🐉 Monster Spotlight: The Myco-Queen, Bloom of Rot

Behind the Die by Charlie Stayton 

CR: 7  Type: Plant  Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Environment: Damp caverns, swamps, or rotting forests
Theme: Fungal horror, decay, mind control

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“To inhale her breath is to dream of spores... and awaken as something else.”

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🌿 Lore

The Myco-Queen is a towering fungal matriarch born of ancient mycelium left undisturbed for centuries. When awakened—often by careless adventurers or a surge in necrotic energy—she spreads her influence through clouds of toxic spores and psychic whispers.

Villages near her domain suffer strange symptoms: citizens sleepwalk into the woods, speak in unison, or grow small mushroom caps from their skin. Once the Queen blooms, it’s only a matter of time before the forest walks into town.

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🧠 Abilities & Tactics

• Spore Cloud (Recharge 5–6): All creatures within 20 feet must succeed a CON save or become poisoned and hallucinate, treating allies as enemies for 1 round.

• Mycelial Puppeteer: The Queen can dominate a creature infected by her spores within 60 feet, using them as living shields or lures.

• Regrowth Aura: Any plant creatures or fungal minions within 30 feet regain HP each round unless burned with fire or radiant damage.

She prefers ambushes, luring foes into decaying groves thick with fog and fungal growths. Myco-Queen doesn’t fight to the death—she fights to infest.

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👁️ Plot Hooks

• “The Harvest Festival”: Townsfolk begin acting strangely after a bountiful mushroom crop. Someone is spreading the Queen’s spores...

• “Fungal Tome”: A druid seeks help in translating an ancient sporebound codex that hints at a long-slumbering rot goddess.

• “Rot Beneath the Church”: The old catacombs were sealed for a reason. Now mushrooms push through stone as the Myco-Queen stirs.

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🧪 Dungeon Master Tips

• Pair her with Spore Servants or Shrieker Beasts (reflavored ghouls with fungal growths).

• Consider regional effects: increased fungal bloom, random psychic interference, weathering of divine magic.

• Use slow horror pacing—villagers first go missing, then speak in riddles, then sprout spores.