The Unfinished Chorus
Armor Class 14 (stitched hide)
Hit Points 45 (10d6+10)
Speed 10 ft. fly 40 ft.
Saving Throws Dex +6, Wis +4
Skills Insight +4, Stealth +6, Deception +5, Perception +4
Damage Resistances bludgeoning; piercing; slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities charmed, frightened, poisoned, prone
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 14
Languages Common
Challenge 3 (700 XP) Proficiency Bonus +2
Actions
Bonus Actions
Reactions
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:
- Rehearsed Corridor. At initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the lair rearranges one doorway, staircase, or passage. Choose up to two creatures within the lair; each must succeed on a DC 13 Intelligence saving throw or be moved to an unoccupied space within 15 feet of its current location, as walls and furniture slide around it. The Chorus is never moved against its will.
- Encore from Elsewhere. A song begins from a seemingly empty room. Until initiative count 20 on the next round, the first creature that enters that room must succeed on a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened until the end of its next turn.
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"It told me my brother would return at sunset. He did return—but he was already dead, and sunset was three years ago." — Mara Pell, survivor of Bellfounder's Lane
Lore & Description
Appearance
The Unfinished Chorus is a ragged cluster of seven to twelve taxidermied songbirds, their bodies stitched together with black thread and fine brass wire. Kinglets, wrens, finches, and one small magpie hang in an impossible wreath, their glass eyes reflecting different scenes and their dried wings beating without wind. Their open beaks produce a layered melody of nursery tunes, funeral hymns, and words spoken half a heartbeat before anyone says them.
Behavior & Origins
The Chorus was assembled by Orsina Vale, a mourning taxidermist who could not bear the finality of losing her daughter, Lette. She taught the birds to sing Lette's remembered phrases, then asked them what would happen next. The resulting creature now nests in the abandoned Vale House on Bellfounder's Lane, where rooms rearrange themselves whenever someone tries to leave. It wants every visitor to remain long enough to hear one more song, especially anyone carrying a letter, keepsake, or memory connected to Lette.
Running The Unfinished Chorus
Tactics
The Chorus begins with Ragged Refrain from above or behind furniture, then uses Unfinished Exit to keep vulnerable creatures separated from the group. It uses Borrowed Voice to make one character issue a false warning or reveal a secret, while Beakstorm harasses anyone who closes in. When reduced to half its hit points, it retreats through the smallest available opening and relies on Not Yet Goodbye and the shifting lair to prevent pursuit; it fights to the death only if someone threatens Lette's keepsakes.
DM Tips
- Telegraph the creature with future-tense echoes, dust disturbed by invisible wings, and rooms containing doors that open into the wrong rooms.
- Give each prophecy one accurate detail and one unsettling error; let players decide whether the mistake is harmless, symbolic, or dangerously literal.
- Roleplay the Chorus as many anxious voices trying to finish one conversation, overlapping whenever a character says goodbye.
- For a weaker party, remove the incapacitation from Ragged Refrain; for a stronger party, increase its save DC to 14 and let the lair rearrange three creatures instead of two.
Loot
- Lette's Blue Ribbon — A faded ribbon sewn beneath the magpie's wing. While carried, it occasionally hums the first three notes of a song no one remembers.
- Brass Prediction Cage — A palm-sized cage engraved with dates and tiny false initials. Once per long rest, it rattles when its bearer is about to enter a dangerous room, though it is always wrong about which room.
- The Last Letter — An unfinished letter from Orsina Vale to Lette, hidden in the nest. Its final line changes each dawn and can point toward the next person the Chorus hopes to trap.
