild has succeeded.

The Machinists Guild does not recognize the Golemancers Guild as an independent entity. While their reasoning is not official, the general consensus is that—considering the Golemancers are an offshoot of the Machinists—the Machinists tentatively have the rights to Golemancer developments. When one of the iron golems goes haywire and begins spewing the toxins back into the Dren atmosphere, Jarmek Shattermace, the current Forgeseat, doesn't care whom the golem belongs to, he just wants it stopped. The ramifications for the Golemancers' Forgeseat application will have to wait.

Hook 3 (Reece) - To Sink or Swim

A new piece of dwarven technology has proven particularly deadly in the conflict between the Relendish Isles and The Grand Tyranny. So far, only one ship of its kind has been fielded, and it was a genuine terror during the fight at sea.

The dwarves are particularly recalcitrant when it comes to sharing the secrets of their forging techniques, so no one really understands how exactly they got it to work, though it has most assuredly been their finest contribution to the war effort, at least since the advent of cannons.

The warship—known simply as The Iron Lady—is a floating monstrosity of iron, bristling with cannons and twice the size of any normal galleon. The hull of the thing was so impenetrable that The Tyranny had only one choice—boarding.

Unfortunately for those involved, this was their greatest error. The forecastle of The Iron Lady is ostentatiously adorned with the iron reliefs of two dwarven women, or so the Tyrannymen thought. Upon boarding the ship the two statues lept to life, tearing through the boarding party before pulling down the boarding ship's mast using massive rune-laden chains. Now, each ship that attempts to board the unbreakable hulk is rebuffed and similarly struck down. One report notes that a ship was entirely overturned in the water, killing everyone on board.

The Tyranny has a plan, though, to destroy the weapon before it turns the tide of the war.

Why try to destroy the golems, when you can simply shove them overboard where they will sink into the deepest depths of the ocean?

Grothlut

When considering fates worse than death, being turned into a Grothlut is surely one of them. These mindless, pitiful creatures only have a passing resemblance to their former selves as they are now coated in slime and waste, found slithering in the darkness and moaning miserably at the sight of another living being. Some vestige of their shattered psyche perhaps remains, woefully aware of its circumstance.

Other than its normal ranged and melee attack, the grothlut's main abilities are its Piteous Moan and Disgusting Demise. The former is a pretty strong crowd control ability that can be used to great effect when paired with other combatants on the abomination's side (more than likely its creator), while the latter makes the monster a good kamikaze-style enemy. This pairing turns the creature into a solid choice for the frontline of any assault en masse.

- Max

Hook 1 (Max) - Father and Son

Old Man Heimmer is desperate. Desperate enough to ask the unsavory vagabonds passing through his village for help.

Not long ago his only son, Jahn, left the village. That alone wouldn't be such a terrible thing were it not for the fact that he departed with a wandering wizard who, according to Heimmer, put some sort of charm on the young man. There was a decidedly odd and frankly unsettling feeling to the mage's countenance. Many described his presence as something that "sent a chill down your spine when you looked at him". Most of the villagers steered clear of him, save Jahn, who still had his head full of dreams of derring-do and adventure. He took the arcanist's offer to join him almost immediately.

Heimmer is worried, though. He wants his son to come back, or at least for someone to check on the young man, as he is far too old to do so himself.

Sadly, Heimmer's worries stem from a grim reality, as the wizard dabbles in rather unsavory practices. He is, in fact, actively being hunted down by many of his colleagues due to his disturbing backlog of failed experiments. Unfortunately for young Jahn, the mage is sure that this one will turn out differently and he is determined to see it through so that he may discover how far he can take the powers of transmutation.

Hook 2 (Nemanja) - The Pozica Strategem

Unless it is an absolute must, a grothlut will never touch salt.

Before abandoning the outpost of Pozica, the drow therein used this fact for a final, devilish scheme - painted on the floors of both the keep and other major facilities are lines of salt-infused paint that create lanes in which the grothluts patrol.

While the drow are long gone, the slug-men still patrol the halls, moaning pathetically as they guard the veritable trove of alchemical goods that remain unplundered within

Hook 3 (Reece) - A Pleading Letter

Dearest Brother,

I implore that you do not enlist as you so often told me you would. With great effort, I have passed this letter twelve trenches back to the main messenger's outpost where I hope it then survives long enough to reach you.

