Grudge Ladder
Armor Class 16 (natural armor)
Hit Points 114 (12d10+48)
Speed 20 ft. climb 40 ft.
Saving Throws Str +8, Con +7, Wis +5
Skills Insight +6, Stealth +4, Persuasion +6
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities poison, psychic
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, unconscious
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages Common
Challenge 6 (2,300 XP) Proficiency Bonus +3
Actions
Reactions
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"You may climb. You may even arrive. But do not mistake either kindness for forgiveness." — Old Mercy, beneath Saint Orra
Lore & Description
Appearance
A grudge ladder is an oversized wooden ladder made from dark, splintered timber, with iron brackets twisted into the shapes of clenched fingers. Its rungs are polished smooth where countless hands have gripped them, but each bears a different angry carving: a frown, a bite mark, a name, or a crude tally. When still, it leans against a wall at an almost ordinary angle. When angered, its side rails flex like crooked legs, its rungs chatter like teeth, and it scuttles vertically across walls or ceilings with appalling speed.
Behavior & Origins
Grudge ladders are usually made from the timber of a gallows, a shipwreck, or a carpenter's prized project destroyed in a fit of spite. Each remembers every foot that climbed it without thanks. The most infamous example is Old Mercy, hidden beneath the abandoned bell tower of Saint Orra, where it offers travelers safe passage in exchange for the name of someone they have betrayed. A grudge ladder does not lie during its bargain, but it is delighted by loopholes, literal interpretations, and prices that become painful only later.
Running Grudge Ladder
Tactics
The grudge ladder opens by addressing the first climber with its honest bargain, then uses Refuse the Climb to drag hesitant creatures toward its reach. It positions itself on walls or ceilings so that Rung Lash can knock climbers down, using Climb Back whenever anyone retreats. When bloodied, it uses Fold and Fall amid the largest cluster of foes; it fights to the death if someone has broken its bargain, but otherwise flees by scuttling up an inaccessible surface once reduced below one-quarter of its hit points.
DM Tips
- Telegraph the danger with fresh splinters in the floor, scrape marks running up walls, and abandoned offerings resting on the highest reachable rung.
- Give the ladder a dry, patient voice and have it pause after every sentence as though waiting for a contract to be signed.
- Make the bargain specific and genuinely achievable, but leave room for clever players to satisfy its wording without paying the obvious cost.
- For a weaker party, remove the bludgeoning resistance and reduce Climb Back to a 20-foot movement; for a stronger party, let Fold and Fall recharge on a 5-6.
Loot
- The Unpaid Price — An object left behind by a previous bargain: a signet ring, wedding locket, spellbook, or other personal possession that can identify an earlier victim and lead to a rescue quest.
- Iron Finger Bracket — One of the ladder's twisted brackets, warm to the touch. When attached to a mundane ladder, it grants that ladder a 10-foot climb speed for 24 hours and causes it to resent anyone who descends without saying thank you.
- Saint Orra's Carpenter Mark — A scorched maker's mark hidden beneath the lowest rung, proving the ladder was built for the bell tower and possibly revealing who deliberately awakened it.