Yūrei-Kaeri
Armor Class 13 (natural armor)
Hit Points 76 (9d8+36)
Speed 30 ft.
Saving Throws Wis +3
Skills Stealth +3, Perception +3
Damage Resistances necrotic
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, poisoned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages Common
Challenge 4 (1,100 XP) Proficiency Bonus +2
Actions
Reactions
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"Do not answer the knocking after moonrise. She is already inside." — Genzaemon, last headman of Mizunashi
Lore & Description
Appearance
This corpse resembles a thin, middle-aged villager wrapped in a rotting indigo kimono, its sleeves stiff with dried mud and black blood. Long gray hair hangs across a face swollen almost beyond recognition, though one milky eye remains fixed and watchful. Straw sandals dangle from its split feet, and a faded household crest is stitched into the garment. Its fingers are lacquer-black and unnaturally long, while its mouth opens wider than any living jaw should allow when it calls from behind a closed door.
Behavior & Origins
The yūrei-kaeri was once O-Hana, the caretaker of the abandoned Mizunashi farmhouse, who drowned herself after her family vanished during a famine. Each night she returns to sweep the empty rooms, set rice before a cold household shrine, and punish anyone who disturbs the place. The creature now wants the Mizunashi house restored and its missing family members brought home, even if it must murder travelers and bind their spirits into the vacant rooms. A village elder named Genzaemon knows that the house's original family altar contains the names of the dead and may be used either to appease O-Hana or sever her bond forever.
Running Yūrei-Kaeri
Tactics
The yūrei-kaeri begins by hiding among hanging laundry, beneath a house floor, or behind a paper screen, then uses its Mourning Call when several intruders enter a confined room. It uses Cross the Threshold to appear behind isolated targets and focuses its claws on frightened creatures. When badly wounded, it retreats toward a doorway and relies on Death Is Not Departure, fighting to the death inside its bound house unless someone threatens the household shrine or its memories of family.
DM Tips
- Telegraph the creature with freshly swept floors, bowls of steaming rice that should be cold, wet footprints ending at locked doors, and nightly knocking from inside an apparently empty house.
- Play the yūrei-kaeri in a soft, mournful voice; it should address strangers as if they were overdue family members and become violently confused when they deny knowing O-Hana.
- For a weaker party, remove the necrotic damage from Withered Claw and lower the Mourning Call save DC to 11; for a stronger party, allow the creature to teleport through any doorway within 60 feet of the house.
- Make the bound house part of the encounter: closing shutters, protecting the shrine, or forcing the creature into sunlight can matter as much as dealing damage.
Loot
- Mizunashi Household Crest — A water-stained bronze crest from O-Hana's kimono. It opens a hidden compartment beneath the farmhouse altar containing letters that reveal what happened to the missing family.
- Blackened Rice Bowl — A cracked bowl that remains warm at midnight and grows cold at dawn. A grieving spirit can be questioned through it once before the bowl shatters.
- Bundle of Shrine Ropes — Frayed sacred ropes taken from the house's neglected altar. Hung across a doorway, they prevent the yūrei-kaeri from using Cross the Threshold through that opening for 24 hours.