The elves have grown both bolder and crueler in their strategies to route us from the southern plains. When the war started and we enlisted, we thought it would be a grand thing; we were to defend our homeland and our kin from the savageries of the fair folk.

It is not so.

The artillery was the first sign of what was to come, I think. Alchemical fires and salvos of arcane energies rained from the heavens. We built these sheltered bunkers because of those brutal weapons, many of which have taken friends dear to me.

The creatures they deployed some weeks later have been the worst of it though. A soldier two trenches forward told me about how when one of the things rushed the bunker, it tore two men apart and then exploded when stuck with enough blades. The ones that survived will be... Scarred.

I beg you, listen to mother. Stay home. Do not seek the front.

With Love,

Lieutenant Doctor Chessa Everstone 

Gelatinous Cube

The Gelatinous Cube is a simple creature. It's just mindless block of ooze, shuffling around looking for something to eat. Some days I can empathize. In my mind, a gelatinous cube is more of a classic dungeon-crawling "gotcha" than really something interesting to encounter. Found usually for no good reason other than "you're in a dungeon," the gelatinous cube doesn't pose much threat to a prepared party. It's very slow, has nothing for a Reflex save, and despite having low AC, ooze immunities make it impossible to crit, removing the largest penalty PF2e would give it based on the crit rules. It's a sack of hit points that tries to eat you, nothing new here.

The mindless trait implies to me that gelatinous cubes are predictable; they will always move in the direction of food and will not make snap decisions about who is attacking them or what the biggest threat is. This means that gelatinous cubes might be best used either in groups or in service to a smarter beast that can exploit them. A maniacal wizard dropping gelatinous cubes from traps in the ceiling? Sure. A kitchen using a gelatinous cube as a primeval garbage disposal? Ship it.

This is also a great monster to make sure you understand PF2e's incapacitation trait. Any creature more than double the level of the gelatinous cube treats its saving throw against the cube's Paralysis ability as one degree of success better. This puts an upper limit on how effective the cube can really be when using it as a minion of sorts. You could also use it intentionally as a minor roadblock at higher levels, integrating it more fluidly with traps. Are the PCs mostly going to succeed their saving throws based on the Incapacitation trait? Sure. But critical failures still exist, and they might just show up at the most inconvenient time.

Hook 1 (TJ) - Secret Ingredient

The sous-chef of the Gilded Goose is in desperate need of some assistance. The regent of Haliford is making his bi-annual visit and will undoubtedly be stopping by for his favorite gelatin dessert. If you're willing to take a vow of silence and a bag of gold for your troubles, the sous-chef has the key for the cellar where the secret ingredient is kept. As long as you're confident you can subdue (but not kill!) the largest gelatinous cube you've ever seen, you'll have the sous-chef's gratitude, and perhaps an audience with the regent.

Hook 2 (Max) - Ancient Armory

In the old ruins south of the town, it's well known that beneath the keep is a small, dark chamber that once served as an armory. Most of the armaments lay in disrepair, though one set of beautiful armor remains untouched by the passage of time; an ornamental plate, pure black with golden embellishments. Its visor is up, revealing it empty. A keen eye, however, might spot a tinge of movement as if flowing water fills the ancient armor.

Hook 3 (Nemanja) - Labyrimpthian

While following an insane, teleporting imp, a group of demon-hunters reach a deviously crafted dungeon; a labyrinthine realm composed entirely of mirrors, expertly placed pit traps, and several roaming gelatinous cubes. The imp seems to know the realm like the back of his hand, but letting him escape is not an option. Luckily, he seems to be enjoying the hunt a bit too much...

Giant Flytrap & Snapping Flytrap

 Getting tired of throwing flesh-and-blood beasts and monsters at your party? Let's try a plant instead! These creatures are not out of place in any discerning gardener's arsenal, and could even occur naturally in your setting. Consider any greenhouse or forest in a humid climate a potential environment for a Flytrap. This well-rounded monster is not difficult to run, it's understandable from a real-world perspective (which just hands you verisimilitude, if you ask me) and is an easy and straight-forward introduction to many game mechanics. With weaknesses (fire), resistances (acid), and the Grab, Swallow Whole, and Rupture mechanics, Flytraps readily showcase what monsters in PF2e have to offer. A standalone Snapping Flytrap could serve as a boss monster as early as level 1! Plenty of plant food for thought.

