Bloat-Kill Carcass
This hazard hides in an apparently harmless river carcass. The dead animal has filled with putrefying gas as it drifts in warm shallows or catches on rocks. The first touch splits the swollen belly or presses trapped gas from the mouth and nostrils, releasing a choking burst of rot that can sicken anyone nearby. It is a crude but effective danger for travelers who reach for a corpse without thinking.
Bloat-Kill Carcass
Defenses
Detection
“A bloated animal carcass lies half-submerged in the river shallows, its belly swollen like a wineskin and its hide split in pale seams where gas has built up beneath the skin. When the current nudges it, bubbles rise from the wound in a thin, oily stream that carries a stinging rot through the water.”
Standard Engagement
A creature touches, lifts, or presses the dead animal's body with bare hands or close contact.
None. This is a triggered environmental hazard. Once activated, it creates a lingering stinking cloud in the area until the end of the hazard's next turn.
The hazard resets if another carcass drifts into the same spot or if the body remains in place and continues to build gas for 10 minutes.
When a creature touches the corpse or grabs it bare-handed, the carcass ruptures and vents foul gas in a 10-foot radius. Each creature in the area must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or take 2d6 poison damage and be poisoned until the end of its next turn. On a success, the creature takes half damage and is not poisoned.
The gas lingers as a thin cloud over the water until the end of the hazard's next turn. A creature that enters the cloud for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there must repeat the saving throw.
Hands are the worst trigger. A creature that reaches into the corpse to search it, turn it, or drag it free must make the save even if it only briefly touches the body.
The hazard is best handled at reach. A creature using a pole, hook, net, or spell from outside the gas radius can attempt to move the corpse without triggering the burst.
River current can carry the gas cloud a short distance. At the DM's discretion, a strong breeze or fast water may push the lingering fumes 5 feet downstream at the end of each round.
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