Merry-Go-Ruin
Armor Class 18 (lacquered wood and iron)
Hit Points 168 (16d10+80)
Speed 60 ft.
Saving Throws Dex +6, Con +9, Wis +6, Cha +8
Skills Perception +6, Performance +8
Damage Resistances bludgeoning; piercing; slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities poison, psychic
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 16
Languages Common
Challenge 10 (5,900 XP) Proficiency Bonus +4
Actions
Bonus Actions
Reactions
Legendary Actions
Merry-Go-Ruin can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. Merry-Go-Ruin regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
Lair
Lair Actions
On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the creature can take a lair action to cause one of the following effects; it can't use the same effect two rounds in a row:
- The Exit Moves. A door, archway, or corridor in the lair twists to a new location. Up to three creatures Merry-Go-Ruin can see must succeed on a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw or be moved up to 20 feet to spaces of the carousel horse's choice. A creature charmed by Merry-Go-Ruin automatically fails this save.
- Sudden Turn. The floor rotates beneath up to three creatures Merry-Go-Ruin can see within 60 feet. Each target must succeed on a DC 17 Strength saving throw or be moved up to 15 feet in a direction chosen by Merry-Go-Ruin and knocked prone.
- Music from Nowhere. The carousel melody swells from every direction. Each creature within 60 feet that can hear it must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or be unable to willingly move farther from Merry-Go-Ruin until initiative count 20 on the next round.
📷 Export as Image
Share your monster as a beautiful PNG image styled like classic D&D sourcebooks.
Includes: Full stat block, monster image (if selected), CR badge, and QuickMonster branding.
Resolution: High-quality PNG at 2x scale for crisp display on any device.
"Don't step down, darling. The music hasn't stopped yet." — Madame Orla Venn, last proprietor of the Gilded Gallop
Lore & Description
Appearance
Merry-Go-Ruin is a towering carousel horse carved from pale rosewood, its flanks painted in peeling bands of candy-red, turquoise, and gold. Its glass eyes glow with amber bulbs that flicker in time with unheard music, while a brass pole juts from its back and vanishes into a crown of splintered wooden roses. Its mane is made from faded ribbons, ticket stubs, and real horsehair, and its lacquered smile is much too wide. When it moves, its hooves strike with the clack of a fairground platform and the shriek of an old calliope.
Behavior & Origins
Once the centerpiece of a traveling carnival called the Gilded Gallop, Merry-Go-Ruin was abandoned when the carnival burned outside the town of Bellwether. It escaped into the countryside and began luring real horses away from farms, stables, and cavalry remounts, promising them an endless run where no rider ever dismounts. The carousel horse now inhabits the ruined fairground known as Lantern Mile, where it has rebuilt its carousel from stolen doors, wagon wheels, stable beams, and enchanted souvenirs. It does not understand death as an ending; to Merry-Go-Ruin, death is simply a rider leaving before the song is finished. It wants to gather one hundred horses for the First Eternal Ride, including the mayor's legendary white stallion, Comet.
Running Merry-Go-Ruin
Tactics
Merry-Go-Ruin opens with Call the Ride against nearby horses or other beasts, using them as moving cover and obstacles before charging with Carousel Stampede. It circles the battlefield, exploiting Painted Motion and forcing enemies toward shifting walls, rotating platforms, and charmed mounts. When bloodied, it focuses its attacks on anyone attempting to free a recruited horse; it fights to the death inside Lantern Mile, but flees through a rearranged exit if cornered outside its lair.
DM Tips
- Telegraph the encounter with missing horses, hoofprints that end at wooden platform tracks, distant calliope music, and farm gates painted in bright carousel colors.
- Play Merry-Go-Ruin as heartbreakingly polite and desperate: it calls every horse 'darling' and treats attacks as misunderstandings caused by fear of leaving the ride.
- For a weaker party, remove its resistance to nonmagical weapon damage and let Call the Ride affect only one beast; for a stronger party, begin the fight with two charmed warhorses and allow Carousel Stampede to recharge on a 4-6.
- Make the lair visibly rearrange between turns, giving players clues through grinding gears, swinging lanterns, and painted arrows that point in contradictory directions.
Loot
- The Gilded Ticket — A brass admission token bearing the mark of the Gilded Gallop. Once per day, its bearer can calm a frightened or panicked beast for 10 minutes.
- Comet's Torn Bridle — A silver-studded bridle stolen from the mayor's prized stallion. Returning it to Comet earns the party the animal's trust and reveals the location of Lantern Mile.
- Splinter of the First Carousel — A painted piece of enchanted rosewood that hums faintly when near a road, stable, or fairground. It can serve as a material component for a ritual that permanently unravels Merry-Go-Ruin's shifting lair.