Hook 1 (TJ) - Hunger for Adventure
Briff Rigglesby, a halfling horticulturist, has gone missing. Convinced of his own sorcerous prowess, he set to exploring an unmarked and unmapped swath of jungle by himself. He is now two weeks overdue for his check-in with the rest of the expedition. Initial scouting reports detail hearing his voice in their heads, beckoning them toward a glade of sun, serenity, and apparent safety in the hostile wilderness. When the ground began to quiver and close up around them, a scout lost his leg to the Giant Flytrap that would have been happy to take more. Fleeing the glade, Briff's voice came to them again, goading their expeditious return; a starving, urgent call.

Hook 2 (Nemanja) - The Trapper's Dance
Trappers, the title for the most respected hunters of the N'guta tribe, are known for the rigorous tests of physical prowess that any upcoming candidates must pass in order to join the elite. One of those tests, meant to measure agility as well as courage and focus, involves snatching a trinket from a massive snapping flytrap's leafy jaws.

Hook 3 (Reece) - The Mouths of Dionaea
To outsiders, the town of Dionaea feels just a little bit... Off. Travelers are warned early and often to stay away from the town's wells. When questioned, the answers the townsfolk provide are anything but consistent. There is a rat problem, the water is rancid, they're cursed or even that they EAT unsuspecting people. With shifty gazes and dodgy answers, those that dig to deep into the town's underground tend to "disappear".

The truth is far darker. Townsfolk feed outsiders that overstay their welcome to a Giant Flytrap named "Gorgroth" and its many smaller mouths located in the humid cave system under the town. They believe the creature brings them power, in addition to the fact that it serves as a convenient means of disposing those the townsfolk dislike or disagree with.

Flesh Golem

Ah, the flesh golem. A classic horror monster used by crazed scientists and necromancers the multiverse over. The stat block notably contains hefty golem resistances. Having a good grasp on what golems are immune to goes a long way in helping them feel imposing and unstoppable. The Flesh Golem (like other golems) is mindless and neutral. Subvert expectations of this quintessential creature by having a benign master, or even giving it a basic level of intelligence. Crowds of townspeople are likely to take offense at its unnatural visage, which could serve a myriad of uses. Serving perhaps as a morbid reminder of their mortality and a perversion of their existence, the Flesh Golem can lend itself as a centerpiece to social encounters as well. When tensions escalate and townspeople try and drive this amalgam of magic and flesh out of town, however, they run the risk of activating its Berserk ability; proving they were right about its nature all along.

Hook 1 (TJ) - The Trawler
Leeside is one of the most prosperous fishing towns in the region, largely thanks to one man, known colloquially as "The Trawler." Very little is known about him, other than that he exclusively takes his boat out by himself at night. Each morning he returns with record-breaking hauls of fish in addition to other more strange and exotic varieties of seafood. Any fishmonger that starts to ask too many questions misses out on doing business with the Trawler as punishment. If only the locals knew the truth. If they ever caught a glimpse of the mer-flesh monstrosities swimming below the surface, dragging the nets between them...

Hook 2 (Reece) - A New "Friend"
The local smith's daughter Teirdre is often found playing on the outskirts of Adarlin, a tiny village of less than one-hundred people. It has long been known that her family has had some level of sorcerous talent that many in the town have been eagerly awaiting to see manifest. One hero from every generation, the town is fond of saying.

As she nears her tenth name day, Teirdre has been speaking of "The Man in the Caves" that she has "play dates" with. As she persists with the tale, her father has become worried that some nefarious entity could be praying on her.

To the surprise of both the village and Teirdre herself, she has unwittingly taken control of a Flesh Golem that was intended to steal her away to The Cult of Melting Flesh. Her new "Friend" is the first sign of the cult's activities near the town, and it may be the only clue as to how to stop them.

Hook 3 (Nemanja) - Birthright: Prometheus
The shores of Alba Endura, the island retreat for the richest men on Earth, are protected by a nameless legion of Flesh golems crafted from the bodies of the very laymen who built the high-tech facilities on the secret island. While the golems are taken for granted and treated as mindless, recent whispers talk of a golem who has developed a cunning and forceful personality.

As the stories go, the Golem - calling himself Prometheus - will give other golems little bites of his own brain matter, after which they also display signs of having a personality and mind of their own, albeit for a very limited time. For now, his motives remain entirely unclear.

Clay golem

Honestly, despite many generations of dungeons and dragons and its derivatives offering many different varieties, the original clay golem remains my favourite. Given its classic origins, i think classic stories of hubris and overly literal adherence to commands suit these things more than any other construct.

