This is a post dedicated to a villain from my recent finished campaign. I picked up a story from an old friend, who got burned out DMing, and helped to finish it an DMed it till the end. The story took place in the forests of Cormanthor, where the locals struggled to fight back from the corruption of Moander, the deity of rot and decay.
Well, then I changed it a bit. I wanted the villain to be more real, more grounded, more personal than just an Abomination of Moander, which is a terrifying pile of flesh, but just a pile nonetheless. The villian became Mounder. He used to be a human, a very talented young wizard that had a privilege to study arcane arts in Myth Drannor. Although having friends and family there, he desperately tried to prove himself worthy of his talent. He tried to invent a new type of material - a very sturdy type of moss, spreading quickly and easily, that was able to grow on magical fields, such as Mythal covering the whole city, to strengthen it. But the moss brought disease, and Mounder became sick and then more and more obsessed with his project by the day, dying himself.
His maddened mind, his obsession, his corruption led to his demise. His friends tried to stop him, but he wouldn’t listen. His nature took central stage, as he drew his last breath, it transformed him to a terrible creature, a black dragon, that then destroyed the area in his desperation.
Centuries later, his presence affected the area, turning it into a monstrous swamp filled with deformed creatures, as he grew stronger underground, deformed himself, physically and mentally, as the rot does.