In the thrice-blessed city of Kragooy, almost every temple has clay golem guardians, with heads ornately carved to resemble their patron deities. In the past few weeks, there have been several instances of these faces melting off. After that, the golems, with newly featureless and perfectly smooth faces all went into a rampage, killing innocents out on the streets of the city. If the source of this vile magic isn't found soon, the city will undoubtedly go into chaos.

In an attempt to keep his village safe, a now famous wizard left a clay golem to stand guard over it. The golem was popular for a while, keeping wolves and the occasional basilisk or ankhrav at bay, but then one day, mysteriously disappeared without a trace. Several months later, he returned, carrying an enormous quantity of bottles of philosopher's brew - the famed potion of eternal life. As it turned out, the maker told his golem to "never harm or kill anyone in the village, or allow anyone to be harmed or die through inaction".
Unfortunately, the sheer amount of the extremely rare and valuable brew makes the little village a target for much greater threats than before, and the wizard and his compatriots must rush back to its aid.

On his deathbed, King Grzegorz the Greedy commanded his personal golem (crafted in his likeness) to guard his crown until a worthy heir appears. Several days later, when all the king's heirs fell, trying to wrestle the crown from the mighty construct's clay hands, the kingdom fell into disarray. Desperate to keep the peace, the remaining great lords issued a proclamation: whosoever manages to beat the golem, shall be crowned the new rightful king of Polithania.

Black Pudding

Oozes, ehh?

The Blambinken Museum of All That Was uses black puddings as a sort of a "living motion sensor". Essentially, when night falls, black puddings, locked in carefully crafted containers that let them attack but not escape are placed tactically around the most critical museum pieces. The museum's officials make this a known fact, as they've grown tired of cleaning the dissolved remains of would-be thieves from the floors. Nevertheless, a newly formed thieves guild has managed to snag a few pieces, and a group of orphans joining it needs to do the same as part of the initiation process.

During the dwarven festivity of Shableirgah, a black pudding is intentionally created from scraps of food discarded during the feast. Namely, a deep pit is dug in the middle of the encampment, and younguns are tasked with going around, picking up any leftover foodstuff (and there tends to be a lot) and pouring it all into the pit. As the festivity draws to a close, older dwarves ritually go over to the pit, shake their beards over it, releasing any food that got entangled in them. Finally, a bog priest arrives, pours fresh mountain goat blood into the pit as well, and then chants to animate the contents of it. The resulting ooze varies in shape, form and smell over the years, but particularly nasty ones are a point of pride for years to come. That is, of course, if the Chieftan-nominated champions manage to defeat it...

The last line of Gargathas the black dragon's sewer for defenses is a long corridor littered with black puddings. While anyone who got that far is certain to survive an encounter with the oozes, it is Gargathas's hope that at least a few swords and spears will be destroyed along the way.

Animated object

The animated object "family" of creatures comes with four examples in the bestiary - from the lowly animated broom, to the genre classics animated armor and statue, and finishing off with the giant version of the latter. Of course, the possibility for creating countless others exists within the framework of the game - its a simple matter of using the right ritual.
As opponents, animated objects aren't exactly the type of encounter you'd base your around - they work best as simple obstacles or even mere "set dressing".

The king's new bride kept complaining about how unclean the castle was - and a group of gremlins heard her. While never gentle and always mischievous, the gremlins have lived in the castle for generations, and had a special fondness for the young king. They immediately took a dislike to the new queen. Seeing their opportunity, they stole every single broom in the kingdom, and then promptly animated all of them in the middle of the castle. The King's guests are led on a wild hunt for the tiny tricksters, through the nooks and crannies of the labyrinthine castle, but if they find out the impossibly beautiful queen's dark secret, they may yet side with the gremlins in antagonizing her.

The megalopolis of Petroskin has a huge necromancer problem. To deal with it, the Maple Hill Cemetery uses a large number of animated statues. These statues remain immobile during the day, but as soon as night falls they start patrolling the graveyard. To distinguish the animated and regular statues, the sculptors sculpt their own faces onto the animated ones.
Recently, however, there have been several disappearances among the cemetery staff. What is more, a rumor is starting about a mysterious huge statue starting to appear from time to time. For some reason, unlike the other statues, the huge one appears to have a completely blank and featureless face.

Sir Flavio's school of the highest art of the rapier is a rather prestigious school of fencing. As part of the mind-numbingly expensive deal, after finishing the course, students are given a an animated suit of armor, loaded with the commands for basic fencing practice, with the idea that no real fencer ever stops honing his skills. A week ago, however, a high-profile assassination was pulled off - one of the school's armors was somehow replaced with one with the instruction to murder the student's rich father as soon as it was delivered.
Sir Flavio has reason to believe that the assassins will try again, and inspectors he hired now have a hard task ahead of them - decide which of the ten remaining constructs were planted by the assassins, but preferably do so without damaging any others.

Alchemical Golem

While by no means the toughest or meanest golem in the bestiary (its the second lowest level of the bunch, outclassing only the flesh golem), the alchemical golem might actually be the toughest one to prepare for.
With the potential to dish out six different types of damage, its nigh impossible to set up defenses against it. Fighting one should feel wild, chaotic and unpredictable, and should keep both players and player characters on their toes. The fact that while rare, these golems do become sentient, can also be used in many, many ways...

The order of the Last Light has outlawed both the technomancers and the necromancers. Banding together, they have repurposed several Alchemical Golems by filling their vials with ghoul fever and zombie rot. If the decree outlawing them isn't revoked by dawn of the next day, they threaten to release these necrotic constructs in the poorest slums of the city, killing thousands in a matter of hours. Luckily, a certain young thief has information about where the scholar controlling the golems is hiding, but getting to him wont be easy...

Bjørn Bloodsplat was an alchemist who heard the stories of alchemical golems attaining true consciousness, and tried to replicate such an occurence. His experiment went a little too well though - BB-769 not only ended up with a personality, it ended up with six of them. Depending on the balance of chemicals in its many vials, it may try to murder, negotiate with, or preach to the envoys sent to recruit it.

Lucas Longly was a dwarven merchant and dabbler in the arcane, who among other things left an alchemical golem as heirloom to his progeny. A hundred and fifty years later, Lucas's grandson Yucas is in need of such a construct. There are several complications though - the cave in which the dormant golem is located has become infested with dire bats, who could easily shatter the delicate glass dome adorning the golem. What is more, dire bats have recently been pronounced an endangered species, meaning that anyone involved in harming them would need to pay quite high a fee. The specialists on Yucas's payroll will need to get creative.

 

Adamantine golem

The biggest, meanest entry in the golem family so far, an adamantine golem is a high-tier threat. It is rare and and expensive to create, that the mere creation of one should be an event of epic proportions. Its' high CR and insanely powerful abilities make it a great choice for a campaign-ending encounter.

Fifteen years ago, king Fulchrist sold his crown to the people of Stadia, turning it into a republic, and then mysteriously disapeared. Now he's back, riding on the shoulders of an an adamantine golem, and is threatening to destroy his old capital, unless the council gifts him The Elder Sword.
However, The Elder sword is the last known vorpal sword in the nine realms - supposedly the only weapon able to bring down an adamantine golem. As betrayal and backstabbing erupts among the councilmen, it is up to the newly appointed Chamber Guard to decide the fate of the republic.

When the Burntooth tribe discovered a giant metal man in the depths of their caves, they did what any sane goblin would do - they set it on fire and then promptly ran away.
After discovering that the thing is now awake, and will not harm them as long as they keep it supplied with a steady stream of fire and explosives, the Burntooths have quickly become the leading force in the Emerald Woods. As reports of them becoming bolder and luring the golem towards dryad outposts in the woods are becoming more and more frequent, it is only a matter of time before they set their sight on the undefended elven capital of Llewyth, and the green elders are offering the breath of eternal life to anyone who can put down that technological travesty.

The march of the machines is the local name given to a weird technomagical phenomenon on the world of Dunia. Namely, from the foothills of Gryffon mount, up to the entrance to the Gilded Caverns a thousand leagues northeast, there is always a never-ending line of adamantine golems, or forgewalkers as they are locally known. The golems are docile most of the time, but any attempts to break their line or sneak into the beginning or end points of their journey are met with swift resistance. Recently, however, golems with new designs have started appearing - some sporting antlers, others with intricate engravings across their bodies, and even a rare few whose internal forges seem to be glowing with blue fire. The Shimmerhammer clan of dwarves is launching a mining expedition that will dig through to the core of the mountain to once and for all solve the mystery, and they are anyone capable and mad enough to acompany them on the journey.